Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Migration in Progress
Check back here in March for directions to to our new location!
Monday, February 08, 2010
WTOC Announces its 2010 Season across the Blogosphere!
Tickets go on sale to the general public on March 13.
For advance sales and priority handling, become a Wolf Trap member.
For show dates, casts, and other performance info, start here.
In celebration of the announcement of WTOC’s 2010 season, I am doing guest posts and interviews in various locations across the blogosphere. Find out more about us that you ever wanted to know by clicking through!
Participating blogs are listed below - links will become active throughout the day on February 9.
Overview is at Technology in the Arts.
Where and How We Do What We Do
- The Barns at Wolf Trap via Clef Notes
- Arts Management in Reverse at Adaptistration
Focus on Repertoire
- Zaide at Roger Evans Online
- Turk at Musical Perceptions
- Dream at Dramma per musica
- Why Wolf Trap Needs Members at Katya’s Nonprofit Marketing Blog
- Zaide Production Choice Becomes Marketing Hook at Butts in the Seats
- The YAP View via Houston Grand Opera
- Overview of 2010 FYA Roster at Miss Music Nerd
- The Career Pyramid at The Omniscient Mussel
- Operagasm (Instant Opera, Artist Profiles, Audition Advice and More)
- The Mind of the Airstream Diva (Books, Music, Daily Life)
- Does The Fat Lady Still Sing? at The Next Hundred Pounds
- Whack-a-Mole at Rahree
- Studio Artist Photo Gallery at the Melear-o-sphere
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
A Highly Subjective and Unapologetically Random Look Back at the GRAMMYs
Thanks to our Best Opera Recording nomination for Volpone, we were in the slightly surreal and truly wonderful position of being able to attend last Sunday's GRAMMY festivities in LA, and I'd be remiss if I didn't file some sort of report. So...
Wolfie Goes to LA!
80% of Success...
Yes, the classical music industry is marginalized, along with over 90% of the rest of the GRAMMY categories. We joined our colleagues in jazz, R&B, country, world music and many other genres at the pre-telecast ceremony on Sunday afternoon. Some of the bigger pop music names who were prepping for the evening telecast were unavoidably absent in the afternoon, but some of them (Taylor Swift, most notably) managed to make an appearance.
And yes, it was Woody Allen who said that "80% of success is just showing up." In such a scenario, we probably would've taken home the statue, for almost none of the other classical music nominees were there. The winners sure weren't. It's no secret that our part of the industry has a complicated relationship with the GRAMMYs, though. We decided to attend because it really was an honor for us to be nominated, and we wanted to acknowledge that. (And we figured there was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience to be had in the process :)) But after seeing how alone we were, we figured that the whole thing should work on a "must-be-present-to-win" premise, kind of like a door prize. That way, if those folks from London and the Mariinsky and the Hague and the Netherlands couldn't show up, we'd get lucky!And I Thought We Were a Niche Market...
It's amazing (even for someone like me who works for a presenting organization that covers many many genres) how many different kinds of music there are out there. Electronica, gospel, alternative, R&B, rap, country, new age, jazz, Latin, Americana, traditional folk, Hawaiian, Native American, children's music, reggae, zydeco and more. And the long tail is growing every day, even as the public face of the GRAMMYs (via the telecast) gets more and more mainstream.
Pink as Deus Ex Macchina
Speaking of the telecast, I thought that Pink's performance felt a lot like the early days of opera must have. The atmosphere at the Staples Center that night bore a lot of similarities to what we know of 18th-century opera. Lots of people socializing during the boring parts, only paying attention when the famous acts are on stage, watching highly sexualized performances by big name stars, some of which fly in from the sky and make the audience gasp. Sadly, the GRAMMY folks don't agree, because the two tips of the hat given to opera that night were in the form of a stereotype-reinforcing setup to the rap number and a weird presenting assignment to Placido.
The WT Contingent, Post-Ceremony
Behind... er... Above the Scenes
or
In the Gallery with No Peanuts
Attending as representatives of the record label (Wolf Trap Recordings), we were lowest of the low on the totem pole. We sat in the nosebleed section of the arena, which had its pros and cons.
On the plus side, we had a bird's-eye view of scene shifts and changeovers (during the commercial breaks), and it was comforting in a Schadenfreude sort of way to see that the big boys screw things up occasionally, too.
