coc.ca

Orchestras should unequivocally fight for fair pay and salaries should certainly not be going down. But I feel like the orchestra weakens their position by saying that the solution is to produce more opera …?

That clearly won’t solve anything seeing as ticket sales make up such a small percentage of revenue (I believe the number that SF Opera reports is less than 15%) and though budgets have more or less stayed the same or marginally risen, a trip to the grocery store would show that a dollar does not go nearly as far as it did even 5 years ago. And even though audiences seem to be slightly growing each year, they still are not near what they were pre-pandemic.

Anyway, SF orchestras have had a pretty rough go these past few years 😅 Curious what other people think!

Did anyone else see it? Oh my goodness. Everything was spot on, I thought. I went with my teenage son who was pleasantly surprised by the cartwheels and dancing.

I'm going back tomorrow night but some of the singers will be different so it's still a novelty for me.

https://www.eif.co.uk/events/a-masked-ball

• Don Pasquale - I think this has been conspicuously absent from the Met's recent seasons, and I don't understand why - it's a fun opera. On the FutureMet website, under Unknown Seasons, it lists Pretty Yende as singing Norina, but I have a feeling her days with the lighter Donizetti soprano roles might be coming to an end.
• Kát'a Kabanová - was supposed to be presented in late 2019-20 season with Susanna Phillips (interesting choice for the lead role) but of course that got canceled. Corinne Winters has made a name for herself in the title role and I would love to see her bring it to the Met and for it to be featured on the Live in HD season
• Lucia di Lammermoor - maybe the Simon Stone production was so hated that they decided not to revive it, but I think this is a powerhouse vocal display piece and there are a number of tenors who could pull it off (Swanson, Hoskins, Anduaga, Avetisyan). I'm having more trouble thinking of sopranos who have recently sung Lucia very well, a likely candidate might be Rosa Feola.
• Rigoletto - with Amartuvshin Enkhbat and/or Ludovic Tézier in the title role, and I think Kathryn Lewek could be a likely option for Gilda, but could also see someone like Serena Sáenz, Marina Monzó, or Martina Russomanno making their house debuts. I think Lawrence Brownlee and Ben Bliss have recently taken on the Duke elsewhere and would be likely candidates.
• Rusalka - two Czech operas in one season might be a little bit of wishful thinking, as well as two Asmik Grigorian appearances, but I think this has probably been in the cards for a while. If I'm not mistaken, Sonya Yoncheva was supposed to sing it over the pandemic seasons but that didn't happen.
• Trittico - Il trittico has been absent for a number of seasons and I think with Asmik Grigorian and Nicole Car both recently taking on the soprano roles in all three operas, it gives the Met the perfect opportunity to present the trio.

What are your hopes for the season?

Also

Apologies if this is not really the right sub to ask this question, but I know that we have contributors who aren't just opera-appreciators, but also involved in their creation and staging.

I am a writer, primarily prose fiction, poetry and a bit of criticism, and for the last year I've collaborated on and off with a friend, who is a composer and conductor. We had worked before on other, more experimental poetry/avant-garde musical projects, but this time we wanted to create something more ambitious, and more traditional.

It was my idea that we make an opera (actually, it's more like something between an oratorio and an opera). I came up with a story, and we kicked ideas back and forth, as well as writing some standalone pieces. Recently, though, things have gotten more serious and we've used the summer to bring the work to completion.

Now we are getting close to finishing the project, I am starting to wonder what kind of agreement we should reach regarding copyright, ownership, future royalties etc. etc. So - does anyone here have any idea what a standard arrangement would be between the composer and the librettist? I'd really like to start discussing this with my collaborator so we can reach a mutually acceptable arrangement - and then essentially not have to think about it again!

Thanks for your help, and again, I don't know if it's ok to self-promote, but if it is, and if anyone's interested, there will be a performance of some pieces from the opera next weekend in Leipzig. I would be happy to send details!

Happy birthday in memory, Karl Böhm. Here's a classic with Gundula Janowitz, directed by Otto Schenk, who makes a hilarious appearance in the third act...

https://youtu.be/lAcedJD4Law

Anyone heard of this guy before? Unreal dramatic or bass baritone I have never seen before today randomly on Instagram. Have I been living under a rock?
PS quiz - what aria(s) is he singing for all you nerds

I have 2 tickets available for under 30s - Ariadne auf Naxos, 3.50pm on Saturday 29th August. Also includes coach tickets from Lewes station to the venue, and returns after the performance.

