Yesterday was soprano Leontyne Price's 83rd birthday. There are many wonderful clips of Ms. Price on Youtube but I like this one in particular due to the audience reaction. Happy Birthday Ms. Price!
Showing posts with label opera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opera. Show all posts
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Queen of the Night
There are quite a few musicians who have made their careers based on comedy. Until today I had never known of a musician who became famous because they were so ear-shatteringly horrible that people came out in droves to laugh at them.
The first sentence in Florence Foster Jenkins' Wikipedia entry is, "Florence Foster Jenkins (July 19, 1868 – November 26, 1944) was an American soprano who became famous for her lack of rhythm, pitch, tone, and overall singing ability."
Ouch.
Jenkins' confidence in herself was unwaivering. She claimed that her critics were merely jealous of her talent. The heartly laughter coming from the audience while she was singing, she said, was from her rivals.
You be the judge.
The first sentence in Florence Foster Jenkins' Wikipedia entry is, "Florence Foster Jenkins (July 19, 1868 – November 26, 1944) was an American soprano who became famous for her lack of rhythm, pitch, tone, and overall singing ability."
Ouch.
Jenkins' confidence in herself was unwaivering. She claimed that her critics were merely jealous of her talent. The heartly laughter coming from the audience while she was singing, she said, was from her rivals.
You be the judge.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Fairy Godfather
The results are in and the winner of the opera twitter contest is Stephen Llewellyn, a former barrister who is now the blogger for the Portland Opera. His winning entry tweeted Wagner's Ring Cycle: “There was a young lady called Fricka Who... who... *snore* 'Wake up-- its over.' It's good, I just wish it were quicka.”
Many opera companies ponied up prizes for this contest, which had over 500 entries. Llewellyn chose a generous prize offered by the Washington National Opera which included tickets to the final performance of the season as well as to the annual opera ball.
Then he gave it all away.
He felt that he has plenty of opportunities to enjoy opera and decided to give the package to someone who might not be able to attend as often. He decided to give the prize to a music teacher as a way of thanking them for exposing children to the arts. With some help, he chose Priscilla Barrow who has been teaching music in the D.C. Schools for 22 years. She is passionate about teaching and every year goes out of her way to immerse her students in the arts, often seeking out partnerships with area arts organizations.
Llewellyn found a donor to take care of incidental expenses and arranged for the Washington Opera's costume department to provide a ball gown, so Barrow will truly have a Cinderella experience. I hope she has a fabulous time.
Many opera companies ponied up prizes for this contest, which had over 500 entries. Llewellyn chose a generous prize offered by the Washington National Opera which included tickets to the final performance of the season as well as to the annual opera ball.
Then he gave it all away.
He felt that he has plenty of opportunities to enjoy opera and decided to give the package to someone who might not be able to attend as often. He decided to give the prize to a music teacher as a way of thanking them for exposing children to the arts. With some help, he chose Priscilla Barrow who has been teaching music in the D.C. Schools for 22 years. She is passionate about teaching and every year goes out of her way to immerse her students in the arts, often seeking out partnerships with area arts organizations.
Llewellyn found a donor to take care of incidental expenses and arranged for the Washington Opera's costume department to provide a ball gown, so Barrow will truly have a Cinderella experience. I hope she has a fabulous time.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Opera Tweet
A few months back I ran into Cynthia Moxley, a long-time fan and supporter of the KSO, after a pops concert. We chatted for a few minutes and she asked me if I twittered. I have to confess that I didn't even know what that was. And, honestly, I still don't. But now I have a Twitter account because I came across an irresistible contest while reading the classical music news. Described as “the most fun opera nerds can have in 140 characters or less” the contest invites people to condense the basic plot of any opera down to a single witty tweet. Opera companies around the world have taken notice of the contest and many are offering up tickets as a prize to the winning tweet.
The winning tweet from the last contest was: “Seamstress pals around with bohemians in a December-May affair Receives muff as parting gift” Describing La Boheme.
A few of my favorites are:
“He goes thru hell to retrieve her. They say don’t look back. He does anyway. No do-overs.” (L'Orfeo)
“Naive geisha carries a tune, carries a torch, carries a child. Can’t carry on. Hari-kiris herself.” (Mme Butterfly)
“If a cigarette doesn’t kill you, the girl who made it will…” (Carmen)
The contest begins April 27th and ends on May 2nd. To give you some creative fuel for your entries, the Rossini Festival is taking place in downtown Knoxville this coming weekend. The UT Opera Theater will present Mozart's Don Giovanni, which features a talking statue, while the KSO and the Knoxville Opera Company will team up to perform Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, where all the main characters spend the second act dressed as clowns. And who said opera was boring?!
