Bach Goes Underground
Dale Henderson plays Bach on his cello for subway commuters in New York City. Surprisingly, he does not ask for donations—he just loves to share his music. He usually plays at night and can sometimes be found in Times Square. Actually, he prefers to be further downtown, but often the places he likes best are filled with people trying to earn a little money. Henderson used to play for money and says he has earned as much as $170 and as little as $30 for an evening’s work. He plays only Bach and says he really enjoys just pleasing an audience without asking them to pay. “I could sit alone on top of a mountaintop playing the Bach suites and be happy,” he says. “They’re like the Bible for cellists.”
During the day, Henderson is a full-time music teacher, but he loves to spend his evenings bringing Bach to the masses of people who ride the trains that crisscross the underground caverns of New York City. To find out where he is playing on a given evening, check his status on Facebook or Twitter. He will be giving a concert above ground in the spring; details are on his website.
dalehendersonmusic.com/
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909904576051974255599728.html?mod=WSJ_NY_Culture_LEADNewsCollection
China Strives to Excel at Opera
For the past decade, China has been building opera houses in major cities and developing talent in its conservatories. The Beijing Review reports that last year the city’s university established an Opera Academy and that the National Center for the Performing Arts held a 10-week opera festival with 12 productions by both domestic and foreign presenters. Chen Zuohuang, the center’s music director, says that opera development is, like China itself, extremely fast and very ambitious.
Verdi’s La traviata was performed in Beijing in February and Hao Weiya’s Village Teacher will be seen from March 7 to 9. Many settings for operas are now being created in China. In some cases, Western stories are being adapted to Chinese culture. Zhang Huan’s version of the Baroque opera Semele was set in a 450-year-old Chinese temple, and some of the country’s traditional music was added to the score.
Chinese composers have been using English texts for their works because so few Western singers can perform in their language, but that is changing. Renowned Chinese-born bass Hao Jiang Tian directs a program called “I Sing Beijing” that brings young American opera singers to China for intensive training in Chinese as a lyric language. He hopes that they will then be able to appear in modern Chinese operas. There is a full-scholarship program financed by the Hanban/Confucius Institute and the Asian Performing Arts Council that pays for Western singers to study in China.
www.bjreview.com.cn/culture/txt/2010-03/29/content_258520.htm
www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/arts/music/01opera.html
Rutgers University Establishes an Opera Institute
The Mason Gross School of the Arts, part of New Jersey’s Rutgers University, has established a new opera program. It will make use of a $6.5 million grant to the university from alumna and opera fan Victoria J. Mastrobuono who passed away in 2009. At least $1.5 million of the grant is specifically set aside for opera and opera scholarships.
Opera Program Director Pamela Gilmore says that the scholarship component of the gift will attract a high level of talent to Rutgers. Mason Gross expects to increase the number of fully staged operas from one to two per year. It is also looking to forge an alliance with the Castleton Festival in Virginia that would allow the school’s opera students to appear in the festival’s productions. This spring the Opera Institute will be auditioning prospective students for its fall 2011 classes.
www.masongross.rutgers.edu/content/mason-gross-establishes-opera-institute-rutgers
