The Opera Glasses Podcast

A New Era for Opera Canada with Michael Jones

September 17, 2024 • Elizabeth Bowman, Michael Jones • Season 3 • Episode 1

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 Join us for a heartfelt episode of the Opera Glasses podcast as Elizabeth Bowman hosts her final show and introduces the new Editorial Director of Opera Canada, Michael Jones. With an impressive career spanning from Choirs Ontario to the Saskatchewan Arts Board, Michael shares how his first live opera experience with Britten's “Death in Venice” ignited a lifelong passion. We discuss his vision for Opera Canada, his excitement for upcoming productions, and how his background uniquely positions him to lead this esteemed publication.

In a tribute to Opera Canada's rich history, we explore the vital role of the magazine's archival efforts in preserving the nation’s operatic legacy. Michael reveals plans to incorporate historical material into future editions, making opera more accessible and engaging for both enthusiasts and researchers. This episode is a blend of nostalgia, gratitude, and forward-looking optimism—truly a must-listen for any opera aficionado.

All episodes of The Opera Glasses podcast are hosted by Opera Canada Editor-In-Chief, Elizabeth Bowman. Follow Opera Canada on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Visit OperaCanada.ca for all of your Canadian Opera news and reviews.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Hey, I'm Elizabeth Bowman and this is the Opera Glasses podcast. This will be my final episode as host, and what better guest than my successor, Michael Jones, who's taking over the editorial director position at Opera Canada. I'm really excited to chat with him about his journey to this role and what he sees for the future of Opera in Canada. Michael, welcome to the Opera Glasses podcast.

Michael Jones:

Thank you so much, Lizzie. I'm really pleased to be here.

Elizabeth Bowman:

And this will be my final Opera Glasses hosting episode as you take over this series for us.

Michael Jones:

People have to get used to listening to my dulcet tenor.

Elizabeth Bowman:

I want to ask you you're obviously taking over as Editor-in-Chief of Opera Canada. You've already been working since July 1st.

Michael Jones:

Since the beginning of July.

Elizabeth Bowman:

yes, Okay, and can you tell us a little bit about your journey to Opera, canada? Well sure.

Michael Jones:

I mean I have worked in arts administration for my whole basically my whole what I'll call my adult career. There were a couple of years right after university where I sort of went back and forth and had not grown up jobs while I decided I was going to perform and do those other things. But once I realized that that wasn't my path, that I've been working in arts management and I spent much of my early career running small and mid-sized arts organizations, much like Opera Canada, but not magazines. They were all performing arts organizations. So I worked in a senior position at Choirs Ontario, which was then called the Ontario Choral Federation, and I managed and served as camp and tour director for the Ontario Youth Choir as part of that. And I ran a school of the arts program for people with multiple handicaps. I ran a new music ensemble. I ran for a while I was general manager at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. So I did a lot of that work. And then I went into arts funding and I worked for the Metcalfe Foundation for a while.

Michael Jones:

But I spent the last nine years as CEO of the Saskatchewan Arts Board SaskArts is the operating name of it, which is the provincial arts funder for the province of Saskatchewan, a bird's eye view of so many different arts organizations and watch their struggle and and watched their successes and was inspired. I had always gone into funding, intending to eventually take that knowledge back and go to work in the sector, because my heart really lies with these small arts organizations. What I didn't realize was that it was actually going to be a retirement gig, that I was going to officially retire from the government of Saskatchewan, return to Toronto and take on freelance opportunities, one of which is as Editorial Director at Opera Canada, and I'm thrilled to be here one of which is as editorial director at Opera Canada, and I'm thrilled to be here.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Well, the culmination of knowledge throughout your career is super beneficial to sort of all the story assignments and understanding the state of the arts across Canada and also just looking at it abroad, with Canadians working all over the place. I mean it's a really exciting time. I mean it's obviously a tumultuous time, but I think you bring a huge depth of understanding which I think will be great.

Michael Jones:

Well, it's also I have a real interest in and love for opera as an art form. I studied it, I was, you know. I trained as a singer. I've joked with a lot of people since taking over this role that I was at university with a lot of Canada's really, really great singers that have gone on to international careers, and I joke about being the other tenor in the same studio as Michael Schada, In fact, the other tenor also named Michael and so let's say I certainly had a real, true idea of what my limitations were when I set myself against those benchmarks.

