By Lisa Stephenson
Evans Mirageas, Cincinnati Opera

A conversation with Evans Mirageas, artistic director of the Cincinnati Opera, is like watching a dealer shuffle a deck, never knowing which card will come up.  A superb story teller with an encyclopedic knowledge of music, Mr. Mirageas weaves the names (Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo), affiliations (La Scala, the Los Angeles Opera, the Lincoln Center Festival) and operas (major and minor) of his career with amazing ease and insight.

A native of Ann Arbor, and one of four children in a Greek-American family, Mr. Mirageas knew by the age of 10 that he wanted to be a musician.

“My fascination started with Greek weddings, baptisms and summer festivals,” he said, “because there was always music.  I wanted to be a clarinetist because I thought he was the star, and I wanted to form my own Greek wedding band.”

During his childhood music classes were an integral part of the school curriculum; his home town, a college town, hosted performances by major symphony orchestras with guest artists; and Mr. Mirageas flourished as a part-time employee at a local music store.  His future seemed destined.

As a student at the University of Michigan, Mr. Mirageas acquired a rare, and enviable, liberal arts education that suited his goal of a career in broadcasting.  He worked at the University’s public radio station, and attended copious lectures in music, literature, history, French, German and Italian.  

“I majored in speech, but I fashioned a broad educational background, which stood me in good stead,” he continued.  “I learned how to speak well, but I also pursued subjects that I was passionate about. Since the arts are interconnected -- music is linked to literature, to painting, to sculpture and to political history -- I prepared myself in the best possible way to become a promoter of classical music.”

After a career in radio, where he worked as a broadcaster, recording engineer and producer, Mr. Mirageas was appointed Artistic Administrator of The Boston Symphony Orchestra.  In 1994 he joined Decca Records, in London, as senior vice president of their Artists and Repertoire division, and remained there for six years until he started freelancing.  He accepted his current position in the fall of 2005, but continues to work as an independent consultant with orchestras around the country, scouting talent from San Francisco to New York, and from London to Chicago. 

A typical work day begins early (“To look after European clients, where noon is our 6:00am”) and is filled with meetings, rehearsals, auditions, appointments with agents and fund raising events.  During the summer season, when the Opera performs a quartet of works, evening performances extend his commitments.

Mr. Mirageas’ career has been fueled by a simple philosophy.  “I loved what I did so much that I really didn’t care about the money,” he said.  “And I’ve learned throughout my life that if a person really doesn’t care about the money - if it’s not the driving force behind a job or a profession - it will come.  I’ve had one, strong dictum, which is follow your passion.  I’m absolutely convinced that if you are dedicated, opportunities will follow.”

Today, the box offices at venerable symphonies are coping with challenges that could never have been imagined when works in their repertoire were composed.

“The world is changing,” Mr. Mirageas said, “and we face huge challenges in a visually oriented age, with information overload.  The Internet, high action music, and a thousand and one distractions, make it increasingly difficult to convince someone to sit in a concert hall, with 100 musicians wearing tuxedos and black dresses, playing a piece of music written by a dead composer, that can be difficult to understand because it’s often complicated and elaborate.  We have to reach out to younger, more diverse audiences, and we have to make it compelling.  Many orchestras are making great strides to find new audience members, but it’s not easy.”

And no matter where Mr. Mirageas ventures, customer feedback follows.  There are voicemails, emails and letters.  People speak to him at the concert hall, the vegetable market, the grocery store, the gym and the coffee shop.  “It’s a very personal relationship that we, in opera, have with our patrons.  Michael Kaiser, who is President of the Kennedy Center, once said, ‘You invite your audience members one at a time,’ and I’m eager to be in touch with every one of them.”  

And with even the most charmed careers, business and talent have to coexist.  “My advice is to study like mad,” he said.  “A singing career is a very, very hard thing to do. There’s a lot of ‘business’ in show business, and an artist is still a person who has to earn a livelihood. I’ve worked with very gifted people, and my professional life is threaded with one person after another who lent a helping hand.  What’s the phrase . . . ‘random acts of kindness.’  It’s important to know yourself well, and to work with people who are smart.  I always say that I want to be the dumbest person in the room, so that my job is to help smart people achieve their goals.  The way to begin a career is to be armed with a secure musical technique that is absolutely reliable, to find people with whom you can work and to have good advice from people you trust.”

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