Sunday, August 19, 2007

Lebe wohl, bis ich dich wiederseh'

A magical Flute indeed. No kidding.






I'm going underground for a while. Wouldn't be surprised if it were a month.

If you're hoping to sing for us on this fall's audition tour, go here for details. The first deadline is September 24, and auditions start on October 28.

Thanks to all who took this marvelous and memorable ride with us this summer. See you in the fall.
Kim

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Top 10 Reasons the Summer Needs to Be Over

10. I'm swearing too easily. Something that, the rest of the year, I hardly do at all.

9. Nothing sounds better than sleep.

8. I've already gained my allotted annual summer 10 pounds.

7. I'm desperate to read a book - any book - not about opera.

6. Emotions are at the surface. I cry with little provocation.

5. I went into the mall (something I don't do well) to buy a present, and I had an uncontrollable urge to buy many things I don't need.

4. My flowers are all withering for lack of water and attention.

3. I can't stand the sight of my summer clothes.

2. I love my job, but I'm having fantasies of landing some academic gig somewhere that would let me go to the beach occasionally.

1. "You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough." (William Blake). Enough already.

Actually...

All of this notwithstanding, Flute is going extremely well. Opera is magical out here, especially when the weather cooperates like this. Gorgeous.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Amphitheatre Opera

In the Filene Center (Wolf Trap's beautiful amphitheatre) for the duration. Tech rehearsals for Magic Flute begin tonight.

I've blogged before about my love-hate relationship with the Filene Center. And here we are again, having gone for a record-setting 8 years without returning to Flute. I've been dreading this week all summer, but so far so good. Perhaps I'll escape with my life.

And while we're looking on the brighter side, the things I love about Flute this week:

The New York City Opera set looks really marvelous in this space.

Our artists are singing the spots off these roles.

There's breakfast at 12:00 midnight before the overnight lighting rehearsal.

The weather forecast for the week is unprecedented for mid-August. Warm and dry.

LAM rescued a toad from the theatre.

The 3 Ladies are a terrific vocal ensemble, yet they are all distinctly different characters.

There is some sort of wildlife on the hill that thinks Papageno's panpipes are a mating call.



Enough of that.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Manhattan Diaries

Much of the last few days spent helping shepherd Manhattan Diaries to the stage. A funny, touching, satisfying, intriguing evening. A full house, and lots of personal and communal successes.

Turning this ship's rudders completely to Flute now; more about that in the coming days. We're looking ahead to a week that's guaranteed to be full of large challenges and small victories.

But first, a brief look back.



Boy from NYC




Come Up to My Place





Washington Square





Slumming on Park Avenue




Way Out West




Sheik of Avenue B



More Slumming on Park Avenue...





New York Lights





Another Hundred People








Bravi, guys. We miss you already!

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

The WTOS - Opened, then Closed

Last week was Open Studio. A great chance for some opera supporters to sit in on some of the kinds of activities that the Studio Artists have been "enjoying" all summer. :)

I did an audition workshop, our Italian coach put them through recitative paces, our Directing Fellow did some touch-up work on the scenes program, and our dance guru showed us what he does to turn singers into dancers. And finally, on Saturday, the scenes performance. Really terrific - these folks have grown so much this summer.

We said goodbye on Sunday after L'Etoile, and things are a lot calmer around here this week. We miss you, guys! (But the peace and quiet is kinda nice...)

My Day Job

The last few days seem to have been spent on nothing but preparation for this year's audition tour. Getting the online interactive application up and running (thanks, Ben), and drafting the various web pages that are required to post the paper application and all of its instructions.

Exponentially harder this time because we're handling auditions for the Filene Young Artists and Studio Artists, as well as interviews and auditions for our Fellowships - administrative, coaching, and directing.

I'm completely in html and php mode, learning more about website management than I ever thought I would. Perhaps it's a marketable skill....

We will have all pages live by Monday. Start your journey at www.wolftrapopera.org/audition.

The Old Grey Mare

I took an ill-advised (in my enervated and exhausted state) quick road trip to my hometown in southern Pennsylvania on Sunday night after the L'Etoile matinee. Every 3 years, the town celebrates Old Home Week. Concerts, parades, reunions, picnics, tours... You get the picture. On the Sunday night that begins the week everyone gathers in the town square at midnight to sing "The Old Grey Mare (She Ain't What She Used To Be!)"

My memory is legendarily poor, so I do spend a lot of embarrassing time at events like this trying to convince people that the fact that I don't remember them doesn't mean anything except that I don't remember anything. Something that I've been obssessing about lately, actually, but more on that at a later date.

For now, into the home stretch with Flute and... thanks to the brilliance of Steve Blier... Manhattan Diaries!

Manhattan: The Agony and the Ecstasy

Manhattan Home Town..............................David Heneker
Way Out West...........................................Richard Rodgers
Ohio.........................................................Leonard Bernstein
What a Waste..........................................Leonard Bernstein

Neighborhoods


The pennycandystore beyond the El....Leonard Bernstein
Slumming on Park Avenue..............................Irving Berlin
Washington Square......................................Melville Gideon
What Shall We Remember?....................Ricky Ian Gordon
jimmie’s got a goil......................................... Marc Blitzstein
The Sheik of Avenue B......................................Harry Ruby
Taxi Duet...................................................Leonard Bernstein

The River and the Park

The Lordly Hudson............................................Ned Rorem
Recuerdo.............................................................John Musto
Monday Morning Blues...............................Marc Blitzstein
A Tree in the Park.....................................Richard Rodgers

Lonely Folk

Down in the Depths............................................Cole Porter
Lonely Town............................................Leonard Bernstein
Another Hundred People.......................Stephen Sondheim

The Essence of New York

What More Do I Need?.........................Stephen Sondheim
New York Lights.........................................William Bolcom
Litany.................................................................John Musto
I Happen to Like New York..............................Cole Porter

Friday, August 03, 2007

Multi-tasking

In the throes of the last big crunch. Flute stagings, two L'Etoile performances, arrival of Steve Blier and 3 National Symphony shows in 4 days.

