Santa Fe – Attorney Thomas Catron still recalls what he told his wife after first meeting John Crosby in 1956.
“I came home to her and I said, ‘There’s this crazy guy who wants to start an opera company,”‘ he said.
But later that year, won over by the young conductor’s enthusiasm, Catron agreed to draft articles of incorporation for what became the Santa Fe Opera. He attended its debut performance the next summer and has been at every season opener since.
That’s no small achievement, considering the company is marking its 50th anniversary this season.
What started as a Spartan, 500-seat amphitheater atop a mesa hundreds of miles from a major music center has evolved into nothing less than the best company of its kind, according to F. Paul Driscoll, editor in chief of Opera News.
“Clearly, it is the premier American summer opera festival,” Driscoll said, “not only by virtue of its age but by virtue of the very distinguished record it has had in presenting unusual repertory and in training young American artists.”
The company turned Santa Fe into as much of a destination for the performing arts as it already was for the visual arts. The opera drew 85,000 people last year – more than half from outside New Mexico.
“It is fortunate to have nature as its backdrop,” said Stephen Lord, music director of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Boston Lyric Opera, “and equally fortunate that the product at this stage of development is so strong that the raison d’etre for the audience is the opera in addition to nature. It is ideally situated and performs in an ideal time of the year to attract the best artists.”
On the cutting edge
What has set the Santa Fe Opera apart, beyond its setting and the sheer quality of its productions, has been an unflagging devotion to the fresh and unusual. In its first season, the company persuaded Igor Stravinsky to assist with staging his opera “The Rake’s Progress,” which debuted just six years earlier.
The famed composer and his wife returned for five of the following six summers, giving the fledging company a much-needed vote of confidence.
“He absolutely loved it,” said mezzo-soprano Regina Sarfaty Rickless. “I did my first ‘Carmen’ in 1961, and he was in the first row yelling, ‘Olé,’ every time I did something.”
Crosby championed the late operas of Richard Strauss, overseeing the American premieres of six of his neglected works. The company also mounted the first American productions of Alban Berg’s “Lulu” and two operas by Paul Hindemith.
In all, the company has presented more than 40 American premieres in addition to 10 world premieres, including Tobias Picker’s “Emmeline” and Carlisle Floyd’s “Wuthering Heights.”
“If we had not presented not only these contemporary operas but also the Strauss repertory in their premieres, the company wouldn’t be what it is today, so it’s part of our whole psyche as an organization,” said Richard Gaddes, the Santa Fe Opera’s general director.
Also putting the company on the map was its pioneering apprentice program, which began the first season. Among its first successful alumni was baritone Sherrill Milnes, who went on to a major career at the Metropolitan Opera.
A shy visionary
The Santa Fe Opera is the result of one man’s tireless efforts – John Crosby, a Bronxville, N.Y., native who spent much of his childhood in New Mexico because of asthma and later studied under famed conductor Pierre Monteux.
Rickless, now retired from an international career and living in Santa Fe, recalls the shy founder asking her in early 1957 if she would sing during the opening season. Though she had no professional experience, the 22-year-old student appeared in five roles, including Suzuki in “Madama Butterfly.”
“So here I was getting paid $100 a week. I said to my mom, ‘Imagine, I’m getting paid!”‘ she said.
Rickless believed in Crosby’s vision, even though she had never even heard of Santa Fe. And many others believed, as well.
“He was so convincing,” Catron said. “He knew exactly what it would take, and he had an estimate of the expenses, and he could tell you what had to be raised in order to do it. His financial acumen was just superb – maybe this more than anything else is what made the Santa Fe Opera a success.”
In July 1967, the company faced its first big crisis – one that could have potentially put it out of business.
Its original theater, which had been expanded just a few years earlier, was destroyed by fire. But Crosby and his supporters were undeterred, finishing the season in a gymnasium.
A new theater was built in time for the following season. And in 1997, the facility was enlarged to its present 2,234 seats as part of a renovation and overhaul overseen by Polshek and Partners of New York City.
The most important change was a top over all the seats. Getting wet at a Santa Fe Opera production had long been an accepted risk. The rule was, at least in the early days, that rain refunds would be given only if the company couldn’t make it through Act 1.
“We had quite a bit of rain in those first few years, and, so, some of those first acts were pretty fast – the tempo was really getting up there, because that (a rainout) would wreck your budget in those days,”
Catron said.
Though covered, the theater is still open on the sides, so that audiences are subject to the range of temperatures typical of the high desert – sultry some nights and so cold on others that blankets are required.
“Like opera, it is always fun, as one never knows what is going to happen,” Lord said.
Looking ahead
What might have been the second biggest crisis in the company’s history – Crosby’s departure after the 2000 season – turned out to be a nonissue. The board simply followed his wishes and named Gaddes, a Crosby protege and longtime staffer, as his successor.
“I’ve been around this company since the 13th season,” Gaddes said. “So I know the cast of characters – the donors. … The transition was barely a blip on the radar screen.”
He has largely continued Crosby’s approach, programming mixes of new, offbeat and familiar repertoire each season, while trying to assemble more wide-reaching casts.
Although the company has grown to more than 600 seasonal and full-time employees and an annual budget of $15.9 million, Gaddes has also continued the hands-on approach that defined Crosby’s tenure.
On the opening day, for example, he took time to check with one of his crew to make sure that the company’s septic tank was not smelling – something that happened last season during a couple of performances.
“This job, it’s like running a holiday resort,” he said. “You’re running a restaurant. You’re dealing with landscaping, roadways, water wells. You’re an arborist. This is what in a way is unique about the company – the job of running it.”
But as the company continues to grow, Gaddes does not believe that one person can continue to be in charge of everything. Once he decides to step down, he expects the opera to split his duties between managing and artistic directors.
“I’m 65 next year, and so the opera will have to deal with another transition in the years to come, and those transitions are difficult,” he said. “So, my challenge is to think about that, and how and when that occurs.”
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
“Carmen” and “The Magic Flute”
SANTA FE OPERA | Santa Fe Opera amphitheater, 7 miles north of Santa Fe on U.S. 84/285; “Carmen,” seven remaining performances through Aug. 26; “The Magic Flute,” eight remaining performances through Aug. 25 | $25-$160 | 800-280-4654 or .
