Sting Makes DVD for Opera Education
BBC News reports that pop singer Sting and his wife Trudie Styler have made a disc which will be sold for the benefit of the United Kingdom’s Royal Opera House Education Programme. Called Twin Spirits, it tells the story of composers Clara and Robert Schumann in a film directed by John Caird. Sting reads some of Robert’s letters to Clara, and some of his songs are sung by English baritone Simon Keenlyside accompanied by piano and violin.
Styler reads Clara’s letters to Robert, and Welsh soprano Rebecca Evans performs Clara’s songs with piano and cello. To help tie everything together, English actor Derek Jacobi narrates various events in the stories of the husband-and-wife composers.
www.twin-spirits.com
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8271652.stm
New York’s Rockland Opera Dissolves
After 23 years of performing in the lower Hudson Valley suburban community, the Rockland Opera Society has decided to disband because of constantly diminishing resources. Founder and Artistic Director Haim Elisha said that although it was painful to say goodbye, it was better than reducing the level of quality his audiences had come to expect.
Rockland Symphony Founder and Conductor Ed Simons mentioned having similar financial difficulties. As a result, he has reduced the number of the orchestra’s concerts from four to one this season.
www.lohud.com/article/20090929/NEWS03/909290336/Curtain%20falls%20on%20Rockland%20Opera%20Society%20after%2023%20years
Composer-Conductor Dives Deep
After David Ott had finished conducting his new opera, The Widow’s Lantern, in the Mainstage Theatre at the University of West Florida in Pensacola last September, the orchestra pit was raised to stage level. Ott was unaware that the change had occurred and, attempting to return to the podium for his score in the darkened theater, he fell 14 feet to the concrete basement floor below the pit. For a few moments he lay there, unable to move and hoping that the pit would not be lowered on top of him. Luckily, his daughter, a harpist in the orchestra, happened to be onstage at the time and heard him yell for help.
When emergency services arrived, it took over an hour to extricate him and involved hoisting him up in a basket. He had broken nine vertebrae, dislocated a shoulder, and injured an ankle—but doctors were amazed he had suffered no internal injuries. He was doing well and recovering in a local hospital.
www.nwfdailynews.com/news/stage-21041-destin-uwf.html
What Is the Best Way of Attracting New Opera Goers?
Opera professionals and fans have worried about the future of the art form for centuries. Verdi wondered if it would survive the twentieth century, and today’s composers are no less concerned. These days, there are several schools of thought pertaining to making opera more attractive to new audiences.
One involves an attempt to entice the twenty-something age group with controversial stagings of traditional works. Another hypothesizes that the opera audience is always going to be made up of an older age group. They are the segment of the population that has the time and money to afford the expensive pastime, so it is important to please them.
Yet a third theory holds that people are attracted to the entire experience of opera: the luxury of the theater, the famous performers, and the donor dinner after the performance. And others say that first-time opera-goers want directors and designers to stage the stories that they have read before the performance. It is also proposed that a connection with the opera company and its use of local talent makes members of the audience feel part of the show.
Do you have an opinion on these theories? Which of them do you think have merit? How would you bring new opera-goers to the theater? Send your thoughts on the subject to bulletinboard@classicalsinger.com
www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-09-28/things-to-do/the-quest-to-save-classical-music-and-opera
