Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus!

Earlier this month I received an invitation from a friend to see him portray Francis. P. Clark, the newspaperman who in 1897 penned a now famous and beloved response to eight-year old Virginia O’Hanlon’s query about the existence of Santa Claus.

“Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus.”

Now imagine for a moment how dreary life in Connecticut might be if this holiday season we stopped celebrating the generosity Mr. Clark writes about in his editorial.

Even as you read this blog you are probably getting inundated with countless letters and e-mails seeking your charitable support. Just like Connecticut Opera’s holiday appeals, those other letters and e-mails are from an assortment of charities working hard during this economically challenging time to make Connecticut a better place to call home. And Connecticut Opera is no different from those other groups - we truly need your generosity this holiday season.

Now we know that much of your charitable giving during this holiday season will likely go to charities providing basic human needs, but we hope that you will spend part of your charitable budget during this stressful time to support Connecticut Opera. And in return for your charitable support this holiday season, we will spend the coming year providing some uplifting moments to Connecticut as we give voice to life’s passions by:

~ Contributing to the artistic and cultural diversity of Hartford;
~ Providing seasonal employment to approximately 100 local musicians, production technicians and support personnel to present our main stage opera productions;
~ Bringing our nationally recognized educational program, “Opera Express” annually to tens of thousands of children around Connecticut at little or no cost to their schools.

Won’t you please take a moment today to make your on-line gift to Connecticut Opera?
Click here for more information.

From all of us at Connecticut Opera, we wish you a very safe and joyous holiday season.

Christmas shopping made comfortable

The Christmas tree had been already set-up and decorated. Holiday movies were playing on the television. And a fresh pot of coffee had been brewed.

Now with a cup of coffee, and my laptop, I sat down on the living room couch to spend my Sunday morning Christmas shopping via the Internet. But this would not be a typical on-line shopping excursion because I was going to start at the Connecticut Opera website and visit the E-Plaza.

The E-Plaza is an exciting collection of major retailers who, if you visit their website via the E-Plaza, will make a contribution to the participating E-Plaza charity that you select. And best of all, the prices and specials at the E-Plaza are the same as if you went directly to the retailer’s website.

Now back to my holiday shopping experience. When I began yesterday morning I still had a number of Christmas gifts to purchase this holiday season. After searching around the Toys-R-Us website, I selected some fun, age-appropriate, items for my niece (2 ½) and nephew (almost 7) in Wisconsin. Since they will not be able to come east next week to visit Uncle Dave for Christmas, I had their presents shipped to their mother’s attention. My sister will help me by wrapping the presents and placing them under their tree.

After leaving Toys-R-Us, I went to Staples and Ritz Camera to get some techno items for other family members. Those items were also being shipped, but this time to my home. I also made a purchase at Best Buy, which I decided to pick-up at the store. The Merchandise Pick-up line at Best Buy was shorter and faster than if I had completed the purchase at the store.

So in a couple of comfortable hours at my home, I was able to complete much of my remaining Christmas shopping without leaving my fresh pot of coffee or my holiday movies. And best of all, my Christmas is happier knowing that I helped Connecticut Opera raise some much needed funding in this tough economy.

Go ahead, pour your favorite beverage and do some shopping at the E-Plaza.

This Little Piggy

We are in the midst of our first week of the new season with four new Resident Artists (come get your first glimpse and hear them for the first time at our wine tasting at Bosc in Simsbury on September 21^st or at Opera Uncorked on September 29^th.) It’s always exciting to get a new crop of singers in and hear and see what they can do. (see their bios and head shots at http://www.ctopera.org/educational/resident.asp)

In the spirit of the new children’s show that they are in the midst of staging, The Three Little Pigs, here’s some useless trivia about pigs:

• The world’s pig population is approximately 857,100,000.
• A pig always sleeps on its right side.
• A gruntle is the best word to describe the snout of a pig.
• A pig’s skin is thickest on its back, where it can be up to one-sixth-inch thick.

Taken from The Ultimate Book of Useless Information

Maestro Waters in Berlin

Obama speaks here in Berlin at 5pm today. About five minutes from my hotel. No I'm not going - they say it will be mobbed. I'll watch it on CNN. One of the cast members asked, "are you going to see Obama?" I said, "is he coming to see me conduct Porgy?"

