Opera Orlando’s performance of As One showcases the transgender experience at a time when trans rights are being challenged in Florida and across the US.
“It’s a binary representation of transness, which is definitely you know, it’s just the method that is used to tell this story." says conductor Alexandra Enyart. "It’s really not the only way transness is experienced. And I think that’s really significant for people to know is that we’re not all walking around with ‘before’ and ‘after’s. But it’s a good storytelling method for the purpose of this show.”
Enyart says she sometimes feels the weight of responsibility as one of a minority of trans conductors in the field.
“One of the big challenges and one of the big realities of of my life in my work is that for me, there is an aspect of, as far as I can make it, that is a huge win for my entire community. It’s been in moments, an incredible amount of pressure. When things feel dry, like in terms of gigs are drying up or even throughout the pandemic, I was like, am I letting down a whole community of people,” says Enyart.
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