On the other hand, if you have to sit for 7.5 hours of ceremonies with only one 30-minute break (1:00-4:15 and 4:45-8:30), someone should at least be going up and down the aisles with peanuts and hot dogs...
While It Was Snowing Back Home...
...we enjoyed the always-generous hospitality of friends in Malibu, with long walks on the beach in sunny 70-degree skies.
And now that our 15 minutes of fame are over, we're back at our desks, getting ready to announce our summer season next week - see you then!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Congratulations!
Quick post from my phone to congratulate the LSO and our Billy Budd colleagues on the Grammy win.
We were and are honored to be in such amazing company!
Now, on to the big evening ceremony. Let the fun begin!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
An Honor to be Nominated. No, Really.
We have the great privilege of going to LA for the GRAMMYs this weekend! The Volpone recording nomination (one of 5 in the category of Best Opera Recording) meant that Wolf Trap, as the record label, was able to get a few tickets for the ceremonies. (GRAMMYs are for artists on the recording, and even though we commissioned and premiered this work, then produced and distributed it on our label, we're sort of just hangers-on:)) So we're going to go and celebrate. We're not particularly good at strutting our stuff (we tend to fly under the radar and plug along), but we shall try!
I've always thought that the words "It was just an honor to be nominated" were 1) a way of being gracious when you won or 2) an attempt at not feeling bad because you lost. But I am here before you now to witness that it is possible to say it and mean it.
I am proud to bursting of our little company and our maiden voyage in the recording world. And I think that it's amazing - almost inconceivable, actually - that we did it so well on a wing, a prayer, and very little money. But at the same time, I don't think there's even a remote chance that we will win. (In case you don't already know, I am the Queen of Low Expectations. It's a way of life and a title I bear proudly.)
Yes, we did good. But to believe that we bested the LSO, or Ian Bostridge & Nathan Gunn, or Valery Gergiev, or the Hague Philharmonic etc etc, well, that's more hubris than I can typically muster.
But see, the thing is that it really doesn't matter. The recognition that comes from this nomination will pay off in so many ways, and I intend to celebrate that. I want to go to LA and be so proud that someone somewhere thought we belonged with the big boys. I want to celebrate that we didn't give up on the idiotically rocky road to completion of this project. There shall be people-watching and beach-walking and general jubilation.
So there.
January is WTOC Alumni Month
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, 2 of the other 4 nominees in our category feature Wolf Trap alumni (Nathan Gunn, Billy Budd; Charles Workman, Marco Polo)!
Monday, January 25, 2010
"Special"
Special (Merriam-Webster): distinguished by some unusual quality.
Life's a Pitch just finished a week hosting a virtual panel on when and how artists, managers, journalists, presenters and publicists single out musicians for being "special" in their promotion and career-building efforts. Amanda's summary of the posts by her 4 guest bloggers is here.
I hesitate to spend most of an entire blog post regurgitating other writers' material, but this is worth it. Great food for thought for musicians, presenters, and music lovers of all stripes. If you need more motivation to click through, some highlights:
Jonathan Biss (our Wolf Trap Debut Artist from 1997!) writes that "Traditionalism is big in classical music, of course, meaning that there's a lot of knee-jerk "this is the way to do it because this is the way it's always been done." ("It" could be any number of things - from questions of musical style, to programming, to concert attire, and on and on.) But recently I've heard a lot of the marketing-driven opposite, which seems equally knee-jerk to me: "this has never been done before, and therefore it is relevant and interesting.""
Michael Kondziolka at University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, Michigan says that "yes, hooks are fine and human interest angles (sometimes) riveting...but, never a substitute for convincing music making that reveals some truth or provocation embedded within, some kind of technical accomplishment, or, maybe, some hint at a shared humanity... Actually, the more I think about it, if one can be certain that the players will hit the accomplishment quotient, then human interest hooks are actually welcome in my book. And we shouldn't be afraid of them or feel that they somehow cheapen the artist's integrity. (Please.) Any information sharing or story telling that aids, abets, or heightens a sense of empathy between performer and listener - whether artistic, human, spiritual - has to be a good thing. Right? Live concert performances must, after all, traffic in empathy."
Matthew Guerrieri of Soho the Dog weighs in: "On the other hand, I personally find assertions of specialness within the concert presentation itself--spoken explanations, multimedia elements, &c.--to be often more annoying and distracting than anything. I've seen it done well, but only rarely; it's harder than it looks, and it takes just as much (if not more) preparation as the music. If there's absolute commitment on the part of the performer(s), if they really believe in whatever high concept they've come up with, I can happily go along for the ride, even if, in the end, I don't quite buy it."