This is a "review" of last Sunday's Porgy perf, by a Berliner friend of one of my "internet" opera friends who lives in NY. One correction - there have been several productions of Porgy in Berlin since the famous 52 Porgy with Price and Warfield (e.g., Houston Grand Opera performed it here in the 80s), and Goetz Friedrich, late director of the Deustche Oper, has done it a couple of times at a smaller theater here (Theater des Westens).

-Willie Anthony Waters

It was not only a beautiful, but a deeply moving performance and the audience was enthusiastic, uncommon for our rather cool public here, despite the fact that the opera is shown every evening and that it was the 15th or 16th performance. As I wrote I needed some time to get accustomed to the music, which is rather far from that I usually listen to, and I needed about half an hour to get into the music. But then I was very moved too, by the music and by the stage, and the finale was overwhelming.

The opera group was the Cape Town Opera Company, only the orchestra was from Berlin. Stage director was Angelo Gobbato. You will know him because they wrote in the newspapers and in the programme that he is a very renowned artist in South Africa. The staging was completely realistic, I haven't seen such a staging for years, because they always show these crazy and absurd ideas of "progressive" stage directors here in Middle Europe. This staging was made very carefully and accurately in all details and I liked it very much. The Catfish Row was a run-down quarter in which white people had lived in former times, now it was partly broken off and only poor black people lived there. The time was not 1925 but perhaps 1970. You saw and felt the very difficult conditions under which people lived there.

Concerning the music I was most impressed not by the popular songs (I got plenty of nothing, It ain't necessarily so, Bess, you is my woman now and these hits) but of the great ensembles. It reminded me strongly of a great veristic opera. The singers all had big voices, the orchestra was loud and the performance had a tendency to great opera, not bad I think. Much better than a tendency to musical, because this is a sad, but nevertheless hopeful story.

The singers were nearly all very good in singing and action, no belcanto, but very authentic in style I think, and they were very suited for their roles with one exception: The singer of Bess was miscast. A very tall woman whose way to move was not elegant, with a very big but not pleasant voice, rather shrill. I think she is no bad opera singer but should sing character roles, not lovers. The singer of Porgy had a wonderful big and warm baritone voice and his singing went straight into the hearts, but most other singers were excellent too. Maestro Willie Waters did the musical direction very well and had big applause, but we must admit that the orchestra was not always perfect. You felt that the (German Symphony) orchestra was not accustomed to play music of such kind. Willie has the problem to play these performances with three different orchestras. It was not bad, but I can imagine that the performance with the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper did it more exactly and with more drive. They are on tour now.

"Porgy and Bess" is an opera shown not often in Berlin. My last performance was 20 years ago, and as far as I know there was no performance of the opera in the meantime. So it was very interesting for me to see and to hear this opera, and I had a very beautiful and moving performance by the Cape Town Opera Company.

I hope I was able to give you a short impression of this beautiful production, and we all should be grateful that we have a chance to see it here. All critics were very positive, and I think it is nearly sold out every evening.

-Vigo

The International Festival of Arts and Ideas: The Highs and Lows

I am lucky enough to live in New Haven so for the two weeks each summer that The International Festival of Arts and Ideas takes over downtown, I have a (figurative) front row seat to the action. I try to go to as many events as possible but miss out on the weekday action due to the whole workaday world. In no particular order, here are my picks for the musical highs and lows of the festival with many more highs than lows (but the low was Marianas Trench low.)

HIGHS:Vijay Iyer – The New York based pianist, and Yale alum, and his band (alto sax, bass, drums) meld jazz with world music, relying heavily on Indian (sub-continent not American) influences. His compositions are not traditional bop or swing but they certainly are fully composed with strong tonal centers. At the same time, they weren’t at all constraining; this was no head, chorus, solos, repeat the head and out. As an example of the fluidity of the pieces, at one point, Iyer shifted the feel with his left hand to a steady upbeat, leading to an unmistakable reggae/dub feel against a bass ostinato that had been established earlier in the piece. Very difficult to categorize, which made the set even more engaging.

Orchestra Baobab – For those of you unfamiliar with this Senegalese group that plays Afro-Cuban mixed with West African high-life, go to I-Tunes right now, do not pass go, and download everything you can get your mouse on. It was quite a coup to get them at the festival to begin with, especially to play a small venue instead of the main outdoor stage on the green. Unfortunately, for some of us who weren’t on the ball, the show sold out and no matter the begging and pleading (and even some tears) the volunteers at the door were unmoved and we were left out on the street. They sounded great from there!