Michael Jones:

But it also I have such an admiration of the people that work in this art form, and this has continued on as I've looked at back issues. Recently I actually went back and found out that, yes, I was in fact reviewed, or at least mentioned in a review in Opera Canada in the early 1990s and right up until the day I saw the posting for this, I was on vacation. We were in Playa del Carmen in Mexico and my partner and I were sitting on the beach. I'd seen the posting in the morning and we were sitting on the beach and he handed his phone to me and he said, oh, they just did an article about mom in Opera Canada magazine, because his mother was Lucille Villeneuve Evans, who was featured in Masterclass about two issues ago and so it had just come online, so it just felt like everything was saying this was the right opportunity for me at that time.

Elizabeth Bowman:

That's amazing how the stars align. Can I ask you, do you remember what your first opera was and what that experience was like you?

Michael Jones:

know I went off to. I was training in voice. I grew up in the Mississauga area, so I was close to Toronto. I went off to study voice at university without ever having seen a live opera. I had seen television, I'd listened to recordings. So the first live opera that I saw was the summer after first year university. The COC had had a spectacular season that year, practically selling out everything, and they decided in the summer to add an extra show as part of what was the Toronto Summer Festival. It was in about well, I'm going to say it was 1984. Festival of it was in about well, I'm going to say it was 1984. And so the first opera that I got to see live was Death in Venice, which is something that I've loved to this day. All of the operas of Britain are something that I really love, but that was the first one that I saw live.

Elizabeth Bowman:

And are you particularly excited about any productions in Toronto now that you're back based in Toronto in the upcoming season?

Michael Jones:

You know, it's funny because I'd sort of like to be based nationally. There are some things that I haven't seen before that I would love. I'd love to be out in Victoria to see the Little Prince when it's done in February at Pacific Opera Victoria. Well, I may in fact take myself to Montreal to see Hamlet in, I think it's in November at Opera de Montréal, and it would be because that's something that I've never actually seen on stage, and so there are things like that. Interestingly, before anyone knew that we were coming back to Ontario, we'd made this plan long before the Opera Canada opportunity came out. We talked about the fact that I would retire, and so, before anyone knew that we were coming back, we had purchased our subscription for next year at the COC, which means that the COC knew, before any of our friends or family did, that we were returning to Ontario.

Michael Jones:

There's so much that I love in this season. I've always loved Eugene Onegin. I think every very light tenor dreams of being able to sing Lenski, because it's so that aria is so beautiful. But I'm also I'm really excited about seeing La Reine Garcon. I'm also because of when I went to school, what I studied in my master's, which was, I studied a lot of 20th century opera. I've always had a real affection for Watzek. So to actually, you know, to see that live again and I've seen it many times is something I'm really looking forward to.

Elizabeth Bowman:

I'm really looking forward to. I'm based in New York and I am very much looking forward to Emily D'Angelo opening the Met season with Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

Michael Jones:

And we're. I'm actually coming down to New York, I think at the beginning of October. And so I'm actually coming down to New York, I think at the beginning of October, and so I'm trying to see if I can get in to see that as well, because I would be really excited by that. If I'm not, I will certainly be one of the people at the movie theater on that Saturday afternoon in my not-dressed-to-go-to-the-opera-clothes-eating-popcorn-but-watching-the-opera.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Yeah, it's very Canadian, um, even, obviously not the the production, but with Yannick on the podium, and then I think Br n Wagorn is coaching behind the scenes and my husband is concert master for that.

Michael Jones:

Well it is it is certainly we're. We're proud to have that many Canadians in it, and I'm also. I'm really, I've been really excited over the past couple of years as I look at all the newer work that's happening at the Met, because and that's not I mean I'll happily go to Bohème as many times as you want me to and I'll probably still cry at the end as you want me to, and I'll probably still cry at the end but I'm also excited to see the way that the repertory is expanding. I would also, quite frankly, for me, I would love to go back and revisit some of the mid-20th century pieces that we don't get to see as much anymore. Maybe it's in Canada, but that we don't see as many of them, because the the ones that I really am interested in.

Michael Jones:

I think of as being very American in subject matter, like I, I'd love to see a production of baby doe and I I would love to see a production of suzanna and and things like that. So I would love to see those operas performed more too. I think that part of the challenge with new work is that it's so expensive to mount. It might be exciting when you can say you're seeing the world premiere, but it's harder sometimes to sell the second and third productions of a piece, and there are works, certainly, that have entered repertory the way that Dead man Walking has.

