We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Smith recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Amanda, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I have had a longstanding passion for exploring alternative creation methods and cross-disciplinary collaborations for opera and other styles of live music performance. My path started while studying music as a singer at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) in Waterloo, Ontario. By the end of my first year, I was feeling creatively stagnant and looking for different ways to engage with music to keep myself motivated in my training. Classical music was not giving me the art school experience I had been hoping for! In my second year, I was designing and staging my school’s choir concerts, not knowing yet what directing was, and by my third year I was learning about opera directing on my off time from Graham Cozzubbo as his assistant director on a production at the Glenn Gould Opera School in Toronto. By my fourth year, I began customizing my studies to learn more about directing, dramaturgy, and collaboration for opera. To accomplish this, I was provided the opportunity to take the WLU opera class as a stage director – the first time this was done at WLU. I even wrote my own course syllabus for this new stream. Since my own school did not offer the courses I needed as an opera stage director, I cross-registered at the University of Waterloo where I studied directing, and dramaturgy and undertook a directed study with a professor who specialized in devised creation, also known as collective creation. For this project, I led a collaborative process with WLU’s Improvisation Concert Ensemble to co-compose a musical narrative. This was my first time leading and developing an experimental creation process, and I have been hooked ever since.

I share this quick overview of my starting point from thirteen years ago because it offers a clear picture of the unconventional approach I have taken to developing my craft as an opera stage director and creative producer. Afterwards, I had a healthy mix of both formal and informal training, including an extensive amount of hands-on experience, observing others, as well as building and executing as many creative projects I could handle as a freelance director and Artistic Director of the company I founded, FAWN Chamber Creative. Not having a recipe to follow has meant that I have had to pay close attention to what truly interests me, what would be most beneficial to learn, and how.

A couple years ago, I decided to go back to school to refine all of the knowledge I have accumulated over the years as a collaborative opera creator. I’m now in my final year of a Master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies at York University, where I am continuing the creative investigations I began 13 years prior at WLU. Combining studies in musical improvisation, devised theatre, and psychology (I studied psych before going into music), my research focuses on the devised opera process and how it impacts empathy in artists and audiences. My goal was to refine my own creative practice, both practically and theoretically, so I can share these methodologies with others who are interested in co-creating new opera and music-theatre.

Amanda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am an opera stage director and creator based in Toronto, and the Founding Artistic Director of an experimental music and opera company called FAWN Chamber Creative. I have a deep curiosity and excitement for alternative creation methods, especially those that are highly collaborative in nature and bring different kinds of people together to create something unexpected. With this approach, I often work with artists from other contemporary art forms, such as new media art, electronic music, and contemporary dance. My collaborative, process-driven approach allows me to be flexible and work within a wide variety of project frameworks, and keeps me growing as an artist, producer, and collaborator. I truly believe there is no shortage of inspiration when you open yourself up to unfamiliarity, especially when you have trained yourself how to be adaptable.

I am currently exploring a few different collaborative methods through various ongoing projects, including a devised horror opera that FAWN is developing with contemporary dance company Rock Bottom Movement, and a new graphic score opera called Cells of Wind by composer Anna Höstman and librettist Oana Avasilichioaei. In January 2024, FAWN also led a co-composition workshop of a queer-techno-opera called Belladonna by UK librettist Gareth Mattey. I am especially excited about the projects I’m producing with FAWN, because each one of them teach me something totally new about the vast potential of what opera can be and how it can be created.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

One of the most important things society can do to ensure a thriving creative sector is to support public arts education, in and out of school, so that socioeconomics alone are not a barrier for children to be exposed to the arts. The arts are one of the first to be cut in schools during times of financial strain, like the ones we are in now. Not only does arts education give people the opportunity to pursue art, it gives them the learned appreciation needed to also become patrons. The arts needs people to nurture it, whether it is as artists, donors, or ticket buyers. Early exposure to the arts gives people time to learn what they like and for art to have a real impact on their lives so they can develop a personal connection with it. What people do with that connection gets to be an informed choice later in life.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Opera struggles with a lack of diversity in its creators and repertoire. This is, in part, due to systemic and structural barriers that make it more challenging for some than others to train in opera and classical music. This means the pool of people who can create opera is quite small and is not an accurate reflection of the general public. The industry is working to change this but the change is slow. Through my work in devised opera, I hope to offer options for growing the community of opera creators, so they can, in turn, broaden the operatic repertoire in ways that better reflect society today. My personal artistic passion is in experimental music but the collaborative processes I specialise in can be used by creators of all kinds, and that is what I am most excited about.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.amandasmithopera.com, http://fawnchambercretative.com
• Instagram: @amandasmithfawn, @fawnchambercreative
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/3DamT9NUFX4?si=Ue9TtbGQoxqAPJL1

Image Credits
1.+Chamber+Werx+1.jpg – Jeanine Williams (singer), Ana Toumin (singer), Anne-Marie MacIntosh (singer), Georgia Burashko (singer), Dominica Greene (dancer), Graey Indigo (dancer) SYN+IV+distortion+.jpg – Jennifer Nichols (dancer/choreographer) 14. CT nov 30 sm.jpeg – Doom Tickler (musician) 15. l’homme 2015 show.jpg – Adanya Dunn (singer) 35.+Seven+Deadly+Sins.png – Chelsea Pringle-Duchemin (singer) 49. Belladonna pic.JPG – Amanda Smith (director) DSC08734.JPG – Amanda Smith (co-creator) pandora pic .jpeg – Aaron Durand (singer), Jennifer Nichols (dancer/choreographer)