Thursday, January 21, 2010
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.
Monday, January 11, 2010
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.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Creativity's Worst Enemy
If you haven't yet read Byron Janis's recent article in the Wall Street Journal, go here.
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.
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.
Heading to North Carolina in the morning to judge Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions. Have a great weekend!
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
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).
Monday, January 04, 2010
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.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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!
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
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):
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.
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.
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.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Scrappy & Outrageous
It's been a bit of a wild ride over the last few days, as last week's GRAMMY news eclipsed much of business as usual. We are working overtime to choose and cast next summer's operas, and I haven't forgotten my promise to post the list of most-offered arias during November's audition tour. [UPDATE: These are up now - visit these links for Filene Young Artists and Studio Artists.]
However, there's been much to absorb in these last few days. Before you read on, take 1 min. 33 seconds to watch and listen to this.
Even if you don't think you like opera (or, for crying out loud, new opera...), do it.
Two adjectives I've heard recently:
Scrappy: our small opera company and tiny record label
Outrageous: the fact that we were nominated for a freakin' GRAMMY...
It's not as if I'm not proud of the WTOC. I have given it my blood, sweat and tears for the last 25 years. And I will hold us up against any arts organization in artistic integrity, work ethic, financial responsibility and innovative spirit. But our budget is small, our artists are at the beginnings of their careers, and we produce in a 375-seat theatre. We are in the presence of some amazing talent in our award category, and the whole thing seems a bit surreal.
Once the shock wore off (yes, John Musto called me on my cell phone at 10:45 pm Wednesday evening, and I thought he was punking me), a few things bubbled to the surface:
John is the only American composer nominated for this award. In the company of amazing composers, to be sure, but of British, French, Chinese and Russian heritage.
Volpone is the only 21st-century opera nominated. Others range from 1928 (The Nose) to 1996 (Marco Polo).
Wolf Trap is the only U.S. arts organization in this field, and Wolf Trap Recordings is the only American record label.
Oh, and Volpone is a truly awesome opera.
Audition Arias Offered: Filene Young Artists
This list was culled from the first arias offered by singers auditioning for this year's Filene Young Artist Program. If you are looking for the comprehensive list of pieces in the 4-aria audition packages from this season, start here.
SOPRANO
You might remember that of the selections listed on the application forms, Pamina's aria was a run-away hit. Imagine my relief when Ach ich fühl's was only offered as a starter aria once. (I do love me some Mozart, mind you, but this aria is deceptively difficult.)
The runner-up on the application lists was Anne Trulove; also only offered first by one singer, probably because of the length of the scene.
4X
Caro nome
Deh vieni
Dove sono
3X
Come scoglio
Ernani, involami
Je veux vivre
Padre, germane, addio
Presentation of the Rose
Sul fil d’un soffio etesio
O zittre nicht
Quel guard oil cavaliere
Song to the Moon
TWICE
Ain’t It a Pretty Night
Be Kind and Courteous
Chacun le sait
Depuis le jour
Dich theure Halle
Donde lieta
Du gai soleil
Einsam in trüben Tagen
Emily’s Aria
Manon's Gavotte
Glitter and Be Gay
Je suis encor
Lisa’s Aria
Martern aller Arten
O luce di quest'anima
O mio babbino caro
O quante volte
Poison Aria
Quando m’en vo
Regnava
Tornami
ONCE
Ach ich fühl's
Ach ich liebte
Adele’s audition aria
Adieu, notre petite table
Batti batti
Bel raggio lusinghier
Che tua madre
Chi il bel sogno di Doretta
Durch Zärtlichkeit
Ebben
Ecco l’orrido campo
Es gibt ein Reich
Fire Aria
How Beautiful It Is
I Want Magic
Kommt ein schlanker Bursch gegangen
Mariettas Lied
No Word from Tom
Nun eilt herbei
Piangero
Qui la voce / Vien diletto
Scoglio d’immota fronte
Stridonò lassu
Tacea la notte placida
Volate amori
MEZZO
Salt of the earth, these mezzi. Always dependable. The runaway favorite on the application lists also turns up as one of the arias most frequently offered.
