CANCELLATION FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LOOKING GLASS

A journey in three, maybe four, parts

FROM BEHIND THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CANCELLATION LOKKING GLASS

Greetings, faithful readers. I am so grateful for you giving of your time to read my words dashed out on the computer. I have so many topics I have wanted to write about, and I shall write about them in the coming weeks, months, hopefully years. Seventy-six years’ worth of things stored in my head need to get out of there and shared.

But this one will be different. This one is about cancellation from the other side of the looking glass. I think we all know vaguely what cancellation is and if asked I bet one would be hard-pressed to define it in specific terms. Until you have actually been there, and hope all of you will never experience it, you cannot even begin to fathom it. Trust me there.

As musicians, or anyone who cares about their work and life knows, we rise and fall on the acceptance of our work and ourselves. Don’t let’s fool ourselves. In spite of all psychobabble, this is something we carry from infancy and applies to any job or project we undertake. I say it does matter how one is received be it by a parent from infancy to the end of life. We all look for “well done” from our first words as babies.

This writing will be, I think, in three parts. It is not meant in any way as self-defense or justification of someone’s perception of me or of my work or life. As we look back to Salem trials we laughingly go to that city and voluntarily put ourselves into the stocks and pillories for photo ops. How could those awful people expose those people “guilty” of “witchcraft” to the public humiliation in the town square? Surely there must be another way. And yet, here we are. From Salem to McCarthy to now we humans have not changed.

I have been concerned that writing this will again expose myself to such pillory-izing and so I have hesitated. It has taken me six years, and counting, of therapy to even begin this. I have further been spurred on by the hostile reception from the administration of Opera Theatre of St. Louis to my wanting to attend their fiftieth anniversary celebrations, as I was an intimate and intricate part of that success for thirty-nine years. Man’s inhumanity to man. I can’t say I have always in seventy-six years been the most considerate person, but I can say that a good 99% of that time I was and to the betterment of many who just might have forgotten their origins.

All that said, HERE GOES.

PART ONE

Overture

Six years ago, I was enjoying the remaining years of a very long, fruitful and unexpected career. I never knew that just being a truthful and humble musician could allow me to go for so long and with the blessings of so many. Timothy O’Leary in a tribute concert for and with me in St Louis said, “I do not think that anyone will doubt that Stephen Lord has the biggest heart in the world of opera” or words to that effect. It felt good and it felt deserved and humbling. There were accolades, there were funds in my name with millions of dollars in donations and as far as I was concerned they were more a tribute to my contributions than to my person. Many, many of today’s acclaimed singers of any race, size and voice I not only found but took a chance on whilst others probably overlooked them. A first step into a field is the most important step and this step up for them is perhaps my single biggest accomplishment.

During this period, I was also Music Director of what is now Detroit Opera in addition to St Louis. And I had an active life guest conducting in places I enjoyed. In the places I worked, I always insisted I did not have the final say in any casting matters or staffing matters. With each and every contract I insisted on the words “subject to the general director” be included so that I would act in concert and not completely solo. And I had a Head of Music Staff to deal with those hirings. I always enjoyed working in collaboration with others, even when we did not agree. I was continually aware of this and, in spite of what some may have thought, I did not sign contracts, nor did I make any decisions without blessings of my higher ups. Some of the allegations those six years ago were about my promoting careers through nefarious ways. Wrong. Couldn’t have happened. There were admittedly times when in a conversation or text there could be banter from both sides about it, but since it was two-sided it seemed it was all in good fun. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was naïve. Who knows.

Some years before that, Opera News paid me the ultimate honor of naming me one of the most powerful people in American Opera. I was gob-smacked by this and incredibly proud. The catch of it all, however, as I learned later, was the word powerful. It was a word that never occurred to me. I just went along my way and life not knowing such an adjective applied to me. I knew I could do things and had ability to persuade things, but certainly not a superhero power sort of thing. I was brought up to be humble and I remain so today.

So, then, this preamble will lead us to what comes next. In the second part I will show the flippancy of the initial instigator of this all, expose the journalistic malfeasance that took place, and some of the hateful reactions. In addition, I will put them in context and will use names and actual screen shots of the messages.

That part should be coming in a few days.