Concert will poke fun at outrageously pompous divas of opera.

Byline: FRED CRAFTS The Register-Guard

WHEN FRANCIS GRAFFEO went to the Eugene Airport to pick up a certain famous opera star several years ago, he didn't realize he would be in for the ride of his life.

The first thing he noticed as he drove up to the loading area was that she was carrying some houseplants from her apartment in plastic bags. As the limousine rolled to a stop, Graffeo got an earful.

"She just about refused the limousine," Graffeo recalls, "because it hadn't quite pulled up to the right spot at the airport to pick her up. So, I had to displace someone pulling into a handicapped parking spot so that this limo could back up to where she was standing. Then, the limo wasn't clean enough in the trunk for her luggage.

"We got her to the hotel. She tried out three rooms before she got the one she liked." he continues. "At the concert's intermission, she said, `I will not sign autographs after the show,' then, after the show, she comes out of her dressing room and says, `Well, where do we go to sign autographs? I'm looking forward to it.'

``A young, shy woman approached her with a poster for her to sign. She puts the poster in front of her and she goes, `Where'd you get this?' And the young woman says, `At a music store.' And she said, `These are supposed to be in store windows. You shouldn't have this. I will not sign this.'

"It goes on and on."

Graffeo will tell more of these amazing stories about the unnamed singer - one of the world's great opera stars - during the Oregon Mozart Players' Candlelight Concert on Friday and Saturday because she epitomizes the concert's theme: divas.

"I'm trying to make a point in the concert of defining the word `diva,' because I think some people struggle with that. In fact, I did. We all kind of have an idea about what it means, but we don't have a dictionary meaning in our heads. It's the Italian word for goddess."

Although the word is innocent enough, Graffeo notes that it has, when applied to certain singers, gotten a bad rap over the years: "A diva, in the worst connotation, is someone who pitches fits and is very demanding, emotional and difficult."

Like the one that nearly drove him crazy in Eugene.

Graffeo pauses to recall an article he once read in Time magazine about the same diva.

"She was riding in a limo in New York and the air conditioner was either too low or too high. At any rate, she wasn't comfortable. She's sitting in the back seat of the limo. She gets her cell phone out and calls her agent and tells him that the air conditioner is not right in the limo. So, the agent calls the head of the limousine company, and the limousine president calls the driver in the car and tells him to turn down the air conditioner."

Now, that's a diva!

Yet, despite all their temper tantrums and self-indulgences, Graffeo insists, "We love them."

"In the bigger cities, where there's more operatic presence, there's a bigger community of opera lovers. And I mean hard-core opera lovers. These are the people who absolutely worship divas. You mention the name Maria Callas and their eyes roll back in their heads and they fall on their knees. It's that sensibility that is fun to make fun of, but it's also fun to watch and just learn from," Graffeo says.

"This adoration of the performing artists is never greater than in the hearts of these people who worship operatic divas. And the divas all have groupies. Renee Fleming has people who follow her around the world and go to her concerts, send her flowers, chocolates, food and champagne. It's hilarious. It's wonderful, too. There's something really truly unique about it."

Rock 'n' roll has its groupies and divas, too, but Graffeo sees them in a different light.

"Rock stars exploit, consume, destroy and raise hell in sort of a vent for adolescent anger and frustration - the normal things that you have in adolescence. Rock star worship tends to stop when you reach adulthood, but diva worshipers take it to the grave."

Graffeo intends to explore all that at his upcoming concert through anecdotes and music. Not only will he share his diva experiences (``I'll distill them into stories that are sweet and funny rather than `She was a bitch' kind of stories''), but so will music administrators Robert Ashens, Benson Snyder and Phillip Bayles. "All are former or current impresarios who will give `tributes' to the divas they've encountered," Graffeo says, "not mentioning any names, of course."

Musically, Graffeo has assembled a program of works dealing either with divas or impresarios.

"While we celebrate the way the diva is worshipped and admired and plays such a central role in the world of opera, it is interesting that they only have a central role in ... a couple of operas. `Tosca' is an opera about a diva, but there aren't many others."

One is Wolfgang Mozart's "The Impresario," which will constitute the program's first half. Then will come a number of arias that refer to divas, such as "Art is calling for me" from Victor Herbert's "The Enchantress," "Der holle Rache" and "Monostatos' Song " from Mozart's "Die Zauberflote," "Chi il bel sogno" from Giacomo Puccini's "La Rondine," "Soave sia il vento" from Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte," "Una voce poco fa" from Gioacchino Rossini's "The Barber of Seville," "Csardas" from Johann Strauss II's "Die Fledermaus" and "Sull'aria" from Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro."

The vocalists will be sopranos Szivia Schranz of New York City and Andrea Garritano of Eugene and tenor Al Villanueva of Eugene.

In addition, the Oregon Mozart Players will play Intermezzo from Pieto Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" and Intermezzo and Barcarolle from Jacques Offenbach's "The Tales of Hoffmann."

On the podium for the fourth year will be Graffeo, the artistic director/conductor of the Knoxville (Tenn.) Opera and former artistic director and conductor of the Eugene Opera.

This year's candlelight concert will be held in a new location - the First United Methodist Church - where, Graffeo says, the mood will be, well, light.

"If we can't look humorously at divas, then we've got a problem. They're the only ones who can't look at themselves with humor. I guess that's what helps define them."

CANDLELIGHT CONCERT

WHAT: The Oregon Mozart Players, conducted by Francis Graffeo in a candlelit setting, will perform works about divas.

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday

WHERE: First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive St.

HOW MUCH: $10 to $24 through the Hult Center box office (682-5000)

CAPTION(S):

Conductor Francis Graffeo, of the Knoxville (Tenn.) Opera and formerly of the Eugene Opera, has some tales about divas. PHOTO CREDIT