CHENNAI: How many of you have thought opera is all about screaming and breaking glasses? Well, this Women’s Day, Bhavani Anantha Subramanian, Nikitha and Mohammed Shammer attempt to break this perception through a 15-minute opera as a part of the Women’s Day edition curated by Crea-Shakthi at the Madras Mic Drop.
Bhavani and Nikitha were trained together in Western music at the KM Music Conservatory institute. Bhavani is from Tiruchy. Her love and passion for the opera, brought her to Chennai and now she is a part of AR Rahman’s opera band, Sempre Libera.
She recently performed with the band NH7 Weekender in Pune. “My performance at the MMD will show emotions of a girl. I will be performing Think of me, a love song, and I dreamed a dream,” shares Bhavani.
Stating that opera is a combination of both acting and singing without a mic, Nikitha explains, “Our performances have to be bold and expressive. We usually sing in Italian or German and it becomes tough for us to connect with the audience. So, it all lies in the way we act and explain what we want to communicate to the audience.”
Nikitha will be performing a couple of songs that will depict the different characters of women in different situations. “The songs I will be singing and enacting are more on the lines of portraying the power of women to heal a broken heart,” she smiles.
It took us by surprise when Nikitha shares that her neighbours told them that they were too loud when they were rehearsing. “People find it annoying because of the volume and pitch. But again, it depends on the place we perform,” says Nikitha. So have they broken any glasses yet with their voice, “No way!” she laughs.
Talking about Chennai’s response to opera, Bhavani who has performed across the country, says, “When compared to audiences in other cities, people here welcome opera. They understand the passion and energy in this art form and appreciate it.” Nikitha adds, “I found Chennai audience to be less distracted when we perform. This means they do enjoy it more than anyone else.”
Opera is relatively new to India and as a teacher, Nikitha aims to identify more students interested in this and direct a few dramas herself. “I also want to perform more of opera especially in our regional languages.”
Shameer, who has composed the tunes for the opera, shares his thoughts on how different it is to compose music for this act. “The approach towards making music here is totally different. It’s all about an individual’s effort. The singers should be able to read and predict music notes easily on stage. We do not rehearse together; we meet for a few hours before the show and rehearse once,” he says.
The Madras Mic Drop will be hosted by Abishek Beckham, a full-time theatre artiste and a part-time stand-up comedian.
(Catch them perform at That Madras Place today from 8 pm onwards. For details visit bookmyshow.in)