As I’m working on a rather new opera, Anna Karenina, there are others coming out as well … … there have been far too many inauthentic ones, you know? (Hmm. Do Klingons have a clue about oboe?)
Archive of posts filed under the Opera category.
Heigh ho, heigh ho … to opera I will go!
Our first rehearsal is today. I’m anxious … and a bit nervous, as this is an entirely new opera to all of us (to most everyone, really, since it’s only been done a couple of times). There’s a lengthy article in the Merc. You might want to check it out! Carlson was interested, though the [...]
Affordable Tickets @ The Met
At 80 years old, Agnes Varis is trying to make opera audiences younger. “Your average opera-goer cannot be 65—give me break,” said Ms. Varis. “You’re not going to keep an opera house alive with that.” Ms. Varis, the founder and former president of several pharmaceutical companies, including Agvar Chemicals, Marsam Pharmaceuticals and Aegis Pharmaceuticals, is [...]
A Gutsy Opera
I recently read of an plot that, even for opera, is a stretch. A playwright in London has written his first opera, a 30 minute work entitled Intolerance. The opera is about one woman’s quest to cure her irritable bowel syndrome. Hmmmm. I read about it here. I’m not sure I want to do more [...]
Snakes Opera On A Plane
I read about it here. (Sorry this automatically plays … I can’t figure out how to change that!) Update So not only do the passengers of this plane not get the choice; they have to listen whether they want to or not (forget sleeping, eh?), but readers of this blog have had no choice but [...]
Spotted In the Mercury News
Early alert Catch a premiere Opera San Jose soon opens its 27th season with “Anna Karenina,” American composer David Carlson’s setting of the 19th-century novel by Leo Tolstoy. This will be the West Coast premiere of “Anna Karenina,” which opens for eight performances at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose on Sept. 11. It’s [...]
Wednesday at MOMA & Così, Over & Out (for me, anyway)
Dan and I went to MOMA yesterday. It was wonderful, although of course we didn’t come close to seeing it all. I did get to my favorite rooms, and enjoyed Starry Night. I took pictures of various contemporary works that included music in some way or another. But taking photos of paintings really doesn’t work [...]
Wall Street Journal on Merola
Check it out! There’s even a paragraph on Elixir. I wasn’t completely tuned in to how Merola operates, and wasn’t clear on the Adler Fellows, so I found it an interesting read. Then, as Ms. Graham put it, “they throw you into the deep end of the pool, even if you don’t know how to [...]
Some Assembly Required
… but you won’t have to make oboe reeds. (Of course I might have to — who knows what my reeds will do at the other end of the country.) So now the event has also made Anne Midgett’s blog in the Washington Post!
“Così fan Tutte: Some Assembly Required” …
… is in The New Yorker! Read it here Gotta love Così! The overture is quite fun to play. It’s interesting to hear the different takes on YouTube. The tempi can vary greatly. I prefer the first part sort of slower, but not death-like, and then the second tempo is fun to play when it [...]
Some More Reviews
Since there were two casts for Elixir some folks like to attend two performances to catch all the singers. And some people go to all four performances! So here are a few more reviews I’ve now located: Opera Tattler (from the final performance) Civic Center (from Thursday night, I believe) Examiner (a second review, this [...]
Elixir, Over & Out
So I’m done with Merola for the year. They have one more concert, the Grand Finale, but the “real” opera folks play that one. I will just be arriving home from a trip the day before, so I can’t imagine having the energy to get up to San Francisco to hear them, but I sure [...]
Another Review
Here’s one, again by Opera Tattler, about last night’s performance. It’s a different cast. For the most part. Until Nemorino had to be pulled due to what sounded like a cold or something that hit his voice. (Believe me, I know how it can be … not that I sing, but my throat is NOT [...]
SF Opera on KQED
Rita Moreno will host the KQED Public Television 9 broadcasts of four San Francisco opera productions, examiner.com reports. The series will include Giacomo Puccini’s MADAMA BUTTERFLY, starring Patricia Racette, on August 26; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI, starring Mariusz Kwiecien, on September 2; Puccini’s LA RONDINE, starring Angela Gheorghiu, on September 16; and Camille Saint-Saëns’s [...]
Yep, I’m Tired
It’s 12:13 as I begin this post. I’m just home from Elixir. The opera ended at 10:45, but then there’s the walk to the car and the drive home. So this is my life for two more nights. (Sunday is a matinee so that won’t be quite so crazy.) I think back to playing shows [...]