The notes of a G minor scale floated out the open door of a new vocal studio at the Santa Fe Opera this week. Apprentice singer Daniel Gerdes was preparing for his roles in the opera's upcoming productions of Adriana Mater, Falstaff and Billy Budd.

"It's very live," Gerdes said of the building's acoustics.

The studio is one of six the opera is building as part of an expansion that includes two full-scale rehearsal halls. A glass wall looks out over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east. Two other walls are made of 2-foot-thick adobe blocks, and the fourth is faced with cedar. None of them is parallel to another. Inside there is just enough room for a piano, an accompanist and a singer or two.

The studios are an example of the opera's ongoing efforts to save energy and be a better steward of the resources on its 155 acres north of the city.

The vocal studio has a passive cooling system that runs on little electricity and makes almost no noise. Outside air cools as it moves through an underground concrete labyrinth, then enters the room through a low vent on one wall. An exhaust vent is mounted high on an opposing wall. "It's just fans," explained Paul Horpedahl, the opera's production director.

Because the building is small, there's nothing fancy about the runoff collection system. Rainwater from the roof drains into barrels and is directed to trees below. The six vocal studios are expected to cost about $600,000.

Last week, the opera turned on its new wastewater treatment plant, a membrane bioreactor that cost close to $1.8 million for design, engineering, equipment and installation. The plant, located behind and below the theater, can process 20,000 gallons a day of "mixed liquid," or sewage, from the opera's bathrooms, sinks and laundry. That far exceeds current demand. Seasonal highs are expected to be about 12,000 gallons a day.

Over the winter, two cranes were used to install the tanks. All that's visible above ground are three hatches, a green operations building containing controls for the pumps, valves and blowers and, as a precaution, three silver air filters. "We don't want to produce odors that might go up to the theater," Horpedahl said.

The system replaces a wetlands built by SFO founder John Crosby in 1992 that was beginning to fail. Horpedahl said it was getting harder and harder for the opera to meet the standards of its permit. The new system, on the other hand, is producing extremely high-quality effluent, he said. It could last for decades and will provide more gray water for landscaping the opera grounds, including areas where fresh water has been used in the past.

The new plant enabled the opera to stop using the three septic tanks on the property.

All new buildings on the site incorporate water-saving measures. A permanent fiberglass tent that shades the patio of the renovated cantina is an example. Rainwater flows down two funnels into river-rock-lined catch basins and then into a 12,000-gallon storage tank.

All in all, the opera has the capacity to store 92,000 gallons of rainwater. In addition to the runoff from the cantina, there is storage for 60,000 gallons from the theater and 20,000 gallons from Stieren Orchestra Hall.

The runoff is used mainly to water the landscaping at the 5-acre "ranch" where new xeric and drought-tolerant trees and plants are replacing traditional beds. Many were started from seeds harvested by gardener Donna Ehle last fall and nurtured in a seasonal greenhouse.

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.



Falstaff, by Giuseppe Verdi, June 27

The Marriage of Figaro, by Wolfgang Mozart, June 28

Billy Budd, by Benjamin Britten, July 12

Radamisto, by George Handel, July 19

Adriana Mater, by Kaija Saariaho, July 26


Box office: 986-5900 or 800-280-4654

E-mail: boxoffice@santafeopera.org

Online: www.santafeopera.org