Director Leslie Swackhamer collaborated with highly acclaimed visual artist Jun Kaneko and Opera Omaha for 3 years, in order to bring to the stage a Madama Butterfly that is unlike any production you've ever seen before.
The Houston based director makes her Vancouver Opera debut to direct the very same Butterfly for Vancouver audiences.
VO catches up with Leslie for our round of 20 questions:
Guilty musical pleasure?
Salsa and Tango!
Where do you love to sing?
In my car with my daughter and her friends. Very jolly!
What is your idea of earthly happiness?
A long walk on my favorite beach with friends and family, after a stellar dinner with wonderful food, wine and conversation. It would be nice to arrange for the stars to be out, and for the water to be warm, just in case a midnight swim is called for.
To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
Chocolate-dark chocolate. I cannot resist.
Who are your favourite heroes/heroines of fiction?
Captain Jean Luc Picard , Dumbledore, Frodo, Nancy Drew
Who are your favourite characters in history?
Elizabeth I, Galileo, Jacques Cousteau, Aphra Behn.
Who are your favourite heroes/heroines in real life?
The Dalai Lama, Julie Taymore, Desmond Tutu, Jun and Ree Kaneko!
Who is your favourite author?
William Shakespeare-there is a reason his stories are still being told. Living, probably Margaret Atwood-I read everything she writes!
Your favourite musician?
My sister, Betsy. She never met an instrument she could not play, and she played with amazing joy. But if I were to pick someone today to go and hear, it would probably be Joyce DiDonato-her voice is otherworldly and she is very special.
Your favourite composer?
My daughter, Sarah. She just composed a piano piece for four hands, “Dancing Fire”, which has won multiple awards, including best elementary composition for the State of Texas! It is playful, complex, and full of surprises, just like Sarah.
What quality do you most admire in a person?
Kindness
Your favourite virtue?
Kindness
Your favourite occupation?
What I do! I get to be around wonderful creative people all the time, and I’m the one that gets to inspire them to dig inside and find their best selves. All the while, I am being inspired by the composers, the playwrights, the originators of the operas and plays I direct. I feel like every play or opera I direct is a passport to adventure. Its hard work, sometimes slightly crazed, but incredibly rewarding.
What did you want to be as a child?
Brain Surgeon. I could list every part of the human body in latin by the time I was 12.
Your most marked characteristic?
I am an intellectual omnivore.
What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty, Loyalty and Humor.
For what would you like to be remembered?
A passionate commitment to making the world a better place.
What natural gift would you most like to possess?
I would like to be able to time travel.
What is your motto?
Theatre is not an escape from life, but a means of entering it more fully.
What non-opera song do you rock?
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY!
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