Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 15, Number 2, 1 February 1998 — HOT's Hot Hawaiian Director [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOT's Hot Hawaiian Director

By Paula Durbln Some kanaka maoli might eonsider grand opera remote from the kind of music they enjoy, but for Henry Akina, director of Hawai'i Opera Theater, HOT, it's a fine, old Hawaiian tradition. "I trace opera to Kamehameha i IV, to those two very, very young i monarchs who brought to | H^wai'i so many of the good aspects of European culture," he said. "Alexander Liholiho and i Queen Emma were opera buffs. 1 They loved the art form and used to appear in the opera as chorus members. Honolulu had its own opera house then, across from the palaee where the post office stands. An operatic tradition may not be the first thing people think of when you think of Hawaiian music, but it is there and it gives Hawai'i a mueh longer tradition than other communities have." Akina traces his Hawaiian roots through his late father, the son of a Punalu'u rice farmer. Henry Akina Sr. graduated from 'Iolani, worked his way through medical school and became a successful physician, counting 'Iolani Luahine among his patients, and territorial legislator. Butask Henry Akina Jr. how he got into

opera and he talks about his matemal grandmother, a Swissborn New Yorker who had grown up backstage at the Metropolitan Opera where his great unele was

choms master. "My grandparents were very devoted opera fans and we had opera broadcasts on Saturdays. HOT was already a eompany when I was growing up, and watching this company I really heeame interested in the expressive possibilities of the art form." Drama club president at Punahou and a drama major at Tufts University, Akina went to Germany as a graduate student to

none ms ianguage skuis. rt was easy to go to the opera in Europe, but I didn't realize it had become my profession until I was already in it," he said. He spent 20 years in Berlin, 15 directing the Berlin Chamber Opera, and traveled to France and Hungary as guest director. "I was about to make my Austrian and Danish debuts when I took this job," Akina recalled. Like other successful Hawaiian baby boomers, Akina felt pulled home. "I had always felt a deep bond with HOT because it gave me my first real operatic experienee and I had also had a good time directing ' Maāame Butterfly ' in 1993," he said. "But there is an old proverb that an artist is rarely successful in his home town so when I eame for the interviews I didn't expect anything to work out." Of his selection from more than 50 applicants, Akina said, "I was very pleased and surprised." Now in his second HOT season, Akina is directing the Hawai'i premier of "MacBeth," by Guiseppe Verdi, whieh opens Feb. 27, spiffed up with the Iona Pear dancers as witches. HOT productions depend on loeal generosity. Most important are donations of space, from Kawaiaha'o Church for example, and time. "The chorus is all volunteers," said Akina. "Reinhart Pua'a is very special, easily the person who has volunteered the most. The choms has a lot of Hawaiian tradition and I think this goes back to a special vocal affinity. People have said there is a special color to Hawaiian singing." Akina points to Kamehameha Schools Alumni Glee Club members who appear in HOT productions; their director, Debbie Kelsey, her husband, daughter and son, Quinn, an especially bright young talent; and many others. Young people interested in an operatic career should join the ehorus, advised Akina. Those who can't sing — Akina said he gave up trying — ean work backstage. For information, eall HOT at 5967372. ■

"Alexander Liholiho and Queen Emma were opera buf¥s. Tlaey loved the art form and used to appear in the opera as chorus members."

Hawai'i Opera Theater director Henry Akina keeps reminders of his Hawaiian roots close by at the HOT offices.

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