1 Older operagoers prefer HD operas at their local movie house.
Opera is a deeply troubled enterprise. Its financial model is broken as it struggles with Baumol’s cost disease, among other problems. It has artistic challenges such as the lack of new operas entering the repertory, which leads companies to try to artistically innovate through outré productions that by and large don’t work.
But its most basic problem is that its audience is literally dying.
As recently as 2008 the Metropolitan Opera sold 92% of its seats. Today that’s down into the 70s. Even truly excellent productions sometimes play to a house that’s a third or more empty.
2 Audience development sucks.
I also attended the Lyric Opera of Chicago for many years. One Saturday night I ran into a young woman (mid-20s) from work at the performance. The opera in question happened to be Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage, an obscure opera and a complete dud of a production.
This woman had never been to an opera before. I asked her how she picked this opera as her first. She told me she’d called the Lyric to buy tickets and they suggested this one.
I about blew a sprocket.
Here the Lyric had a twenty-something professional interested in trying out the opera for the first time. Instead of sending her to Carmen or another famous crowd pleaser and otherwise making sure she had a “WOW” experience, the Lyric dumped their worst ticket of the season on her, one that I’d guess wasn’t selling well.
Quincy Roberts owns a major construction hauling company in Dallas, Texas.
Roberts Trucking Ltd would never have got so big, folks say, if Quincy hadn’t started out as an opera singer.
‘When you’re part of a stage production, you have to make your own mark but you’re also part of a team,’ says one of his associates. ‘Being an exceptional team player has served him well.’
And – wait for it – Quincy still sings at Dallas Opera.
Evanston, IL – Penny Van Horn, Board Chair of The Solti Foundation U.S. and Elizabeth Buccheri, Artistic and Awards Committee Chair, are pleased to announce the Foundation’s seventh $25,000 grant, The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, to Karina Canellakis, currently in her second season as Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony.
“It gives us great pleasure to bestow Karina Canellakis, who we recognized just last season with a Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, with this year’s SoltiConducting Award,” stated Mrs. Van Horn. “It is especially exciting to witness her continuing development in both orchestral and operatic fields. The Foundation extends the legacy of Sir Georg by ensuring that talented young American conductors get the opportunity to demonstrate their musicianship, leadership and full potential to the broadest possible audience.”
In summer 2016, Karina debuts with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival in New York leading the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca, Italy, and the Grand Teton Music Festival.
News has just broken of the death of Roger Cicero, one of the most popular figures in German jazz.
Early reports say he suffered a stroke, was rushed to hospital and died last Thursday.
Son of the Romanian pianist Eugen Cicero, Roger made his first stage appearance at 11 and was on TV at 16. After playing in his father’s trio, he formed his own 1950s-style quartet. After a poor finish as Germany’s entrant in the Eurovision Song Concest, he acted in several films and campaigned prominently for the animal rights organisation, Peta.
His last album was a Sinatra tribute.
His father, known as Mr Golden Hands, died at 57.
FF video of the Dubai Opera, due to open later this year. Start to finish, has been three years in the making.
Alexander Bolshakov, conductor of the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet since 1990, died on Sunday at the age of 60.
A graduate of the Rimsky-Korsakov conservatoire in (then) Lengingrad, he maintained exemplary standards of training and performance in Siberia.
Fiona Stevens was initially denied boarding with her violin on Eurowings but they found a way around it.
Here’s what happened:
“Dear Eurowings, At the check-in desk at Köln airport I was just told that I would not be able to take my violin on board because it is in a hard case. I know that this is the wording on your website, which is why I wrote to your customer service department last year to let them know that no violinist flies with their instrument in a soft case because no insurance company would insure their instrument if they did.
Many violin cases have a fabric cover, so check-in agents assume that these are soft cases, which they aren’t. My violin case does not have a fabric cover, which is why the check-in agent picked up on it. To be fair, she was simply doing her job. Please would you change the wording on your website, as I asked you to do last year, so that your staff have realistic guidelines and we musicians have no more check-in issues. Luckily the agent’s manager, who was called on the scene, was quite clear that a violin absolutely has to travel as hand luggage – many many thanks to him at this point! I look forward to receiving your reply soon, Regards, Fiona Stevens”
Hours later she had this reply: Dear Fiona, please send me your feedback as e-mail to facebook@eurowings.com and I will forward it to my relevant colleagues. They will get back to you as soon as possible. Best wishes, Jens
Sounds like a friendly airline, for once.
Wende Persons, whom we knew in another century when she worked for DG, has got a new gig running a classical strand on a group on some 40 public radio stations, known as the Station Resource Group.
Wende will be in charge of Classical Music Rising (CMR), an initiative that reaches out to what is perceived as a potential growth audience.
CMR has won a $400,000 Mellon Foundation grant, plus $100,000 from five participating stations, including WQXR (New York) and KUSC (LA).
It’s a video game that can, supposedly, teach anyone how to conduct.
It says: Conductrix will include tutorials on basic beat patterns and gestures; how to communicate articulations, cuing, dynamics, and tempo changes; and other tools and information to assist people in figuring out their own conducting style.
“I’m absolutely opposed to elitism and keeping people out… I think that enabling people to express their musical spirits, lets them be their best selves.”
We reported yesterday that Yuliyan Stoyanov is about to be deported with his wife Smiliana and two US-born sons to Bulgaria after 14 years of study, teaching and orchestral performance in the US.
It appears all avenues of appeal have been exhausted. Yuliyan has posted this beautiful and dignified parting message to friends and colleagues:
Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your support and kind words! They mean so much to us! If there is one thing we will miss the most, that will be the people, the wonderful friendships we have made in the U.S.
Smiliana and I choose to look at this turn-around in our lives as an adventure, as an opportunity. After all, who gets a chance at the age of 36-40, to quit everything they are doing, step back, rethink their life and start anew? With everything we learned at the University of Cincinnati and the experience we gathered through the years, we both are very confident that our work will be valued anywhere in the world.
We will keep working on the project to create high quality online violin education, so more and more people, even in places where there are no teachers and schools available, are given the opportunity to learn to play this beautiful instrument. We feel so fortunate to have two healthy, smart, and energetic boys, who give us a lot of joy and motivate us to keep going.
Thanks again for the great wishes and the positive energy! We wish you back good luck and lots of happiness!
message received:
The Berlin Philharmonic, as part of its Academy Training Programme (formerly the Karajan Academy), has created a Huberman Scholarship – a special place reserved for an Israeli violinist.
Huberman Scholars play with the orchestra in Berlin and on tour, take lessons with section leaders, perform their own chamber music projects at the Philharmonie, and receive a generous monthly stipend.
It is a unique opportunity available only to Israeli violinists up to the age of 27.
On Good Friday and Easter Saturday, in Manchester, Streetwise Opera and The Sixteen partnered on a semi-staged, abridged version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion, with a new finale from James MacMillan.
The Passion was broadcast last night on BBC4. It is being uploaded this morning on Youtube and Slipped Disc is privileged to be the first to bring the performance to an international audience.
