Dalia Ibelhauptaitė: “During these three years, I understood what it means to be inspired” | Culture

We spoke with Dalia just 24 hours after the tickets went on sale, and when we booked the interview spots for the exclusive evening, there were no more seats left. What feelings overwhelm the director and producer herself, seeing such interest?

D. Ibelhauptaitė: “First of all, I am very excited, I feel very loved and appreciated. I’ve always said that by buying a ticket, by going to see your work, a person is showing their love, their trust and their need for you. What you do is needed. That’s why such a wave, an influx of people’s reactions, all the tickets were sold, to such a complex opera… This shows what we are worth, that we are missed, that Lithuania needs us. I am truly touched and grateful for the support over the eighteen years since 2006. This is a fantastic gift…”

As Dalia herself will say later in this interview, the hardest thing is to be loved at home. This can be confirmed both by the VCO soloists and by herself, who has established herself as a creative producer in Hollywood in the last few years. Having started working together with her husband Dexter Fletcher, today D. Ibelhauptaitė has signed her individual contracts for six different film projects. Among them – a western, a musical, a sports drama and even two grand films with a budget of 150 million. Some of them are in the earliest stages of creation, others already have approved scripts. “What I am doing now is the highest position ever held by a Lithuanian producer in A-class Hollywood films and productions. My last name has not only a separate line, but also a whole separate frame in the main credits,” smiles Dalia. She adds that such scales are very helpful in distinguishing the most important things and deciding what is most important at the moment, and completely change the goals of the work:

“Now it is important for me to draw the attention of all of Lithuania to what we have the best in the global context. “There will be no repetition” is a moral commitment and a tribute to Lithuania, bringing those works for which our soloists stand up and are loved by the audience all over the world. Now I want to do things that make sense and become our cultural history. I see myself as a creative VCO superprodiuseręwhich will make every effort to gather the best we have, like a national Olympic team, and with it will present works that we may not have even heard in Lithuania, if we were not determined to do a full-blooded production with VCO. The most important thing will remain what we have always emphasized: to appreciate the achievements of our stars and to see the younger generation next to them.

Our phenomenon, born in Congresses, must continue and I believe that people will love this new format. It won’t be a “bare” concert, there will still be theater in it, we will creatively use the space and existing possibilities, but will it be “Salomeja” directed by Dalia Ibelhauptaitė? No. But will it be the Salome that Dahlia has put together from the small pieces of the puzzle to make it happen at all? Yes. But Lithuania doesn’t need Dalia’s Salome, now it needs Asmik and Kost’s Salome, and the fact that I can gather them all for one evening, bring them to the door and put them on stage is the greatest achievement. Because some of them have their schedules filled until 2029!”

Dalia says that she currently has no place to direct in Lithuania, because the new LVSO concert hall is completely unsuitable for theatrical activities, and the soloists no longer have enough time for rehearsals to be able to prepare new productions:

“We are not competitive with (in this case) Asmik’s or Kosto’s contracts abroad, we cannot rehearse for several weeks or show ten performances. It is necessary to adapt to new circumstances and constantly change, while maintaining the highest quality vertical. This is how we, reacting to all the circumstances surrounding us, understand that today a cycle like “There Will Be No Repeat” is the most important thing we can do, as if to strengthen the golden decade of Lithuanian opera for the youth and the future generation.

At the same time, I bow my head low to Amber [Rinkevičių]. Eimuntas Nekrošius told me that you have to build a house for your work yourself, because no one else will build it for you. Through his stubbornness, faith, Amber did it. Now we have a place with the best acoustics in Lithuania, and this also gives us a completely new angle of activity, aiming to use that sound to present the country’s best voices. In addition, the new cycle will be an opportunity to hear talents not one by one, but their harmony in a hall adapted for this purpose.”

