Last night the Aida missed her entry, so a violinist stood up and sang

Last night the Aida missed her entry, so a violinist stood up and sang

main

norman lebrecht

August 17, 2017

At the Marina Del Rey Symphony’s performance of Aida last night, the soprano went missing at a crucial entry. The conductor, Frank Fetta, yelled for someone to sing the part. Up stood Jennifer Lindsay in the orchestra, put her violin down – and saved the show:

Jen describes herself, to be fair, a ‘baby opera singer, part-time violinist’. She’s joining Opera Southwest as an apprenctice artist.

Good to have one of those in the orchestra.

Jen is on the right in this picture with the real Aida, Candace Bogan.

The performance was an open dress rehearsal for tonight’s show.

 

UPDATE: How did the violinist know the role?

Comments

  • Wiebke Göetjes says:

    Wow! Good for her! Good voice, they should cast her as Aida in the next performance and elsewhere!

  • Ungeheuer says:

    More celebration of the provincial, the clumsy, and the unprofessional.

    • ML fallis says:

      Lighten up!

    • @ UNGEHEUER

      A wise man can always be found alone. But I am with you.

    • Linda Muggeridge says:

      My goodness, how unkind and uninformed. Union orchestra in a major metropolitan city, rehearsal setting, honest mistake. Can you not just appreciate the talent showcased? It was an extraordinary moment.

    • Bruce says:

      From the “how did the violinist know…” post:

      Here’s what Jen tells Slipped Disc:

      ‘To be honest I’m one of two covers for this particular concert performance, so I did learn and coach the whole role recently, but of course as a cover there’s lots and lots of sitting around, so in an effort to reduce my boredom (and learn the opera a little better) I asked to join the orchestra…’

      Provincial, maybe. Clumsy and unprofessional? Not really.

    • Alex Davies says:

      Provincial? Perhaps you do not realise that Marina Del Rey is in Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States, the centre of the worldwide film industry, and the home of world-class universities, museums, and libraries? Composers and musicians who lived in Los Angeles have included (in alphabetical order only) Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Gershwin, Korngold, Rachmaninoff, Rózsa, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Toch, Waxman, Heifetz, Horowitz, Piatigorsky, Rubinstein, and Szigeti. Klemperer spent a dozen years there though was not fond of it.

    • Horst Brakel says:

      UNGEHEUER is true to his/her “handle”: Monster/Ogre. It’s what Sarastro supposedly is: “Ein Ungeheuer, ein Tyrann”.
      It seems he/she chose this name to function as a curmudgeon; a spoiler. This young “violinist” obviously had studied the part. No reason to be herablassend. (Looking down your nose/condescending). Who knows, maybe the soprano and she did it purposely to give the “violinist” some exposure? Maybe the conductor was in on it? It was, after all, not the production but a rehearsal. Probably everyone (except of course Ungeheuer) enjoyed it.
      H.

  • Doris Lang Kosloff says:

    I invite Jennifer Lindsay to come to sing with us @ Opera Connecticut; operaconnecticut.org. Brava, Diva!

  • Carol Baker says:

    This is erroneous. There was no opera last night, Aida or otherwise. The show is tonight, Thursday, August 17th, in Marina del Rey. You may be referring to a dress rehearsal.

  • Agent singer says:

    Except for the fact that this passage is supposed to be sung pianissimo and is all but an entry but in the middle of an aria.

    • Robert says:

      You try jumping into a pianissimo passage from one of the hardest soprano arias with no warmup after playing violin for hours. See how well you do.

  • Don Fatale says:

    Did I read this right? How can a soprano go missing during a concert performance? And as it was a dress rehearsal why did they not halt proceeding until they found the soprano? Try not to laugh Australians, Candace Bogan.

    That aside, brava Ms Lindsay!

  • Doris Lang Kosloff says:

    As a result of this exchange, Ms, Lindsay auditioned for Opera Connecticut and will be making her company debut as Mimi [La Bohème] this October. http://www.operaconnecticut,org

  • As a result of this post, Jennifer Lindsay made her debut with Opera Connecticut as Mimi in La Bohème! Read the critical acclaim here: ” . . .As for the debuting artists, soprano Jennifer Lindsay sang the doomed heroine with a plummy voice . . .larger than the average Mimi, and one that opened up in full bloom as it climbed above the staff. Her Act 3 “Addio senza rancor”, with her (deliberately) long-held Caballe-like pianissimo at the climax was clearly the hit of the evening . . .”

  • MOST READ TODAY: