Barton Wins BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Contest
On Sunday June 23, 2013, American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton conquered four other finalists in David’s Hall in Cardiff, Wales, to win the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Singer of the World Contest. Her prizes were a trophy, more than $22,000, and a huge amount of publicity. Barton had already won the BBC Song Contest on the previous Friday, so she took home an additional $7,000 and another trophy as well.
As a contest finalist, she sang the Princess of Bouillon’s aria “Acerba Voluttà” from Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur. She won the Song Contest with her renditions of works by Purcell, Brahms, Sibelius, and Rachmaninov. Judges included Christoph Prégardien, Dame Felicity Palmer, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Håkan Hagegård, and Neil Shicoff.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01bssjb
www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/06/24 /195185233/meet-the-2013-bbc-cardiff-singer-of-the-world
How Much Amplification Does Opera Allow?
In covering performances of Verdi’s La traviata at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2012–2013 season, the New York Times Music Critic Anthony Tommasini noticed that soprano Diana Damrau was wearing a body microphone similar to those worn by actors in Broadway musicals. It is quite obvious in a picture of her as Violetta taken by Times photographer Sara Krulwich during a rehearsal.
Tommasini asked Met General Manager Peter Gelb about the mic and was told that in certain scenes of operas being broadcast, singers are positioned where their voices cannot be picked up by the downstage microphones used for radio and high-definition broadcasts. When that is the case, the singers in question wear body mics that transmit only to the broadcast control panel. Gelb assured the critic and the audience that in no case were mics used to transmit sound into the opera house. During the 2012–2013 season, the broadcasts of five out of 27 productions required the use of body mics in some scenes.
Last June, China National Opera presented Wagner’s Die Walküre with an all-Chinese cast. Writing in KLASSICOM, Rudolph Tang says that members of the audience thought some of the singers wore microphones. A patron who sat in a central front seat said, “The singer was standing at the left side of the stage but her voice was equally projected from both sides, a clear indication of vocal amplification.”
www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/arts/music/wearing-a-wire-at-the-opera-secretly-of-course.html?ref=music
www.gramophone.com.cn/?p=1127
Colaneri Becomes Music Director at Glimmerglass
The Glimmerglass Festival in Upstate New York has selected veteran Metropolitan Opera Conductor Joseph Colaneri to be its music director beginning October 1, 2013. In the meantime, Colaneri will conduct the Glimmerglass Festival’s production of Verdi’s first comedy, Un giorno di regno.
“Glimmerglass is a proudly American opera company, and it is important to me that we have an American music director,” Artistic and General Director Francesca Zambello said. “Joe’s many connections will help us identify new talent for our own productions and create opportunities for alumni of our Young Artists Program.”
glimmerglass.org/press/news-releases/current/new-music-director-glimmerglass-festival/
Edinburgh Festival Features Program for Babies
As part of this year’s Edinburgh Festival, there were two productions that catered to very young children. Baby-O was for children from 6 to 18 months old, and Sensory-O was for those from 18 months to 3 years old. These productions—which had already been praised in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Abu Dhabi—combined recorded music with live singing by members of Scottish Opera. The shows introduced the young children to theater using simple sounds, words, and movement designed to stimulate language development. The program for older children told the story of a train ride through the jungle at night where a lion is sleeping.
www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/opera-singers-will-perform-to-babies-1-2981729
Aiden Lang to Be New General Director of Seattle Opera
Aiden Lang—who has held leadership positions at New Zealand Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Buxton Festival, and Opera Zuid—will be Seattle Opera’s general director as of September 1, 2014. He succeeds Speight Jenkins who has held the position for more than 30 years. The company, originally founded by Glynn Ross, is celebrating its 50th anniversary during the current season. Of any city in the U.S., Seattle has the highest percentage of operagoers among its population. The company is best known for its presentations of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Jenkins, who will be general director through August 2014, created the programming for both the 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 seasons. Lang will be included in planning for the 2015–2016 season and will program the 2016–2017 season.
www.seattleopera.org
Los Angeles Opera Receives Gift of $7 Million
On June 26, 2013, Plácido Domingo announced that the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation had doubled its support of Los Angeles Opera with a donation of $7 million. That gift is in addition to the Broads’ sponsorship of the general director’s position since 2006. That same year the foundation also committed $6 million to LA Opera’s production of Wagner’s monumental Der Ring des Nibelungen. That was the company’s most ambitious artistic achievement to date, and it drew audiences from 45 states and 30 countries. All together, the Broads’ donations place them among the largest donors in the history of Los Angeles Opera.
Domingo expressed the company’s profound gratitude for their extraordinary generosity and leadership, saying that their donations will enable the company to create compelling opera experiences for its audiences for many seasons to come. The Broads, having achieved success in the home building industry, now devote their time and energy to philanthropy.
www.laopera.com/DocumentsLAO/press/1314/LA%20Opera%20announces%20$7%20million%20gift%20from%20The%20Eli%20and%20Edythe%20Broad%20Foundation.pdf