5X
Smanie implacabili
Wie du warst
3X
Cruda sorte
Que fais-tu
Va
TWICE
Composer's Aria
Must the Winter Come So Soon
Una voce poco fa
Voi che sapete
ONCE
Adalgisa’s Prayer
Card Aria
Che farò
Deh per questo istante
Faites-lui
Iris hence away
Lettres (Werther)
Lullaby from The Consul
Lyubasha’s Aria
Mon coeur
O mio Fernando
Oh la pitoyable aventure
Chaun à son goût
Parto
Pauline's Aria
Seguedilla
Sgombra è la sacra selva
Svegliatevi
Violin aria
What a Movie
Where Shall I Fly
TENOR
The most-listed aria on applications was Tamino's, but it was only actually offered twice. I expect the frequency on the application list is due to our requirement for an aria by Mozart, Rossini, or Handel.
3X
Here I Stand
Una furtiva lagrima
2X
De miei bollenti spiriti
Dies Bildnis
Fra poco
Frisch zum Kampfe
Il mio tesoro
New York Lights
Questa o quella
ONCE
Addio fiorito asil
Care pupille
Del destino (from Florenzia)
Ecco ridente
Heaven Helps Those
Il tuo sangue
La fleur
Mein Lieber Schwan
Pourquoi me reveiller
Recondita armonia
Se all’impero
Si, ritrovarla
The Worm
Un aura amorosa
Vedrommi intorno
Wie ein Rosenknospe
Winterstürme
BARITONE
Like their treble sisters, the baritones are more predictable. (Relax guys; it's not a bad thing.) Count's Aria took the field here, as it did on the application lists.
Pierrot's Tanzlied was also fairly popular, but beware, gentlemen; this isn't as easy to nail as you think it is.
6X
Count’s Aria
5X
Largo al factotum
4X
Lieben, Hassen
Rivolgete
Pierrot's Tanzlied
3X
Ah per sempre
Mab
Silvio
TWICE
Avant de quitter
Toreador
Within this Frail Crucible
ONCE
A quoi bon l’economie
Aleko's Aria
Bella siccome un angelo
Come Paride
Come une pale fleur
E fra quest’ansie
Ford’s Monologue
I Am John Proctor
Non piu andrai
Nulla, silenzio
O lêve-toi soleil
O vin
Onegin's Aria
Onegin's Act III Arioso
Questo amor
Se vuol ballare
Va, vecchio John
Zazà, piccola zingara
BASS & BASS-BARITONE
Figaro's aria edged out Sarastro's, but it's a little unscientific to lump bass-baritones and basses together, so don't draw too many conclusions. I don't separate them out because the self-labeling of these two voice types is all over the map. (As it has every right to be in a demographic with an average age in the mid-late 20's.)
4X
Su vuol ballare
3X
O Isis und Osiris
Quand la flame
TWICE
Come dal ciel
Vecchia zimarra
ONCE
Aleko's Aria
Count's Aria
Bottom's Dream
Hear Me O Lord
Ho capito
I miei rampolli
I’m a lonely man, Susannah
Il lacerato spirito
Infelice
La calunnia
Madamina
Non piu andrai
Piff paff
Schweig
Sorge infausta
Tambour major
Vieni, la mia vendetta
Wie schoen ist doch die Musik
That's it for this year. Please post comments with any corrections/additions!
Audition Arias Offered: Studio Artists
Here's the list of starter arias offered this fall by singers auditioning for the Studio Artist program. (Younger demographic than the Filene Young Artists; average profile is college senior or first-year grad student.)
