Theatrical backdrops are often gone unappreciated, but they make opera extraordinary. Backdrops stretch the confines of the stage into endless possibilities - they invite us into secret bedrooms, palaces and courtyards, let us experience idyllic villages or open the horizon with a countryside landscape. They are the cradle of action – the opera singers, conductor and director create the drama, but backdrops build worlds.
For me, opera is thrilling because you get exposed to all the elements of the production and it is seen by a large audience. Opera is a much more complicated, aesthetically driven art form - lives through the performance of the singers, the music from the orchestra, costumes, makeup, lighting and scenic elements. All things need to be put together, and each thing individually can’t do the things that they do as a group.
Over the last decade there has been an increasingly shift away from painted backdrops to digital versions. I must admit, I don’t have a degree in projection design. It is still a pretty young art discipline. The first degree programs were established only 10 years ago. So historically we all came from other fields. I am also not a scenic designer, but I worked in a theater before. I personally identify as a muralist, and I basically took any job that would come. Ars Minerva came through a referral of another opera group that I worked for. Working together with Celine Ricci, explode my notion of what opera was. We all have divergent skills in the creative team. With my mural background I have a sense of narrative and I try to create narratives within the image.
The best artists, digital or not, are the ones that can pick up a pencil, look at something and see it before they start creating. I wrote my PhD thesis about the murals in San Francisco, and it’s changed the way I paint and think about painting, when it comes to color, perspective and composition. Muralists often create the illusion of another place or time. Everything you need to know about storytelling you find in those murals.
I love to combine my hand-painted scenic backdrops with digital effects like in the rustic village scene, where the sky that fades from daylight into night during the sequence. This is a spectacular effect and wouldn’t have been possible in the old analog days.
The digital revolution in the theater backdrop world took place because the tremendous amount of work to hand-paint these large-scale backdrops, and it doesn’t stand in any relation to limited usage of small productions. They are difficult to move and require a temperature-controlled storage.
I often start analog and edit it digitally later. I usually have an image on my mind and start with the outlines. If I have no solid idea, I get in trouble. The idea must be visually strong, but the image shouldn’t attract attention. The backdrop creates the frame and the surrounding that we present the characters in. What in film does the camera, does the backdrop and lighting in opera. The backdrop is part of extending the world of the stage. I don’t want the audience to think too much about how the scenery occurred. It should make sense and is just there.
In early stages, I let my thoughts wonder. I go to the library or bookstore to find inspiration. Celine usually gives me the script and a mood board for each scene, that I get a feeling what she is imagining. I play a lot with perspective and my visual choices are focusing on telling the story well. I don’t ask for the color scheme. I want to know how it feels. What is the nature of the scene? Is it welcoming? Idyllic? Cold? Threatening? How do the characters interact with the backdrop? It becomes alive through them. You have to put yourself into the mind of the singers, because they activate it. How would he/she interact and move in a natural way? We also have to look at the time when the opera was composed. Ermelinda was created in 1680. Europe took big interest into Oriental themes in the 17th century. The artworks of that time are often clichés and depict aspects of the Eastern world that don’t represent reality. They are produced by artists from the west, showing what they wanted to see in Middle Eastern culture. You find majestic architecture and picturesque landscapes, sensual delights and shameless desire in harems, fanatical warriors and ruthless conquerors, wise thinkers and researchers, oriental princesses and headscarf girls. I am sure Domenico Freschi was also inspired by these pictures, when he let the plot of this opera unfolds in Phoenicia, Lebanon.
Rosaura’s Apartment
The backdrops create the atmosphere. They form the world the protagonists are living in. Look at Rosaura’s Apartment. What kind of person is Rosaura? Her name means “rose”. Her girly pink saloon is a very emotional piece that reflects her personality. The delicate pink color tells a lot who she is - She is a romantic, playful, charming and very feminine young lady. During gatherings she amuses Ermelinda as well as Clorindo with interesting conversations. She represents an inspiring, beautiful and educated hostess. I created an oriental princess rose bed in the first version. I imagined her as a lady, lying on her bed, who would receive close friends who would sit on pillows as traditional oriental floor seating. But the setting seemed a little bit too private, so we decided to go with a cozy living room atmosphere. It’s the most lavishly furnished room with a chaise lounge swan sofa, a Moroccan hand-painted coffee table and impressive pink rose curtains and drapes that make an elegant statement to complement the oriental design style. I matched colors with the dresses from costume designer Mathew Nash. The aesthetic of the room fits Rosaura’s richly colorful and extravagant Marie-Antionette dress overflowing with roses. She tries to please her guests. Her eccentric way of dressing and luxurious interior design is a way of self-expression, in a woman’s world where everything is about appearance.