Pistolera / Grupo Fantasma – The threat of rain moved this show from the green to Woolsey Hall. Despite the fact that Woolsey sounds muddy when the symphony plays there (you can imagine what it sounded like when there were amplifiers, drums and a PA system) it was a great evening of music. The Brooklyn based Pistolera play ranchero and nortena as if they are rock and roll songs; high energy, high volume and a steady rock beat. The fact that they are a four piece where three of the members are women is a pretty revolutionary idea in Mexican music where usually it’s big fat guys wearing sombreros playing the tunes. Grupo Fantasma, hailing from Austin Texas, is an eleven piece band that is equal parts Willie Bobo and James Brown. Funky horn lines over a timbale fronted percussion section; I can’t imagine that there has ever been that much dancing in the aisles at Woolsey Hall. I only wish that the show had been on the green where the sound would have been better and the crowd would have been bigger.

Denyce Graves – Absolutely exquisite. Her sensitivity and control is simply astonishing. I have been lucky enough to see her twice; once as Carmen and once as Margaret Garner and she never ceases to amaze me. Her Delilah was gorgeous and the choice of Danse Macabre by Saint-Saen was perfect. During her set of American pieces and her encores, she showed everyone that opera stars are gracious and fun with a sense of humor.

LOWS: East Village Opera Company – There is only one “Low” listed here because I try to find something redeeming (I really do, despite what others might say!) There was nothing redeeming about this company, other than they are proficient players. The company bills itself as a melding of opera and rock. It fails on both counts. Lame, over the top arrangements, had none of the raw energy of great rock and roll. With the male singer the songs were like second-rate Queen and with the female singer, it came off as third-rate Celine Dion (which is amazing since Celine Dion is a second rate Cher.) I am certainly not an opera traditionalist. Aretha singing Nessum Dorma? Go for it! Non-traditional casting and settings? I’m all for it. There has to be a point to it, though. If all you’re doing is trying to make a niche for yourself and have nothing to add artistically then why bother? There were several bits of inadvertent humor, though, such as when they went into an extended quote of Eminem’s Lose Yourself. On a positive note, we went for Margaritas after the show and those were quite good.

And the Winner is...

It’s better than American Idol: the singing is superior; you don’t have to put up with a snarky Simon, a ditzy Paula, and noone gets called “dawg”; there are no commercials; the audience still gets to vote; and there are snacks! It was the Connecticut Opera guild’s 54^th Annual Young Artist Scholarship Competition where twenty-nine young singers competed for fifteen different awards totaling $28,500.

The most surprising performance of the afternoon was definitely David Korn, male soprano. I had never heard a male soprano before and it was rather disconcerting at first. But the initial shock gave way to an appreciation of wonderful technique and command. The judges agreed bestowing upon him the Zieman Award. I’m sure every mezzo-soprano would like to put him in his place - especially after he sang Cherubino – but they’ll just have to learn to live with the extra competition.

The day, however, belonged to soprano Rachele Gilmore. She began with an aria from Daughter of the Regiment which was followed up by the judges’ request of an aria from Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix. She was dynamite, winning both the grand prize awarded by the judges and the People’s Choice award, voted on by the audience. For those of you who missed her, or for those of you who were left wanting more, you are in luck. Rachele will be singing Zerlina in Connecticut Opera’s Don Giovanni, which kicks off next season. (Insert commercial here to subscribe today! Call me at 860.527.0713 for your tickets!)

It is always interesting to see who the judges give awards to and how they rank them. For the most part, I agreed with award recipients (although one of my favorites, bass Eui Jin Kim, who was very animated and entertaining with a nice full sound, did not) it tends to be the order that I think most people would disagree with. While “easy” may not be quite right to describe the choices for the top one or two prizes, the top singers will tend to separate themselves from the rest. Rachele and Elizabeth Baldwin, winner of the second prize, certainly did that at the competition. Of course, as in a professional football or baseball game, on a different day, the results could have been much different.

The difficulty is weighing the rest of the field. Let’s face it, this isn’t the Gong Show; these are all highly trained and talented singers. How do you compare Kelli Butler, who, to my surprise, followed up an aria from Rigoletto with a stunningly clean version of the Queen of the Night aria, with Katrina Thurman’s Rake’s Progress and Rosenkavalier? (Speaking of Rake’s Progress, is there some sort of Stravinsky centennial that I missed? Every other aria seemed to be from Rake’s.) At least they were of the same voice type. How do you compare mezzo Brandy Lynn Hawkins, an absolute revelation and winner of the June Miller Rosenblatt Award, with tenor JinHwan Byun, winner of the D’Esopo Award. The judges, who certainly have much greater knowledge of opera than I do (I kept having to lean over to Linda and ask, “What is this aria from?”) and know how they should sound. Even then, there is a lot of latitude – just look at the comments on You Tube when you look up videos of Natalie Dessay or Maria Callas. Everyone has an opinion on what the definitive approach is to every aria. When you get judges together to reach some sort of consensus there is bound to be some compromises and horse trading – there probably aren’t any “aha” moments a la Nine Angry Men.

