Seattle Opera to sponsor Wagner Competition in 2006
Seattle Opera has announced it will hold a competition next year for Wagnerian singers age 25 to 40. Contestants can be nominated by agents, opera company general managers, or other industry professionals. Preliminary auditions will be in New York, Seattle, London and several cities in western Europe. Artists will be required to sing two selections in original languages. At the final competition, set for Aug. 19 at McCaw Hall in Seattle, the six finalists will sing with a full orchestra. Two winners will be chosen, each of whom will receive an unrestricted grant of $15,000.
www.seattleopera.org/_downloads/press/releases/WagnerCompetition.pdf
Branagh to Film ‘The Magic Flute’
The Z Review reports that actor and director Kenneth Branagh is making a filmed version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The movie will recount the adventures of Prince Tamino, to be sung by Joseph Kaiser, a recent member of the Chicago’s Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. Amy Carson will sing Princess Pamina and Russian bombshell Lyubov Petrova will sing the Queen of the Night.
Ben Davis, who appeared in Baz Luhrman’s La bohème, will play Papageno and the Met’s René Pape will be Sarastro. The music is being recorded this fall and the action will be shot in January.
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/news/NewsStory.asp?news_id=17049
They’re Watching You!
Important people are not only observing you while you are on stage, they also are taking note of your table manners when you attend an opera company dinner. Here are some helpful websites for those who wish to bone up on their etiquette:
www.cuisinenet.com/digest/custom/etiquette/manners_intro.shtml
Ball State University Career Center Dining Etiquette: www.bsu.edu/students/careers/students/interviewing/dinetips/
Especially for gentlemen: http://www.askmen.com/money/successful/success6.html
Charlotte, N.C. Schools Get Major
Arts Grant
Children attending the city’s public schools in Charlotte, N.C. will enjoy programs that involve Opera Carolina, the Charlotte Symphony and the Charlotte Civic Orchestra, thanks to a $740,000 grant from Arts/Teach, says the Charlotte Observer.
Opera Carolina will give its “Music! Words! Opera!” program in more than 40 schools. The symphony will give “Musical Links: Educational Explorations through Music” in two schools, and perform annual Education Concerts for numerous fourth- and fifth-grade classes. The Charlotte Civic Orchestra will have composer David Crowe work with students on converting oral histories into a musical production.
www.charlotte.com
Can You Get Time Off to Perform?
Dorrit Matson, a teacher in the New York City public school system since 1992, is also the founder and music director of the NY Scandia Symphony. Unfortunately, she did not always inform her school when she needed time off to conduct. The New York Daily News revealed that she used her sick days instead, even though the school system’s rules say employees should use no more than three sick days for personal business. Because of material on the symphony’s website and information revealed during a broadcast concert, she was caught, and as of August, she was on unpaid leave from her teaching position, reports the New York Daily News.
www.nydailynews.com/front/story/338447p-288897c www.nynewsday.com/news/local/brooklyn/nyc-cond0818,0,5828215.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-brooklyn
Hallelujah!
A British Broadcasting Corp. announcer was told to take a station break at the end of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” He was not overly familiar with the music, so right after the chorus sang what seemed to be the final “Hallelujah” four times, he intoned: “This is the BBC” … only to be followed by the final “Hallelujah.”
http://charon.sfsu.edu/disaster/hallelujah.html
L.A. Orchestra E-mails Program Notes
Since many of its subscribers and single ticket buyers are short on time, the Los Angeles Philharmonic will e-mail its “Fast Notes” one week in advance of each concert to those who sign up for the service. The orchestra hopes that reading the e-mailed material will allow concertgoers to be considerably enlightened before arriving for the performance.
Perhaps this idea could also be a help to opera companies that find only a few patrons coming early for lectures.
www.laphil.org Click on Disney Hall and then click on “FastNotes.”
Florence Foster Jenkins Hits Broadway
Souvenir, a new work about the life of Florence Foster Jenkins by English playwright Stephen Temperley, had a successful try-out in New England, according to the Boston Globe, and will be opening at Broadway’s Lyceum Theater on Nov. 10. For those not familiar with her recordings, Jenkins was a diva best known for showing audiences what she could not do—namely, sing. Judy Kaye, who won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera, will play the leading role. She has also sung Musetta at the Santa Fe Opera.
www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2005/08/14/she_had_an_ear_for_the_truly_awful
Berlin Opera Company Plays Smokin’ Saint-Saens
Russia’s Pravda reports that Berlin’s Neukoellner Opera put on a most interesting updated version of Camille Saint-Saëns’ 1882 work, La princesse jaune (The Yellow Princess). The story of the opera deals with drug addiction, and the singers smoke marijuana on stage during the show. Artistic Director Bernhard Glocksin, who admits he wants to test the law, has suggested that the audience also light up, saying that the performance will be “improved with a few joints.”
http://www.metoperafamily.org/operanews/news/pressrelease.aspx?id=965
