The DMMO Years
The 2006 Season
As I begin to write about the 2006 season, I take a moment to reflect on the fact that I am at this moment sitting in a hotel room in Indianola, IA, having attended the opening performance of the 2024 Summer Festival. – Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Seviglia, and will be attending the opening performance of Richard Strauss’s Salome tonight. It has been eight years since I retired, and I can hardly believe that all that time has passed. Eight years! I will give a more complete report in another blog post but suffice it to say all is well here in Indianola. Now, back to the 2006 Festival. We were back to three mainstage productions plus the Apprentice Artist Concert. (This concert is now called “The Stars of Tomorrow”, The three mainstage productions were Mozart’s The Magic Flute; Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress; and Verdi’s Rigoletto. The first of these operas has always been a personal favorite of mine, and as for the other two, I had never had the chance up until that time to perform either one. I was curious about them both, and as for the Verdi, I was familiar with a couple of the arias, but not much else. I was indeed looking forward to the experience.
For the 2006 summer festival. I determined that I would need only three timpani and decided to take the three larger timpani. This would also allow me to see if I could take all of my household goods as well as the three timpani and my musical items – stand, sticks, etc. The previous season was the first for traveling with our 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan, but as my colleague Jim Holland ferried the Yamahas out and back for me, I was only responsible for my own items in transporting things back and forth. This season, I’d try for the first time to take all necessary items myself in the Grand Caravan. For timpani, I decided to use the Light timpani again – the three larger timpani, as I mentioned earlier. The scores required nothing more, and I was also curious to see if by only taking three drums, how much of my household goods I could “stuff in”.
As it turned out, I could “stuff in” quite a lot of my necessities. The experiment was quite successful. I happily loaded everything into the back of the Caravan (having removed the back seats) and off I went on my merry way. With this season, I pretty much perfected my mode of loading in and loading out. I’d get into Indianola the Sunday before the Monday evening first rehearsal. I’d offload the timpani and stool and stand first, then check in with the office manager, Chari Kruse. She held the keys and information regarding our rooms, and once I got my key and information from Chari, it was off to Room 100 of Kresge Hall. I am grateful to Chari for assigning me to Room 100 as it is one of the closet rooms to the loading area.
The Operas
The Magic Flute
As I mentioned before, the 2006 season started off with one of my all-time favorites, Mozart’s The Magic Flute. I will use the English title, as this production was performed in that language. I had loved this opera for years, and knew it well, although this would be my first opportunity to actually play the opera. The timpani part is, well, Mozartian. It is far from boring, and I particularly love the articulation in the overture. In many productions (particularly when costs are an issue), the timpanist doubles on the glockenspiel. That part is very tricky, and I was glad that I did not have to double, as my keyboard skills were by this time, fairly rusty. Mark had to be there as personnel manager, and the two of us devised sound effects for the thunder effects in the sequences involving the appearances of the Queen of The Night. Mark performed superbly on the glockenspiel. For the thunder effects, Mark played the thunder sheet, and I tuned the largest timpano to way below its lowest range, and “slow-rolled” on it – producing thunder like effect. It worked, and Dr. Larsen liked it. As far as the production went, it was a crackerjack of a performance. As was the custom, Dr. Larsen was both producer and conductor, and he cast included Eric Fenell, Courtney Ames, Janara Kellerman, Cindy Sadler, John Moore, Anne Vikre and Travis Richter. The stage sets were first-rate, and Anne Vikre was a memorable Queen of The Night. Kevin Maynor was an appropriately dignified Sarastro, and the production was quite a success. I must say that having the Light drums in the pit was a joy, as the pitch was clear and the sound sharper and less “plummy” than the Yamahas. That, and the fact that I used the Carlisle “Mozart” series of timpani sticks – made for a very satisfactory experience.
The Rake’s Progress
Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress was an opera that I had literally no experience with and had had only heard it in snatches here and there. Looking over the part, there seemed to be not much for the timpanist to do, but it only seemed that way. There is enough to keep one “on their toes” so to speak, and as I learned more of the opera, began to get caught up in it. Produced and conducted by Dr. Larsen, the cast was again a top-flight one. Featured were Tony Dillon, Karin Wolverton, Theodore Green, Dean Elzinga, Jacqueline Thompson, Cindy Sadler, Travis Richter and Aaron Sorensen. It was very good production, and quite successful. The cast did a great job in their acting, and I have to admit that one of my favorite parts involved more “dish breaking”. I swear, in the rehearsals they must have gone through well over two hundred dollars in table ware. Nonetheless, it was a very positive experience.
Rigoletto
Verdi’s Rigoletto was much more familiar to me, as I had played sections from it on prior occasions in my career. To look at the timpani part, one would think that it would prove to be a bore, but that is far from the case. One thing I have learned from my nineteen seasons at the DMMO was not to judge an opera from the timpani part or the score alone – but to get familiar with the opera -its plot as well as the music, and one can begin to appreciate it and start building one’s approach to interpreting the part, much as the soloist/actors do. Italian opera is full of passion, and the printed parts don’t convey it as well as getting to know the story behind the music. It was my fortune that I had the privilege of doing so during every one of my nineteen seasons at DMMO. The production was another one of Dr. Larsen’s, and he also conducted. Todd Thomas starred in the title role of Rigoletto, and John Osborn was the Duke of Mantua. Jane Redding sang the role of Gilda. These three stood out as the stars of the production. Todd Thomas was outstanding as Rigoletto as was both John Osborn and Jane Redding. It was an outstanding production all around, and I am glad to say that the DMMO has maintained those standards and has indeed improved on them over time.
Here is The Magic Flute in English – Australian Opera 1986
And her is Stravinsky’s The Rakes Progress:
And here is Verdi’s Rigoletto:
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