With all that said, here is the link to the complete list of winners.

Things we Learned at Inside the Opera Studio - Abduction from the Seraglio Edition

1. Man, this is one good looking cast!
2. Chris Devlin (Assistant conductor and moderator for the evening) believes that Mozart had it out for the singers as shown by the difficulty of this piece.
3. Matthew Garrett (Belmonte) has a pet peeve about operatic stereotypes – especially the one about strange facial hair.
4. Heather Buck (Constanza) would sing upside down if a director asked her to and it didn’t compromise the aria.
5. Ellen Douglas Schlaffer (Director) has directed so many Connecticut Opera performances over the years she is going to apply for honorary Hartford citizenship.
6. Ashley Howard Wilkinson (Osmin) believes in physical fitness (which may be the understatement of the year – come to see the show and you’ll see why).
7. Sarah Callinan (Blonda) will have no trouble doing a 2:00pm matinee. In fact, if it were at 10:00am it would still be two hours later than many of the performances she had to do as a Resident Artist with Connecticut Opera.
8. Maestro Waters is using his Abduction conducting, both here and when he was in Boston last month, as aerobic training for the marathon Porgy & Bess run that he will be conducting in Berlin this summer.
9. Michael-Paul Krubitzer (Pedrillo) will have to remember to sing the correct words for Abduction since the children’s opera, The Billy Goats Gruff, which he sang as part of Connecticut Opera’s education and outreach program, is based on Mozart’s music.
10. Christopher Dickerson (Pasha Selim) loves coming to Hartford. Since this is a speaking part he gets to play golf and go to the pub without feeling guilty.
11. Did I mention that this is one good looking cast!

Audra McDonald Calls Out CT Opera Chorister

I had the pleasure of attending the Audra McDonald concert at the Jorgensen Center on the campus of UConn on Saturday evening. I was pleased to see that sharing the experience with me were several members of the Connecticut Opera chorus. Ms. McDonald was wonderful, covering a wide range of Broadway favorites and obscurities from the 1920’s to the present day. One of the songs she performed was I Could Have Danced All Night; a song which she said she was reluctant to put in her repertoire since everyone sings it – “From Julie Andrews to Nathan Lane in drag!” After the first refrain, Ms. McDonald remarked, “See, everyone sings it. You’re humming along with it now!” She then turned it into a sing-along with a special exhortation to all the sopranos.

After the song was over, she walked to the lip of the stage, shaded her eyes so she could see into the crowd and remarked, “You were all great especially this one over there,” and she proceeded to point out Connecticut Opera Chorus’ own Kalia Kellogg out of the crowd of several hundred people. After some questions from the stage (‘Are you an opera singer” – “Yes”; “Are you a Fiordiligi? What’s your favorite role?” – “Violetta.”) Ms. McDonald remarked, “You have a beautiful voice,” then jokingly added, “Stay down there in the audience.”

You can take the advice of Audra McDonald and come hear Kalia’s beautiful voice when she sings in the chorus of our upcoming Abduction from the Seraglio.

A Masterclass with Martina Arroyo

Last night was our Masterclass, led by Metropolitan Opera soprano Martina Arroyo, held at the Wilde Auditorium at the University of Hartford. The purpose of a Masterclass is to give singers a chance to give a working performance of an aria and receive feedback from the leader of the class, who will give them suggestions for ways to enhance their performance. Last night’s Masterclass was also an opportunity for the audience to learn more about what goes into preparing a role or aria for performance.

There are various approaches taken by those who lead Masterclasses. Some work with the singers on their technique, other focus more on the acting/portrayal of the character, and some do a combination of the two. Ms. Arroyo’s approach last night focused solely on character development and acing. Although she is a voice teacher, she feels that a Masterclass is not an appropriate setting for her to work on vocal technique with singers. She explained that vocal technique is something that has to be worked on and coached over a long period of time, preferably with the same teacher.

