Relationships between opera conductors and stage directors are rarely straightforward. It’s hardly surprising that when two individuals are employed to encourage a group of people to follow their vision of a work, tensions arise if that vision isn’t unanimous. But if the two individuals concerned have sufficient confidence to welcome interpretative discussion and the kind of ego that isn't threatened by having its authority challenged, you get a stimulating and interesting working environment that undoubtedly leads to the best result - that leads in fact to ‘Opera’: an art form in which neither music nor drama should dominate at the expense of the other, and in which both lead without either being left behind.

One could argue that the relationship between conductor and director should be the same as exists between composer and librettist. The words may be written first but the composer will not hesitate to ask for changes should the text not fit their musical ideas. There is no doubt who is in charge, and as a result rarely does a librettist share equal billing with a composer. I imagine most directors would be against this hierarchy.

All great opera composers are essentially great dramatists and understand the theatre as well as any playwright. But to give conductors the same power over the staging as the composer had over the drama is to presume that they have equally fine dramatic sensitivities. If so, then they deserve their say. After all, they are in charge during the actual performance whilst the director doesn’t even need to be there at all. The most successful directors realise that unless they can persuade the conductor of their view, the musical and dramatic performances will be at best coincidental. They certainly won’t offer the unified interpretation that a piece needs to speak deeply and directly to its public.

Opera works when the director cares about the music as much as the conductor cares about the drama and when both appreciate the fact that neither of them can do their job properly without it being supported by the other. An opera is neither a play with music nor a concert in fancy dress, and because of that, both conductor and director need to be able to be free to make decisions at the same time. Perhaps it should be like rally driving, in which one person steers and the other decides which route to take. And if they keep their crash helmets on, you can’t tell who is who.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of friction though. If conductors can challenge directors into making choices that they had not discovered on their own, and if the director does the same in return, both will have benefited from the other’s influence. The director will have taken decisions that allow the singers to sing better and the conductor made choices that allow them to act better. When that is the case neither conductor nor director will have won - only the piece itself.

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