COSI FAN TUTTE
Where: Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton St.
When: April 12-18
Tickets: $29-$153 from the Royal McPherson box office (250-386-6121) or rmts.bc.ca
Lucia Cesaroni clearly possesses singing talent, as those who’ve seen her in Pacific Opera Victoria’s productions of La traviata and La bohème can attest. But the Toronto-born soprano is equally equipped for the corporate world, where she serves as a consultant and coach for executives and sales teams at companies across North America.
The latter isn’t what brings her to Victoria: Cesaroni joins the Pacific Opera Chorus, the Victoria Symphony, and a cast that includes Hongni Wu, Owen McCausland and Christopher Dunham for four performances of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, which is being presented by POV for the first time since 2010 starting Wednesday.
“It’s challenging to put on in the modern context,” Cesaroni said. “It was written in the 1700s, so it’s challenging to find a way in.”
Cesaroni, who has her master’s degree in opera from the University of Toronto, is passionate about the business of music, and has written on the topic for Opera sa国际传媒 magazine. She also founded Cesaroni Cosulting, which puts her in the boardrooms of companies such as Bell Media. She imparts some of the skills that she learned over her career as an opera singer, from body awareness, breath work, and health and stamina to presentation skills, communication, listening, and feedback management.
“One of the big things I do is work with executives on managing nerves. We have a lot of techniques for that as opera singers.”
Cesaroni is an ideal candidate for the job. She splits her time between Toronto, New York, and Abruzzo, Italy, where her extended family is based. She’s also free to roam as she pleases, with dual citizenship that makes for easy travel between Italy and sa国际传媒, and a rare, non-immigrant visa that allows her to work freely in the U.S.
The sa国际传媒 caught up with her on the day she landed in Victoria to begin rehearsals for the role of Fiordiligi.
TC: Your relationship with Pacific Opera dates back to when you were 25 years old. Talk about your friendship with the company’s founding artistic director, Timothy Vernon, as it closes in on the 15-year mark.
LC: He’s been such an amazing mentor and friend. I’m not unique — he has mentored and shepherded and guided the careers of so many young Canadian singers. He looms so large in classical music in this country.
TC: Pacific Opera is too often underrated as a company, one could argue.
LC: Singers know that Victoria is a great gig. First of all, the leadership of Timothy and Ian (Rye, the company’s CEO) has established a really, really strong musical tradition, but they treat their artists so well. And Victoria itself is so lovely.
TC: You have said that artists often undervalue their skill set. Why is that?
LC: We need to be proving our value outside of the arts. Rather than just trying to get patrons in the doors, we need to be going out into other sectors and showing how valuable artists are.
TC: This boardroom coach approach seems like a unique one. Are there any other singers you know of who offer a similar training?
LC: I’m the only one doing these kinds of workshops and executive training and coaching. There are others who go back and get their degrees in business, and many other artists have found their way in corporate America in very interesting ways. Classical music could certainly use the help, but this benefits the companies, too. They are so conservative in their aversion to risk, and willingness to try change or evolve, whereas artists are very adept at doing this. There is a pianist I work with and a dancer I work with, and we are trying to build out these skills and employ more artists.
TC: More work for artists, that can never be a bad thing.
LC: We need to be training artists very differently so that they understand they will need to have multiple income streams, probably from multiple sectors. They need to make friends with the idea that you’re probably not going to derive all of your income from standing on stage and singing. There is still in our industry the idea that if you’re not 100 per cent focused on the craft then you are not serious, but that is simply not true. We have no choice but to adapt, evolve, and pivot.
