Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Fiore.
Hi Julie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Music and art permeated every part of my upbringing. Even today, my grandmother’s oil paintings fill my parents’ living room like a gallery. Dad plucks and strums his guitar to prepare for Sunday’s service or his band’s latest gig. My mom puts on another record of Van Cliburn playing a Rachmaninoff piano concerto. Growing up on the windy Panhandle Plains, we made fun. I would dress my younger sister, brother, and neighbor friends in costumes and gather our block together for a “special production.” Sometimes we’d sing. But I always felt compelled to take charge. Making music that appealed to the people I knew made me happier. My parents were encouraged to start me in lessons. The piano came first, then intensive training at a local theatre school for children. Voice lessons started in middle school alongside choir camps and competitions.
By age 13, my life was overflowing with music and theatre. But I had yet to see an opera, and I wouldn’t until college after choosing Classical Voice as a major. Throughout my studies, the complexity and beauty of singing with a classical, operatic sound became more and more captivating. The stories were grandiose and mythical. You got to suspend reality for a bit, and I loved it. And still do. I pursued a career as an operatic soprano, soloing in Europe and across the US. When I moved to Austin in the late 00s, I set up a professional voice studio and welcomed students of all styles and ages. But the opportunity to perform without booking a flight and an extended-stay hotel didn’t exist, and I wanted to be singing for the community I loved here in Austin. I knew there had to be others who felt the same – classically-trained singers living in the metro who yearned to share their talents with their neighbors. But traditionally, both putting on and attending an opera are expensive. Productions are scarce. Community exposure to opera is even more difficult unless you put it where people are. I saw an opportunity.
In 2012, I founded One Ounce Opera, launching the company with a vaudevillian, slightly burlesque, almost-irreverent showcase at a live music venue downtown. Forty productions and a decade later, One Ounce Production Company is Austin’s non-profit organization dedicated to “re-imagining opera in unexpected spaces.” As the Artistic Director, I am currently booking our tenth season, providing dozens of singers, composers, creators, and artists a platform to showcase their art in front of live Austin audiences. And giving our audiences a chance to recharge, reflect, and explore in a comfy, no-tux-required atmosphere. My experience as an advocate for the classical arts and building community led me to be appointed to the Austin Musicians Advisory Panel. As the Creative Director of local content firm Zanate Ventures, I ghostwrite for clients and organizations who want to leave their mark, transforming their content and telling their unique stories. Audience engagement & storytelling are the through-lines of my career.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If there aren’t struggles along the way, reassess your progress – you’ve got to have edges to push against to grow. One edge for One Ounce has been the word “opera.” What does it make you think of? What do you know about it? If you answered “a woman with a horned helmet” and “not a lot,” you’re among good company. It’s a core challenge I love embracing. Another edge is affordability. Of space. Of being able to support artists adequately. Of being able to advertise to break through the noise. So we have to get creative. The pandemic shut us down, like many others. At the time, along with running One Ounce, I worked as the Director of Digital & Audience Experiences at Austin Opera and experienced industry-wide struggles first-hand. It was intense. Companies shuttered, and people were laid off. But we found a way to pivot and create programming to continue connecting with our community – a digital channel called “Live from Indy Terrace” – that became my lasting legacy at the company. During the forced break from performing and directing live shows, I reassessed what I wanted to see change in the opera industry. How do we win back audiences? How do we build for an unpredictable future? My work today is centered on these two questions.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Along with ghostwriting and providing marketing solutions for a growing roster of small organizations and solopreneurs, I’m digging deep back into my work as a stage director and producer. I want to provide occasions where our community can gather to immerse themselves in dynamic storytelling. And to explore contemporary topics through the lenses of diverse trailblazers, forging new paths in the art form for the next generations to enjoy, like One Ounce Opera’s annual “Fresh Squeezed Ounce of Opera” event – one of the first micro-opera showcases in the country (and the only one in Texas). Three or four 20-minute operas in a single evening? It’s like nothing else, and we’re so excited to bring our community back together for six shows in February of 2024. Between now and then, I’m directing a new music bash with the team at Tetractys called “Here Be Monsters,” which will take over Butterfly Bar & The Vortex festival-style on Saturday, May 27, 2023. Be sure to keep an eye out and mark your calendars for that, for sure!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
My love affair with Austin started in college when my roommate and I would drive down and back from Denton on a school night to see shows. SXSW became my spring break hang, and I met my husband here in the most random but very Austin way. It’s home. I love how old grunge rubs against polished, newly-launched ventures and how you can get a coffee or a beer around every corner, brewed super locally and by someone connected to your inner circle somehow. It’s the best of small-world-meets-big-opportun
Pricing:
- Hire One Ounce Opera for your next party – pricing starts at $250
- Need to refine your company or brand story? Hire me to tell it. Pricing is based on project size.
- Let me build an engaging email newsletter for you – pricing tailored to you
Contact Info:
- Website: https://oneounceopera.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/OneOunceOpera
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneOunceOpera
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@oneounceopera
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliefiore
Image Credits
Roy Moore/Control images, Harold Fisch, Steve Rogers
