The State of Opera

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JMJ_coder said:
Hello,
I will say that I cherish the video productions of opera. I have three from the library right now - La Boheme (Franco Zeffirelli; Jose Carreras; Teresa Stratas); Tosca (Placido Domingo; Catherine Malfitano); Aida (Plácido Domingo; Aprile Millo). Why do I love them so much? Because I can’t afford to regularly go to the Opera House. It’s better than nothing - and it’s not all that bad. 😦
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I think, on the whole, video opera productions are wonderful to have. I’m just starting to be able to afford tickets. Although at the Met you can get $15 nosebleed seats, which are what I now buy. But a few years ago, even that was impossible for me financially, so I can totally sympathsize, JMJ.

Although there are some videos which are little to distasteful or productions really too avant-garde, I think the majority that I’ve seen on video or on stage have been put together very well. Believe me, most opera singers wouldn’t want most of their flesh showing. Most of us aren’t skinny-minnies - we either have slim to very large figures depending on our fach and most of us like to be elegant and/or “strapped in” and “wrapped up” if our character calls for us to be a little tart or something of that sort.

I know there were some who did it so that they could rise in “stardom” or at least get more jobs, but I believe that is a cheap way to do it.

Don’t feel bad about having those DVDs or videos. The great productions outweigh the bad and naughty ones.
 
Hello,
Sarabande said:
Although at the Met you can get $15 nosebleed seats, which are what I now buy. But a few years ago, even that was impossible for me financially, so I can totally sympathsize, JMJ.
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:bigyikes: $15 - for the MET!!! I could afford that - probably several times a year! If you look at the price list on the Opera Cleveland site, the tickets start at $60 and go up dramatically from there, and good as they are, they are NOT the MET!
 
JMJ_coder said:
Hello,

:bigyikes: $15 - for the MET!!! I could afford that - probably several times a year! If you look at the price list on the Opera Cleveland site, the tickets start at $60 and go up dramatically from there, and good as they are, they are NOT the MET!
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Yeah! Craziness!!! I’m in NYC every week. I can’t possibly pass up something like that now that I can afford it. It’s great too, because many of the people in the nosebleeds are my age or younger with some older folks. They even have standing room “seats”. But like I said, I couldn’t even afford that a few years back. I could barely afford my train trip up, parking at the station and my lessons, so a show with a cheap dinner like a slice of pizza or a hotdog with water was not attainable for me back then.

But now you know. If you are in NYC, go to the box office or on their website. The $15 seat tickets are usually during the week. I can’t do weekends most of the time anyway, so it works out.
 
Hello,
Sarabande said:
But now you know. If you are in NYC, go to the box office or on their website. The $15 seat tickets are usually during the week.
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Well, I will be within about an hour’s drive of NY this summer (so I am currently planning). I’ve never been to the city, but this may be just the occasion to visit the Big Apple.
 
Sarabande said:
Yeah! Craziness!!! I’m in NYC every week. I can’t possibly pass up something like that now that I can afford it. It’s great too, because many of the people in the nosebleeds are my age or younger with some older folks. They even have standing room “seats”. But like I said, I couldn’t even afford that a few years back. I could barely afford my train trip up, parking at the station and my lessons, so a show with a cheap dinner like a slice of pizza or a hotdog with water was not attainable for me back then.

But now you know. If you are in NYC, go to the box office or on their website. The $15 seat tickets are usually during the week. I can’t do weekends most of the time anyway, so it works out.
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There is an inscription in one of the Euporean houses which is dedicated to the “real lovers of music” who are able to attend concerts only by taking seat in the upper regions at such a price and even with the disadvantages it carries, just because they “have” to be in the house.
 
JMJ_coder said:
Hello,

Well, I will be within about an hour’s drive of NY this summer (so I am currently planning). I’ve never been to the city, but this may be just the occasion to visit the Big Apple.
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Sure, you go in the opera company’s off season!
 
Hello,
Sarabande said:
Yes, the last performance is in May. BUT there are lots of summer festivals going on.
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Do you know of any good ones in New England (Vermont) or the U.P. of Michigan/Wisconsin or around Asheville N.C. or Northeast Ohio/Western PA?
 
