Michigan Opera Working to Attract a More Diverse Audience
Opera America and Michigan Opera Theatre have joined forces in an attempt to attract more members of ethnic groups to attend opera in this country. The organizations believe that a larger percentage of African-Americans will attend opera performances if more of the works pertain to subjects that concern them. Thus, MOT’s Detroit production of Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner—a work about the tragedy of slavery that features a libretto by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison—has aroused a great deal of interest.
Opera America held its Detroit annual convention during the same week as the Garner premiere. Morrison was the keynote speaker and the main topics of discussion concerned ways of increasing diversity in opera, both in the audience and on the stage.
www.operaamerica.org; www.motopera.org
Uproar May Be Over at Italy’s La Scala
A British newspaper reports that the recent troubles at La Scala may be over. A story in The Independent says that since the beginning of this year, the company that performs at Milan’s 225-year-old opera house has lost its general manager and its music director, that strikes have plagued its premieres, and two new productions had to be canceled because of unrest in the orchestra.
La Scala’s new general manager and artistic director is French citizen Stéphane Lissner, the first non-Italian ever to be named to the post. Lissner has already proved his ability to run a major opera company: He is director of the festival at Aix-en-Provence and music director of the Vienna Festival. La Scala personnel hope he will be less affected by Italian politics than his predecessor.
http://news.independent.co.uk May 1, 2005
Is the New Maazel Opera a Vanity Project?
Famed conductor Lorin Maazel’s first opera recently premiered at Covent Garden. Based on George Orwell’s well-known novel “1984,” the new work has a libretto by J.D. McClatchy and Thomas Meehan, and features music in a lyrical style British critics are calling derivative.
As quoted in The Guardian, Covent Garden director Elaine Padmore says the piece is good for the Royal Opera because a company in which Maazel is the chief investor bore much of the production cost. She said putting on this new work cost no more than a revival of Rigoletto.
www.guardian.co.uk Search for “Maazel.”
Mozart Makes a Bet with Haydn
Mozart once bet composer Franz Joseph Haydn a few bottles of champagne that Haydn could not play Mozart’s latest piece. Haydn set the music on the piano and started to play, but after a few measures he stopped, complaining that the work required him to play notes at the extreme ends of the piano and one in the middle simultaneously. He said that no one with only two hands could play it.
Mozart took over at the keyboard—and played the middle note with his nose. Haydn conceded the bet, quipping that with a nose like Mozart’s such a thing was much easier to play.
Anecdotes Musicales by E. Van de Velde, Tours, 1926
Lyric Opera of Chicago Lays Off Employees
The Lyric Opera of Chicago dismissed 11 full-time employees as of May 1 when its fiscal year began. General Director William Mason said he was reducing his administrative staff by slightly more than 8 percent, which he expects will save the company some $700,000 for the coming season.
The 2004-2005 season was LOC’s 50th, and it finished in the black, but the company expects the layoffs to prevent a deficit from occurring at the end of 2005-2006. The staff, which had numbered 101, is reduced to 90. The most senior position lost was that of artistic director.
www.suntimes.com
Giuseppe di Stefano Goes Home from the Hospital
After being attacked by thieves in his rented villa on the coast of Kenya, veteran tenor Giuseppe di Stefano was brought back to Italy in a coma. In April, however, it was announced that not only had he recovered consciousness, but he was well enough to leave the Milan hospital where he had been receiving treatment.
www.opera-l.org Search for di Stefano.
African ‘Carmen’ Is a Hit at Berlin Film Festival
The movie uCarmen eKhayelitsha (Carmen in Khayalitsha), written in the Xhosa language, presents Bizet’s Carmen in an African setting. The movie was a big hit last winter at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won a “Golden Bear,” according to Time magazine.
The film’s promoters want the populace of the township where the action is set to see the movie, so some of the artists featured in the film handed out leaflets as they rode a bus around the area, playing Bizet’s music. Cinemas are filling up, as local people develop an interest in filmed opera, says the report.
www.time.com/time/europe/html/050425/carmen.html
Former Programmer Now Programming Musical Programs
Gregory Lawrence, a San Diego area musician and computer expert, has played the violin with symphony orchestras and, until two years ago, worked as a computer programmer. Now he is doing what he really loves, even though the project began as a hobby, says a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Four years ago, Lawrence founded the Cabrillo Chamber Orchestra, a group that features professional musicians in concert three or four times a year. Lawrence spends $7,000-$8,000 each year to maintain his orchestra, but, he says, numerous other hobbies cost as much and provide enjoyment for far fewer people. The concerts play to packed houses, ticket prices are low, and audiences are enthusiastic. This year, Lawrence is applying for non-profit status, which will allow him to accept grants and maybe even pay himself a small salary, says the story.
www.uniontribune.com
ERRATA
In the May article “Singing in Military Choruses,” the photos on pages 22 and 26 were courtesy of the US Army Band (Pershing’s Own) not the US Army Field Band. The photo on page 26 was a picture of the Army Chorale, not the Soldiers’ Chorus, at a Christmas reception in the White House.
In the June isuue’s Letters to the Editor, a letter was misattributed to Dana Peterson Springer.