The winning tweet from the last contest was: “Seamstress pals around with bohemians in a December-May affair Receives muff as parting gift” Describing La Boheme.
A few of my favorites are:
“He goes thru hell to retrieve her. They say don’t look back. He does anyway. No do-overs.” (L'Orfeo)
“Naive geisha carries a tune, carries a torch, carries a child. Can’t carry on. Hari-kiris herself.” (Mme Butterfly)
“If a cigarette doesn’t kill you, the girl who made it will…” (Carmen)
The contest begins April 27th and ends on May 2nd. To give you some creative fuel for your entries, the Rossini Festival is taking place in downtown Knoxville this coming weekend. The UT Opera Theater will present Mozart's Don Giovanni, which features a talking statue, while the KSO and the Knoxville Opera Company will team up to perform Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, where all the main characters spend the second act dressed as clowns. And who said opera was boring?!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
A Few Questions With Maestro Salesky
As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a big fan of opera. My experience with performing operas was very limited until I joined the Knoxville Symphony which plays for Knoxville Opera Company's productions. There is a lot that I don't know about the inner workings of an opera company. Knoxville Opera Company's General Manager and Conductor, Brian Salesky, was gracious enough to answer a few of my questions.
Katy Gawne: How do you make programing decisions and how far out do you plan the season? Do you program operas around the singers you would like to work with or do you pick the opera, then pick the singers?
Brian Salesky: Operas are chosen based on several factors: popularity, how far back they were last produced by KO, and our ability to budget for particular operas. In these difficult economic times KO is forced to delay its planning decisions due to our projections of funding which are increasingly difficult to do with accuracy. Casting comes after programming is confirmed.
K.G.: The symphony began rehearsals for the opera last week. When do rehearsals start with the Opera Chorus? With the Principals?
B.S.: The KO Chorus begins music rehearsals 2-3 months prior to each production. Principals usually arrive 21 days prior to the final performance.
K.G.: As Music Director, I know you make all the musical decisions, but is someone else responsible for deciding staging / costume / etc or do you do that as well?
B.S.: I make all final production decisions based on conversation with my Production Manager, Stage Director and Artistic Committee.
K.G.: Is there anything you would like a first-time opera goer to know?
B.S.: There are no barriers to enjoying opera for today's audiences. Projected English translations of every word make it possible for all to understand every nuance of the drama. There are no dress codes as there might have been 50-100 years ago. People should come in whatever makes them feel comfortable. The magnificent Tennessee Theatre has fabulous acoustics and every seat is a good seat. Our ticket prices are very affordable, starting at $15 for adults and $10 for students and children. As to the expenses, it costs $250,000 to mount one opera production (and that is low compared to similar budget companies). Therefore we depend on contributions from various sources to support our company. Most importantly, just like foods and cars, each opera is very different in its (musical and dramatic) content. Until one experiences the majesty and overwhelming experience of being at a live performance, one cannot appreciate the thrill of opera!
Knoxville Opera's production of Rigoletto will be performed February 13th at 8:00 and February 15th at 2:30. More information can be found on Knoxville Opera's website.
Katy Gawne: How do you make programing decisions and how far out do you plan the season? Do you program operas around the singers you would like to work with or do you pick the opera, then pick the singers?
Brian Salesky: Operas are chosen based on several factors: popularity, how far back they were last produced by KO, and our ability to budget for particular operas. In these difficult economic times KO is forced to delay its planning decisions due to our projections of funding which are increasingly difficult to do with accuracy. Casting comes after programming is confirmed.
K.G.: The symphony began rehearsals for the opera last week. When do rehearsals start with the Opera Chorus? With the Principals?
B.S.: The KO Chorus begins music rehearsals 2-3 months prior to each production. Principals usually arrive 21 days prior to the final performance.
K.G.: As Music Director, I know you make all the musical decisions, but is someone else responsible for deciding staging / costume / etc or do you do that as well?
B.S.: I make all final production decisions based on conversation with my Production Manager, Stage Director and Artistic Committee.
K.G.: Is there anything you would like a first-time opera goer to know?
