Opera Company Founder Dies
Bass-baritone Benjamin Matthews passed away Feb. 14, at the age of 72. He sang with a number of major opera companies, including the New York City Opera, and was greatly admired as an interpreter of African-American spirituals and work songs. Also active as a concert artist, he appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and other major orchestras.
In 1973, along with Wayne Sanders and Sister Mary Elise S.B.S., he founded Opera Ebony, the oldest African-American opera company in the United States. Since that time, the company has performed at major U.S. venues and toured abroad. While offering opportunities to thousands of young singers, administrators and technical workers, the company has specialized in the presentation of works by minority composers and women.
www.operaebony.org
Changes at the Met
In mid-February, Peter Gelb, the incoming general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, announced his vision for the company’s 2006-07 season, reports playbillarts.com. In an attempt to reach a wider audience, he is lowering the prices of cheaper seats—and raising prices for prime locations. Gelb said he intends to bring in more star singers and to collaborate with various kinds of artists, including contemporary composers, on an expanded repertoire.
The season will open with film director Anthony Minghella’s production of Madama Butterfly, which was a major success at English National Opera last year. Later in the season, the Met will premiere Chinese composer Tan Dun’s opera The First Emperor. Another film director, Zhang Yimou, will direct. The cast will include Placido Domingo and Elizabeth Futral. Theater directors including Bartlett Sher and Jack O’Brien will stage other more familiar works.
http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/3916.html
Fort Worth Opera to Change its Performing Season
Beginning in May of 2007, Fort Worth Opera will present a four-week festival instead of the usual 2006-2007 fall and winter season. Reasons for the change include the elimination of conflicts with nearby Dallas Opera and the fact that the new format will enable the company to present opera on weekends only, with a single cast for each production. The repertoire for the inaugural festival is set to include the premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s Frau Margot, directed by its librettist, Frank Corsaro.
The Fort Worth Opera Festival will occur at a time when many other opera companies are not performing and should be a major attraction for opera loving vacationers who want to visit the Southwest.
www.fwopera.org
Increasing Numbers of Singers Flood Conservatories
The number of vocal students in U.S. universities and conservatories has increased from approximately 5,900 in 1990 to slightly less than 8,200 in 2004, according to a story on Boston-based wbur.org. In the past, the major focus of music schools has been piano, but with this shift of interest, far more pupils are studying for opera. The number of piano students has increased a mere 5 percent over the same period.
Singers who can also play piano or another instrument are the most likely to find regular employment in some form of musical endeavor, the story reported.
www.wbur.org/arts/2006/55987_20060220.asp
What Makes a Composer Weep?
Gioacchino Rossini was a gourmet as well as a famous composer. He once told diva Adelina Patti that he was moved to tears the first time he heard her perform. He then added that the only other time he could recall crying was when he accidentally dropped a much-desired piece of truffled chicken into Lake Como.
Source: Fitzgibbon, Theodora The Pleasures of the Table. Oxford University Press, NY, 1981.
www.anecdotage.com.
Prefer to Hear a Met Broadcast on Another Day?
A Latvian radio station (Radio 3 Klasika), found at the Web address below, keeps files of selected Metropolitan Opera broadcasts available for a year or more!
To find a given opera you would like to hear, you need to know the date it was originally broadcast. For example, to find the Feb. 18, 2006 Aida, visit the site and select the year and the month, then click on 2006, 02 18, which takes you to the archives (Latvijas Radio Raidijumu Programmas arhivs). Then you can scroll down to 20.30 for the time the broadcast was heard in Latvia and, if your chosen Met broadcast is listed, click on a player.
http://www.latvijasradio.lv/program/index.htm
Cleveland’s Opera Companies to Merge
Lyric Opera Cleveland, which has a budget of $540,000, and Cleveland Opera, which has a $4.7-million budget, have agreed to form a single company, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The expectation is that the new company, tentatively called Opera Cleveland, will solve the financial problems of both organizations.
The summer season will continue as usual under the direction of Jonathon Field, currently artistic director of Lyric Opera, but the winter season, presented in the past by Cleveland Opera will probably be reduced from four productions to two, says the story.
http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1140687682322340.xml&coll=2
A New Orchestra Is Born in Ohio
Ohio’s Chagrin Valley has the means to start its own orchestra and the board of trustees of its Valley Art Center has agreed to help coordinate the details of the group’s formation.
The new organization, which will probably be called “Chagrin Light, an Orchestra,” is expected to present pops concerts at the Chagrin Valley Little Theater and at the community’s soon-to-be-built high school auditorium. An outdoor band shell for summer concerts is also under consideration.
http://www.cleveland.com/sun/chagrinheraldsun/index.ssf?/base/features-0/1140716636292270.xml&coll=3
ERRATA
In the April 2006 article “Building Character,” Jacque Trussel was referred to as the 2005 Classical Singer Coach of the Year. Mr. Trussel is actually the 2005 Classical Singer Stage Director of the Year.
