Libsyn Directory

Kangmin Justin Kim Transports Us Through Time and Culture with M. Butterfly

Release Date: 07/30/2022

Special Announcement: Help us win an award!

Destination Santa Fe Opera

Have you ever wondered what it takes to create a new opera? Season 5 of Key Change, from the Santa Fe Opera Department of Community Engagement, is coming soon and we’d LOVE for you to help us celebrate its 5th anniversary. We just learned that Key Change is a FINALIST in the Signal Awards for the podcasting industry! We are up for 2 different awards: Best Music Show for the 4th season; and Best Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Episode for “Telling Hard Truths”, an episode following the commission, creation, and world premiere of This Little Light of Mine by Chandler Carter...

Life Skills, Music Making, and Billy Bad the Billionaire: Youth Opera Programs with Amy Owens and Charles Gamble

Destination Santa Fe Opera

It’s encore time! After a brief hiatus to appreciate a triumphant 65th summer of opera in the desert, Destination Santa Fe Opera returns with one last conversation to close out this podcast season. Host Jane Trembley chats with Charles Gamble, SFO’s newly appointed Director of School Programs, and Amy Owens, newly appointed Director Designate of the Young Voices Program about how opera’s inclusive, collaborative storytelling can boost self-esteem and confidence in young people. Charles and Amy also share the paths that led each of them to their current positions, and they provide...

Getting to the Next Phase in Your Opera Career featuring Technical Apprentice Khadija Ann Tarver and Apprentice Singer Thomas Cilluffo

Destination Santa Fe Opera

Santa Fe Opera plays host to more than peerless productions. On stage and off, spend the season learning by doing at one of the most celebrated and welcoming training grounds in the world. Host Jane Trembley chats with technical apprentice Khadija Ann Tarver and apprentice singer Thomas Cilluffo about their respective programs, what advice the pair have for aspiring apprentices, and their plans beyond Santa Fe. “I was coming in open-minded since I didn't have a traditional theater background,” admits Khadija. Talent earned her a coveted spot on this season’s props and carpentry team,...

Kangmin Justin Kim Transports Us Through Time and Culture with M. Butterfly

Destination Santa Fe Opera

Bad romances don’t come much better than the complicated relationship at the heart of . Host Jane Trembley talks fantasy versus reality with countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim before his Santa Fe Opera and U.S. mainstage debut as Song Liling in this operatic world premiere. The pair also discuss the psychology behind Justin's character, transitioning from musical theater to opera, and building representation in the classical music community. “There are a lot of dichotomies in this piece,” Justin says of the lopsided love affair between French diplomat René Gallimard and Song Liling, the...

Jamie Barton on Epic Singing, Queer Characters, and the Heart and Complication in Tristan und Isolde

Destination Santa Fe Opera

There’s no such thing as a “little” Wagner. Host Jane Trembley catches up with internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton in anticipation of the epic Santa Fe Opera debut of . The pair chat about the thrill of performing this legendary tale of love and betrayal––and why Richard Wagner’s music is totally worth leaving the house for! Jamie also discusses interpreting her characters through a queer lens and transcending the score to create meaningful art. “I love this character!” says Jamie of the empathetic Brangäne. “She reminds me of myself in a lot of ways.” For...

Larger Than Life: Verdi’s Falstaff with Quinn Kelsey

Destination Santa Fe Opera

Who’ll serve the infamous jolly knight his just desserts? The list of candidates is long, and their scheme is hilarious. All will be revealed when , Giuseppe Verdi’s classic farce, arrives on the Santa Fe Opera stage. Host Jane Trembley speaks with Hawai’i native Quinn Kelsey about embodying the larger-than-life titular character and learns why comedy is more challenging to play than tragedy. Quinn also answers the million-dollar question: what would the celebrated Verdi baritone ask the great composer if given a chance? If you think you know Verdi, think again. “[Falstaff]...

