Blog Clog

Brain Drain.

All sorts of things interfering with blogging.  This week included a trip to New York for preparations for our upcoming workshop of Musto & Campbells Inspector opera.  And the little remaining office time was clouded by fumbling attempts at writing marketing copy for our 2010 shows. (You'd think that struggling with Twitter would have given me some practice at being simultaneously clear, intriguing, detailed, and entertaining in 140 characters.  But it seems to have just made me dumb and inarticulate.)

The other clog comes from struggling to write a post on the recent Pro-Am discussion that's been going on at various places on the interwebs.  I'm fascinated by this subject, and I'm of at least three different minds on it.  I have written and rewritten a blog post on it so many times that I could've filed a dissertation by now.  Sadly, little of it is coherent. 

So, if it intrigues you, here's the pertinent linkage.  Take a few minutes to read and discuss, and I promise I'll be back shortly with some sort of take on it!

Newsweek's Welcome to Amateur Hour

The Mission Paradox on Creating Scarcity
On one hand it is easier then ever for work to be created and if you believe (like I do) that a world with more art is a good thing . . . then that's a good thing. On the other hand, this incredible increase in both the number of artistic producers and the amount of artistic content has made it much more difficult for any individual artist to make a living through their art.

Butts in the Seats on Outsourcing Creativity to the Rich
...as people acquire competence and are willing to perform a task for less money, or have the resources where they don’t care about their losses, starving artists ended up starving more.

Create Equity on Arts and Sustainability
If the only way to earn money is through exposure, and the only way to get exposure is to spend thousands of hours making (and marketing) art that you could otherwise spend earning money, the people who need to earn money now are at a major, perhaps definitive, disadvantage. As a result, over time, you would expect to see more and more people who were lucky enough to have a cushion early in their careers (if not on an ongoing basis) persist to become professional artists, and fewer and fewer who have had to do it completely on their own.


January is Alumni Month

I love productions that contain a critical mass of Trappers.  Last summer's Huguenots at Bard Summerscape came up in a conversation yesterday.  7 alums, representing two decades of WTOC excellence :)

Marguerite de Valois:  Erin Morley

Valentine:  Alexandra Deshorties

Urbain: Marie Lenormand

Count de Nevers: Andrew Schroeder

Marcel: Peter Volpe

Count de Saint-Bris: John Marcus Bindel

Tavannes: Jason Ferrante

And, in the Canadian Opera Company's announcement of their 2010-2011 season, we discovered this fabulous pairing in Cenerentola!

Don Ramiro: Lawrence Brownlee

Angelina: Elizabeth DeShong

We'll stop only at total world domination.

What *Were* You Thinking?

I just got back from hearing dozens of aspiring young singers in the North Carolina district auditions of the Metropolitan Opera National Council.  As is typical, I am equal parts exhausted and energized.

And, as is typical, I had the following post-competition discussion with a number of audience members.

Patron: It must've been such a difficult job to decide how to pick the winners. 
Kim: Indeed, it was - they were a talented bunch!
Patron:  I made my own list of winners, and I only have one question.
Kim: Yes?
Patron: What were you thinking?

OK, paraphrased, but you get the idea.  It happens again and again, and it never surprises me.  And it's usually not confrontational but is born of true curiosity about the judging panel process.

Most of these MONC spectators are seasoned opera-goers and true lovers of the voice. And as such, they usually have pretty good taste.  They know when something is out of kilter, and they know when they are truly engaged and excited by a voice.  The kicker is that sometimes we don't choose some of the singers for whom the audience had the most enthusiasm.  Why?

It's too complicated a question to answer in an exhaustive fashion, but in short, we're looking for singers whose profile (as demonstrated on this particular day at this particular moment) indicates that they possess the particular tools to distinguish themselves within their particular voice type.  Being a compelling performer is part of it, to be sure.  But having the vocal equipment and potential to rise above the norm as a coloratura soprano or lyric tenor or basso profondo or dramatic mezzo, etc. (random examples) is what matters.  If you can't nail the exact requirements for whichever voice type you seem to be best suited (highest and lowest notes, ability to project in certain registers, flexibility and agility of the voice, etc), you will have a difficult time getting hired.

We have to take this into consideration, for the Met is looking for career potential.  But singers in their 20's are so often (rightly so) in development and/or transition, and many of them don't yet know what they "are" - which box they best fit inside.  (Of course, some of the best singers of all time didn't fit in a box at all, but you'll have a hard time selling that concept if you're a 20-something opera singer in America...)  And every single person that comes into contact with young singers has a different opinion.  It's a recipe for extreme confusion.  Nevertheless, in order to figure out which singers should advance, panels have to grapple with the implications of it.