One thing at a time, and briefly, by necessity:

Flute and Writer's Block

I whined a few days ago about my article for the Magic Flute program. I believe that a few years of blogging have so exercised my informal writing muscles that I've forgotten how to pen a single thoughtful, probing, erudite paragraph. So I gave up and submitted this for our printed program.

L'Etoile

Brush-up rehearsal yesterday (due to a 5-day gap between performances) was, accordingly to all reports I've received, more enjoyable than it had any right to be. Should bode well for this weekend's performances.

The reviews are in, and we've skimmed them and moved on. Always happy when the critics have a good time. More happy (shhh) when the audience does.

I love this particular parade of descriptors, though:

  • Deliciously tuneful, rhythmically buoyant
  • Kinetic, amusing, sometimes naughty
  • Daffy, ribald
  • Effervescing
  • Fresh, affectionate
  • Cheeky
  • Zany
  • Boisterous

You could do worse with an evening in the theatre. I think we'll do all comedies all the time from now on. There are worse themes to build a season on, right? (Just kidding!)

Manhattan Diaries


See ACB's post here. She's in the cast, and I hope she'll continue to chronicle her week as we lead into next Saturday evening's performance.


Symphon-iPod (The Post coined it... don't blame me.)


Crazy and satisfying concert last night with the NSO. Some terrific music married to gorgeous images and video courtesy of NASA. And we published a conductor's commentary (kind of like the director's commentary that you get in the extra feature on a DVD) that could be downloaded as a podcast, then brought to the concert. Live music in one ear, insights on the music and images in the other ear, and all manner of beautiful pictures for the eyes. Stimulation overload? Well, yes at times. Did it make some of the music and pictures stick with me long after they normally would have. Actually, yes.

The tech press was all over this, and I'm sure the classical music press will be charitable if they withhold judgment. But it was a fascinating experiment, worthy of being held, and holding some promise for the future.

The Flute and the Magic of WTOC

It seems I’ve grown up with Mozart at the Filene Center. My first professional opera gig was as a pianist intern assigned to the Wolf Trap Opera Company’s 1985 production of The Magic Flute. Dawn Upshaw sang Pamina, Richard Croft was Tamino, and guest artist Jerome Hines towered over everyone as Sarastro. My travels with Flute began by teaching the music to the boys who sang the three genii, helping cue the offstage microphones, and operating the supertitle equipment. My journey continued as I assisted an entire generation of Wolf Trappers in mastering Mozart’s marvelous roles – including Paul Groves as Tamino, Gordon Hawkins as the Speaker, and Nathan Gunn as Papageno.

If you don’t go to the opera often, these names won’t mean much. Fear not – all that matters is that they are emblematic of all the lucky young singers who found their voices here at this magical place. After thousands of hours of voice lessons and auditions, multiple degrees, and serious soul-searching, these artists were given the opportunity to sing on this stage. Then they took Mozart and Wolf Trap with them throughout the world – singing Papageno in Paris, Tamino in London, and Pamina in New York.

Most program notes are scholarly in tone, written by musicologists with impeccable credentials. I would like to be such a writer, but I am humbled by my decades spent with the inhabitants of Mozart’s last opera. On the first day of rehearsal this year, our director spoke to the cast plainly about the task ahead. No dwelling on Masonic symbolism or political allegory. Just this: Flute is a story about growing up. About sometimes finding out that those people you thought were good are not really what they seem. About honoring the journey and simply doing the best you can.

The people we’ll see on the stage tonight are not like the next-door-neighbors we met during last summer’s Marriage of Figaro. They are, rather, like the characters in the best bedtime stories we could ever tell to our children - foolish, wise, funny, and honorable all at the same time. They are scared of monsters and kind to their friends. The parents love their children fiercely yet make mistakes. And it all ends happily, if not simply.

Mozart was 35 when he wrote this opera, and he died without reaching his next birthday. He had a pregnant wife, a son, many debts, and he was in failing health. History has attributed all manner of grand and noble motivations to the composition of The Magic Flute, and it’s certainly not my place to diminish them. However, I don’t believe (particularly in this case) that Mozart was writing for posterity. His friend Schikaneder offered him a job writing a Singspiel (much more like a Broadway musical than an opera) for his public theatre on the outskirts of town. Not exactly a royal commission and certainly not a prescription for a long-lasting work of art. Yet hundreds of years later, The Magic Flute is consistently among the top ten most popular operas of all time.

Decades after my first Flute I’m still in equal parts entranced and mystified. It’s a tough opera to produce, what with dancing animals, trials by fire and water, singing children, and tricky German dialogue. It’s not surprising that the administrator in me approaches it with trepidation. But caution fades when Papageno bounds onto the stage, the Queen of the Night vents her wrath, and the Three Ladies weave their voices around such glorious music. And for me, forever, it will all be sung to the evocative background of crickets and gentle breezes in the Wolf Trap trees.