The Ultimate Trouser Role
When Jessica Henson stepped on stage for the talent segment of the Miss Kansas pageant, she didn’t sing a soprano aria, or a mezzo aria. Instead, the top-10 semifinalist from Fort Hays favored the audience with a baritone aria, Figaro’s “Largo al factotum” from Rossini’s Barber of Seville! Ms. Henson was not chosen to represent her state in the Miss America Pageant, but pageant judges named her one of two co-winners of the talent segment, and awarded her a $1,200 scholarship. Her voice category was not mentioned. www.hutchnews.com
Should Male Soloists Abandon the Penguin Look?
Some of today’s concert pianists seem to be leading the way toward a new standard of dress for male soloists at symphony concerts. Since the 19th century, men have performed wearing formal black, but the tradition may be coming to an end.
Pianist Awadagin Pratt, for example, prefers brightly colored designer shirts for his appearances. Lang Lang often wears Chinese silk shirts, and Jon Kiemura Parker has begun to sport a stylish vest in place of a jacket. Some of the newer performers think that less formal wear on stage is an invitation to younger people to feel more at home in the concert hall. Would any male singers out there like to follow “suit?” (We women think it’s about time you men had to start spending more than five minutes thinking about your look onstage!)
www.awadagin.com
Students Should Take Business of Music Courses
College/conservatory students: Does your school have a course that deals with the nuts and bolts of music as a profession? If it is an elective, be sure you take advantage of it. Every singer has to deal with contracts, managers, and the executives that run performing arts organizations.
If your school does not already have at least one course that covers this area of study, you might want to ask if it will soon be included in the curriculum.
Classical Singer is starting its own workshop series to fill this need. We will hold one-day workshops throughout the country. Watch your email to find one near you. [Make sure you are signed up for Classical Singer’s brand new E-ALERTS! You can now choose what type of notifications you would like to receive. Go to our homepage www.classicalsinger.com for more information. If you’re not signed up, you’re missing part of your subscription.]
Global Positioning Satellites May Be Watching You!
The next time you travel for a job or an audition, be sure to read the fine print in your car rental contract. Many cars now have global positioning systems that enable the rental company to track every move you make.
Suppose, for example, that you are not allowed to take the car out of state, but you have a multi-state audition trip planned. GPS will tell the rental company if you sneak out of the state—and they could fine you. What’s more, if you exceed a certain speed limit, the company could hit you with another fine, even if you zipped past the police unscathed.
The rental company must write all the rules in the contract—but it’s up to the renter to read and follow them, or pay the price.
www.navigant.com/ForTravelers/TravelerResources/WeeklyBusinessTip.aspx?
Raunchy Opera Coming to San Francisco and then Broadway!
Jerry Springer, the Opera, by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, will grace San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre, beginning in February of 2005. No cast has yet been announced, but producer Jon Thoday has said that not a word of the raunchy dialogue will be changed for U.S. audiences. (Obviously, that means that not a word of the raunchy dialogue will be changed for the singers!)
If you’re so inclined, you can go to the opera’s website and listen to clips. This is caricature operatic singing. The show is playing currently in London, but is scheduled to open on Broadway on Oct. 20, 2005. If you’ve always wanted to be hit over the head with a chair, watch for audition notices in Classical Singer’s Audition section.
www.jerryspringertheopera.com
A 14-‘Carrot’-Gold Orchestra
Can a good musician play twelve-tone music on a cucumber, or coax a Baroque tune from a carrot? A group of fun loving, under-employed Viennese musicians construct various instruments out of vegetables and play them at concerts where, with careful amplification, they sound much like the original instruments after which they are modeled.
After each performance, the company’s chef reduces the “instruments” and other veggies to soup, which is served to the audience. Ernst Reitermaier, spokesman for Das Wiener Gemüseorchester, says that although the veggie ensemble is not looking for singers, the group is open to offers of collaboration.
To hear some clips of the group’s music, visit www.gemueseorchester.org
News from the First National Performing Arts Convention
In June of this year, Pittsburgh, Penn. hosted the first National Performing Arts Convention. Some 4,000 participants attended, representing theater, symphony, opera, dance, music journalism and other disciplines. Presentations covered many different areas of endeavor, and people with whom I spoke reported taking part in helpful meetings that dealt with specific problems.
A study released at the convention showed that more U.S. residents attended live theater than attended professional sporting events. The study found no correlation between age and theater attendance, but noted that theatergoers tend to be educated people, with higher-than-average incomes, who value art and creativity.
St. Louis Symphony Gets an Endowment
In December of 2000, the St. Louis Symphony was in dire financial trouble. The Taylor family, owners of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, pledged a donation of $40 million—if the orchestra could raise the same amount by Dec. 31 of this year. The symphony has reached that goal already, and expects to have an endowment of $90 million when all the pledges are in.
In the future, the orchestra will be limited to withdrawing no more than 5 percent of those funds per year, so the endowment should assure the organization’s long-term survival.
www.stltoday.com