So, if you're in the audience for one of these events, and your scorecard doesn't line up with the panel's, don't despair. 

First of all, you might be right and they might be wrong.  We do our level best, on the basis of decades of experience, but we are not infallible. 

Second, the judges may have had the same positive gut reaction as you, but were responding to details of the voice and its development that would indicate that it might not be optimal yet to send a particular singer on to the next level of the competition.

Fortunately, there are many opportunities for young singers to be heard - in various competitions, in auditions for young artist programs, in performance in conservatory and university.   Even the most amazing singers don't always win, and everyone has off days.  But over time, talent will out. 

Creativity's Worst Enemy

If you haven't yet read Byron Janis's recent article in the Wall Street Journal, go here.

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I am at my happiest when sight-reading music, but never really bothered to articulate why.  I suspected that it had a good deal to do with being too lazy to practice.  So I felt completely understood (and vindicated!) when I read this paragraph:

Thinking is creativity's worst enemy. When I first sight-read a score, everything seems so right, so natural. The notes seem to be playing themselves and the music flows. Why? Because I am not thinking. Inspiration has been my guide—the adventure of a first time. Then comes familiarization, the learning process where, until the piece is well in hand, thinking is allowed. After that, interpretation—choices must be made, but you are finally free to feel and use your creative instincts. And, at last, creation—how do I make the music sound as it did when I didn't know it? The great poet Yeats spoke of this dilemma so beautifully in his poem "Adam's Curse":

Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought,

Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.

 

Before the heart can remember, the mind must forget. And, when I least expect to, I will suddenly start playing that piece, again without thinking, as I did in the beginning when I first sight-read it. That is when it happens—I have finally discovered my "moment's thought."

 Actually, we are thinking when we are in this particular frame of mind.  But it has so little to do with the way our minds usually churn that we don't recognize it.

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What Mr. Janis has to say about the unscientific nature of tempi reminded me how much I adored fellow pianist Jeremy Denk's recent blog entry: Whose Brahms?  (This link is longer and of a very different nature, but is particularly rewarding for the data geeks among us.)

He says that "tempo is more dangerous than an illusion, it is a kind of myth promulgated by all sorts of fascist types in order to destroy the natural and beautiful cycles of PDT [Perceived Desired Tempo] that are native to the human freedom instinct. The next time a conductor asks me “why are you moving so much faster here?,” referring to some passage X of a concerto, I will simply say “natural variability of sunspots,” and when the conductor says “that’s ridiculous,” I will say “you can’t prove to me it’s NOT sunspots.” I’m sure this will go over very well."

Tempo is so intertwined with heartbeat and breathing that to will it to be scientific is not only delusional, it's cruel.  The tension between the hard cold data of music (frequency, amplitude, waveform) and how it emerges from our bodies and our minds is the essence of why we care about art at all.

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Heading to North Carolina in the morning to judge Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.  Have a great weekend!

January: When the Music Goes into Hiding

I wear my Marketing and Box Office hats a lot in January.  (Good thing, too, for it's bloody freezing around here.  I need all the clothing I can find.)  All of the music that surrounded us during the audition and casting process has temporarily disappeared to make way for writing copy and selling tickets.

So, in thinking of ways to describe, promote and create enthusiasm about our upcoming season, I found this. And I'm of a million different minds about it.



And, as we address the thorny topic of ticket prices, it's serendipitous to find one of my favorite podcasts discussing the Psychology of Pricing.  Unfortunately, our thinking has to go far beyond this discussion.  We have obligations not only to our bottom line, but to our donors, our current and potential patrons, and to our art form.  Raise prices to attempt to keep pace with expenses?  Hold the line in sympathy with the economic challenges of patrons?  Cut deep and low to eliminate obstacles in expanding the audience base?  Yes, yes, and yes?  Hmmm.

January is WTOC Alumni Month!

I was doing some surfing to see what our summer festival colleagues are offering for 2010, and I came across a performance of the suite from Candide with WTOC alums Anna Christy and Nick Phan.  Ravinia also features former Trappers Nathan Gunn and Lauren McNeese in Figaro, and Tanglewood's roster includes Stephanie Blythe (Mahler #2), Dawn Upshaw, and Morris Robinson (Mozart's Abduction).

It Just Feels Like a New Decade

The happiest of new years to one and all!  Strictly speaking, I know it's not a new decade, but it feels like it is.  And that's good.

I'm back at my desk after a miraculously restful 11 days away from work.  (Thank, you Wolf Trap Foundation, for the immensely sane and merciful act of shutting down between Christmas and New Year's!)   By last night, I was calm, centered, and full of hope and energy for a fresh start.  This morning, just a few hours chipping away at the mountain of pre-season tasks has rendered me slightly panicked.  (I completely forget to breathe when I'm at my desk. Does that happen to anyone else?  What's that about?!?)