Greta Skaraitienė/BNS photo/Dalia Ibelhauptaitė

In fact, in recent years, we can read and be surprised, at the most important opera festivals and stages, not even one Lithuanian artist appeared together in the main roles. Asmik Grigorian and Violeta Urmana, Aušrinė Stundytė and the conductor Milda Gražinytė – Tyla, or Kostas Smoriginas and Edgar Montvidas, who became permanent guests of the festival in Bregenc, which has an impressive stage on the water, and the list goes on… Dalia was one of the few people who could watch achievements of Lithuanians abroad, until in Lithuania they had to stop their activities for three years due to the renovation of the Congress Hall. How did it change her own perspective?

D. Ibelhauptaitė: “Those years provided an opportunity to review both the past and the present. It is unreal that our people have established themselves and become a “festive part of everyday life” on the biggest stages of the world. It’s not like they sang once and never got invited again. We are talking about a journey through all the most important scenes, filling them with the performance of the main roles. For example, during the last season in Covent Garden, all the big performances were accompanied by at least one Lithuanian in the main role. All season long! Our soloists are confident and, above all, provide the highest quality of vocals and acting seen in world opera today.

I’m reading The New York Times after Asmik’s Madame Butterfly performance at the Metropolitan. They write that they are blinded by the actor’s level of detail, depth, complexity, and such things that they have not seen on the New York stage for a long time, or maybe never… This is really a lot. After reading it, I cried because it was a confirmation of our work, our school. The workmanship, the quality, the depth, how much a person gets out of it after you put so much into it is very sensitive. After all, when you plant, you never know how many of those seeds will sprout… And how many people back then in 2006. laughed and mocked when they heard that Dalia told the soloist to go to the sports club, look like models, work like movie actors. And now – here they all, who grew up with us, have that acting, so necessary for the opera soloist of the 21st century.

Should we talk about those who grew up with us from the beginning, like Asmik, Edgaras, or those who went abroad on their own and we were always looking for them, setting ourselves the task of not forgetting Lithuania, for example Aušrinė Stundytė, Almas Švilpa, Justina Gringytė or currently the miracles in the most complex Richardos Vida Miknevičiūtė, who performs in Wagner’s parts… Just like Tadas Girininkas, Rafailas Karpis, who often shine brightly in Lithuania… All of them have now reached maturity and are well seen and appreciated.

Greta Skaraitienė/BNS photo/Dalia Ibelhauptaitė

On the other hand, during those three years, I also understood what it means to be inspired by seeing more and more beautiful young people following the paths of their elders. There is already a bright new generation of Lithuanian opera, which was either with us in the VCO ensemble as LMTA students, or simply went to the performances, seeing how older colleagues grow. They grew up braver, watching and thinking: I want that too! Now I see Gabriela Kupšytė in Covent Garden, Žilvina Miškinis in Germany, Karolis Kashiubas and many others securing their positions.”

Looking at the bright forward movement involving artists from all over the country, as well as the achievements of representatives of Lithuanian cinema and visual arts, it should be remembered more often that behind their achievements are many people and consistent work. We talk about it louder and more often, but do we really capture it? Dalia herself always remembers her experience “growing up” in the Youth Theater. Here she spent her youth, watching the leadership of Dalia Tamulevičiūtė and the unfolding of the magic of Eimuntas Nekrošius’s work. With a smile, she remembers her duties in the theater – a year and a half head of the pedagogical section and half a year of being promoted to the head of the musical section:

“We more often know directors, let’s call them builders, whose work is based on the creation of individual performances. They are currently also the foundation of the western opera world. However, there is another type, whose example for me has always been D. Tamulevičiūtė. This is an educator. Would there have been Nekrošius without her? No. Without her, would there be such a Youth Theater as it was then and as it has grown into today? No. My work with VCO is directly influenced by my experiences in the Youth Theatre.

It is very important to me that the soloists still meet me today after their premieres, or call me and, you know, they don’t listen to praise, they ask what was wrong, what can be done better. Then you realize that they are where they are because of this quality – because they are interested in what is wrong and important, how to improve. Of course, it is also expensive that they continue to trust me.

I will reveal one thing: during those eighteen years, I have seen and understood that for all of them, regardless of the size and scope of the stage, the biggest thrill was going to the Vilnius Congress stage. We have seen the most nerves, tears and fears here because there is nothing more difficult than being loved at home. Can you believe that you are needed here.”