Is there an anti-American bias at the Met?
mainFour American divas and a publisher sit around a San Francisco stage on a Sunday afternoon and tell it how it really is.
The divas are Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, Patricia Racette and Deborah Voigt.
The moderator is Stephen Rubin.
No holds barred.
You will watch this til your eyes bleed.
Do not miss the divas listening to extracts of themselves.
These four singers are shining examples of the high standard of American musicians. However, having worked at the Met for the majority of a career, there is most definitely an anti-American bias on stage and in the administration. Somewhere between extreme insecurity and self-loathing. Give them a foreign (even a little low-class British or Australian or New Zealand accent) and they’re convinced of some superior artistic merit. For all of our chest-pounding about American superiority, we are essentially a culturally insecure lot.
Sour grapes. It isn’t anti American bias. It is that neither Voigt not Racette were truly compelling or memorable or sufficiently distinctive. On top of that, both ran into serious vocal crises from which they never recovered. As for von Stade and Horne, I believe they were liked at the Met during their heyday, as they were elsewhere, in SF and Chicago particularly. So the anti American bias does not apply to them either.
When asked the question, all 4 stated that they never felt anti-American bias at the Met. The headline of this article by NL merely restates the first question which Steve Rubin asked them. Sour grapes? On the part of whom? No “fire and fury” here.
Personally, I found the interaction charming and informative. I encourage everyone to spend an hour+ to enjoy the event. The reference to Cesar which Debbie V makes is, of course, to Cesar Ulloa, the distinguished chair of the voice faculty at SFCM.
Not everyone cares for Patricia Racette’s voice (and I’m not thrilled with its current state), but she is one of the most compelling operatic actresses I have ever seen. (For me, she’s almost up there with Teresa Stratas and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.)
I fully agree with Mr Fitzpatrick this was stunning,marvellous I adore opera and it was a real treat to hear these great artists talking about there art,pity Leontyne was not there also but then she might have upstaged them all
There’s no there, there. No link.
There’s a play arrow on the picture. Press it and the4 picture will start to move, with sound. Miracle of modern science.
Anti American bias? Racette, Voigt, Fleming and countless others seem to have been the beneficiaries of a spectacularly FAVORABLE bias, or what else accounts for their constant reengagement in roles for which they are not suited?