Backstage Life: Bill Billingham

What is your role at Lyric, and how long have you held the position?

I'm an assistant conductor and have been in this position since the fall of 1995. They call us assistant conductors because we assist the conductor in any matters musical, like playing piano for rehearsals, conducting rehearsals when the conductor can't be there, listening critically from the house during stage/orchestra rehearsals, coaching singers, prompting, or conducting backstage.

What led you to work at Lyric?

I started my opera career in Germany. After my wife and I had two sons there, we wanted to return to the U.S., so I wrote to many opera houses asking about job opportunities. Philip Morehead, who was head of music staff and music administrator at Lyric at that time, wrote back with the most complete and encouraging information. I knew Lyric had a great reputation musically and fiscally, so when they offered me a position after my audition, it was a “no-brainer.”

What’s a typical day like for you?

Every day is different, but I’d say most typical is a six-hour day, either 10am-1pm and 2-5pm or 2-5pm and 6-9pm. One of those slots would most likely be a staging rehearsal, and the other some individual coachings with singers. So sometimes I'm working with just one person at a time, while other times involve many people in a big rehearsal. I'm most often at the piano, but always needing to keep my ears open to answer, or ask, any questions that might benefit the overall product.

What’s the most challenging aspect of your job? What keeps you committed to the work you do?

I think these questions go together. It’s most challenging to consistently perform at a high enough level to satisfy those with whom I’m working—singers and conductors. But likewise, the constant demand to perform at a high level is very stimulating. When you're surrounded by highly motivated, highly talented colleagues, it keeps you on your toes! 

What’s something about your job that people might not know?

Something that is very hard to describe is what exactly happens in the music-making between singer and conductor and orchestra. Leaving aside the complication of how an orchestra plays together, just playing piano for a rehearsal in a way that supports both conductor and singer can demand a lot of sensitivity and discretion. People might think that the conductor sets the tempo and the singer follows along, but the reality is that when two or more people are making music together, each is contributing and listening, acting and reacting, giving and taking. This, of course, is the magic of music, and being able to be in the middle of so much great music-making on a daily basis makes for a great job!

A favorite Lyric moment?

There are so many! One of my earliest, meaningful moments came during my very first production at Lyric (Xerxes, 1995)—when I was feeling insecure, I remember Ann Murray [the English mezzo-soprano title-role star] saying, “if you're here, you're ready!” I also have fond memories watching backstage at the old Grant Park bandshell while Renée Fleming, Elizabeth Futral, and Susan Graham joked around like school girls, or observing [composer] Bill Bolcom during rehearsals for A Wedding (2004) add or edit music as needed while [director] Robert Altman dealt with that all-star cast. Some fond moments would fall under the “fun” category: conducting a small offstage banda for Macbeth, when for a Halloween performance many dressed in costume though no one could see us; or waiting backstage in my dress (literally) with Jill Grove for our cue to enter in Wozzeck. Other moments belong more to the “inspiring” category: watching Christian Thielemann conduct the overture to Die Meistersinger (2012) on my monitor while sitting at the organ waiting for my entrance; or getting to prompt Der Rosenkavalier and experience the beauties and complexities of that piece with the up-close view from the prompter's box.

I'll never forget trying to coach bungee-jumping Rheinmaiden supers (Das Rheingold, 2005 Ring cycle) to mouth the words, though none of them were musicians or linguists; or the excitement of listening to the incredible riches of the Chicago Voices concert; or watching the front-row audience members sing along to some of the songs in Jesus Christ Superstar (2018). Another unusual memory is being a score-reader for the video director in the trailer parked outside the stage door during the taping of Orpheé et Eurydice (2017) for Great Performances. It has been a fascinating and rewarding career!

Beyond opera, what are your other passions?

Loving God and loving neighbor; wife and family; chamber music and art song; and coin-collecting!