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

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 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.

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!

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.