Opera Tour . . . on Bicycles!
Five young Canadian singers who are members of The Bicycle Opera Project spent part of this summer cycling around the province of Ontario in an attempt to make opera more relevant and, ultimately, more accessible. They perform contemporary works at commonly visited places such as coffee shops and churches. “We want to promote Canadian contemporary opera as well as an environmentally sound, car-free approach to touring,” says soprano Larissa Koniuk. Mezzo-soprano Nadia Chana, who is a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago, adds that they also want to dispel common notions about the lifestyle of a typical opera singer. “We can change a flat tire,” she says. “We sweat. We get dirty too!”
Opening night was June 30 at the Rustic Owl coffee shop in Toronto. After that, the group cycled 84 miles to Peterborough for a July 2 performance at the Silver Bean Cafe. They expect to stay with friends who live along their route. Minimal costumes, props, and musical instruments are stowed in small trailers attached to the bikes. Violinist Katie Avery notes that since they are performing contemporary opera, they can wear their own clothes. This first tour ended on July 10 in Gananoque, but the group hopes to do future summer bike tours of various areas in Canada.
o.canada.com/2012/06/27/the-bicycle-opera-project-tunes-up/
R.I.P. Andy Griffith: Great Actor and One-Time Classical Singer
All of us remember Andy Griffith as the sheriff of the small southern town of Mayberry and as the hot dog-loving lawyer Matlock. Those programs are still shown on television. In 1948, however, Andrew Griffith, bass, and John H. Brinegar, tenor, gave a dual student recital at the University of North Carolina. Griffith sang Caccini’s Amarilli, Verdi’s Il lacerato spirito, several French art songs, and Osmin’s part in the tenor-bass duet from Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio. Later, Griffith sang every so often on his television shows when a song could easily be worked into his script.
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=485732264773672&set=a.192048984142003.54315.190084307671804&type=1&theater
Texas Instruments Awards $250,000 Grant to Dallas Opera
On July 2, 2012, the Dallas Opera announced that it had received a quarter-million-dollar grant from the Texas Instruments Foundation for the purpose of enriching the quality of life in the Dallas community. The money will be used to support the highest standards of excellence in the opera’s main stage productions as well as to advance the opera company’s educational and community outreach initiatives during the 2012-13 season.
The outreach will include live performances in schools, libraries, museums, and other cultural centers. These less formal performances are expected to be seen by more than 20,000 young people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Sam Self, chairman of the Texas Instruments Foundation, said that the company was given the grant because “the Dallas Opera is one of the cornerstones of the Dallas arts community, and we’re proud to be a partner in their continuing success.”
blog.dallasopera.org/2012/07/02/the-dallas-opera-honored-with-a-250000-grant-from-the-texas-instruments-foundation/
newscenter.ti.com/2012-07-02-Texas-Instruments-Foundation-provides-1.5-million-in-grants-to-12-North-Texas-arts-culture-organizations
World Heritage Status Is Given to Bayreuth’s ‘Other Theater’
Bayreuth’s original theater, the Markgräflisches Opernhaus (Margrave Opera House), has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status. It is now one of some 37 sites so honored in Germany. Normally, music lovers go to Bayreuth to see performances of Richard Wagner’s operas in the 19th century Festspielhaus, but long before it existed, the city’s inhabitants enjoyed music and theater in an Italian Baroque architectural wonder.
One of the most interesting things about the Margrave is that it has never been electrified or updated since it was constructed between 1744 and 1748. Although the original stage curtain is missing because it was stolen by Napoleon’s troops on their way to Russia, the theater is otherwise intact. If you want to hear great performances of Mozart’s music, go to Salzburg. If you want to get an idea of what performing was like in the time of Handel, Gluck, or Mozart, you can do that at the Margrave. Because of fire laws, you may have to imagine the candles and their smoke, but you can see the beauty that surrounded the artists as they performed.
www.operatoday.com/content/2012/07/honors_for_bayr.php
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markgräfliches_Opernhaus_(Bayreuth)
Good News for Those Who Wish to Perform in Europe
Box office receipts rose 34 percent between the 2005-06 season and the 2009-10 season, according to John Myerscough’s report on the eight orchestras of the BBC. During the 1998-99 season, only 11 percent of adults attended classical concerts. Current attendance is about 18 percent. Since 1998, interest in classical concerts has risen 46 percent, but the growth of interest in opera has lagged behind by some 10 percentage points. Audiences at the BBC’s “Proms” have grown from 271,000 in 2007 to 313,000 in 2010. That, of course, does not include those who listen on the Internet.
At the Vienna State Opera, according to Opera Today, almost 600,000 people attended 360 performances of opera, ballet, and children’s programs. That put the average capacity at above 98 percent.
www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2012/06/did-someone-say-classical-audiences-are-dying-not-in-england.html
www.operatoday.com/content/2012/07/continued_progr.php
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/2012/06/review-of-the-bbcs-performing.shtml