The title of the thread leads one to wonder whether “State Opera” would be a good thing in the United States.
 
chicago said:
The title of the thread leads one to wonder whether “State Opera” would be a good thing in the United States.
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Oh no! Turn Opera over to NPR? Opera would quickly become like the Lifetime Channel!.
 
estesbob said:
Oh no! Turn Opera over to NPR? Opera would quickly become like the Lifetime Channel!.
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Well, the Grant Park Music Festival is publically funded, and does a nice job of things. Indeed, it could be argued that since it is a free (now public/private partnership type funding actually) and without the big budgets that some other organizations have, that they offer more innovative and interesting programs than some of the major summer festivals.

grantparkmusicfestival.com/index.shtml
 
“SUBSCRIBE NOW!”

Heard that line before?

It’s the popular method of building and sustaining a base of ticket buying supporters for your artistic endeovor. The concept, which revolutionized the way in which organizations marketed themselves and has now become the manner in which they regularly find funding while filling seats, was the genuis of legendary publicist Danny Newman.

He was also the longtime press agent and public relations counsel for Lyric Opera of Chicago.
“Danny was one of the godfathers of Lyric Opera,” said William Mason, Lyric’s general director. "His dynamic subscription campaigns, which he carried out for literally hundreds of organizations around the United States, made him the greatest post-war arts patron in the country. He worked tirelessly on behalf of arts companies around the world – theaters, dance companies, opera companies – helping them build strong, committed audiences and giving them the sound financial basis they needed to survive and thrive.
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In his own inimitable words, prepared in advance on his manual typewriter and updated on a regular basis over the past several years (with an absolute minimum of editing by his beloved colleagues):
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“Danny Newman, veteran theatrical press agent and manager, internationally known as subscription audience builder for theatre, opera, symphony, ballet, and performing arts centers, has died at the age of 88 after an extended illness.”
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lyricopera.org/inc/newman.asp
 
In returning from attendance at Lyric’s current production of Doctor Atomic all I can say is OUTSTANDING! I’m usually not the biggest fan of John Adams’ compositions. However, the richness of musical texture here is awesome. I was initially concerned that the production was going to come off as overly simplistic prechiness or even a certain saccharine sentimentality. But, instead, it managed to take a serious look into very real personages and personalities of a time and concern which changed mankind. It gets at the kinds of issues which we all discuss here in concerning science, power, knowledge, advancement, war, peace, light, and love. “Batter my heart, O God!”

It isn’t often that I walk out of the operahouse wanting to go back and hear a production again, but this is one of those times. Time? Tick. Life. Death. Fear. Love. Time expires.
 
Ok… I’m on cloud nine right now. I went to see Placido Domingo live for the first time at the Met last night. I was so psyched! But the icing on the cake which practically made me faint was meeting him backstage after the opera. We got to cut past all of the checkpoints because we were with his wife, which was a fluke. My teacher saw her and called out her name and then suddenly, there we were with her. It was absolutely so surreal.

Then meeting him and seeing him interact with my teacher!!! I was so dumbfounded, I could barely speak. I felt like a teenage girl… and I NEVER felt like that even as a teenager. Famous people weren’t that big of a deal to me. But he made me melt!!! And he’s old enough to be my grandfather. He’s obviously very timeless. It was like there had to have been some sort of mistake that I got to get backstage. I didn’t belong there and here I was standing only a couple feet away from one of the greats. My mind was going a mile a minute and I kept telling myself to be calm and serene. So outside I was very calm, but inside my whole self was shaking with excitement. I will never forget this night. My husband was totally laughing when I told him the story.

One of my first exposures to him was on Sesame Street. I just found the clip. My best friend just reminded me of that when we were kids watching it. It’s a cheesy song, but his voice just makes me melt.

video.aol.com/video-detail/placido-domingo-on-sesame-street/583957453
 
Sarabande said:
Ok… I’m on cloud nine right now. I went to see Placido Domingo live for the first time at the Met last night. I was so psyched! But the icing on the cake which practically made me faint was meeting him backstage after the opera.
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😊

Oh how I envy you!!!

This is a bit off topic, but I saw the movie version of “Rent” a bit ago. I’ve seen Puccini’s La Boheme and know that Rent is loosely based on it (among other things). Anyone have an opinion on the movie or musical?
 
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