Kairós CHristós

Kairós Christós is, true to the significance of the individual words in its title drawn from Greek and Latin cultures, a work that came to be in the fullness of its time. The opera focuses on a life that in principle and impact remains “timeless”. Jesus Christ—fully God and fully man. “Kairós” is a term best known from rhetorical discourse of ancient Greece as, “that passing moment when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved”. No better concept describes how handwritten scores from the sacred drama I Am The Way, originally written by Jerome Hines in a passion play format, came to full fruition as an opera in the process of being dramatically and musically restructured, and digitalized for printing. The publishers decided to incorporate previously unperformed scenes, an unfinished overture and later revisions that reflected Hines’ vision in latter years to restructure his work. Various alterations to text, substitution of story lines to reflect more of the 37 miracles Christ performed, the addition of new characters and bridges of new composition to fill gaps in the drama using the concept of Hines rewritten scenes were included. In order to expand the reach in the international market for opera, a German translation was added. The decision was reached to change the name, as it had become in form and substance a new work – an opera.

THE discovery

In the winter of 2011, three people went into a storage space in Connecticut, where file cabinets, suitcases, briefcases and myriad cardboard boxes or shopping bags had been hastily removed from the house of the Artistic Director of CAI, Derek de Cambra after his death in 2009. Since the premiere of Jerome Hines’ sacred music drama called I Am the Way in 1956, with singular devotion to directing the production and keeping the work performed in all of its various stages of growth since then, de Cambra’s concern until his last breath was that the opera should not be consigned to obscurity. In a social call with Jane Poole, one of two remaining board members, he met an opera singer whose voice he had heard only on an award winning CD produced by soprano Wendy Waller. In a frail state facing an imminent end, he asked her to be involved in a future production that all knew, he would never see.

Five years later, Poole, Waller and -then board member Craig Hart, followed the dark corridors that led to a space filled with the administrative remnants of CAI, valuable oil paintings of Hines and a bust sculptured to capture his intensity as a stage persona. These items were literally saved from the trash heap after a university that accepted the items for an archive called to say the decision was reversed by a new president. Either they could be retrieved or would be thrown away… The three were confronted with a dismal scene of chaos in its unlabeled boxes and various storage containers. All began to wipe off dust and try to figure out what was there.

HIDDEN TREASURE

As various boxes and file drawers were searched, a small valise shifted the focus as its contents, hand-written instrumental parts from scenes of Hines’ opera, were found. As more and more material was discovered in suitcases and boxes, it became apparent, that this might be the only copy of the original score which was used in each performance and had never been engraved. A decision to remove the parchments in order to preserve the many years of careful corrections of original autographs was reached. However, as later inquiry would reveal, the estimate for simple digitization was over $40,000, far beyond the meager sum left in the corporate account. Despite the hope to revive CAI’s programs and solicit new funding, the reality that the absence of the dynamic and famous founder meant a total lack of interest from resources of past support and new organizations who never knew him brought the project to a complete halt…