Both

AARON HALABE

Special to The Jewish News

ne of Michigan
Opera Theatre's
(MOT) most tal-
ented musicians
regularly per-
forms some of the
company's most
challenging roles, but he
never appears on stage. His
name is Mitchell Krieger and
he is MOT's director of ar-
tistic resources.
In an administrative capa-
city, Mr. Krieger assists with
repertory planning and cast-
ing, negotiates with agents
and issues contracts. In an ar-
tistic role, he uses his musical
training when called upon as
an MOT conductor. He made
his MOT conducting debut in
November in the company's
performances of Candide. He
also acts as artist liaison and
runs one of MOT's young ar-
tist apprentice programs.
"I wear a lot of hats. I do a

Mitchell Krieger's musical career has placed
him in front of and behind the stage.

lot of odd things," Mr. Krieger
says. "Right now we're in the
middle of creating supertitles
for Samson and Delilah .. .
I'd say that currently my job
is more administrative than
artistic, but both elements are
there all the time.
"The job has given me an
overview of opera that I've
never seen before as a conduc-
tor or member of a music
staff. I provide input regar-
ding conductors and directors
and help to evaluate the
logistics of being able to stage
particular operas. We have to
determine what the possibili-
ties are so that David (MOT
founder and general director,
Dr. David DiChiera) can
make decisions based on the
reality of situations."
As general director of Opera
Pacific in California (MOT's
sister company) and artistic
director of the Dayton Opera,
Dr. DiChiera consults Mr.
Krieger when making
casting decisions for the three
companies.

"He's a very fine resource
for me," says Dr. DiChiera.
". . I depend on Mitch (to
help) sort out the desirability
and the availability of a par-
ticular artist. When an agent
tells you that singer X is ideal
for a certain role, if the staff
person takes that as gospel,
we're in serious trouble.
"Agents often tend to sell
artists for roles for which
those artists are not ideal.
But it helps a great deal if the
person on the receiving end of
the information already has a
strong sense of what roles an
available artist is appropriate
for.
"And then the negotiating
process- comes into play. That
takes a very special skill.
There's a lot of back and forth
— a lot of dancing, as we say.
And Mitch has demonstrated
an excellent ability to
negotiate. But most impor-
tantly, he has had good ex-
posure to young artists. I
quizzed him about young
singers and I was impressed

with his evaluative process."
Mr. Krieger's evaluations
are based on his experiences
over the past 15 years as an
operatic conductor and
chorusmaster. His credits as
a conductor include HMS
Pinafore and Madame But-
terfly with the Cleveland
Opera, La Boheme and
Carmen with the New York
City Opera National Tour and
Kurt Weill's Love Life with
the University of Michigan
Musical Theater. His other
musical affiliations have in-
cluded assignments with the
Santa Fe Opera, Virginia
Opera, Des Moines Metro
Opera and Opera Pacific.
A native of New York, Mr.
Krieger began his tenure
with MOT in August of 1990,
after four years as an instruc-
tor in the University of
Michigan's opera program.
He says that a combination of
dealing with academic
politics and students who
lacked commitment made
him decide "that academia

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 63