Our four Resident Artists, Jeffrey McAvoy, La’Tarsha Long, Toby Newman, and Allen Pinkney each sang for Ms. Arroyo last night. They were each at different points in the preparation process for the arias they sang – some were just beginning to explore the characters, while others had performed the aria and/or character many times before. This worked out well because the audience could see the kinds of things that are worked on at each stage of the process. Even if you have performed an aria a hundred times, there is always something that you can change or add, or another interpretation or way of looking at the character. The singers all did a great job – it’s not easy to be coached in front of an audience, and you never know what the person coaching you is going to ask you to do! For example, while Allen was singing Rodolfo (from La Bohéme), Ms. Arroyo asked Toby to come onstage and “be his Mimi”. I’m sure that as a mezzo, Toby never thought she would be asked to be Mimi!

Throughout the evening, Ms. Arroyo invited audience members to make comments or ask questions. Ms. Arroyo addressed a question about how a singer keeps so much in mind while performing – technique, the characters personality and feelings, how the character moves, etc. She explained that it takes lots of practice and preparation, and having a clear sense of EVERYTHING about the character, including how many time a day they burp!

There were several college voice students who attended the Masterclass, which is great. You can learn just as much (if not more) from watching other singers being coached as when you yourself are being coached. One of the students asked Ms. Arroyo about the amount of time a voice student should be spending working on their music, citing concerns about having only one hour-long lesson a week, and at the most one coaching a week. Ms. Arroyo responded that indeed, that is not enough time to be spending, and that singers need to spend just about as much time as they can afford to working on their voice and performance techniques. She firmly stated that singers who do this are not being selfish – they are just doing what needs to be done.

It was a wonderful evening for all involved. The Resident Artists were given some great ideas to think about as they continue preparing the roles they sang in the Masterclass, and the audience was able to learn right along with them. It was a delight to have Martina Arroyo here!

A very Special Family Day

The Boys and Girls Club dresses up in Opera Costumes before the performance.

On Sunday May 20^th we had the privilege to host a special Family Day at the Opera for children from the Parkville branch of the Boys and Girls Club and the South Park Inn Shelter. The performance of Little Red Riding Hood at the opera’s studio and the transportation for the attendees was sponsored by The Circle of Hands Foundation and Connecticut Opera Board Member, Dr. Marcia Satlow. In addition to the performance the children participated in costume dress-up, a coloring contest and received goody bags.

Also in attendance was Councilwoman Veronica Airey-Wilson who presented proclamations of appreciation from Mayor Eddie Perez to both Connecticut Opera, which was accepted by Managing Director Linda Jackson, and to the Circle of Hands Foundation, accepted by Dr. Satlow.

Family Day at the Opera

Did you see a mother, a grandmother, a little girl, a woodsman & a big bad wolf in Hartford this past Sunday afternoon? They were celebrating Family Day at Connecticut Opera, and everyone had an enjoyable, exciting time.

How far did you travel to attend the event? My journey was the longest - all the way from England - and it certainly was worthwhile. There were two performances of 'Little Red Riding Hood', a charming opera with familiar tunes; did you hum along, under your breath, perhaps remembering your own introduction to opera as a child when you were too young to realise what opera was all about? Based on Sunday's response to the performances, I'd say that everyone loved the drama, the beautiful singing, the bright costumes and the treats.

Aric asked me to help out by giving programmes to the young guests on arrival; the children then moved quickly to the far end of the room where costumes were available for trying on, helped by Lavell Thompson. Conveniently placed mirrors were popular, as bears, a sea captain, princesses and imaginary beings gazed at the transformation.

The program began with a warm welcome from Willie Anthony Waters, the popular Maestro of Connecticut Opera, and then the magical story unfolded. With brilliant sets and costumes, the mesmerizing music played by Christopher Devlin, and the outstanding singing of the young Resident Artists, we were transported to a world of make-believe that seemed real to us.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was a Question Time following each performance; children were eager to know about the story, the costumes, the Woodsman's axe, and other probing issues. The Resident Artists were approachable and happy to share their ideas with the audience, posing for photographs and signing the programmes.

Refreshments were served to everyone, with homemade cookies, fresh popcorn, juice and water. There were goodie bags for the young guests, and we laughed at the marvelous wolf masks that soon appeared; eating a cookie while wearing a mask is a bit of a challenge.

The success of Family Day depended also on the enthusiasm of the student volunteers from the University of Hartford; along with the Connecticut Opera Staff and Board members, they ensured a memorable experience for all of us, whether tiny tots, school-age boys and girls, parents or grandparents.

