Interview with Emma Jude Harris & Lili Tobias about Amy Beach’s Cabildo

Julieth Lozano in Cabildo. Photo by Ali Wright.

Amy Beach’s only opera, Cabildo, has made it to the stage less than a handful of times. The opera was premiered following Beach’s death, with only limited references -- quite literally just the manuscript.

Written as a chamber opera, it features seven cast members and a piano trio. 

Following its premiere in 1947, productions of the chamber opera featured underdeveloped concepts with wrong notes, not at the fault of the cast nor the director. The manuscript was simply too hard to read.

Lili Tobias, a freelance music engraver and former Boulanger Initiative intern, took on the job of engraving Beach’s Cabildo, resulting in her contacting many people to figure out where the original score lived.

“I knew that there was some usable score out there somewhere,” Tobias shared. “[But] there wasn't a score, they just had done an entire opera production from a manuscript.”

Tobias connected with Emma Jude Harris, a London-based director, who had put on the Cabildo production in 2019 at Grimeborn. Harris explained that reading from the said manuscript was “quite a nightmare.” 

Tobias and Harris got to talking and decided to work together to create a much more accurate engraving, one that could be used for future productions as well.

Tashinga Bepete, Helen Stanley, Peter Martin, Kieran Ryaner, Zwakele Tshabalala and Julieth Lozano, photo by Ali Wright

After weeks of working with Harris to learn about the piece, Tobias finished the engraving, and both the cast members and executive team were relieved. “I could cry with gratitude, and I think it's so important -- what she did -- in terms of accessibility,” Harris said.

Tobias shared that she loved the engraving process, but that it was incredibly frustrating at times. 

“The most infuriating part… [is that] it takes so long and there are always errors. [But] I get to learn this piece inside [and] out because I'm looking at every single note,” Tobias shared.

Zwakele Tshabalala and Kieran Rayner in Cabildo, photo by Ali Wright.

Cabildo is problematic. With themes of white privilege and complicity, the goal of the production was to highlight its issues while also showcasing Beach’s work.

“I think it's got a lot of plot holes in it,” Harris critiqued.

But with Beach being tossed aside consistently throughout her life due to her gender, her work was still worth publishing. 

Tashinga Bepete and the Del Mar Piano Trio, photo by Ali Wright

“[Harris] was like, ‘Oh, I wish we had an engraved version,’” Tobias shared. “I was like, ‘Oh, I'll just do it for you.’ So she agreed to that and that's why I started engraving it.”

The production post-Grimeborn took a number of tries. When the pandemic rearranged an array of performances across the globe, Cabildo was not immune to such force. 

“It was meant to be November, actually the week of the 2020 election, was when it was first programmed,” Harris shared. As a chamber opera production, facilities and cost are significantly cheaper and more manageable. But nonetheless, the timing made things frustrating for both Harris and her team.

Cabildo was eventually performed live September 7th through 11th, 2021, at Wilton’s Music Hall in London. The production was received well and critics raved about the performance.

Julieth Lozano and Kieran Rayner in Cabildo. Photo by Ali Wright.

“Harris has made sure that the undoubtable highpoints rise to their potential peaks, aided by a terrific ensemble of singers and musicians who move naturally around the simple set, and sing with conviction and charisma,” Claire Seymour from Opera Today critiqued.

“I would really love for that to, moving forward, have this become part of the...standard repertoire, in a way that it's not,” Harris said. “And I think that is now possible because of Lili [Tobias]'s work.” 

“All I want is for Amy Beach's music to be accessible to everyone and for it to be performed,” Tobias added, as she’s hoping to have it published. 

“And if it's not accessible, then it's not going to be performed.”

Experience the live recording from Wilton’s Music Hall until October 10, 2021.

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Author: Marlia Nash