B.S.: There are no barriers to enjoying opera for today's audiences. Projected English translations of every word make it possible for all to understand every nuance of the drama. There are no dress codes as there might have been 50-100 years ago. People should come in whatever makes them feel comfortable. The magnificent Tennessee Theatre has fabulous acoustics and every seat is a good seat. Our ticket prices are very affordable, starting at $15 for adults and $10 for students and children. As to the expenses, it costs $250,000 to mount one opera production (and that is low compared to similar budget companies). Therefore we depend on contributions from various sources to support our company. Most importantly, just like foods and cars, each opera is very different in its (musical and dramatic) content. Until one experiences the majesty and overwhelming experience of being at a live performance, one cannot appreciate the thrill of opera!
Knoxville Opera's production of Rigoletto will be performed February 13th at 8:00 and February 15th at 2:30. More information can be found on Knoxville Opera's website.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Give Opera a Chance
The first time I attended an opera was in college. I wasn't particularly keen to go, but there was a boy involved. He really liked opera and I really liked him, so I thought I would give it a shot. We didn't last, but my fondness for opera has.
Before I attended my first opera, two things came to mind whenever I thought about opera: a sturdy women with fat braids and a Viking hat singing notes that could crack glass, and Elmer Fudd singing “Kill the Wabbit” in the Bugs Bunny opera cartoon. I expected to be bored to tears but figured that I could at least close my eyes and enjoy an evening of Strauss. I don't think I'm alone in my misconceptions about opera. It has the ill-deserved reputation of being an excruciatingly boring, snobbish activity that only the upper crust of society pretends to enjoy. I was shocked when I not only enjoyed the production, but laughed so hard that tears streamed down my face.
Since that first experience, I have found attending opera performances to be great fun. Really, opera is just a live soap opera sung in a different language. (The English translation is projected above the stage.) It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the writers for Days of Our Lives and As the World Turns are opera fans because opera plots are just as crazy as anything on daytime TV. Women pretending to be men pretending to be women, characters who are part human / part animal, curses, revenge, love triangles (or octagons in some cases): opera is chock-full of drama and intrigue, not to mention great music.
Knoxville Opera Company will be staging Rigoletto on the 13th and 15th of this month. If you haven't ever attended an opera, you ought to consider going. You will likely recognize many of the tunes even if you are not versed in opera. If you do attend, try to get seats that allow you to see into the orchestra pit. It's interesting to see the inner workings and, more often than not, something exciting happens behind the scenes. Last season a large set of orchestra chimes started to pitch over during a performance of Tosca. A bass player caught them and boosted them back up only to have them pitch the other way. It turns out they were off a caster. Our panicked percussion section was madly trying to right them while still counting rests.
Before I attended my first opera, two things came to mind whenever I thought about opera: a sturdy women with fat braids and a Viking hat singing notes that could crack glass, and Elmer Fudd singing “Kill the Wabbit” in the Bugs Bunny opera cartoon. I expected to be bored to tears but figured that I could at least close my eyes and enjoy an evening of Strauss. I don't think I'm alone in my misconceptions about opera. It has the ill-deserved reputation of being an excruciatingly boring, snobbish activity that only the upper crust of society pretends to enjoy. I was shocked when I not only enjoyed the production, but laughed so hard that tears streamed down my face.
Since that first experience, I have found attending opera performances to be great fun. Really, opera is just a live soap opera sung in a different language. (The English translation is projected above the stage.) It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the writers for Days of Our Lives and As the World Turns are opera fans because opera plots are just as crazy as anything on daytime TV. Women pretending to be men pretending to be women, characters who are part human / part animal, curses, revenge, love triangles (or octagons in some cases): opera is chock-full of drama and intrigue, not to mention great music.
Knoxville Opera Company will be staging Rigoletto on the 13th and 15th of this month. If you haven't ever attended an opera, you ought to consider going. You will likely recognize many of the tunes even if you are not versed in opera. If you do attend, try to get seats that allow you to see into the orchestra pit. It's interesting to see the inner workings and, more often than not, something exciting happens behind the scenes. Last season a large set of orchestra chimes started to pitch over during a performance of Tosca. A bass player caught them and boosted them back up only to have them pitch the other way. It turns out they were off a caster. Our panicked percussion section was madly trying to right them while still counting rests.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Singing Bees
Next week we start rehearsals for Knoxville Opera's production of Rigoletto. The following clip is not something you'll see in that production (I hope), but it is one of the funniest things I have seen. Ever.
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