It was a brilliant afternoon. Be sure to watch out for the next Family Day.

Margaret Mary Cochrane

Cinderella, Peter Grimes, Simulcasts, Intimacy and the Mind's Ear

People often ask me if I was a singer and when I say no they then ask me how I got started working in opera.

After graduating as a theater major form college I started working for small companies in New York as a Stage Manager (including a very small opera company that did a production of La Cenerentola). I had been doing this for a couple of years when a friend from school called me to see if I could come to Houston to join him as an Assistant Stage Manager at Houston Grand Opera. When I told him that I didn’t know that much about opera he said it was okay because I knew how to stage manage and that’s what he needed help with.

I really didn’t know that much about opera when I got to Houston. To me opera was something that was sung in a foreign language and performed by large singers who weren’t particularly good actors. Imagine my surprise, then, when I arrived to begin work on Peter Grimes starring the most famous Peter Grimes, Jon Vickers. The production was directed by Ande Anderson, a resident stage director at Covent Garden, and conducted by the amazing John Pritchard. This was not opera as I thought it would be. It was sung in English. The words and the music were wonderfully woven together. The cast were not only great singers but wonderful actors. Add to this 60 members of the chorus and 60 plus in the orchestra pit and my friend was right when he called to ask me to come to Houston--opera was the next biggest thing after the circus and I was blown away.

As often as I have listened to Peter Grimes (enough to be able to sing almost the entire piece from beginning end) I never had a chance to see another production of the opera so when the Met announced that it was to be one of the simulcasts this season I couldn’t wait to see it. The Met production was all that I could have wished for. The set is dark and imposing and though I didn’t love it I found that it worked well for this production. The costumes were incredible (with careful detail that was explained during one of the intermissions by the costume designer). And until last week I couldn’t imagine ever seeing anyone who could bring Peter Grimes to life as well as Jon Vickers but Anthony Dean Griffey came pretty close. Grimes is not an opera just about one person, it is about a community and what a community can do to a person’s life. The rest of the cast were all equally terrific in bringing this community to life, including the chorus. And so after many years I got to see another production of an opera that has meant so much to me because it’s what started my professional career in opera. Anyone who did not have the chance to see this production should keep an eye out for it since it should eventually come to TV.

I love the Met simulcasts. You arrive at the theater, buy your popcorn, take your seat and when the lights go down you get to watch opera bigger than life. And this production of Grimes was bigger than life. Don’t get me wrong, nothing beats seeing a live performance of an opera but the simulcasts run a close second. It’s not just that they are bigger than life but as an audience member you feel a kind of intimacy both visually and aurally that you don’t feel in the 3,500 seats that are the Metropolitan Opera House.

Last year I saw The First Emperor just before we debuted in the Belding Theater at the Bushnell. That simulcast reinforced for me our decision to move into the Belding because you get the same kind of intimacy in there that you get with the simulcasts. This year I saw Peter Grimes the afternoon of our last performance of La Cenerentola in the Belding. Grimes was bigger than life and gruff and grey and Cenerentola was small and charming and peach and in both instances I was sitting the same distance from the stage and had the same incredible, intimate experience that left me loving opera and wanting to see more.

And the Mind’s Ear. You know how you get a song in your mind and it just plays over and over and over again. Well, after Saturday I spent the next week with different sections of Peter Grimes and La Cenerntola stuck in my ear. Until Thursday night when I watched Madame Butterfly Live from Lincoln Center. Un bel di.

Our first Talkback!

After a truly magical (and sold out!) matinee of La Cenerentola (Cinderella), the cast and Directors came back out on stage to see what the audience thought. About 150 ticket holders stayed to give their opinions and ask their questions... Maria even came out to the edge of the stage to sign an autograph for a young fan. Dandini, performed by Michael Mayes, when asked how he prepares for this type of performane, cleverly quipped that he "doesn't go for the laugh," making fun of his over-the-top comedic expressions and actions throughout the opera that made him a crowd favorite.

It was interesting and experimental to offer a talkback, something that is very common in theaters, but is just starting to show up in opera companies and classical arts as a way to connect with patrons, to receive feedback, and to allow audiences to feel more involved in the performance. In an opera, the feedback is always immediate... did they laugh or not, did they clap or not... and the performers can feel that, it energizes them to bring more to their performance. Other feedback can be harder to gauge unless you ask the audience directly what they thought. Some questions that the audience asked were about the details of the scenery and where it came from, how are the costume changes made so quickly, and how difficult was it to sing and act so fast.