It didn't help that I spent my lunch break digging through the NEA's 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts.  (Go ahead, click through, but not on an empty stomach.)  I don't believe that the sky is falling, but this news is complicated.  We're embarking on a new business plan for 2011-2015, and I'm trying to spend more time than usual wrestling with these facts and figures.

As we move out of the audition season, I welcome back my casual readers whose eyes glazed over while reading endless aria lists and other technical jargon.  Over these next few months, the focus will be slightly broader and more varied.  There will be another Met audition trip (North Carolina) and a trip to LA (for the GRAMMYs!), and I keep posts short to give you more time to keep those New Year's resolutions. :)

January is WTOC Alumni Month!

A shout-out to WTOC alum Michael Maniaci and his new recording of Mozart Arias - releasing in a few weeks and available now for pre-order.  (Do it - you won't be sorry!)  Michael sang Nero in Poppea and the title role in Xerxes at Wolf Trap, and he is a truly amazing artist.

Holiday Hiatus

We weren't terribly good about documenting this year's audition tour, but thanks to CameraMan, we have a few images from our travels. It was a terribly dense trip - due to extenuating schedule and budget parameters - and I think we only (barely) had enough brainpower and energy for the compulsories.



The blog silence in these midwinter months is largely due to the overwhelming task of establishing the summer calendar, choosing the artists, casting the operas, making offers to artistic teams and staff, and figuring out who does what when and how to pay for it. And, until the season is announced (on February 8, 2010!), none of this is bloggable. But I'll be back in January, and I'll look up from my desk a bit as we catch up with what's going on in the rest of the musical world, prepare for the big GRAMMY ceremony trip(!), check in on some of our WTOC alumni, and prepare for the next workshop of the next Musto/Campbell opera.

Till then, warm wishes for restful and joyous holidays with the ones you love - click here for our season's greetings (make sure your sound is on). I'll see you in 2010!

The Long View

I sat for an interview last week, and a typical question came up: "What was the biggest challenge you've faced so far in your career?"

How coincidental that this interview came right after our recent oh-so-sweet GRAMMY news. For the fight for this Volpone recording was probably the biggest hurdle I've had to clear, at least in recent memory.

I tend to live a lot in the future, not so much in the past. (And not nearly enough in the present, but that's another st0ry.) So I took a walk down memory lane, breaking open the huge files that documented the road to this project. And it was amazing exactly how much of the trauma I had suppressed. :)

So very much of it was, as my social networking friends will say, unbloggable. But here's a little bit of it that wasn't (you can link to the posts or just read the excerpts):

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Disappointment
Thursday, May 17, 2007

Mixed with the excitement of company arrivals are notes of frustration and regret.

Our much-anticipated upcoming recording of Volpone is not to be. This is not the place to spin out all of the confusing and irritating details, but... there's no nationally approved recording agreement whose conditions our company meets, and the local doesn't have the ability to negotiate individual agreements with organizations....

The bottom line is that we've run out of time. We had so wanted to get this terrific piece out there in circulation, and it's tough to walk away from it. For now, the goal is to sort all of this out after the season so that when our next new fabulous operatic comedy hits the stage, we'll be ready to capture and share it.

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In the Can
Sunday, July 1, 2007

As of 4 hours ago, we now have the raw material for a commercial live recording of Volpone. And this has been possibly the most frustrating and confounding journey of my professional life thus far.

The recording project was launched and canceled more times than I can count. The path to today was littered with obstacles, aborted attempts, misinformation and misunderstandings. But it also included generous colleagues, helpful advice, supportive coworkers and bosses, and a learning curve that was so fierce that it demanded to be conquered.

I intend to articulate that process here in the blog. It's critical that other small organizations have the chance to learn from our mistakes and our successes. Very little of this journey is private or confidential, and there are no real villains.

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Well, I never returned to "articulate that process," even though I knew I should've. The industry has changed so quickly over these last few years, but we still have a distance to go.

Since that time, we also worked through the difficult decision about whether to use a large label for distribution, or to release it ourselves. It took a lot of internal effort to get this opera out on the Wolf Trap Recordings label, but we're so glad we did. It was a labor of love, and as is usually the case in our industry, not one that anyone will ever make money on.

I'm normally not all about external validation. As a matter of fact, the same week that this recording was issued, we had some useful discussions about how artists must learn to handle criticism of all types. If you take this advice to heart, though, you must also learn not to immerse yourself too deeply in favorable reviews. Therefore, I usually blow off good notices as well as bad.

But this time, I'll take it. The fight was too hard, and the implications for the future are too positive. For these fifteen minutes of what passes for fame in the opera world, we're going to enjoy ourselves.