A Fresh Take on The Barber of Seville with Apprentice Alumni Emily Fons and Jack Swanson

Destination Santa Fe Opera

There’s a reason why remains one of the most popular operas in the world. Gioachino Rossini’s comedic masterpiece never fails to delight audiences with its lively music, whirlwind romance, and inevitable happy ending. Host Jane Trembley speaks with mezzo-soprano Emily Fons and tenor Jack Swanson about their approach to providing a fresh take on one of opera’s most familiar tales. The pair also give advice to anyone encountering The Barber of Seville for the first time and share wisdom from their time in the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers. Plus, Jane learns all about...

Isabel Leonard on Interpreting the Iconic Role of Carmen

Destination Santa Fe Opera

Is there a more provocative or iconic character in all of opera than Carmen? This free-spirited, defiant factory worker reigns supreme as the original difficult woman––in the best possible way. Host Jane Trembley chats with Isabel Leonard as she gets set to play the titular diva in Bizet’s to open Santa Fe Opera’s 2022 season. The mezzo-soprano discusses her physical and emotional preparations for the role, how her Argentine-American heritage has informed her musical intuition, and her love for challenging the misconceptions that surround this charismatic, complicated heroine. ...

Creating New Worlds with Costume Director Blair Gulledge and Properties Director Eileen Garcia

Destination Santa Fe Opera

Bringing fantastical worlds to the Santa Fe Opera stage requires creativity, communication, and compassion. Host Jane Trembley chats with Costume Director Blair Gulledge and Properties Director Eileen Garcia about the intense year-round effort that goes into planning and implementing the designs for each season. She also learns how these two department heads collaborate with one another and their commitment to providing a kinder, more supportive working environment for their teams, colleagues, and the Opera’s guest performers. Scenery may set the stage, but costumes and props establish...

Making Magic and Managing Mayhem Backstage with Mike Ortiz, Technical Director and Tracy Armagost, Production & Recruiting Coordinator

Destination Santa Fe Opera

Flash floods. Supply chain issues. Safety briefings. Would you believe this is opera? Host Jane Trembley discovers that only at Santa Fe Opera does behind-the-scenes excitement rival onstage drama. She chats with Production & Recruiting Coordinator Tracy Armagost and Technical Director Mike Ortiz, the supportive, creative pair behind SFO backstage team. Tracy and Mike share their long histories with the opera, some of the magical (and nerve wracking!) moments they’ve helped bring to the stage, and exciting maneuvers to pay attention to in the upcoming season. “Our jobs mingle quite a...

More Episodes

Bad romances don’t come much better than the complicated relationship at the heart of M. Butterfly. Host Jane Trembley talks fantasy versus reality with countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim before his Santa Fe Opera and U.S. mainstage debut as Song Liling in this operatic world premiere.

The pair also discuss the psychology behind Justin's character, transitioning from musical theater to opera, and building representation in the classical music community.

“There are a lot of dichotomies in this piece,” Justin says of the lopsided love affair between French diplomat René Gallimard and Song Liling, the Beijing opera star who exploits Gallimard’s self-delusion to secure their own safety. “[There’s] lots of East and West, man and woman, truth and lies. It's very yin yang.”

The highly anticipated world premiere, delayed two years by pandemic-related scheduling conflicts, is an inventive operatic reworking by David Henry Hwang of his iconic 1988 Tony Award-winning musical. Composer Huang Ruo’s score complements Hwang’s libretto perfectly, providing intelligent references to Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and an increasingly distorted soundscape against which Gallimard and Liling's relationship reaches its inevitable conclusion.

Revisiting decades-old source material is not without its challenges. “I want people to understand that this is a period piece,” says Justin. “M. Butterfly lives in the past, and we need to watch this opera through the lens of the 1960s and the late 1980s when the play was first presented to the world.”

He challenges audiences to consider how far we’ve come in addressing issues connected to sexual orientation, gender identity, and Imperialism––and how far we’ve yet to go.