Michael Jones:

But it's challenging and those are the pieces I'd really like to revisit, some of those from the mid-20th century that I didn't think had enough, as well as making sure there are multiple productions of, because I think it would be. You know, um, I think about the hours at the met recently, and it was such a beautiful production, but I'd also like to see how it was envisioned by a different director, by three different singers. As much as I think the trio of Renee Fleming, Joyce DiDonato and Kelly O'Hara is pretty unmatchable, I'd like to see how three different singers would interpret those roles. I want the opportunities to see these pieces over and over again.

Elizabeth Bowman:

I really liked that opera. Oh, my goodness, I won't get into it, but that scene with the child who's singing their baking. The mom is baking and she can't stand that the child is making a mess. All moms can relate to this.

Michael Jones:

That's not an experience that I share with you, Lindsay.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Anyway, the level of mom guilt that I was feeling in that scene because they were projecting this mom as not a wonderful character and we've all been there where flowers going everywhere and you're like, don't touch that, except the whole scene, the way they do it, it's escalating.

Michael Jones:

Because in that production it was Kelly O'Hara, of course, singing that role and she has such an unusual background for an opera singer because she's worked so much in Broadway and straight theater and she's on television. So she's very, very grounded as an actor and you believe in the honesty and, yes, I can imagine that would make you feel oh, that was very powerful.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Anyway, back to Opera Canada. Lots of things ahead for Opera Canada, obviously, as as I helped, you know, get things moving along in terms of digital and also, obviously, some print content. But I I mean now let the audience know what to expect moving forward.

Michael Jones:

Well, we're in the middle of embarking on a really really interesting, exciting extension of the digitization work that you were doing. It's been really quite amazing. So we received an incredible grant from the Ontario Media Development Corporation, from their magazine fund, and it's about things that can be revenue generated and it's allowing us to digitize all of the past issues, like all of the back issues, all the way back to the first four-page issue in January, February of 1960. And to digitize those and begin to make those available in various ways. We're at the process now of I think, as of this morning, I had there's about 200, between 260 and 265 issues of Opera Canada magazine over the years and I think, as of this morning, I now have 80 of them in PDF format. I just got a big, a large dump of that. But I've also been going through all of the issues that predate when we have PDFs making sure that we have single copies of everything, actually making sure that we have duplicates of everything, because it's much cheaper to scan them if you can actually sacrifice in issues but you don't want to do that if it's the last issue that you have. So we we have. I have somewhere I have only one copy and somewhere we have multiple copies but they're going off. I think they're going to be scanned next week and I expect that we will have this huge resource in hand, figuring how to make it available. We should have that by about the beginning of november. At least they'll all, at that point, be on my computer and that it's.

Michael Jones:

It was really, really exciting and it's, it's really. Opera Canada is in many ways, the only history that we have of this art form in this company, the only complete history. It looks at all of the companies, it looks across the country. It really tracks productions. I was a big fan of Die Soldaten and and those very avant-garde operas from the 60s of that period for scholars to look at is what is in these journals that come out, because that's how we track modern history, and so I really think that Opera Canada is about reaching all sorts of audiences.

Michael Jones:

One of the teasers that I think I'm going to start, not in the fall issue, which is pretty much about to go to press shortly, but in the winter issue. I think I want to go back and revisit something from the archives in every issue. Look at the issue exactly 50 years before. So, as I plan for the winter 2024 issue. I actually have sitting on my desk here I have the winter issue from 1974. Actually, that was the winter from 1975. I pulled the wrong issue, but it's about sharing those stories because it's amazing how interesting those stories are. Just to look at that one issu, jerome Hines, who was an amazing Canadian singer, writing about what it was like shaping his career and he wrote the article himself. So it's a fascinating thing and I'm hoping that we have all sorts of different ways to use that archive and the extraordinary wealth of material that we've accumulated over 65 almost years.

Elizabeth Bowman:

So do you think that users will be able to go to the website eventually and search a name and these articles will pop up and they can read them, or that?

Michael Jones:

would be my goal. Um, they're all being scanned with ocr, which is character recognition. I'm not sure what the o stands for. If someone is a technical, people probably put it in a note to the side of this this, but so that all the words are recognizable, they would turn up in search engines if you search for them. Eventually, I would love to have a really complete index of all of these too, so that people could actually see and go back. And this is a large project and, as you know, lizzie, we're a very, very small, lean organization Opera Canada, especially with all of the access to the archives.

Elizabeth Bowman:

It's an opportunity for monthly revenue that the magazine definitely needs and they would get a huge value for that.

Michael Jones:

I personally I think it's an incredible value and I only say that because I'm sitting in my home office right now with all of these issues that I can't seem to stop myself from paging through, because it's not just about.