It was the first "talkback" I've ever witnessed, and it was very enjoyable. I guess if the performance hadn't been so wonderful, maybe I wouldn't have liked the "talkback" as much. :) And Christopher Devlin made an excellent moderator, thank you so much!!

La Cenerentola Meet & Greet

This past Wednesday was our Board Meet & Greet with the artists of La Cenerentola. This is something that we do for each opera of the season. It takes place right after a board meeting, usually early on in the rehearsal process. It’s a time for board members and their guests to meet the artists and vice versa.

The board meeting ended a little after 6:00pm, and the artists finished their three-hour rehearsal at about the same time. Once everyone had arrived, Willie introduced the singers and Director. From that point, everyone was free to mix and mingle and eat! It was a casual atmosphere, with a light supper catered by Café Louise. (I knew pretty soon after I started working for Connecticut Opera that I was not ever going to go hungry at our events! I have not been disappointed yet!)

Things finished up around 7:00. Everyone seemed to have had a good time, and left looking forward to getting to see the artists in action in our production of La Cenerentola.

Things we learned at Inside the Opera Studio last night

Tim Jones, Jason Hardy at the post-event reception with attendees.

1. Our cast for Cenerentola has a decidedly southern tilt to it, with seven of our ten panelists born and/or currently living south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Even our Russian Diva is learning English with a Texas twang in her current residency in Houston.

2. Michele Angelini (Don Ramiro) secretly dreams of being a Wagnerian tenor.

3. Maestro Waters in going through a, “Tristan phase.” (I think there may be a cure for that.)

4. Jason Hardy (Don Magnifico) can balance furniture on his face.

5. David Gately (Director) last directed an opera for Connecticut Opera, “before most on the panel were born.”

6. Michael Mayes (Dandini) is Texan, through and through; right down to his cowboy boots and oversized longhorn belt buckle.

7. Our two ugly step-sisters (La’Tarsha Long and Toby Newman) will only be ugly on the inside.

8. Timothy Jones (Alidoro) is a professor of voice and musicology, not of physics.

9. Maria Markina (Cenerentola) is thankful that this production is in Italian and not English, as English has too many different vowel sounds.

10. Café Louise has the best deserts; especially those little white chocolate cups filed with mousse and topped with a coffee bean –YUMMY!

The Duet

This morning, Jason Hardy, our Don Magnifico for the upcoming show, was asked to do an interview with Scot Haney on Channel 3. The link to the interview is here. Whenever a singer does a TV interview for me, I adamantly tell the anchor/host that they will NOT be singing on the show. This is for lots of reasons including needing several hours to warm up their body, not having an accompanist, not knowing the space they are singing in, etc. etc. not to mention potentially blowing out the TV station's tiny microphones. :) So when you see Jason singing on this clip, it is not because I said it was okay.... (Jason, this is all you, honey.... you gave Scot Haney an inch....) you'll see what I mean. Regardless, it came out great, and he didn't have to balance a couch on his chin.

Auditions - Not Quite American Idol (But Sometimes It Feels Like It Is)

One of the hats I wear under at the opera under my official title of Patron & Community Services Manager is Audition Coordinator. In a nut shell, here are how auditions happen…

We have three separate types of auditions: mainstage – for the shows that you see on stage at The Bushnell or the Palace; resident artist – for the four singers that make up our Education and Outreach troupe, Opera Express; and chorus. Our mainstage auditions are held in New York City, usually over a three day period. Chorus auditions are held at our studios in Hartford, usually in early September. The Resident Artist auditions this year are actually spread out over three month period, with two days in New York City, one evening in Hartford and one day in Boston. If you think that’s a lot, as of writing this I have no slots open. That means that Willie, Linda and Chris will be hearing approximately 150 singers for 4 positions. Willie and Linda heard about 140 last weekend during mainstage auditions.

One of the first challenges in auditions is finding a venue. Luckily, over the past couple of years, we have not been doing our auditions when every other opera company does theirs. From late November to just before Christmas (seemingly) every opera company in the country comes to New York City and holds auditions for both their mainstage and Resident Artist programs. What ensues is general mayhem as singers (and pianists – mostly freelancers who make their living coaching singers, conducting and playing auditions) run all over town trying to get to their auditions on time. Add a little rain or snow to the (wintry) mix and you get bedraggled and dazed singers running from the lower east side to the west side and back to mid-town trying to land that coveted role (and their next paycheck). Then, if one company is running late –and there are several companies who are notorious for running hours behind schedule – it messes everything up. Singers dashing in at the last minute or long past their scheduled time apologizing profusely as skirts and pantyhose get hiked up and straightened and sensible shoes get tossed to the side as the spike heels are squeezed into all the while begging an idle pianist to play for them.