SOPRANO
4X
Du gai soleil
3X
Durch Zärtlichkeit
Padre, germani
Sul fil
TWICE
Come scoglio
Kommt ein schlanker Bursch gegangen
Quando m'en vo
Quel guardo
ONCE
Adele's Audition Aria
All that Gold
Bel raggio
Chacun le sait
Depuis le jour
Dich theure Halle
Douce enfant
Emily's Aria from Our Town
I Go To Him
I Have Dreamt
Je dis
Je veux vivre
Marietta
Non mi dir
O luce
O quante volte
Olympia’s Aria
Pamina’s Aria
Piangerò
Quickly, Quickly
(Rachmaninoff song)
Saper vorreste
Se pieta
Somehow I Never Could Believe
(Strauss song)
The Trees on the Mountain
Tu che di gel
Una voce
Willow
MEZZO
4X
Que fais-tu
TWICE
Smanie implacabili
Va
ONCE
Addio sospiri
Air des champetres
All'afflitto
I do not judge you
Iris Hence Away
Must the Winter Come So Soon
My Man's Gone Now
Non so piu
O ma lyre
Parto
Things Change, Jo
Una donna
Una voce
What a Movie
What a Wonderful Party
TENOR
TWICE
Ecco ridente
Il mio tesoro
ONCE
Ah mes amis
Albert the Good
Amor ti vieta
Che gelida manina
Ciel e terra
Dies Bildnis
Flower Song
Fuor del mar
Here I Stand
I'll Sail Upon the Dog Star
Lonely House
Prologue from Turn of the Screw
Quanto e bella
Questa o quella
Una furtiva lagrima
Vainement
Zarzuela aria from Amor vida
BARITONE
TWICE
Papageno's Suicide Scene
ONCE EACH
Ah per sempre
Avant de quitter
Count’s Aria
Die Ihr schwebet
Donne mie
Ho capito
Honor and Arms
Largo
Lieben, Hassen
Mab
Medaglie incomparabili
Pierrot
Questo amor
Sibillar
Silvio
Simple Song
Warm as the autumn light
When the air sings of summer
BASS & BASS-BARITONE
TWICE
Il lacerato spirito
ONCE
O Grim-look'd Night
Una voce mal colpito
Madamina
That's it! If you spot errors, comment below and I'll fix.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Congratulations!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Links to Fall 2009 Aria Frequency Lists
The Aria Frequency Lists for this fall's audition tour are found in separate blog posts:
Soprano
Mezzo
Tenor
Baritone
Bass & Bass-baritone
These lists represent the frequency with which individual arias were listed in audition packages of singers in that voice type. Next week I'll compile and post the list of arias offered as first choices in each category.
Here, in the gratitude list tradition, is my Thanksgiving week five at the end of this audition tour:
- 8,000 miles of safe travel.
- 1,000 arias that made us laugh and cry.
- Good health. For even though the last few weeks made me cranky, tired and fat(ter), I stayed healthy. :)
- Colleagues who are smart, funny, flexible and forgiving.
- Family. And mine is the best.
Aria Frequency List: Soprano
The following list was compiled from the arias listed on audition applications of singers who were heard during this fall's WTOC audition tour. The number in bold refers to the number of singers in this voice type who listed each aria. (This does not refer to the arias actually heard in auditions; that list will follow in December.)
THE WINNER, AGAIN (31X)
Ach ich fühl's
RUNNER-UP (15X)
No word from Tom / I go to him
11X
Deh vieni
Je dis que reien ne m’épouvante
10X
Come scoglio
Je veux vivre
Song to the Moon (Rusalka)
9X
Be kind and courteous
Caro nome
Depuis le jour
Oh! quante volte
8X
Chi il bel sogno di Doretta
Du gai soleil
Embroidery aria
Je suis encor
Mir ist die Ehre (Presentation of the Rose)
Quel guardo / So anch'io
Sul fil d’un soffo etesio
7X
Du gai soleil
Durch Zärtlichkeit
Non mi dir
Piangerò
Prendi per me
Regnava nel silenzio
Sì mi chiamano Mimì
Tornami a vagghegiar
6X
Ah je ris (Jewel Song)
Dich teure Halle
Gold is a fine thing (Silver Aria)
Qui la voce
5X
Adieu notre petite table
Dove sono
Glitter and be gay
Gluck das mir verbliebt (Marietta's Lied)
Padre germani addio
Porgi Amor
Zerbinetta's aria
4X
Ah! fuggi il traditor
Amour ranime mon courage
Batti batti
Come now a roundel
Das war sehr gut
Der Hölle Rache
Donde lieta uscì
Emily's Aria from Our Town
Fire aria
Il est doux
Kommt ein schlanker Bursch' gegangen
Lia's recitative and aria (Azaël)
O luce di quest'anima
Quando m'en vo
Steal me
3X
Ah chi mi dice mai
Ah! non credea / Ah non giunge
Ain't it a pretty night
Chacun le sait
Come per me sereno
Da tempeste
Dearest Mama
Ebben ne andro lontana
Ernani involami
I want magic
Je marche / Obéissons (Gavotte)
Nun eilt herbei
O zittre nicht
Ou va la jeune Hindoue? (Bell song)
Presentation of the Rose
S'altro che lagrime
Stridono lassù
Willow song
2X
Bel raggio
Comme autrefois
Dis moi que je suis belle
Einsam in trüben Tagen
Endless pleasure
Es gibt ein Reich
Gothic cathedral
Have peace Jo
How beautiful it is
Je suis Titania
Joy beyond measure, mother!
