Opera. It ain’t getting any younger. Luckily, there’s a new generation of composers ready to inject new life into what many consider a dying art. Josh Lee caught up with Vahan Salorian, the young composer behind Boys Of Paradise, to discover how he’s bringing opera to new audiences. Spoiler alert: there are twinks.
In late 2013, a series of operas were screened in cinemas nationwide. The aim was to attract a younger audience, but the results were, well, predictable. 80% of attendees were over 60. Just 10% were under 50. So if opera isn’t reaching the crowds it needs to stay on top, what can be done to keep the centuries-old art alive? Young composer Vahan Salorian might just have the answer: make it gay.
“Opera is about extremes,” he tells me over a pint at a particularly busted out pub in Bethnal Green. The 22-year-old Guildhall Music school graduate talks me through the thinking behind his latest operetta (a lighter, more condensed opera), Boys of Paradise, and it sounds intense.
Set in Vauxhall and based on the myth of the Phoenix (rising from the ashes and all that), it’s inspired by what Salorian describes as: “the drugged-up, days-long fantasy of it all; the Adonis-like figures chewing their faces off, the bathrooms where you can hear blatant snorting coming from every cubicle, the smoking areas in the daylight.” I’m already hooked.
Boys of Paradise follows a young twink’s initiation into the scene, his first dalliances with drugs, the thrill of attention and, finally, the feeling most of us know too well: being replaced by a younger model. It’s as much about the dizzying highs of the London scene as it is about the rock-bottoms. And it’s hard not to laugh through gritted teeth when you realise that the lead character’s trajectory is as tragically typical as your own.
But what isn’t typical is how Salorian got started in the world of classical composition. Better known for being the art form of the privileged, he was given his first flute care of a now long-gone policy that provided underprivileged kids with free instruments and music lessons. If you’ve ever doubted the power of a free flute, his story will obliterate your preconceptions.
“When I was 17, I was put forward to feature in Goldie’s Band by Royal Appointment,” he says. “The series followed Goldie, the DnB DJ, and his group of mentors – Ms Dynamite included – as they searched for twelve young musicians from around the country who, despite coming from difficult backgrounds, were succeeding in music.
“It was like an anti-X factor. I was the ‘classical one’ and the baby! The series followed us for six months as we created a set to play at Buckingham Palace in front of Prince Harry. It was amazing; the drum kit was set up in front of the Queens throne”.
It’s a story as bizarre as Boys of Paradise itself, but it’s one Salorian is incredibly thankful for. Coming from an underprivileged household, he might not be where he is today if it wasn’t for government help, not to mention the support of teachers and mentors along the way.
“I owe where I am today to those teachers that put that extra effort in for me to get the tuition and opportunities I did, without the financial means that other kids had,” he says. “Most of what drives me now, in this very competitive and difficult career, is to pay those people back, and my mum, for the investment they made in me. It’s also why I am so invested in education”
Once he mentioned his mum, I had to ask what she thought of the piece. After all, it tackles issues and themes we spend our lives pretending we know nothing about to our parents. Thankfully, she’s a “big fan”.
It raised an interesting thought though. The gay party scene exists in its own bubble, only facing outside scrutiny in its darkest moments. It must be tough, sharing such a private world, loaded with its own baggage. Why tackle such a controversial theme?
Salorian thought over a sip of ale and explained: “it was actually very liberating to produce something so honest and open, where LGBT characters and issues were at the centre of it all”.
It’s exciting to see someone making art that doesn’t just feature, but centres on queer people. We’re so often the sidekicks, the comic relief, the tragic food for thought at the end of the show. But in Boys Of Paradise, we are the show – even if we’re not being shown at our most presentable.
Despite the operetta being created for LGBT audiences, the straight cast members were just as fascinated by it. “They were brilliant and so invested in learning about the scene,” says Salorian. “One rehearsal involved me talking through the effects of various substances that feature in the opera, like G and mephedrone. There’s a scene in a dark room, so our director came up with some very intimate warm ups to get everyone comfortable with each other!”
At this point I start asking where I can get tickets. Lots and lots of tickets.
Between the honest background, an eye for a subversive story and the backing of both Goldie and Ms Dynamite, Vahan seems set on changing the way we think about opera the old fashion way – lots and lots of sex.
And with a degree from the prestigious Guildhall School of Music under his belt, his sights are set on staying in music. “I really hope the opera opens some doors for me and the London gay scene is a subject I want to keep working with,” he says.
You have to hand it to the young Lancastrian. It’s not easy to come from a poor background with a flute and your ambition, make it through the top music school in the country, and then blast out onto the scene with an opera about gay sex and drugs. But when the vast majority of opera-goers are about to receive their free bus pass, maybe it’s exactly what the art form needs.
Short, sexy, subversive and involving what’s been described as a “cocaine waltz”, Boys of Paradise promises to be a spectacle. Hopefully, like the Phoenix tale on which it’s based, Salorian too will keep rising. If his ascent so far is anything to go by, poppers and meph could soon be the new Puccini and Mozart.
• You can catch Boys of Paradise on the 24th July at Egg London. Tickets can be bought at www.tete-a-tete.org.uk/egg-london
• Photo by Matthew Ferguson
