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"All I care about is that the singers are secure and comfortable."Īdams originally wrote the role of Cleopatra for someone else (Julia Bullock, who had to pull out of the production around six months ago owing to pregnancy.) So when soprano Amina Edris stepped in, he had to start changing notes during rehearsals to better suit the timbre and range of her voice.Ĭory Weaver/San Francisco Opera Soprano Amina Edris as Cleopatra in San Francisco Opera's production of Antony and Cleopatra. "The idea of actually learning all these entrances and bringing them in exactly where they belong is really a treacherous thing," Adams says. There are few melodic arias and the scenes are packed with fast-paced, back-and-forth between characters. Sellars says he'd rather the performers' improvise if they bungle something until they can get back on track.īut Adams says his latest work is especially complex and disorienting for the performers. "And so it creates a rather brittle performance." "With a prompter, you don't get any emotional grounding, you're just desperately trying to save your skin," he says.
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That's largely because director Peter Sellars, who collaborated with the composer on these productions, says prompters can distract performers from being in the moment. Atomic and Girls of the Golden West - which both took place under the auspices of San Francisco Opera - didn't use prompters for performances. However, the world premiere productions of works like Dr. The operas of John Adams employ massive forces, driving rhythms and vocal lines that mimic human speech patterns. "And if they are aware, they think it conceals lights or something."Ī brittle performance - or a sense of comfort? "When I tell people what I do for a living, most people are not even aware that there's this box," says Piatt. He also attends every rehearsal, and makes notes about what cues to give in his score, and meets with each cast member individually to develop a prompting strategy tailored specifically for that person. Piatt has been studying Adams's rhythmically and tonally complex score for months in preparation ("Basically, you have to have the score memorized," he says), so that he can help the performers hit all the right notes in all the right places. The prompter helps with cues in difficult moments by speaking, shouting or waving his arms in their direction. But performers don't wear earpieces, and it can be tough to hear the orchestra properly from the stage it's likewise challenging to see the conductor under the glaring lights.
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Piatt will spend the entirety of every performance during the run concealed under a hood in this stuffy little enclosure, located right on the edge of the stage, front and center. "We always joke about putting in a wet bar, but we haven't done that yet," he says, with a chuckle. There's a wooden stand to hold a musical score, monitors to view the conductor, a fan to deal with the heat, a phone to call stage management in case the audio or video feed goes out, and a small electronic keyboard, conveniently Velcroed to the side of the box, to help the prompter give pitches - though Piatt said this is rarely needed, as most people who do this job have perfect pitch. The prompter is invisible to the audience, and he may be only one person among the roughly 250-strong cast and crew, but he plays a major role in keeping everything from flying off the rails. Like the play, it's about the star-crossed romance of the Roman general and the Egyptian queen. Piatt is the prompter for the company's production of Antony and Cleopatra, a new opera adapted from the Shakespeare play by John Adams, who is considered to be one of the world's greatest living composers. From this vantage point, Piatt can view the entire stage through an opening that's about the size of the average suitcase. "I always have to be careful not to rip my pants," Piatt says, as he hoists himself into a seat and pushes a button to propel himself upward several feet, using a hydraulic lift.
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To reach the prompter's box at the home of the San Francisco Opera, Matthew Piatt heads under the stage and walks down a long, narrow passageway.