Thoughts from David Angus

Last Tuesday, Oneonta’s Center for Continued Adult Learning listened while David Angus spoke about his responsibilities as Music Director. Although some conductors will be absent during the staging of an opera, Angus described his fascination with the progression of an opera from the rehearsal room to the stage. For him, the excitement of opera lies in the transformation of the music from written score to a fully staged drama. Angus recalled conducting Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi with director Anne Bogart during the 2008 festival. As part of the rehearsal process, Bogart asked each singer how his or her character changed moment to moment within each scene. Angus was delighted to be included in the exercise. As conductor he represented the Music, which Bogart considered a character with its own development. Just as the singers playing Romeo or Juliet considered their feelings of love, anger and sorrow, Angus described how the music changed within scenes and what he felt each change revealed about the action of the opera and emotions of the characters. This summer, Angus can be seen in action as he conducts Menotti’s The Consul, opening this Saturday.