Listen to the interview here!
Tamara Black: Fine, thank you. How are you, Toni?
Toni: I’m great. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Tamara: I am the Executive Director of Berks Opera Workshop here in Reading. We present several fully staged operas a year, and our next upcoming show is actually in about a month. We’ll be at the Miller Center doing Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly.”
Toni: How exciting! Let’s go into the first question of the Project. What does inspiration mean to you?
Tamara: This is such a wonderful question for a singer, because in singer speak, “inspiration” is the inhalation of the breath, and that is really where singing starts. It’s from the breath, from air. There’s such a double meaning in this in that that’s how we sing, but also inspiration in terms of a larger view is educating young singers and educating our public into this wonderful art form.
Toni: So that’s what inspires you, is to first of all be able to breathe in a way that you can sing with the best quality of your voice, correct?
Tamara: Absolutely.
Toni: But then also inspire others in the education process to the work that you do.
Tamara: Yes.
Toni: Can you give me an example of the last time you were inspired?
Tamara: Every day, of course! My son, who is 15, came home talking about an anti-drug program they were doing at his school. He just finished ninth grade. That’s a big part of the public school education now. He came home talking about it and saying, “There’s a problem in school.” We started brainstorming how could we do that through opera? How could we make a difference? Actually, because of his input, my mother and I came up with a wonderful idea of a way to use a traditional opera and set it in a modern setting and use it to speak out against chemical abuse, and hopefully make our community more aware of this problem.
Toni: Is that an example of how you put inspired action into place, into practice here?
Tamara: Absolutely. We try to make everything we do relevant to something in the community to be educational in more than just the art form itself.
Toni: Tell me a little bit about how you put the inspired breath into practice here in Berks County.
Tamara: In every show we do, we have youngsters involved. Our orchestra is about a half-and-half mix of students – high school and college age students – and pros to mentor them. The wonderful Reading Musical Foundation is a huge proponent of this program called BOOT Camp – Berks Opera Orchestra Camp. They’ve been wonderful in supporting that. It’s a great way for youngsters to learn how to play in opera orchestras.
We also have young singers who aspire to be full-time musicians being mentored on the stage in stagecraft and singing by professionals coming in from Manhattan and all over the country and all over the world.
Toni: So you bring people in from all over the place to mentor these children?
Tamara: Yes, we do. Not children – I would say 19 through 25.
Toni: Wow. Who in Berks County inspires you?
Tamara: I think Berks County inspires me because of the wonderful support we have for the arts in this town. The patronage, the people who make it happen, who make it possible. If you look at the demographic of Berks County and Reading compared to other communities of equivalent size, our arts programs are remarkable. We’re so fortunate, and that is truly due to the wonderful people who really give of their time and their talent to make it possible.
Toni: We do have a big, supportive community here, don’t we?
Tamara: Yes, we do.
Toni: Can you give me a couple examples of some people in Berks County that inspire you?
Tamara: Sure, absolutely. My mother. I’m going to put her first, because – I’m not going to say how old she is, but she’s older than me, obviously – she was a career educator in the public school system as a musician. She played for Broadway shows. She’s done everything. Then, at the age of 63 she decided she wanted to be a conductor and learned how, which is, first of all in its own right an extraordinarily difficult thing to do, but she was also climbing a huge uphill battle because women conductors are very few and far between, and are still not well accepted.
Toni: Why is that?
Tamara: I don’t know, but there’s a perception there.
Toni: Anybody else you want to talk about that inspires you in Berks County?
Tamara: There are so many. I think Christopher Collins Lee, who is our concertmaster of the Reading Symphony, is truly one of the finest musicians I know. He gives. He is constantly mentoring young artists and teaching. He’s always coming back to this community to do concerts for maybe the Historical Society or for any other fundraising event when people ask him. He’s one of the most generous, kind people. In addition, he is a marvelous musician. He inspires all of us, I think.
Toni: How often do you get to perform?
Tamara: Pretty frequently, fortunately. The opera company does a lot of little outreach programs. We’re at Judy’s on Cherry a couple of times a year doing opera night. We reach out into some of the schools. We do educational outreach with opera programs into elementary schools in a partnership with the Yocum Institute, and of course, several operas a year. Plenty of opportunities.
Toni: What would you like your legacy to be?
Tamara: As a musician and as an artist, I would hope that it would be to grow an appreciation for great singing and great music in this town, to grow the opera company into something that is not perceived as stuffy or only for a certain segment of the population. I would like it to be something that is relevant and something this community is proud of.
Toni: Thank you so much for taking the time to be here for the Get Inspired! Project. We’re definitely going to have to check out some of your productions. Thank you so much, Tamara Black, for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Tamara: Thank you.