Even when we do our auditions in February, as we did last year and this year, sometimes it’s difficult to find an appropriate audition venue. Last year I was unable to secure some of our normal audition haunts so we had to go to a large studio complex which consisted of a long hallway with several dance-type studios lined up on either side. On the first day of auditions we were treated to a summer-stock open casting call complete with dancers. The second day was an open casting call for (gasp!) High School Musical 2. The final day was Salsa dance classes with booming music through the hallways. This year has been much more sedate thus far.

The process goes something like this: Once the repertoire is decided for the next season I send out a notice to a list of music agents and post the announcement in various musical publications and web-sites such as Classical Singer and YAP Tracker. I then sit back and wait. I am not exaggerating when I say that as soon as I hit send on my email I can expect to get resumes and headshots in less then 10 minutes. I will receive over 100 submissions over a weekend. There’s a reason that I state emphatically on the announcement, “NO PHONE CALLS!” I would never get any work done otherwise.

Often, Willie and Linda already have ideas about who they would like to cast in certain roles from singers that have performed with Connecticut opera before, those they have worked with elsewhere and some they have seen perform elsewhere. With those things in mind, they wade through all the submissions and decide who they would like to hear. I then call the agent or singer to set up times. Invariably the agent wants to know why we want to hear only one of their singers and not the other. It is quite amazing how many agents represent the next Ben Heppner or Maria Callas that we must absolutely hear! Then comes several weeks of agents canceling and changing times. Of course, every time we have auditions some sort of plague (or flu, or dengue fever etc.) ravages the New York singing community so we have plenty of last minute cancellations and no shows.

At last come the auditions themselves. My role is to sit outside the room and make sure that we run on time that people sing in the order they were assigned shush people like Marion the Librarian, and get Willie and Linda lunch. The best part of monitoring the auditions as I do is that you become invisible to the singers and their agents. This is how I see and hear singers upbraided by agents; singers break down in tears, singers’ declarations of quitting singing and lots of strange stretching exercises.

By the time the third straight day of auditions rolls around, the only thing I can think about is not having to have auditions anymore. Most of the singers are quite personable and the pianists are always great to catch up with, though it is not very glamorous when it comes right down to it. There are a lot of artists out there singing for very few positions; and when it comes right down to it, many of them should start thinking about that accounting degree they abandoned to pursue their dream of singing on the opera stage.

Renewals

We mailed subscription renewals this week. This is a big task for the staff. After the season is approved by the board, Aric has to build the season into ProVenue which includes setting up each performance, seating chart, price structure and moving last year’s buyers into their respective nights and seats. After he’s done that, he produces a report which I then convert into invoices and mail along with a letter and flyer about the upcoming operas. For some reason our lovely ticketing system will not recognize that we have two theaters on our series, so Aric had the unenviable task of manually changing the theater on everyone's record. And he only complained once. :)

We’re all excited about next season and we hope you are too. We’ll be back at the Palace in Waterbury for one performance of Don Giovanni, followed by two of the same opera at our “home” at The Bushnell. Then we’ll be back in the Belding Theater at The Bushnell (what a great intimate space!) for two operas: Daughter of the Regiment (Donizetti is my favorite composer) and La bohème.

Great season, great renewal mailing, great week at the office.

Have a good weekend!

Welcome

After a fascinating luncheon where Linda gave a great talk on what it takes to produce an opera season, we all decided that there is an audience for, and thirst for, knowing what goes on behind the scenes here. We joked that, if anything, we can post some funny disaster stories, like when Sean got a truckload of scenery for a show and no screws to put it together. True story... and I think he spent well over $200 in screws that morning while the crew waited around backstage at The Bushnell.

So here we go, snail-pacing our way into the modern era of blogging. Every week we hope to have a different member of the staff share with you a bit of what we do so that when you see the finished product on stage, you'll have also seen some of the pieces that went into making it magical for you. We hope you'll check in on us every once in a while. We hope you find it interesting, educational, and maybe a bit amusing. Leave us a comment, share this with your friends, and we'll see you at the opera!