… and … um … WOW!
International oboe festival of Xi’an China
Final concert – Mozart Die Zauberflote for Six oboists
Maurice Bourgue, Yiu Song Lam, Mikhail Zhuravlev, Ivan Podyomov, Lin Qing, Cristian Moré Coloma
This past Friday Dan and I attended the San Francisco Opera in the Ballpark simulcast event. The opera was Verdi’s Aida, which we’d already experienced on opening night, but heck, it was free, and it was quite the event. Little did we know just how many people attend opera when it’s free and at AT&T ballpark! Wow. The lines to get in were so long I was ready to turn around and head home, but Dan looked around and found an entrance for those of us who had registered ahead of time had had printed vouchers, and we got right in. We also managed to find a way to get on to the field, despite one person who worked at the park who told us to head upstairs and keep going until we get to the top and then parachute down. Funny man … except I don’t believe he was trying to be funny, but merely unhelpful.
After setting up our blanket we had some time to wait, so Dan headed off to get food and drinks, and I spent time tweeting. Yep. At the opera! I was far from the only one; the tweets were coming from all over the ballpark.
It was so much fun to see things on such a big screen, although I still say the best way to see a video of an opera is with the camera backed off, showing the entire stage, letting us decide what we want to see. Sometimes the camera crew shows us only one singer when I want to see more! The picture was great, though, and the sound mighty nice as well. I could swear they changed on bit of staging, but maybe I just didn’t see things correctly … on opening night I thought the on stage trumpets filed on in two groups of three and were standing there before they played. This time it seems they were already set up and a screen (or something; I can’t quite recall) lifted and there they were. Hmm. I wonder …? I especially enjoyed hearing MingJia Liu play the wonderful principal oboe part again. I even took a bit of video with my iPhone on that part, but I hesitate posting it in case it’s illegal to do so.
The bows were great fun … they all came out with something from the Giants … either wearing a T-shirt, carrying a banner or Giants foam finger or, in the case of the Maestro, wearing a Giants scarf. Fun!
Bravi tutti to all involved!
Aida isn’t my favorite opera, but I think it was perfect for a spectacle at the ballpark! The sets and costumes really look wonderful on the big screen!
I’ll Fly Away
Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch
Wir haben Gottes Spuren festgestellt
Jack Marti (and two others; I don’t have their names)
Chesnokov: The Angel Cried Out
The “Pokroff” Chamber Choir, cond. Andrey Goryachev, solo Svetlana Polyanskaya
Arts Education Week. I never heard about it. Did you?
On July 26, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution designating the second week of September as “Arts in Education Week.” The resolution (H.Con.Res. 275) was proposed and introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier from California.
The resolution states: [...] Arts education, comprising a rich array of disciplines including dance, music, theatre, media arts, literature, design, and visual arts, is a core academic subject and an essential element of a complete and balanced education for all students.
I read about it here.
New York Chamber Music Festival 2010
New York Philharmonic Principal winds
Liang Wang, oboe
Pascual Martinez Forteza, clarinet
Judith LeClair, bassoon
Philip Myers, horn
Shai Wosner, Piano
Beethoven Piano & Woodwinds quintet
Live from Symphony Space
September 16th, 2010
… that I like is that there would be no woman sitting next to me busy playing with the cellophane wrapper she brought in. (This is what I had to deal with at Marriage of Figaro this week; through the entire first half the woman sitting to my right played with a rather large ball of cellophane. What a distraction!)
But you gotta bet someone from the Mets has taken note of this story.
TheatreSeats.jpg
And while we’re at it, what about managers of symphony orchestras and opera companies struggling to fill houses on certain nights?Could screen-printed images of extravagantly dressed, bejeweled opera fans–perhaps with audio enhancement in the form of a sound clip of a crowd cheering “Bravo, bravo!” to be played through the house speakers at the climactic end of arias–be the future for the Metropolitan Opera House or other performance art venues?
I know that doesn’t really fill you in on the whole story, so you really have to click on the link to Susan Laney Spector’s blog. :-)
I conclude; no one plays oboe because it’s impossible.
If you really want to do something that sounds like Haydn but not Mozart, something that sounds like Beethoven but not Schubert, there have to be a lot of switches that are triggered in your brain and they’re based on linguistic things. Somebody could listen to somebody’s speech and might say, ‘That’s a Southern accent.’ But somebody who has a good ear would say, ‘No, that’s Kentucky, Western Kentucky, confined to a two-county area.’ That’s what we’re talking about here—not because the audience might notice, but because if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right.
-Robert Levin
Feeling like jumpy oboe music this morning.
SAVE YOUR TICKET STUBS AND SAVE SOME GREEN!
RECYCLE your ticket stub and REUSE it for REDUCED rates for other great San Jose Arts. That’s right, that ticket stub is worth something! The following San Jose arts organizations will provide a discount for productions with the presentation of a ticket stub from another participating SJ Arts Perk organization. Please note that each organization may offer a different discount and limits or restrictions may apply. Please also note that you WILL be asked for your physical ticket stub when you pick your tickets and failure to produce a stub may result in your discount being revoked. Now, unlock that Arts Perk potential!
just got my new oboe and im rocken the roof of this joint?
Fall for Music Weekend at Pepperdine 2010
Pepperdine University Music Department (Malibu, CA)
Thur., Sept. 30 – Sat., Oct. 2, 2010Events Include:
Oboe Master Class: “Tabuteau’s Method Book Comes to Life”
Joseph Robinson, New York Philharmonic (Ret.)Performance: Bach Double Concerto for Oboe and Violin
Joseph and Mary Kay Robinson with the Pepperdine University OrchestraClinic: “An Introduction to Woodwind Repair”
Lorrie Berkshire Brown, George Mason UniversityPresentation: “Where do Oboes Come From?”
Jeremy Walsworth, Howarth of LondonLecture: “Pre-Concert Oboe and English Horn Section-Building”
Lorrie Berkshire Brown and Meredeth Rouse, United States Army Band
“Pershing’s Own”Handmade Howarth of London Oboes and English Horns will be on display
Saturday from 10am-6pm.All events take place in the Ahmanson Music Building and Smothers Theater.
Free and open to the public!
Portland Opera invited comic artists (those who draw comics, not those who act funny … at least I think that’s what it meant!) to Pagliacci. You can see some of their work here.
