Oh, the opera! One can’t help but think of the classic art form without imagining ornate costuming, decadent surroundings, melodramatic lighting, sounds that rattle one’s bones and — unquestionably — extraordinary displays of lung capacity. Underneath all of that drama and flair though lies the heartbeat of it all: the music. That’s where people like Herb Mahelona come in.
Day to day, Mahelona serves as the high school choir director at Kamehameha Schools Hawai‘i campus on the Big Island, a role he’s held since 2011. He’s also the composer of 11 operas, having been commissioned by local organizations like Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre, Hawaiʻi Youth Opera Chorus and Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra. This year, he’s celebrating 30 years of opera writing since creating his first piece — a charming children’s production called Auliʻi the Last Menehune of Nuʻuanu Valley for HYOC.
“Opera represents the pinnacle of performing arts in any culture because it incorporates everything,” shares Mahelona. “It’s singing, it’s acting, it’s dancing, it’s instrumental music. There’s visual elements. Everything that you can think of for performing arts, it happens in an opera.”…