Openly gay opera director, John Copley, got his start playing the young boy in Peter Grimes when he was 15 years old. Now, many operas and many years later, he sits down with the Gay & Lesbian Times to discuss the English opera, why it resonates with the gay community and how it changed his life.

Gay & Lesbian Times: What is it about Peter Grimes that will resonate with the gay community?

John Copley: It’s not a gay opera and there are no gay characters; however, it is certainly an opera the gay community can relate to. The people of the community in the opera are out to get Peter Grimes because he is more clever than they are. And that is something we in the gay community know about.

GLT: Is Peter Grimes an opera that is accessible to younger generations?

JC: Certainly. It is so accessible in a totally different way because it is in our own language. This is, however, highly debatable because these are the same young people who go to rock concerts that are supposed to be in our own language, and I don’t understand them. There seems to be a really lousy musical norm and lack of appreciation among the younger generation, which makes me very sad.

GLT: This opera holds a special meaning to you. Why is that?

JC: The opera Peter Grimes has changed my life. When I was 15, I played the boy who is Grimes’ apprentice in the first Royal Opera House production of the opera at Covent Garden in 1949. Now, mind you, that was quite some time ago, when I was a lad. But you can do the math. But I can remember, just like it was yesterday, that I ran out onto the stage where the boy looks over the entire theater. It was then, as I was looking out onto all those people, that I knew opera was going to be my life. As stage director for the English Opera Group and Covent Garden, I later became friends with the composer Benjamin Britten when I stepped in to help save a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was in trouble. I’ve had several doors open and several doors close along the way, but they have all been worth it. It is part of the beauty of this wonderful life.

GLT: What do you think people most misunderstand about your job as an opera director?

JC: This job is about a 36-hour day, and there is never enough time to get done what needs to be done. There is never enough time to get everything absolutely perfect. As the director, you must know and have memorized every part or every character, and you must be able to pass that along to everyone you are working with. I do a lot of teaching.

GLT: Were you a man of great confidence from the beginning of your career?

JC: Confidence? No of course not. I was scared as hell! But I would never let anyone else know. That’s all part of being an actor.

GLT: Were you acting when you met your partner?

JC: Well I was working at the opera and he was at my desk. And at that age I had a tremendous amount of hostility. So when I walked in I was ready to let him have it, when this striking man looked up from his newspaper and apologized to me for sitting at my desk. When John, that is my husband’s name, offered to get up and move, I simply told him that was quite all right he could sit there as long as he wanted. And so we have been together for 49 years since.

GLT: Is there a secret to such a long-lasting relationship?

JC: Simply be lovely to each other and always say ‘I love you.’