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Greer Grimsley force of nature and Valentine to opera fans Part II: Passion for the arts
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What's going on in Greer Grimsley's head?
Greer Grimsley will be performing John the Baptist in Salome in October. He says sixteen year old Princess Salome didn’t know any better because of her upbringing. Salome is the crazy princess whom the imprisoned prophet rejects adamantly. Princess has a slave chop off the prisoner’s head so she can kiss it. This is the biblical story Oscar Wilde lifted from the New Testament.
Princess will be played by Nadja Michael, a lithe and pretty woman who escaped from East Germany in the boot (trunk) of a car twenty years ago. She's a former swimmer and has two young daughters. Greer has one, sixteen year old high soprano Emma.
Nadja seems to be somewhat of an escape artist as she also plays Tosca. And wouldn't you know it, Greer would be her nemesis even there. He is a popular Scarpia, the corrupt and sexually sadistic police officer who pushes Tosca over the edge of sanity.
I am excited about seeing these two face off in October.
It’s tough to just survive in any opera as operas are as Greer says morality plays. I asked him why his characters always die. Greer says when you have a bad guy you expect the payoff, death. He says originally operas were meant for the creation of Greek tragedies. He says they are cathartic. So as such transformative? Wagner gets Freudian, for example. Authoritarian father, abandoned children, disempowered women . . . there are multitudes of books on Wagner. Geniuses says Greer. How can anyone understand them? They must be very lonely he says.
Pictured above backstage in 1996/97, supers Alfonso Garcia with a smile and a sword; Jokanaan, John the Baptist; Ron Mann right.
But about psychic transformation through art. Is that why Greer, an opera god who has performed the world over, has taken the stage in a prison? He would talk and then . . . a recital. It was part of a program he participated in called Affiliate Artists. The artists would even brave corporate lunch rooms. Which makes sense considering the need for corporate support of the arts.
Greer says, the program "Affiliate Artists" is no longer in existence. Sadly, I think one the Reagan policies did it in.
He continues by email from (cold!) Chicago, where he flew from San Diego after Tosca. Note: He tells a funny Tosca story at about minute thirty through thirty five in this video. It's the Artists Roundtable video on Youtube.com. Greer is to perform next in the world's largest opera house, Chicago, as Kurwenal in Tristan & Isolde.
On a somewhat related subject, I heard McCain speak on the floor of the Senate. He was pushing for his version of the "stimulus bill" and brought up the fact he thought 50 million dollars for the Arts in America was frivolous. If you split that up to the whole nation that is 1 million per state. I million per state for Symphony , Ballet , Theater, Opera. Nationwide, that relatively small amount works out to about $6.00 dollars a year for us tax payers or fifty cents a month. We spend more for a coffee! This type of thinking fails to realize the amount of commerce surrounding these nonprofit organizations. From restaurants to hotels , stores, bars parking facilities, real estate. I argue every dollar given to the arts in any community returns its investment ten fold. A great example would be Lincoln Center in New York. Once a veritable slum, now it is one of the most sought after parts of New York.
Can you tell I am passionate about arts in America? Ha. Arts are the conduit for things greater than ourselves.
Greer says when cities recruit, cities talk of the arts their city has to offer. Operas and sports teams too. Yet he says, sports teams can be bought and sold but operas stay.
Opera has come to be presented outdoors like sports as the San Francisco Bay Area knows. This June marks the third Opera at the Baseball Park, which was wildly successful last year on that warm summer night. Over 38,000 attended, spreading picnic blankets over the outfield to watch the simulcast of Lucia di Lammermoor. This year it’s Tosca, Friday June 5.
Verdi’s Il Travatore will be simulcast at the baseball park on Saturday, September 19. It’s the opening of the 2009 season. Music director Nicla Luisotti directs.
I got a great baseball shirt last year with the logo Opera in the Baseball Park.
This is like Switzerland says Greer. The Swiss celebrate their own with these huge outdoor screens. Like soccer fans. For example the German consulate contributed to the outdoor screening at Dolores Park of the World Cup a few years ago.
To be continued.
Salome unveiled at SFO October 2009
SFO's Tosca featured in film Milk
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