From all parts of the globe they came to Chicago Sunday to honor a most uncommon woman, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s general director, Ardis Krainik.
The Ardis Krainik Celebration Gala they called it–a fancy name for a concert honoring a no-nonsense executive who has always preferred plain to fancy.
But Krainik has always adored parties, and this party was a humdinger.
It began at about 3 in the afternoon and ended around 6:30 in the evening, making it as long as Lyric’s current production of “Don Carlo.” Luciano Pavarotti didn’t make it–the gutsy Krainik fired him in 1989 for repeated cancellations–but many other singers who were important to Lyric during Krainik’s 16-year tenure did. Given the fact that opera singers are usually booked three or more seasons in advance, the fact that so many international stars were willing to drop everything to be part of this event is a Krainik tribute unto itself.
Those with a mind for statistics would have noted there were 24 artists taking part, 25 musical selections, an orchestra, chorus and two sets. And by the time the last bottle of bubbly was uncorked in the festively decorated grand foyer of the Civic Opera House, the auditorium had a new name: The Ardis Krainik Theatre–an appropriate honor for a person who has spent practically all her adult life in this very theater.
Krainik, 67, who in June announced she would retire as Lyric’s boss lady after April 30, 1997, uses a wheelchair because of illness, but her spirits clearly were flying as high as the art-deco chandeliers in the lobby.
“I am overwhelmed and deeply honored by your thoughtfulness,” said a beaming Krainik from the stage where she was surrounded by a sea of singers and chorus members. The sold-out audience of 3,500 rose in thunderous ovation, before and after her remarks. Several of the artists were wiping away tears. And isn’t opera supposed to be about sentiment?
“You have made my life all the more joyful and fulfilled by your commitment to Lyric,” the general director told the audience of patrons and friends, but the reverse was also demonstrably true.
Opera impresarios don’t normally come in for such red-carpet treatment when they step down. Carol Fox, Krainik’s predecessor and Lyric’s co-founder, never got a Lyric gala all her own. But Krainik is special–a motherly matron everyone but Pavarotti adores, a tough opera boss who rescued the company from bankruptcy and turned it into a world-beater. Before long she had restored the Lyric’s artistic luster in the eyes of the international opera community. If one of the reasons the world pays attention to Chicago is the quality of its opera, she and her administrative team deserve a big bow for that.
All the participants, including the stagehands, Lyric Opera orchestra and chorus, and members of the Lyric Center for American Artists, were donating the services to an eminently worthy cause, the company’s educational outreach activities.
Several scheduled artists, including Renee Fleming, Ben Heppner, Mirella Freni and Nicolai Ghiaurov, were conspicuous no-shows, but plenty of others turned out for the gala, including Placido Domingo and Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Daniel Barenboim.
The tenor, who co-hosted the event with Lyric president Edgar D. Jannotta, gave the concert its most exhilarating moment when he joined pianist Barenboim for an impromptu rendition of an Argentine tango. He began the gala with a heartfelt spoken tribute to Krainik, while Barenboim dispatched Liszt’s “Rigoletto” Paraphrase with similar sentiment.
There were familiar quantities–company mainstays such as Catherine Malfitano in a riveting portrayal of Cio-Cio-San’s death, Frederica von Stade as Mozart’s Cherubino, Samuel Ramey intoning “Old Man River” and a gripping scene from Verdi’s “Attila,” Marilyn Horne singing old American songs and June Anderson setting off a stunning burst of bel canto fireworks in Bellini.
But there was also the pleasure of catching expected singers in unexpected guises, like Dolora Zajick as Saint-Saens’ Dalila, Michael Sylvester in a clarion accounting of Lensky’s aria and Von Stade cuddling up to a William Bolcom cabaret song. Bolcom also was represented by the “Gold” quartet from his Lyric-commissioned opera, “McTeague.” The able conductors were Bruno Bartoletti, Richard Buckley and Arthur Fagen.
In the end, though, it was Krainik’s party. Everyone who was present must have come away with a single thought: Before the history of opera in the late 20th Century is written, she will have her name written on much more than a theater. It seemed fitting that the gala brought all the performers on stage for a rousing “Make Our Garden Grow,” from Bernstein’s “Candide.” Krainik made Lyric’s garden what it is today, and, my, how it has grown.
More Top Picks Best Quality Krill Oil Supplements
Backstage, after the gala, the afternoon’s stars, chorus members, musicians and crew had some private moments with Krainik before the start of a lavish public reception in Lyric’s grand foyer.
It was a time of hugs, emotion and more than a few tears.
“What strength she has,” said Domingo, cheeks damp as he slipped off, minutes after the curtain fell, to a limousine waiting by the stage door for a flight to San Francisco. Onstage, Domingo had thanked Krainik for graciously allowing him to leave a 1985 production of “Otello” when an earthquake struck Mexico City, killing four relatives and endangering his parents. “She said, `Go, with God. Bless you. I will say a prayer.’ “
Others had time to reflect on what Krainik had meant to their careers.
“She always believed in me, often when others didn’t. This was my first major house and she’s always kept watching me. Now I’m going to do my first `Norma’ here. She’s an extraordinary woman,” said Anderson, eyes glistening.
“When I did my first role here,” added Zajick, “I didn’t have a lot of savvy onstage. In rehearsal, I had a dress that was too long for me, but I just put up with it, even though I kept tripping. Ardis told the costume people, `Why don’t you get out a pair of scissors? One inch shorter will make Dolora very happy.’ “
“I always called her the `Guardian Angel,’ ” said Malfitano. “She takes care of the artists. She knows what she wants, how to get it, and how to make artists welcome, loved and appreciated,” skills not always found, Malfitano noted, among general directors of opera companies.
Malfitano recalled when Krainik first proposed “Antony & Cleopatra,” in 1990. Malfitano demurred, pleading other commitments. “Ardis called me a few months later and said, `Now, Catherine, we’ve switched the program. We’re putting it into 1991. You can’t say no. You are my ideal Cleopatra.’ “
Malfitano accepted. “She is meaningful, from the heart,” she said of Krainik. “When she traveled, she used to come after us personally. She starts by thinking, `Which artists will we hire,’ then figures out repertoire. Today, that’s unusual, but Lyric is very singer-based.
“She made you feel a part of this family.”
Horne recalled that, when Krainik assumed command of Lyric in 1981, she’d called and said, ” `There’s a real lack here. You.’ She brought me back” after an absence of many years, Horne said.
Despite a sense of loss, expressed in many ways, there was, however, some humor. “I have a great story about Eva Gabor, Ardis and me, but I’m not going to tell it,” teased Horne. And she didn’t.