I was able to attend NPAC, the National Performing Arts Convention, through an Opera America scholarship this past week. I wasn’t really sure what to expect or what I’d get out of the conference, but in the end it was a great experience and I am really grateful to have been able to attend.

10 Personal Highlights:

1. I got to see several familiar faces again, including Frank Oteri and Alex Shapiro.

2. I bumped into Kirke Mecham and got a chance to talk to him about his two operas, the first of which (Tartuffe) I sang the role of Orgon in grad school.

3. Met a lot of people and I wouldn’t normally have met through the caucus sessions. It was a very stimulating experience. One of the people was Alice Parker (of Parker/Shaw fame). She was very graceful and well-spoken.

4. Saw Nixon in China, something I’ve wanted to do ever since I learned about the opera. I wasn’t entirely sold on the third act, but really was amazed and actually moved to tears by many moments throughout the opera.

5. Was grateful that the final caucus session was organized by state. Again I got to meet some people in my neighborhood that I normally wouldn’t have had an opportunity to meet, especially the education folks at Utah opera.

6. The caucuses discussed many important issues. Diversity, arts awareness and education were brought to the fore. I was a little dissapointed that something about the artists themselves didn’t make it in to the national agenda, but c’est la vie.

7. Irony: the only person to actually ask me to send them some music without any prompting was a foriegner; specifically, a visiting orchestral conductor from south america. He explained to me that although they wanted the audience to come, they didn’t have to rely on ticket sales to keep going and therefore, they could program what they wanted to. That was a real eye-opener.

8. A singer/massous wants me (or someone anyway) to help her create a line of CDs to tune the shakras of her clientele, something minimalistic . . . we’ll see.

9. I met an old college friend, Dwight Bigler, who played for the premier of my first publicly performed song cycle as well as the workshop for my first opera. It was great to brush up on an old acquaintance. He’s now conducting a choir in Texas and I asked if I could send him some choral music.

10. Enjoyed many sessions, but was particularly inspired by the general session with Jim Collins. He suggested that we not try to follow a business model in the arts, because a business model is one of averages. If we want the arts to be great, we must follow a road of discipline and excellence, not averages. Excerpts from his book on this subject are at http://www.jimcollins.com/lib/articles/socialsectors.html

I could list more, but I’m lucky if you read that much. Anyway, it was a good experience and I’m glad to have gone. The conference did a lot toward recharging my batteries and gave me some really good ideas to try and implement.

All the best,
M Ryan Taylor