Klänge der Heimat (Czàrdàs)
La maja y el ruiseñor
Lady with a Hand Mirror (Postcard from Morocco)
Les oiseaux dans la charmille
Martern aller Arten
O mio babbino caro
O wär' ich schon
Or sai
Par le rang / Salut à la France
Se il padre perdei
Steal me sweet thief
Tu che di gel
What good would the moon be
ONCE
Adele's Audition aria
Ah fors'è lui / Sempre libera
Aria Snegurochka (Snowmaiden's aria)
At night we dream of love (Heggie)
Bester Jüngling
Chanson du Rossignol
Che tua madre
Der kleine Taumann heiss'ich
Di cor mio
Do not utter a word
Du bist der Lenz
Ecco lorrido campo...Ma dallarido stelo divulsa
Elle a fui
Go to sleep, my dolly dear
I always carry a handmirror
I can smell the sea air
I have dreamt
I know you love me, Tom (Hotel Casablanca)
Il primo ardor
In uomini
Injurious Hermia
Io son l'umile ancella
L’altra notte
Ma quando tornerai
Marfa's Aria (The Tsar's Bride)
Mein Herr Marquis (Laughing song)
Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss
Merce, dilette amiche
Mi tradì
Myself I shall adore
Neghittosi or voi che fate
Non disperar
O Dieu Brahma
Ombre pallide
Partir, o ciel, desio
Pleurez mes yeux
Qual farfalletta
Ruhe sanft
Scoglio d'immota fronte
Son pochi fiori
Son vergin vezzosa
Tacea la notte / Di tale amor
Tatyana's Letter Aria
Ten lasky sen (Bartered Bride)
This is the face....
Trahir Vincent... Mon coeur ne paut changer (Mireille)
Trees on the mountain
Un bel dì vedremo
Vissi d’arte
Vivan los que rien
Volate, amori
Welche Wonne welche Lust
Zachem zhe eti slyozy (Lisa's First Act Aria)
Zeffiretti lusinghieri
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It all rings so true. But more than that, what makes me squirm is that it all seems born of desperation. Is it existential fear that something we all value might be lost in an era that values data and speed above all else? Is it actual panic because artists and those who promote them are slowing being pushed to the edge of extinction? Of course, it's both.
We can all tell the difference between an artist who makes connections to his audience (verbal and otherwise) because he is compelled to communicate with every fiber of his being and an artist who does so because a manager or a presenter dictates that it's now part of the required dog-and-pony show.
On the topic of "special" added-value elements, well, how about this comment at the bottom of Mr. Biss's post?
Comment:
Let's make this really, brutally simple.
The only things we need today to have a "life-altering" musical experience is a good surround sound system, a CD/mp3 player and a Blue Ray DVD system.
Constant concerts by 100s of symphony orchestras or other groups, 90% of which are repeats of trite, old repertoire or newly composed self-indulgent idiocy are economically and artistically unnecessary in a digital recording era. The average US concert hall monstrosity doesn't produce the sound quality in most seats that a car stereo would.
Innovation? Find an equivalent for classical music of what Cirque de soleil has been for the three-ring circus. Until that happens, good luck getting audiences into concert halls.
Chew on that a while. (And let's assume that the comment is legit, rather than satirical. I wouldn't be surprised to hear this from The Man on the Street, but I guess the fact that it appears as a comment on a blog that would appear to be primarily read by "believers" is a little stunning.)
Will we find the equivalent of which the writer speaks? Should we try? For if we succeed, the goal is going to shift significantly while we're at it.
Back to the definition at the top of this post (special: distinguished by some unusual quality): as we compete for our part of the pie, we are struggling with what "unusual" means. Clearly, we (opera, symphony, ballet, even jazz now...) are unusual. Always have been. Always will be. We want to be special, but now we desire that our "unusual" qualities are more and more palatable to the mainstream. I'm back to my take on Seth Godin's passion-pop gulf, hoping that our ministrations don't take us to the trough of the graph.
[P.S. The fact that I spent the weekend reading The Black Swan has set me up for a rocky Monday at the office. Sorry to bring you along for the ride!]