From the Stage to the Podium

Maestro Brandes, proper, in rehearsal with Vanessa Goikoetxea (Alcina), heart, and Assistant Conductor Philip A. Kelsey, background left. © Sunny Martini.

In 2016, Brandes scheduled a manufacturing of Handel’s Alcina at San Francisco State College, the place she was instructing and working the opera program. She deliberate to each design and direct, however when she discovered that the college’s orchestral conductor could be on sabbatical, she discovered herself taking on the baton as effectively.

“[I thought], ‘I’ve sung the function of Morgana various occasions. I’ve sung bits and items of Alcina in live shows. I do know this piece!’ Nicely, okay, I shortly found understanding a method after which understanding within the conductor means [are] utterly various things. So I used to be on a fairly steep studying curve,” Brandes admits. She recollects the exact second when she glimpsed her future as a conductor; with one gesture, she altered the form of a phrase, and the orchestra responded. “I used to be trying on the second violinist, and she or he seemed again at me with this radiant smile. That was it, after which I used to be actually bitten by the bug.”

Brandes went on to conduct Amelia al Ballo, Die Fledermaus and several other new chamber operas at San Francisco State. She had simply been accepted into The Dallas Opera Hart Institute for Girls Conductors when the pandemic hit, however this system continued over Zoom and culminated with every week on web site. “I assumed, ‘All indicators are pointing on this path,’ and so I left my golden handcuffs of tenure,” she says. “It was partially this Covid pondering of ‘If I knew I used to be gonna be useless in 4 years, is that this what I’d wish to be doing?’ And the reply was a really fast no. I’d somewhat simply take the leap. And I’m tremendous, tremendous happy that I did.”

This month, Brandes makes her Seattle Opera conducting debut with Alcina, having beforehand appeared onstage there as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare. Tim Albery directs, and Vanessa Goikoetxea sings the title function.

Christine Brandes made her Seattle Opera singing debut in 2007 as Cleopatra in Handel’s Julius Caesar, pictured right here with Anna Burford as Caesar. © Invoice Mohn.

Earlier than rehearsals started, Brandes instructed Seattle Opera she considers her background as a singer to be a secret weapon for fulfillment: “Being a singer and having been on the opposite facet of the pit is form of my superpower,” stated Brandes. “It provides me a way more intuitive relationship with the singers and the flexibility to react extra shortly and subtly to their wants. Alcina is a visceral piece with such absolutely realized, relatable characters—I hope the viewers feels instantly drawn into the emotional panorama of the story and swept alongside by this superb music.”