Thank you for visiting our blog!
I am Rumiko Hasegawa, Founder of More Than Musical in Hong Kong. To start off, I want to introduce myself and More Than Musical.
I often get asked why I started an opera company after retiring as a Goldman Sachs partner. It was definitely quite a career change!
I started singing opera arias about twelve years ago in Tokyo as a hobby when I was busy at work and taking care of my family. During this time, I experienced a magical moment. I found that singing opera arias lifted the lid off my heart. It was a spiritual experience, as these beautiful operas touched my heart and I even found myself with tears coming out of my eyes. I felt as though my soul got purified with the power of opera.
This got me thinking, why are there not more people interested in opera?
Reasons could include:
“It’s too long!”
“3 hours at the concert hall with thousand of strangers who seem to know what’s going on.”
“I am the only one who doesn’t know anything. It’s too intimidating!”
“I don't know the story and don't understand the language.”
OK! I hear you!
So I decided to start a new company to present opera to people’s lifestyle and to make opera accessible. We will break the barriers that keep people away from opera.
Yes! We will present an opera in 90 minutes, which is a commercial movie length. We will have a bar that you and some friends hang out at and before the opera, and meet the artists afterwards.
It will be located at a small intimate venue with no stage set up. The audience will surround the singers, and they will be up close and personal with them. Close enough that you can see the singer’s facial expressions!
I could not go on this journey alone, as I am very lucky to have Lucy Choi as my co-founder and Wei-En Hsu as our artistic director. They are just as crazy about opera as I am!
Our first opera “La Traviata” will be presented on June 17th and 18th at ArtisTree in Taikoo Place. The tickets are already all sold out! Thank you for your support!
We invited an opera director, Nic Muni, from the U.S. and he will also conduct two master classes on June 16th. It will be open for ticket reservation soon.
We will also have two opera workshop “Opera Inside Out” on July 2nd at PMQ as a part of HK 20th anniversary of Hand-Over celebration program.
I will upload weekly blog every Wednesday to share how to enjoy opera, especially “La Traviata”.
Please stay tuned! Check out our other programmes on www.morethanmusical.org to see if anything interests you!
Rumiko