Sometimes, anger and frustration become springboards for new beginnings and, in Libby Moyer’s case, a new opera company.
This upper Dauphin County native, who now lives in Mechanicsburg, started her own company, Camp Hill Light Opera Experience (CHLOE), all because another opera company refused to have her participate in the production of a show she had written.
“Most opera companies request to have composers involved, but not this one,” Moyer recalls. “They told me if I didn’t like it, then I should produce my own operas. So, that’s what I decided to do.”
Unlike the company who had refused her help, Moyer’s mission is to instill true collaboration by bringing together composers and singers and making sure that the performers learn the music and dialogue from the one who wrote it.
“Performers love that,” she says. “And it’s a rare treat in opera, as most of the composers are dead.”
But Moyer is very much alive, and CHLOE is her passion. The company presented its inaugural productions in June at Camp Hill’s Grace Milliman Pollock Performing Arts Center with the staging of Moyer’s original comic operetta “Not A Tenor,” followed by Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Patience”—all in one weekend.
The leads in both shows included award-winning performers, many of whom have studied their craft in schools such as Peabody Conservatory, Cincinnati College’s Conservatory of Music and Florida State University and sung nationally and internationally. That is not to say that local artists need not apply. In fact, Moyer says, there is no stipulation that performers couldn’t be local; they just have to be good. This year saw featured roles, actors, chorus and orchestra cast from the midstate.
“In theory, someone from Harrisburg could end up as our principal soprano, for instance,” Moyer says. “We have a couple of high school singers, adults from various backgrounds, and orchestra players from the Harrisburg and York symphonies. Imagine being a local student wanting to pursue a career in opera or theater and being able to stand on stage with professionals. Looks great on the college application.”
CHLOE seeks to offer audiences new shows they haven’t already seen. Its goal is to have one new work by a living composer/librettist and one work from any time period that hasn’t been produced in the region. Fortunately, Moyer has a vast supply of old operas and operettas that she unearthed when she was taking voice lessons. Partner that, she says, with the compact theater in Camp Hill, where microphones aren’t a necessity in order to be heard in the back row—and then fill those seats with a smallish but hungry market for new musical comedy.
“The audiences will hear the natural, wonderful voices of professional singers, backed up by natural, acoustic instruments, not a synthesizer,” she explains. “The operas I like are mostly the ones that make money, so shows I would pick for CHLOE would have broad appeal, easy-to-listen-to music, be fun and fast-moving and appropriate for most age groups. In other words, perhaps a little naughty, but no vulgarity, no foul language, no offensive situations—just fun. “
With no formal musical training on her resume but armed with a love of the art and marketing know-how, Moyer’s plan is to have the same sort of festival weekend featuring two shows—one brand new and one new to central Pennsylvania—for the next couple of years. If there’s enough support, a second weekend might be added. Another possibility is having another musical event during the fall and winter.
“I already have a whole list of possible shows to produce,” she says, “including an old vampire opera that has great music.”
