In Australia, indigenous opera singers succeeded rarely till recently, a strong comparison with the century-old presence of black singers in America, - despite the overwhelming discrimination against them. In America, there was no recognised indigenous opera till postwar. As NY Times points out, 'That “Porgy and Bess” — written by three white men, the Gershwin brothers and DuBose Heyward — has become known as the quintessential opera of the black American experience is a symbol of both the systemic racism found throughout the arts and the specifically slow-to-modernize nature of the operatic canon.' But there was a long tradition of black 'ambitious music dramas', but operas? There's a brief history here.
In Australia, there was no such tradition until the work of Deborah Cheetham. In 2009, she set up Short Black Opera, a national not-for-profit opera company devoted to the development of Indigenous singers. It began with Pecan Summer, an opera that tells the historic story about the Cummeragunja walk-off. Here's that history and the story of the opera.
The goal of Short Black is to provide a ‘clearly defined pathway for Indigenous singers in the world of Classical vocal music and opera’ as well as increasing Indigenous representation in the opera community and sharing Indigenous stories to a wider audience.
Deborah Cheetham describes herself as a “21st century urban woman who is Yorta Yorta by birth, stolen generation by policy, soprano by diligence, composer by necessity and lesbian by practice.” On the Aboriginal Victoria website, she's described as 'A pioneer in the Australian arts landscape'. Here's the start of that story. 'She came to opera through plays and music pieces.Deborah is a member of the Stolen Generations and has spent the last 30 years finding her way back to her grandmother’s Country, Yorta Yorta Country. Born on Yuin Country in Nowra, NSW, she was raised by an adopted family in Sydney and graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Bachelor of Music Education Degree.' Read on here.
In 1995, Deborah Cheetham won a three-month scholarship to train in New York with Juilliard School of Music and the Metropolitan Opera. Back in Australia, she had her first major work, performed, a one woman (autobiographical) play 'White Baptist Abba Fan'. And then an opera - a Fellowship with the Australia Council for the Arts supported her first opera, Pecan Summer. That's where we start this week. It's the story of a young Yorta Yorta woman whose life is torn apart in 1939. Review here. 'Musically, this is an utterly lovely piece of work', wrote this reviewer.
What happens when Indigenous cultures are portrayed through opera? We're starting that conversation with Pecan Summer, recognised as the first indigenous opera in Australia. Cheetham's answer is here. “Music is my way of knowing the world and giving meaning to everything in it. As a performer, composer, artistic director, producer and educator I have worked to build pathways for Indigenous artists and new audiences alike. The work continues while there are still more barriers to break through. I draw on the strength of my ancestors every day and thank them for the song that lives in me.”
And how good a vehicle for such a story is opera? There's an account here of the opening night, with Deborah Cheetham's reflection. “Opera tells the big stories, and this is the story of the exodus of a people from their homeland. At the same time, opera is capable of dealing with intimate moments as well. Think of Aida, and that enormous triumphal scene that brings that second act to a close – but the rest of that opera is intimate moments, a love triangle over here, a betrayal over there. It deals with epic scale and intimacy. Pecan Summer is about the epic journey of the Yorta Yorta people, but it’s also about the intimate connection of a mother and a daughter, and what happens when that connection is broken."
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