First draft for Rosaura’s Apartment - Inspired by Snow White’s princess bed
Matching colors with the costumes
Courtyard with cloisters
My courtyard with cloisters is a reference to Egyptian architecture from the 19th dynasty. Auguste Racinet's “Ancient Egyptian Palace” is a particular iconic image. The cloisters were a great setting for all the intrigues. The courtyard is the centerpiece of the building, a palm tree garden with a water fountain gives room for private conversations. But the arrangement with columns becomes also a hiding spot for Armidoro and Aristeo. They want revenge after they discover Ermelinda with her lover. The accelerated perspective gives an enhanced sense of spatial depth. It took me a couple of sketches to find the appropriate viewpoint, that you can see the long column hallway as well as the open space of the courtyard.
Suburban village
For the suburban village I wanted to create a desert oasis where you get greeted by towering palm trees standing at the entrance of the village. To make the setting as authentic as possible, I chose a real village in the heart of Lebanon. It’s called Deir el Qamar and dates back to the 13th century. There is not much going on in the village. Very calm - a perfect place for Ermelinda’s father to safe his honor. I liked that the village has a rich cultural heritage and is very open. All religions exist in this village. You can find a mosque, a synagogue, and many Christian churches. I was surprised how green the mountainside looked like and it is inviting Ermelinda to dream of her lover. The limestone brick building, beautiful gardens and vegetation are simply magnificent.
Desert countryside with solitary palace
At the desert countryside with solitary palace, Ermelinda feels very lonely. She is out in the fields working. Clorindo is captive in one of the rooms of the palace. I created an inside view into a large vaulted room to show the prison. In the second floor you see a Middle Age metal cage which was just big enough to fit a human into but not big enough to move. The victim would be left there without food or water until a confession was admitted or the person would die. The palace is based on Sidon's Sea Castle which was built by the crusaders in the thirteenth century as a fortress of the holy land. I especially liked the small dome on the roof of the tower.
Delightful garden
My delightful garden is designed after the concept of an ancient Islamic garden. The arches are inspired by the apple trees in the Highgrove Royal Garden. There are over 120 references to the “garden” in the Qur’an, and it is meant to replicate paradise on earth. The origin of the word Paradise comes from the Persian word, “Pairidaeza” meaning a garden enclosed by walls. Walls are an essential element to give shelter from the heat and desert winds. I incorporated keel shaped arches along the walls of the orangery. Ancient gardens were constructed with a central water fountain and pathways with running water. It’s a symbol of life, purity and wealth. Rosaura is very confused and sad in this scene. With the orange tree arches, I wanted to create a place where she goes to relax her mind. Imagine the exotic citrus aroma and the tasty fruits. The beautiful trees provide shade, and Aristeo tries to comfort and seduce her here.
Room in Perspective
The room in perspective draw people’s attention to the Ermelinda and Ormondo’s endless love. The infinite is incorporated in the highly complex arabesque decorations on the semi-transparent walls as well as in the geometrical layout of the building with the long hallway. I used the one-point perspective to show the eternal love. Ermelinda is desperate because she thinks Ormondo is dead and she wants to die to be faithful to him, but then the story turns, and it becomes a happy end. It is a beautiful reminder how love grows stronger and stronger with each step you take together and how the possibilities become limitless.
I am not making too many sketches. I usually only draw as much as is needed. I change the perspective in each backdrop which goes parallel with the different angle of the story. If I am not satisfied with the result of my painting, I put it on the wall of my art studio for a few days, while I work on other projects. I take a fresh look from time to time. See if something bugs me and change it. But until the rehearsal, you don’t know if the idea was good. Sometimes it looks beautiful and it seems to be a great idea, but it is not. You only can hope that it does work to tell the story the way you want.
All creatives have to play together in the same space. It works like an orchestra. Everyone plays together. Collaborating with directors is very different than with the singers. The performers interact and move in the space. They activate the backdrops through their storytelling and make the audience believe in the depth of the landscape.
The work with lighting designer is important, because the light shapes the stage. I don’t have much technical experience with the projection, but I try to tell a story with the image in the background and then Thomas does the same on the stage with his lighting. The creativity sparks in moments when we don’t know if something is possible. It’s sometimes terrifying, not knowing if something works. You think it’s a great idea to do it this way, but you don’t know. We both tell stories with light and background – it’s a very unique process.
In theory, everything is easy, but it is often much more complex in reality. Technology often answers our prayers, but also gives us headaches sometimes. When the subtitle takes too much away from the backdrop or the background is too light for the text. Maybe no one in the audience notices what we fixed last minute at the rehearsal, but we are very proud how it works at the final show.