A visitor to Clark Opera Memphis Center

Opera in News of the Weird

Alas, Opera made Chuck Shepard's News of the Weird this summer. If you want to see the depths that this sunk to go to google images and type "Kreskin Maskenball."

Ashlawn Opera

Made a quick stop at the Ashlawn Highland Opera Festival for some auditions and to hear a scenes concert. Near Charlottesville, the opera performs on the James Monroe estate, up the hill from the more celebrated Monticello. An outdoor festival, the singers sometimes compete with the buzz of cicadas and the cries peacock for attention.

Opera New Jersey

On the way back to Memphis, I stopped off at Opera New Jersey in Princeton. They were kind enough to lend me their young artists and their chorus master Keith Chambers to do a reading of about fifteen minutes of my a capella setting of MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. While there I also got the chance to see Elizabeth Caballero and Michael Fabiano sing TRAVIATA and Jennifer Aylmer sing Hanna Glawari in THE MERRY WIDOW.

And no opera lover should ever go anywhere near Princeton without stopping at the Princeton Record Exchange to look over the vast selection of used opera CDs.

More about the reading later.

Not to be a Bore/Boor

While driving from Glimmerglass to Opera New Jersey, I heard Nicholas Carr talking about his essay in the July/August issue of THE ATLANTIC. Carr worries that google and the internet are changing the way we read--that we are becoming a nation of skimmers. He cites a colleague who says he has "almost totally lost the ability to read and absorb a longish article on the web or in print." He says we may be losing the ability to read "deep."

It is a worry for us who work in music's longest form. Is the audience losing the ability to "listen deep?" I know that I have one of the shorter attention spans in the opera business--a long opera can put me to sleep in the theatre, even if I am excited about it. It makes me into an artistic director always on the look out for musical cuts, in order not to test the audience's patience.

On the other hand, some long operas were written for another era. When it took a long time to get to the theatre, the length of the entertainment needed to be worth the trip. Plus it is clear that often audiences weren't really paying full attention to the recitatives--they were waiting for a pretty aria to pull their attention back from their box seat to the stage. Honestly, that's the way we watch sports and no one has any issue with that.

I tend to be an optimist and feel that shorter attention spans simply mean that artists need to do a better job at entertaining and intriguing and that often, being longwinded is just being a bore/boor. Opera is a special opportunity for deep listening.

Ryan MacPherson, tenor

On a quick visit over to Glimmerglass, I got a chance to catch up with tenor Ryan MacPherson. He has sung four engagements with Opera Memphis and is singing Luzio in the Glimmerglass production of Wagner's early opera DAS LIEBESVERBOT. Here is Ryan on the streets of Cooperstown with his bike.

RIP Uncle Buoso

An enthusiastically received second performance and it's time for Uncle Buoso to rest in peace for a bit. This performance has given me a chance to check both the piano vocal and orchestral materials for errors, so its now time for a bit of homework so a final version can be made.

This picture is of our very talented dead Uncle B. Patrick Hussey, who in real life is the Shihan of Tenkara Karate in Saratoga Springs.

A bit of Hawaii

Special thanks to old friend Becky Ikehara for coming to the second performance by Cessna and for bringing a beautiful Maile lei.

Lawn Jockeys of Saratoga Springs

The lawn jockey is to Saratoga Springs what a garden gnome is to England. They are everywhere and they are in all sorts of colors and conditions. They are displayed prominently right at curbside, or they are nearly obscured by plants. Right handed, left handed; colorful, drab. Large, elaborately painted horses now compete with the jockeys for attention.

Opening Night Schicchi Buoso

All went well...