The Santa Fe New Mexican du lieu suivant : Santa Fe, New Mexico • 15

INSIDE CLASSIFIED C-2 I itit-aiay SECTION StiLL ivaLtincj fox tliz at adu 9 i CELEBRITY WATCH: Christie Brinkley was spotted in Haagen-Dazs on Monday with one of her children Brinkley wearing a short skirt chambray shirt and suede hiking boots attracted lots of attention including that of owner Fred Libby Libby gave Brinkley a tour of his new Water Street eatery Caf6 Cassis Actor Matthew Broderick Ferris Day Off) was in Santa Fe last week to scout locations in Los Alamos and Las Vegas for a film he plans to direct and star in The project written by screenwriter mom is a profile of the late Los Alamos scientist and Nobel Prize-winner Richard Feynman Feynman worked on the atom bomb at LANL and was one of the developers of the theory of quantum electrodynamics More of us recognize his name from the book he wrote for lay people about his work Surely Joking Mr Feynman! Opera diva Mary Jane Johnson works out at the Santa Fe Spa Well wait no more Today's opera are more likely to be singing Hotel St Francis owner Patricia Taylor called off the replacement of a pinon tree on the hotel veranda Tuesday when maintenance man Ed Carroll discovered that the resident finch had hatched her sixth set of newborns in her nest in the tree The new dwarf Albert spruces were moved in but the pinon will remain until the three baby birds grow up and fly away said hotel sales manager Kathleen King So who gets the cigars? i or lit) iia who are used to a lot of action in action New opera audiences understand the foreign languages operas are sung in and know the story lines so more physical movement also is necessary to get the point across he said Singers who look more like their roles and more like svelte movie and television celebrities may help hook newcomers to the opera But the most important benefit of fitness for singers is probably the concomitant improvement in their voices Mills maintained is still a musical art form If going to be touched by opera going to be the music" she said what makes the hair on the back of your neck stand Sheri Greenawald has been cast in the lead of the 1995 Opera Theatre of St premiere of an opera based on New Mexican Frank classic The Woman at Otowi Crossing Greenawald a Santa Fe Opera favorite is cast in the role of Christine in this SFO production of Intermezzo Contemporary composer Stephen Paulus of St Paul said the whole project on which he is working with librettist Joan Thome came about in one of those typically strange Santa Fe ways friends of mine from Minneapolis moved to Santa Fe and on one of their trips back they said your next giving him a copy of classic he said Paulus thinking sure" put off reading the book Meanwhile the St Louis general director Charles MacKay wrote a letter to Paulus making the same suggestion Paulus finally read the book and loved it Last year he visited the 93-year-old Waters who lives in Arroyo Seco very enthusiastic about Paulus said The two-act work follows the theme of the spiritual awakening of its main female character It was commissioned by the opera for its 20th anniversary and yet another Santa Fe connection will be directed by Colin Graham who also has staged productions for SFO Paulus also composed an opera based on the book The Postman Always Rings Twice ionq I a believer in the old adage I over the fat lady you could be sitting ill your seat at The Santa Fe Opera this season when the sun comes up Which is not to say that the days of the robust diva are over But more and more often when not on stage or rehearsing female singers can be found lifting weights jogging swimming or taking a step aerobics class Soprano Mary Jane Johnson who sings the title role in Puccini's Tosca at SFO this summer tries to put in an hour and a half a day at the gym lifting weights on the stair-stepper and treadmill and doing abdominal exercises do it for myself and my singing is much better because of it" Johnson said trend (in opera) is more toward acting and looking the part get a lot of parts because I look the part as well as can Johnson who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and has been athletic since childhood said her current role is a physically demanding one is a run-around part" she said imaginejat people doing this part because it is a strenatfus part" Erie Mills who performs the role of Anna in Intermezzo this summer at SFO works out at the gym three times a week doing step aerobics riding a stationary bicycle and lifting weights me up vocally and physically" Mills said The light lyric soprano who has been singing professionally for 18 years said she began focusing on fitness eight to 1C years ago vitally important I thuk I would do ii even if I a singer" she said Mills said spending 200 to 25 days a yr i the road and invarr' aung in reMHtirants also makes regular exercise must for preventing weight gain and staying healthy Like Johnson physique plays a role in the roles she lands she said At feet 2 inches tall she fits into a size 6 and into the parts she most often is cast in those of daughters and maids really be 300 pounds" she said Elizabeth Futral at 30 the youngest of the three women speed walks two to four miles a day and lifts weights Futral who plays the role of a bird in the American premiere of Judith The Story of Blond Eckbert at SFO this summer said she recently became dedicated and more rigid" about her workout schedule realized there was some weight creeping on" said the tall slim lyric coloratura Futral added more weightlifting to her fitness repertoire at the suggestion of an SIT) choreographer Her bird role requires her to hold sticks in the air for prolonged periods of time and she needs the extra strength she said Futral said she believes casting directors for operas now place a higher premium on fitness than they once did you have two people who sing as well as each other and one is heavy and the other the other one will be she said SFO singers the only women in opera who are into fitness The trend toward fitter divas is at least nationwide and probably global said Gary Wedow chorus master at SFO of movies because of television because of operas being on TV and made into movies the era is gone when the public would accept a person who does not look like the character they are Wedow said And he noted body is your instrument when you are a singer Opera is an incredible act of stamina stronger they are physically the better going to sing The body has to train to do this kind of acoustic aerobics" But Wedow and the three women singers all said having the ideal physique remains secondary when the voice is extraordinary' a certain point where the vocalism is so exceptional that willing to suspend and accept a singer who is too large or for that matter too small to visually match a role Wedcrw said Carroll Freeman a Houston tenor who also directs and produces operas and is rtistic director of regional operas in Mississippi Arkansas and Oklahoma said he knows three women opera singers who recently signed contracts with companies that required them to lose specified amounts of weight even had to see a trainer" he said Freeman said he necessarily agree with that kind of arm-twisting but added he insists on physical fitness in his singers Freeman is directing a modern version of Cosl fan tutte In Come scoglio which historically has been performed as a and bark" aria where they stand there and sing version of the character Fiordiligi "runs all over the place" and must be in shape he said not so much the new directors as the new audiences" who expect opera singers to look good as well as sing good he said am trying to reach new audiences Soprano During the recent rodeo parade Geoff Gorman of Ilorwitch IwAllen stood in the doorway of the Palace Avenue gallery and saw grand marshal cum songster Michael Martin Murphey ride by waving to all at streetside When Murphey saw that Gorman waving Gorman said Murphey yelled at him "You Santa Fe galleries all have an attitude" Does Gorman have an attitude? "I waved at him after he asked me to" Gorman said knows? Maybe he'll buy some art now" City Manager Ika Pino and wife Kathy are parents of Aaron Ricardo Pino born last Saturday morning at St Vincent Hospital How nice of Kathy to arrange the birth on a weekend so Ike have to miss any City Council meetings Photo by Bnyart) Morton courtaay of Th Santa Fa Opwa Erl Mill In tho rol of Amlnta In tha 1987 SFO production of Straus' Die tchwelgaama Frau The New Mexican Story by'Hollis Walker your mifofe? Digamet Call ta Mitotcra'l hotline 986-6699 anytime.