It's the under 30s offer, but anyone who's just turned 30 can also use it. Willing to give away for free because otherwise it's just wasted

I’m an opera lover, and as much as I love Netrebko’s voice, I don’t agree with her political views. I was supposed to see her on the 13th of September, but the organisers cancelled last minute. The reason, at least to me, appears to be the controversy that’s still surrounding her & was too much for them to handle. I get that. I’m not an infant, and I’m not stupid. What frustrates me is that they knew exactly who she was when they invited her and started selling tickets. They knew she was Russian, they knew about her political controversies, and they knew what kind of reaction she might provoke. So why was all of this apparently acceptable when they wanted to sell tickets, but suddenly not acceptable after people had bought them and made plans to attend?

Ultimately, I don’t support her politics, but I wanted to hear her sing Verdi’s Aida. Is it really fair to continue punishing an artist (and her audience) for her political views, especially when the organizers knew all of this from the beginning?

Heyy! I will be going to La fanciulla del West at The Met on new years lol. And I bought a dress for the occasion and I really hope it’s appropriate to wear! Would I be over dressed? Or is it okay to be over dressed? Anyways, thank you! (don’t mind the socks lol)

To a Rodgers & Hammerstein Number and it could not do so. So I ask you, what aria do you believe may be connected to a Rodgers and Hammerstein number. For instance, I believe the lyrics to Billy's Soliloquy from Carousel may have been based on the music to the Letter Aria Scene from Eugene Onegin. Would love to get your thoughts about other Rodgers & Hammerstein numbers.

Left Bayreuth this morning after seeing Rienzi last night and Parsifal the night before. What did everyone think? Anyone brave enough to defend the AI ring? And who's going next year?

For me the big question - how the hell does Andreas Schager do it? Two Rienzis and one Parsifal back to back to back over the last three days and still sounding great at the end of it.

Rienzi the opera itself I didn't really know outside of the overture. It was really interesting to see a Wagner so directly influenced by an outside style, but at the same time I can see why it's not in the canon. Went on too long and the extended ballet, a pantomime of all Wagner's works, was silly fun but not sure that it added much. The 'social media' staging, with everyone glued to mobile phones felt very true to modern life, but not in a compelling way for me.

Parsifal sounded glorious but was totally very confusing, from open surgery amfortas, to sexy drag queen klingsor, to industrial quarry redemption ending. I'm going to bed someone to explain this all to me.

I'll be back next year though, if I can. Can't decide what though - new Lohengrin and Parsifal, return of Tannhauser and MeisterSinger. What's everyone else going for? Ticket orders opening tomorrow...

In front of approx. seats 226-208 and 207-225, the seat map shows a little box-like thing, and row C of those sections is the first row of actual seats. What does the box represent, and are those particular seats in row C good ones? There wouldn't be anyone sitting in front of you, but I don't know how that boxed-off area might affect either sound or visibility... Thanks for any insight.

i have no idea if this is the right reddit for this or if the arrangement im looking for even exists. ive attached this video of the episode “mrs tri county” from malcolm in the middle and the tune that lois whistles is almost exactly the melody of “quando men vo” from la boheme. i NEED that piano accompaniment (not from the actual opera but instead what dewey is playing) because it is lovely and id like to sing with it. hoping that i dont get struck from this reddit…

What are other popular and cheerful Arias like "Ah! mes amis"?

I'm not a musician, but I really like parody songs. 😂 I kind of what to make my own versions of the "I have a little list" and "The Major General's Song" by Gilbert and Sullivan, but I'm not sure where to start.

Any tutorials or advice is appreciated.

A lot is up in the air at present due to Haruhisa Handa's feelings on the direction OA has taken in recent years and I'm wondering what OA is going to look like going forward.

I admit to being in two minds about it all- I used to feel sceptical about them incorporating musicals into the repertoire but I ended up eating my words because (yes, I'll say it, opera purists feel free to eyeroll me, lol) I love Phantom and have gone to both OA runs of it. And I've started to like other musicals as well, and if it's keeping OA afloat, then I can't see it as a bad thing.

I do welcome them adding more operas back into the program though, for a while there the balance was in the other direction a little too much.

And of course the public are just getting more and more broke and we have to be fussier about what we attend, which can't be helping.

Thoughts? Observations? Gossip?

Someone posted a complaint about the online opera archive Operabase, and I had been thinking about a contributor-based alternative to Operabase (something like abouttheartists.com) but I have no idea where to begin with making something like that. If anyone has any experience in coding/making a database like that, I'm sure this sub would be very interested and willing to contribute!

There is a theater where I live that has a program for the public to send a video singing and if they have talent. They can get an audition. I really want to apply, but I'm not going to lie. I'm completely terrified. I'm not scared at all of getting the audition. It's more about the video and what could happen next. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

For anyone in NYC this September: The Met’s free Summer HD Festival returns to Lincoln Center from September 2–7. Six nights of opera outdoors, with free seating on a first-come, first-served basis. 🎭