State Opera SA Artistic Director Dane Lam gives us a glimpse into his global life ahead of State Opera’s production of Carmen.
Tell us a bit about yourself in a nutshell.
I’m a conductor and arts leader. I started off conducting orchestras and opera companies, but I became increasingly interested in curating experiences for new and old audiences. Above all, I became a vigorous advocate for the immense value of classical music as a uniquely human connector in an age ruled by the algorithm.
What are you currently working on?
Leading two organisations on two continents (State Opera South Australia and the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra) alongside a guest conducting career means I have several projects on-the-go at once. I’ve just kicked off rehearsals for State Opera’s Carmen, a very special new production led by excellent Aussie director Laura Hansford and starring Adelaide’s own superstar soprano, Charlotte Kelso. I’m now in Hawai’i to take the orchestra on tour to Maui (our first interisland tour in more than a decade) and to open our Masterworks Season. Then it’s on to Beijing to open State Opera’s production of The Magic Flute.
What does your idea of the perfect day look like?
Waking up to gentle rays of sun, by the sea, with my beautiful wife, Sofia, and our precocious three-year-old son, Frankie. A strong black coffee, then a beach run and swim, and a simple breakfast of papaya, fresh lime and yoghurt. A bit of lazing around and reading, then a nature hike. After that we’d go shopping for some excellent ingredients, and I’d cook either a Chinese or Italian banquet to eat al fresco with our dearest family and friends (Frankie could stay up for it, just this once!). There’d need to be very good champagne, as well as some SA reds.
What is a wonderful moment of kindness you have experienced?
In December 2021, rolling COVID-19 lockdowns kept me locked in an apartment in China for the entire month. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in such deep despair. Out of nowhere, a special individual somehow secured special permission to drive me through the completely locked-down city to the airport. Thanks to this person’s extraordinary generosity, I celebrated New Year’s Eve in Singapore, breathing an enormous sigh of relief.
What is your favourite photograph?
This photograph is of me, Sofia and Frankie in Venice last year. We’d just finished a terrific week hiking through the Umbrian hills along the Via Francigena, from hill town to hill town, with then-two-year-old Frankie on our backs. It was my first time in Venice. A friend kindly took us out on his boat to San Michele, the cemetery island, where I visited Stravinsky’s grave, among others. It was the perfect end to my favourite holiday ever.
If you could own any piece of art, what would it be?
The original autograph manuscript of La bohème, in Puccini’s own hand. One of music’s greatest strengths is that it’s ephemeral. No performance is identical to the last, even with exactly the same performers, so each one is an act of creation. That means you can’t own music the way you can own a painting or a sculpture, and the closest we can come is the original manuscript. As a conductor, I can spend hours poring over the subtle details and peculiarities of a composer’s handwriting. They yield valuable insights into what the composer was feeling at the time.
Here’s $500. You must spend it in the next hour – what are you buying?
It’s $500 I never expected to have, so I’d be fairly frivolous. I’d gather my wife and some of our close friends and family, buy one (maybe two) bottles of excellent champagne, and sit on a terrace enjoying the bubbles and the conversation.
A restaurant in SA you’d recommend?
We chanced upon the restaurant at the Rob Roy Hotel the other night. It was an unusually balmy September evening, so we sat outside as the night drew in and drank an excellent cabernet franc. Much to the delight of the Singaporean side of my heritage, we chowed down on char kway teow, Singapore chilli king prawns and XO sauce cockles. It was a perfect evening.
What was the last film/TV show you watched?
Stanley Tucci’s Italian travel series is my favourite way to wind down after a long day of planning, emails and rehearsals. I’m a huge Italophile. The iconic sights, combined with Stanley’s inimitable way of engaging with the local cuisine, send me off to a very pleasant sleep.
Favourite way to unwind?
If there’s no time pressure, I love to plan, shop for and cook dinner parties for friends.
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Last book you read?
I’m currently in the midst of two very different books. The first is La forza del destino, a history of Italy that covers the Risorgimento and the events and personalities that led to Italian unification in the 19th century. The second is The Dragon Reborn, from Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time epic fantasy saga. I was incensed when Amazon cancelled the Wheel of Time streaming series, so I had to read the books for myself. Do Italian history and high fantasy seem like incongruous genres? I suppose so. Some people would have said the same about our Magic Flute set in a Hong Kong subway station, but our rapturous audiences would beg to differ.
Last song you listened to?
Mahler’s First Symphony. It’s steeped in folk song, set on a vast symphonic canvas that would go on to shape the sound of Hollywood, and Mahler wrote it before cinema even existed. We open our season in Hawai’i with this epic piece.
Carmen runs at Her Majesty’s Theatre from 17-24 October For details visit www.stateopera.com.au
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