Michael Jones:

We talked about the first opera that I saw in person, which was the 1984 Death in Venice at the COC. Well, of course I went and looked at the review of that when I was there. I looked at the pictures that were there from that production way that I think about opera and its presentations, and to be able to go back into the archives of the magazine which I of course have sitting around me at this point and just bring those things back to mind so that I can look at some of the early pieces that tapestry opera was doing when it was called various different names over the years, but some of the pieces that developed under the leadership of Wayne Strongman and Claire Hopkinson and how amazing those pieces were and how exciting it is to be able to go back and have those memories, just as someone who's an opera lover, not as someone who is researching, but if I wanted to research, what did new opera look like in the 1980s in Canada? This is the best and, in many ways, only source for that.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Very exciting. Well, I applaud you for continuing that work and and executing it.

Michael Jones:

uh, I'm excited to to see it when it comes out and I also want to look at how we can continue the amazing work that you started with opera glasses, because I like the idea of engaging with the people who make this art form in all sorts of different ways, you know, and people at various stages of their careers, because some of the people with whom I went to school, who had quite significant careers, are now concentrating more fully on teaching, and what was that transition like for them? These are things that I think are interesting and sharing them in ways. I mean, we're a print magazine that publishes four times a year. That's not that many articles that you can do, but having different formats like opera glasses. Before we came on air, you and I joked about the fact that you can edit this, and so I was like, yes, we can make the outtakes available on our Patreon page, but don't look for it because it doesn't exist today, but it may. You know, there are just things like that, like to have the ability to just have that sort of freedom, that sort of freedom, ease, to understand what the people who are creating like this are are when you don't see them on stage in an incredible but glorified position.

Michael Jones:

I was invited once to attend the final full staging of a new opera being presented by manitoba, opera called transit of Venus. I'm going to say it was around 2008, 2009,. And I wasn't going to be in Winnipeg for the opening, so they invited me to come to the last walkthrough in the rehearsal room. It was a full run, but they were still in the rehearsal room. There were no sets, there were no costumes, the singers were walking around in in rehearsal clothing and to see them, to see them in their rehearsal skirts on on stage, in the center of the room where the stage would eventually which in the area that would eventually be on stage looking like they do on stage, regardless of costumes, with all that glory, hearing them sing, hearing the voices that close, which was, of course, truly extraordinary but then to also see them as soon as they exited the playing area and were backstage beating themselves up over notes that they didn't think they had gotten right or other things that hadn't worked as well, like to see the honesty of the human being.

Michael Jones:

I think is so exciting, and I think that things like opera glasses can do that, and maybe there are short forms of that. I joked about outtakes, but not things that embarrass people, but maybe things that are just people having fun. That can be, you know, tiktok moments that introduce opera singers to new audiences in a way that's not as intimidating as a two and a half three hour performance in a foreign language.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Yeah, it certainly brings a human element to have just a person to person conversation and hear how they speak and how they ended up there, Because oftentimes I'm sure the public wonders like how did you end up doing that? Or how did you end up designing sets for opera companies all over the world? Like how just crazy.

Michael Jones:

I'm also hoping here's a little teaser I'm hoping for the winter issue to introduce a new regular column which might be called production meeting it's all still in there where we actually speak with designers so that you can, and because in print that's so amazing, because, of course, you can see the beautiful photographs of their design concepts, their mood boards, their, their Mac hats and also pictures of what it looked like in production. And for me that's well, that's always been interesting for me. I love what designers do and the idea of having a way to share that is so interesting to me and so exciting.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Yeah, seeing the concept to how it looks on stage is incredible because they they oftentimes very much match oh what those drawings are in and they come alive, literally.

Michael Jones:

So incredibly and um one of the I called it production meeting now one of the other names that's been used for this this sort of feature has been unsung heroes. These people are really, in many ways, heroes of what we get to see on that stage, although we're less likely to recognize their names. We don't know what they look like, we we don't know why they ended up working in opera, which is a really exciting and rare art form. So so what? What was it that turned, turned the page and and I think I think that's really a fascinating thing.

Elizabeth Bowman:

So yeah, it's almost more fascinating to find out how the people behind the scenes ended up there, because, um, it's not necessarily like a singer will go to school for opera singing and obviously the path to becoming or making that choice is fascinating, but they need to take a certain level of education often. I mean, there are the anomalous few that have a completely different route, but generally the structure of becoming an opera singer is very similar among the opera singing community and then the people behind the scenes. It's often more circuitous.

