George London Foundation Announces Competition Winners
On March 1, 2013, the George London Foundation awarded a total of $82,000 to young American and Canadian singers. Prizes of $10,000 went to tenors Dominic Armstrong (33) and Noah Baetge (32), baritones Jamez McCorkle (23) and Nicholas Pallesen (33), and sopranos Felicia Moore (24), Jessica Muirhead (31), and Marcy Stonikas (33).
Of the 250 applicants, 90 of them performed live. Of those, 24 were selected as finalists and seven as winners. Seven more received Encouragement Awards of $1,000. They were tenor Adam Bonanni (24); baritones Steven LaBrie (24), Jonathan Michie (28), and John Brancy (24); mezzo-sopranos Rihab Chaieb (26) and Sharin Eskandani (29); and soprano Marina Costa-Jackson (25). For this competition, there is no application fee and a pianist is provided for each of the competition rounds.
www.georgelondon.org
Metropolitan Opera Will Lower Ticket Prices
Since ticket sales are down this season, the Met will reduce some of its prices, the New York Times reports. The average cost of admission will drop by 10 percent, from $174 to $156, according to General Manager Peter Gelb. Opera-going will still be expensive, however. Orchestra aisle seats that were $360 for the 2012-2013 season will be $330 for the 2013-2014 season, and grand tier box seats will be reduced from $195 to $180. Actually, more than 2,000 seats for each performance will cost less, but the truly cheap seats in the rear of the family circle will cost $5 more.
Gelb intimated that the 10 percent rise in prices for the 2012-2013 season had not been as successful as expected. Attendance for the 2012-2013 season is projected to average around 81 percent of capacity, compared to 84 percent during 2011-2012.
www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-to-reduce-ticket-prices-next-season.html
Titles for Recital Can Be Sent to Audience Cell Phones
A company called Globetitles can now send titles to your audience’s cell phones in a manner that will not disturb the ambience of your concert. The Globetitles program is accessed through users’ Web browsers and it mimics a familiar slideshow format. The titles are a sequence of short text excerpts, much like a traditional slideshow is a sequence of photos taken on vacation. To create the slides, you can use the Globetitles program’s Slideshow Editor, which runs on the Globetitles server, or a text editor program of your choice. If you use another program, you simply copy-and-paste the titles into the Slideshow Editor.
The titles controller cues the slides with a mouse, touchpad, or keyboard, and members of the audience view the slides in their browsers. Alternatively, or simultaneously, the slides can be displayed on a large screen that can be seen by the whole audience in the same way that supertitles are traditionally shown. Translations can also be available in more than one language.
www.globetitles.com
‘Variety’ Stops Printing Daily Edition
Variety has been a fixture in Hollywood since it was founded in 1905 but, like other traditional print publications, it has struggled in recent years as news moved to other formats. The well-known theatrical publication recently announced that it will offer a print edition on Tuesdays only and will drop the pay wall on its online version, according to RYOT. Jay Penske, the chairman and CEO of Variety’s parent company, admits that the pay-to-read online idea did not work. Publisher Michelle Sobrino-Stearns says they remain committed to a print edition of Variety and expect the weekly edition to expand in size and scope of coverage.
The weekly paper will be augmented throughout the year by special editions reporting on the industry’s many awards shows and other topics of interest to Hollywood movers and shakers.
www.ryot.org/famed-hollywood-trade-publication-variety-dropping-daily-print-edition-paywall/87069#.UTjfI6X3Ab0
