Meet Ginger Land-van Buuren

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ginger Land-van Buuren a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ginger, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

As a female General Manager of a contemporary opera company, Vegas City Opera, I overcame imposter syndrome by doing the work. There was no set path or outline as to what an opera company in Vegas should or needed to be. Vegas has a very transient population and an incredible amount of entertainment already so to create and produce one of the most expensive types of classical arts was an incredible task but because it was in Vegas we had the freedom to reimagine what this would look like for our community.

I had already created a few opera-adjacent types of shows in NYC for fun when I was there as a professional singer and actor. I think I took that underground, gritty, performance art attitude to Vegas which is still in many ways the Wild West. I come from a place where anything is possible if you work at it and so I put my head down and did the work. I think after the first 5 years of contracts, casting, organizing and decision making I looked up and thought “oh ya I can do this – wait I am doing this!” It took me the next 5 years to really believe in myself. I have always had a great team around me but the past 5 years, as Vegas City opera turns 15, I know when something is not working and can take the lead and make those tough decisions that ultimately fell on me anyways. I also now, take credit for what I have done, I of course share it with the team of creatives at VCO but taking creative and producing credit as well as being a General Manager, and Executive Director are all different hats and when you do the work, only when you are able to give yourself credit for that work – do you know you are not an imposter but a leader.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I have been performing opera throughout America for over 25 years. I was based in NYC for about 15 years performing with several companies as well as appearing in commercials, TV series and movies. I was also the “laughing opera singer” in the Fandango paper bag commercials in the 90’s. I toured with Beauty & the Beast as well as appeared on Real Housewives of New York, and America’s Got Talent with my TechnOpera band OperaRisque’. Relocating with my husband 15 years go to Las Vegas, made me realize my creativity, passion and knowledge of opera could be put to use by creating something fresh and inspiring in Vegas. I co-founded Sin City Opera which is now Vegas City Opera and have produced and created over 100 inventive concerts, operatic productions and community events. projects include the award winning “The Ring Vegas” a reduced version of Wagner’s Ring Cycle filmed during COVID, La BoDEAD a zombie version of Le Boheme’ and the first ever immersive opera with Meow Wolf at Omega Mart inside Area 15 in November 2024.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three qualities that have been most impactful for me are my thirst for knowledge, creativity, and collaboration. My brain never stops thinking and connecting. I am a curious person who instantly connects ideas however strange to begin with into a kernel of creative possibility. I think this connection of ideas is also how I produce, connecting the right individuals or team for a project and knowing their strengths.

At the beginning, I would let some decisions be made by the team which I still do but I would rely on the team agreeing and not trust myself and my decisions. I do think great creativity comes from working and building off your teams ideas but ultimately I had to steer that creativity and be the decision maker in the room if an idea was really going to be able to be fleshed out and truly work. Also, sometimes a creative idea is just not that interesting and going with it to make someone else feel important or included is not worth your time in the end and can lead to bigger problems down the line. You need to weigh decisions on how they will affect you now and in a few years. This not only helps the organization grow but your team as well.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Vegas City Opera is always looking for people to collaborate with. At the moment I am very interested in finding a VR and immersive lighting/technology company. I have created 3D mapping projects on a small scale and programmable wearable lights to audio but would love to incorporate innovative technology along with the classical operatic art form in totally new and engaging ways. VCO was one of the first companies to record an entire opera for a VR headset and am very excited to be able to share it with youth programs some day. We also have been known to re-orchestrate older operatic scores with modern instruments which would be great to do again with a modern composer or DJ.

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