Michael Jones:

And unusual because I was interested in stage direction when I was younger and starting out and I worked in that a little bit and loved every moment of it. But one of the questions when I announced as a naive let's say mid-20-year-old although I really don't admit ever to being more than 21, I'm 21, when I was an earnest 21-year-old at that point, who wanted to direct opera, everybody asked well, are you a stage manager? And at the time that was considered a route into opera direction was to actually be a stage manager and it was a role that I didn't completely understand and I thought, oh, I don't want to be a stage manager, this is what I want to do. And of course now later, looking back on my naivete at the time, I actually probably should just have been a stage manager in life, because it's one of those things that now, as I understand that role fully, I think I would have been great and I probably would have loved being a stage manager.

Elizabeth Bowman:

I probably missed a calling gotta applaud all the stage managers out there because, uh, it takes an extreme amount of detail it's about detail and organization, but it's also about being calm.

Michael Jones:

There were a number of years I was working for various summer theaters in Ontario and after a while doing it, there was one company I worked with quite often and I loved going back there because I knew that the person who ran this company always got us great stage managers and I was like I only want to do it if I know that there's a good stage manager.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Yeah, you certainly have to remain calm at all times. Complete like the stage is on fire and the stage manager is just still zen, breathing, and they think with clarity in moments of chaos.

Michael Jones:

So now I'm going to do something that we didn't talk about at the beginning of doing this, but because this episode sort of marks the transition from you having sorry you probably are now hearing a cat in the background she's saying she needs attention. Since this episode of Opera Glasses marks a transition from the period when you hosted to a period when I'm going to be hosting, I want to turn the tables and ask you some questions. We didn't talk about it in advance.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Okay, well, we don't have much time left.

Michael Jones:

That's okay. That's why I took over now. So what is it? What's next for you? What's up next?

Elizabeth Bowman:

I am in the process of sort of putting that jigsaw puzzle together. I'm certainly not done doing what I'm doing, which has mostly revolved around digital media strategy, public relations and that bit. So, yeah, I'm just putting together what my next plan is, but I'll announce that soon.

Michael Jones:

I love that you used the image of a jigsaw puzzle as you're putting it together. Do you know what the final picture looks like?

Elizabeth Bowman:

Oftentimes I don't know what the final picture looks like, but it always comes together in the end. I just follow the signs and I've always done that throughout my whole career. I started out working at the Canadian Opera Company as Alexander Neef's assistant and then from there I was like, oh, I want to help young artists with their packages, you know, for auditions, that kind of thing and that ended up turning into my PR and digital media strategy business for 12 years. You know it's just in the next few weeks I should hold Lyric.

Michael Jones:

Okay, and then I'll end with an easy question then, since I've taken over, I know you're based in New York. Your husband is one of the concert masters at the Met Orchestra. What are you really excited to see in their season this year? What operas, what singers, what?

Elizabeth Bowman:

excited for the season opener because of Emily D'Angelo. I think she's fantastic artist. She's Canadian. I will never stop waving my Canadian flag which is one of the main reasons why I enjoyed doing the work at Opera Canada so much, because I am so through and through Canadian, although born in the UK. Funnily enough, though, I came to Canada when I was two, though, so I you know, I think that's that's pretty Canadian, yeah, and opening night is always just such a such a special night at the Met.

Michael Jones:

Any singers taking on new roles that are really exciting for you or not?

Elizabeth Bowman:

I guess they'll, I don't. I don't usually go through the calendar and and sometimes, sometimes, I mean I'm, I'm, I'm a big fan of Quinn Kelsey, and so sometimes I, you know, I'll be like, oh, you know, totally understandable. There are sometimes some singers where I'm like I absolutely have to have to see that. But oftentimes, you know, I like to to be surprised and I also have the insight scoop with Ben working there. So you'll, you'll say like, oh, you've, you've got to see this one, or you've got to see that one. So I trust, I trust his opinion, and then, and then I go and see what Wonderful.

Michael Jones:

Wonderful. Okay, Well, thank you for answering questions. You see, to turn it back on you.

Elizabeth Bowman:

Well, I wish you all the best at Opera Canada and I hope that we'll continue to stay connected. And yeah, I look forward to reading everything.

Michael Jones:

Super, and I would end by thanking you for everything that you've done for Opera Canada over the past two years, not just this podcast, which has been really fun, so thank you for asking me to do this transition one, but for all of the leadership that you brought to the publications, to the magazine, to the events and to the fine shape that you left it in for me.

Elizabeth Bowman:

It was an honour, an honour to be part of it and really, really can't wait for those archives to become live.