Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeleine Krick
Hi Madeleine, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
It’s easiest to start with the ending: I’m the founder and Artistic Director of Opera de Metro, a chamber opera company in Metro Detroit in our first season. I’m also the music director at a church, and I have a full private studio of voice students, so I stay busy!
I’ve loved music since childhood, and grew up singing in my church’s treble choir, but when I first went to college, I was actually an English major. I loved literature, and still do, but life had other plans. I ended up leaving school and taking some time off, and eventually I started as a Voice Performance major at Oakland University. At the time I didn’t have any specific career goal besides “become a musician,” which makes me laugh, because it feels simultaneously like I’ve checked that box, and also like I’ll spend my whole life pursuing it.
I first began seriously considering opera conducting right at the end of my degree, when I was invited to work on the school’s opera that year, Così fan tutte, as the Assistant Music Director. I think my first reaction was panic; I had no idea what the job entailed. Once I started the work, though, I fell in love with it. It’s the perfect fusion of all these skills and passions I picked up along the way; my love of music and literature, communication through movement (I was a ballet dancer through high school), and, at the center, my passion for storytelling. My first time conducting an opera was the Detroit Concert Choir’s Connoisseur Series presentation of Il campanello, and the ball has just kept rolling.
The launch of Opera de Metro was a whirlwind; in July 2024 it was just a big idea and a lot of to-do lists littering my desk. I spent the next month planning, making phone calls, convincing a few friends to jump into this adventure with me, and finding start-up funding. When we announced as a company in August, we were met with a tremendous outpouring of support and excitement from the community. We had our first show, David Conte’s The Gift of the Magi, in December 2024. It was the perfect culmination of the tremendous hard work from all the folks involved, and simultaneously, the very beginning of a journey, for both the company and for me, personally and professionally. It’s easiest to start with the ending: I’m the founder and Artistic Director of Opera de Metro, a chamber opera company in Metro Detroit in our first season. I’m also the music director at a church, and I have a full private studio of voice students, so I stay busy!
I’ve loved music since childhood, and grew up singing in my church’s treble choir, but when I first went to college, I was actually an English major. I loved literature, and still do, but life had other plans. I ended up leaving school and taking some time off, and eventually I started as a Voice Performance major at Oakland University. At the time I didn’t have any specific career goal besides “become a musician,” which makes me laugh, because it feels simultaneously like I’ve checked that box, and also like I’ll spend my whole life pursuing it.
I first began seriously considering opera conducting right at the end of my degree, when I was invited to work on the school’s opera that year, Così fan tutte, as the Assistant Music Director. I think my first reaction was panic; I had no idea what the job entailed. Once I started the work, though, I fell in love with it. It’s the perfect fusion of all these skills and passions I picked up along the way; my love of music and literature, communication through movement (I was a ballet dancer through high school), and, at the center, my passion for storytelling. My first time conducting an opera was the Detroit Concert Choir’s Connoisseur Series presentation of Il campanello, and the ball has just kept rolling.
The launch of Opera de Metro was a whirlwind; in July 2024 it was just a big idea and a lot of to-do lists littering my desk. I spent the next month planning, making phone calls, convincing a few friends to jump into this adventure with me, and finding start-up funding. When we announced as a company in August, we were met with a tremendous outpouring of support and excitement from the community. We had our first show, David Conte’s The Gift of the Magi, in December 2024. It was the perfect culmination of the tremendous hard work from all the folks involved, and simultaneously, the very beginning of a journey, for both the company and for me, personally and professionally.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’d say the road has been filled with twists and turns, but I’ve learned to be excited about what might be around the bend. Opera de Metro is still a very young company, and we’re all learning on our feet. I’m developing all kinds of skills that aren’t covered in music school— I had never had to draw up a contract before, or apply for grants, or fundraise and market in the way I need to now. Fortunately, I have a great team working with me; everyone involved shares the same passion and excitement for what we’re building. Everyone brings their own set of skills and expertise to the table, and once a show is underway, it’s all hands on deck. We’re learning a lot in this first season, and we’re excited to keep bringing a great product to the Metro Detroit area.
The launch of Opera de Metro also brought so much clarity to my own winding road. As I said, when I first started my degree at Oakland, my one broad goal was “become a musician.” I spent some time studying jazz, I considered vocal pedagogy, or specializing in music theory or music history. I felt pulled in so many directions, even after I had made the decision to pivot from literature to music. Then, of course, there have been concrete struggles like the COVID pandemic and financial difficulty— at one point, my mental wellness declined to a point that required intervention. Looking back though, I can embrace a lot of the challenges that felt insurmountable at the time, because they led me here. Ultimately, what I want most is to be actively making music and giving back to my community, and I feel incredibly lucky to be doing the work I’m doing.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At its core, Opera de Metro is about bringing more opera to Metro Detroit, especially to communities that may have had little prior experience with the art form, and about creating opportunity for local artists. The company was founded in order to meet what I see as a serious need in the community; we have so many amazing artists here, and not enough local opportunity to showcase them. Opera de Metro is a company by young artists, for young artists. All the members of the ODM team are active in the field, and we want to create a platform that shares our love of what we do with broader audiences, while elevating the voices and artistry of our colleagues.
The Gift of the Magi was a perfect inaugural show for us, because it fit with both pillars of our mission. As a contemporary, English-language work, it shared a story that our audience could relate to and characters they could love, especially because our director, Lauren Lenz, set it in 1960s Detroit. Behind the scenes, our cast and crew came together beautifully to create a collaborative rehearsal environment. We featured singers and players from Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Windsor, and it was wonderful to foster connections and create a space where each artist felt encouraged to bring their own creativity and individuality.
Next season we’re planning to augment our performance calendar with additional concerts and community appearances, guided by the ongoing conversations we have with the communities we serve, both our audiences and our artists. We want to be responsive in programming works that people can identify with, even if they’re brand new to opera, and we want to create even more opportunities for the emerging artists in Metro Detroit and beyond.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
If there’s one thing I could share, it’s that opera is for everyone. So often, opera is viewed as irrelevant, out of touch, or only intended for a certain group of people. I love this art form, though, because the stories it tells are timeless. Opera is larger than life, but that’s how it invites us all into the fold. The first time I saw an opera was attending a dress rehearsal of The Barber of Seville around the age of 12. I can still remember laughing at Figaro and cheering for Rosina, invested as much as I would have been in any Disney princess movie. Operas are about love, death, heartache, tragedy, and triumph— human experiences that we will all eventually encounter. With Opera de Metro, I want to amplify those experiences for everyone; I want you to see yourself on our stage.
Pricing:
- General admission: $30
- Student ticket: $20
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.operademetro.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krick_conducts?igsh=dmZhenpzM3NqbXFu&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?
