Iron Road is a sweeping love story that takes place in 1886 during the final dangerous stage of laying the Canadian Pacific Railway. The opera follows a Chinese Bookman who has come to North America to find his fortune. His daughter Lai Gwan is hot on his heels in search of her father. Their journeys collide with those of James Nichol, the CPR's project foreman, who is putting into action his life-long dream of joining the east and west of the vast Canadian frontier. This provocative opera promises history, romance and tragedy in epic proportions.

Making a dream like this come alive involves many stages of production. From the genesis of composer Chan Ka Nin's idea, all the way to the final moments before the curtain rises in Toronto in April 2001, constructing the Iron Road is most certainly an awesome task. This year, thanks to Tapestry and Artistic Director Wayne Strongman, we're going to have the privilege of following the building of a new Canadian opera. Strongman and his colleagues are going to take us on a journey as we watch them construct Canada's very own Iron Road.

Wayne Strongman has joined us via email to discuss the challenges they'll be facing. First stop -- getting the goods and hitting the money trail:

CB: Hi! Before we get going on your current project, how about a Plato to Nato, brief history of Tapestry New Opera Works?

WS: We founded the company in 1979 as The Tapestry Singers, a professional vocal ensemble that toured the nation performing a variety of repertoire from classical to contemporary. Eventually the concerts evolved into more dramatic presentations. This lead to the "Great Canadian Music Theatre Project," an initiative that encouraged writers and composers to come forward with new ideas for the music theatre and opera stage. This was the basis for the current mandate of the company -- to develop and produce new and original works of Canadian music theatre and opera.

CB: How does your selection process work? What I mean by this is, does a composer or a librettist approach you with a concept?

WS: In the case of Iron Road, yes. Composer Chan Ka Nin came to us with the idea. We helped him find the appropriate writer (it took us four years!). Writing an original story or "book" was only part of the challenge. This art form requires a writer who can also write in an evocative but distilled style that becomes a libretto. A libretto consists of text that is completed emotionally by the music. Getting back to how to we find creative artists for the form. Once a year for one week, we put together a Composer-Librettist Laboratory that brings together writers and composers who have expressed interest in writing an opera, or whose work has been recommended to us. In an intensive week of working with different partners, rotating daily, the artists discover their own process for collaborating with one another. Out of this laboratory we now have three teams developing new work for the future!

CB: Do you provide funding for everything from the initial concept or does the artist deliver a completed work?

WS: Tapestry provides "seed money" for creative artists to get started. We assist them at each step of the way, with directors and dramaturges, and frequently provide actors, singers and musicians to read through the first drafts. When everyone is happy that the team is working well, and the project looks feasible, then we "commission" the team with assistance from arts councils, foundations and sometimes the CBC.

CB: How does the funding for a vast project like this work? Do you approach corporate sponsors or do all monies come from government coffers?

WS: Tapestry receives operating funding from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. Production funding is also secured from the private sector: individuals, foundations and corporations. New work is a particular challenge for fund-raising in the corporate sector since it is perceived to be "high risk". One way of adding to "the pot" has been to co-produce with larger theatrical partners who have a venue and can contribute to the production budget as well as the audience base. The budget is usually made up of thirds. One third private sector, one third government and public sector and one third earned revenue from box office and other sources.

CB: I read the information kit you've issued and at first glance it appears that you've got all your fiscal ducks in a row. However after talking to your staff, I understand that the funding process is a continual one. Could you expand a bit on this?

WS: The cultivation of funding partners is an ongoing challenge for Tapestry, since we are a relatively small company. The scale of the projects we are producing sometimes eclipses our image. And each project is so very different. But gradually we are finding that by consistently putting forward excellent and well-publicized productions such as our last opera, Elsewhereless by filmmaker Atom Egoyan, that the tide has begun to turn. Tapestry's reputation for excellence both in Canada and abroad is growing. (I've taken calls from Hong Kong and Dusseldorf while writing this!)

CB:Once you've got the cash in hand, where do you go next?

WS: Unlike commercial productions, we are on the move even before the cash is in place. There is a lot of faith involved here, and it may sound fiscally uncertain, but our budget projections are based on many years of intelligent guesswork. We always have two or three "fall-back" production budgets matched to revenue expectations. As we pass each of several "cut-off" dates, we revise the budget accordingly. It is not uncommon for the full funding to arrive just before production. I might say that there is very little cost over-run in our productions, and we have consistently exceeded our revenue expectations and balanced our annual budgets.

CB: Thanks so much for your time. We'll be checking in next month to find out how goes the great adventure on the Iron Road. Any ideas or teasers as to what our members might expect to discover?

WS: The Iron Road Education Program is coming along nicely. It will touch the lives thousands of children and youth illuminating this important moment in Canadian history. Some students in the Toronto area will even get to create their own opera!

More: Tapestry New Opera Works

Wayne Strongman, Artistic Director
Ken Aucoin, Director of Development

Heritage Project page on Chinese immigrants' contribution to the Canadian Pacific Railway: "They say that for every mile of railway, one Chinese man died."

Write to: Tapestry Musical Theatre