The Art of Connection

The Art of Connection Alums Melanie Bacaling and Gabriella Reyes share a deep bond that's carried them to the heights of the opera world.

By

Sarah Godcher Murphy

March 3, 2025

Gabriella Reyes (left) and Melanie Bacaling (right)

Photo by Laura Barisonzi

The first time Melanie Bacaling (MM 15, voice) heard her friend Gabriella Reyes (BM 16, voice) sing was in a classroom at Boston Conservatory. We met in a class called Intro to Opera. Can you imagine that? she says. Look at us now.

Fast-forward roughly a decade and the pair find themselves at home in the halls of the Metropolitan Opera House, with Reyes singing soprano roles on Met stages and Bacaling behind the scenes on the stage-directing staff. Their introduction to opera appears to have been predictive, setting in motion two careers that are leading them-steadily, diligently-to the top ranks of the art form in the U.S. But their Boston Conservatory class also sparked a creative connection that has deepened with time and a friendship that's buoyed them as they've navigated a tough industry.

Melanie's always been someone that can remind me, in those moments that I feel like an utter failure-she's always been there to remind me: No, you have this power and you can continue to shine,' Reyes says. She's taught me grace.

After years of circling in the same orbit, the duo will work on their first professional production together at Lyric Opera of Chicago in March 2025. Bacaling will make her professional directing debut at the helm of La Boh me, with Reyes starring as Musetta.

The two artists are hitting their strides in parallel, and their relationship illustrates a familiar phenomenon among Boston Conservatory alums: The bonds they forged as students can play out over decades, and those deep connections make performances much richer.

You connect with these souls who you're like, Oh my gosh, we were able to create some magic together. I wanna do this again,' says Bacaling. In a performing arts world that relies heavily on freelance jobs, the drive to keep making collaborative magic can become a kind of networking-particularly for opera. With the magnitude of the stories, you can't help but become connected in that kind of way, explains Bacaling. And so the networking inherently becomes finding the people that you feel soul connections with in order to continue telling truthful stories on some of these most incredible stages.

Photo by Laura Barisonzi

We Speak a Similar Language The origin of theater is that people who liked each other got together to tell a story, says Nathan Troup, associate professor of opera. But that's not how professional storytelling works in the twenty-first century, with casts and crews typically assembled ad hoc. It's engineered in reverse now; we put people together and hope that they all have a good time.

Troup has been directing operas at Boston Conservatory since Bacaling and Reyes were students together. Close connections among performers can elevate an entire production, he notes, because from day one, communication flows more easily. We speak a similar language. There's a trust, he says. I'm familiar with your journey. It means that we can lose some of the formalities.

That built-in rapport tends to result in more convincing performances, with character relationships that feel authentic. This can be especially useful when rehearsal time is brief, according to Troup. It's something that you can't really create in two weeks, he says.

Bacaling could not agree more. When she was hired to direct La Boh me, the cast had already been decided. Hearing that her good friend would be playing Musetta felt like a gift, and it helped to ease a bit of pressure as she prepared to make her directorial debut in her hometown of Chicago.

When they told me the cast, and I heard Gabi's name, there was just this relief that came over me. To know that I'm in a room with her and with other artists that I absolutely love and adore and trust-we have that synergy and that inner knowing of one another, she says. It's just going to be vibes.

The networking inherently becomes finding the people that you feel soul connections with in order to continue telling truthful stories on some of these most incredible stages.

-Melanie Bacaling

Wearing the Mentor Hat Bacaling got her first taste of directing as Troup's assistant on Boston Conservatory productions, including his 2016 staging of Le Nozze di Figaro, in which Reyes played the Countess. It was clear to Troup early on that Bacaling had the skill set, intellectually and emotionally, to become an excellent director. You have to be generous and interested and observant, and you have to be able to successfully see an artist and understand what they bring to the table, he says.

The career path to professional opera director is not so straightforward, however. What kept Bacaling on track and advancing consistently upward, according to Troup, was a combination of humility and hard work. She made the most of every opportunity she was given, from her days doing unpaid internships to landing a staff position as assistant stage director at the Met.

Who she was in those positions-even if it was sweeping the rehearsal room floor as a production assistant-caught the eye of companies very early on, Troup says. It showed that she was a team player, she was a committed worker.

That commitment has kept Bacaling exceptionally busy in recent years. She assistant-directed the world premiere of Will Liverman's The Factotum at Lyric Opera of Chicago in February 2023 and associate-directed a new production of Madama Butterfly with the Detroit and Cincinnati operas later that year. And in 2024, she assistant-directed two Met productions, Carmen and X: The Life an

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