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John Adams was in the office for 90 minutes this morning - primarily to see (above) the set and costume designs for A Flowering Tree, but also to look at all the other things we are putting together around the performances of the very beautiful new opera next May. It was a happy session all round and John was clearly very pleased with everything. Thats a good start! Below you see him with three of our key staff, Colleen Flanigan, Marla Krupman, and Kara Kane, respectively directors of marketing, development and education. Between them they manage to provide huge additional animation to our whole enterprise of opera production. John is an enthusiastic contributor to and supporter of all their efforts.
This afternoon we had our annual staff Christmas party complete with Secret Santa gift exchanges. I will not publish to photos of this exciting event here......! Regrettably as a result of this event I had to miss a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Chicago Classical Music website. That was bad of me but my staff come first. I had hoped to slip away at 4 but one thing led to another including the excellent round of carol singing where our excellent pianist director of finance Dave Wise displayed his exceptional talent at the keyboard. But please look at the splendidly relaunched CCM site. It is doing very well and making a valuable contribution to musical life in this city.
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I recently spent a few days in New York combining business with pleasure. On the business side I attended a meeting at the League of American Orchestras (formerly known as the American Symphony Orchestra League) with colleagues from across the country to discuss issues related to our field. I also spent the better part of three days meeting with artist managers to get caught up on artist happenings and discuss upcoming projects for the Grant Park Music Festival. These meetings are important because direct face to face contact always makes doing business so much easier the next time one finds himself haggling about fees over the phone or email.
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Somebody wrote to me this morning "have a lovely relaxing weekend". Well no chance but that is not say I will not be having fun.
We are at the opening of Julius Caesar this evening at Lyric. Begins at 6.30 and will be done by 11pm. Then a party so a late night no doubt. You can all be there as well by tuning in to WFMT. I believe that there is streaming too so you only need an Internet connection.
Tomorrow there will be one of Opera America's periodic singers workshops in which I am participating. This is at de Paul University in Lincoln Park, Chicago, not too far from home and a very agreeable campus with an excellent music school.
On Sunday I am at the Regional finals of the Met auditions - not as a jury member (can't do that in one's own region) but as a spectator and intermission interviewee during the live broadcast on WFMT again! Tune in to the event between 2 and 5pm - I, and others, will be on air sometime after 4pm I assume. This is US Central time and the clocks will have changed so we are back in sync with the rest of the world - well Europe anyway. 6 hours behind the UK and 7 behind western Europe.
Monday is the beginning of another week of travel - more later.
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(Originally posted October, 27, 2007)
We have a result for Neue Stimmen 2007:
1. Marina Rebeka (see above with Francisco Araiza and Liz Mohn)
2. Fernando Javier Rado
3. Diego Torre
4-6 Anita Watson, Yali Wang, Christiane Karg
7-8 Genare Gashi, Sung-Kon Kim
And on a happy personal note, Reri Grist joined us in the intermission so we had in the room two stunning sopranos who were on the roster at Glyndebourne during my first year there in 1962 - Reri as Zerbinetta and Despina, and Edith as Cherubino. So Francisco Araiza took this picture of us above!
We have a party now, and I am out of here early.........more from Dusseldorf airport tomorrow, or otherwise when I am back in Chicago. Good night everyone and congratulations to ALL the Neue Stimmen competitors for making the week such a pleasure for us.
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(Originally posted October 26, 2007)
So we whittled it down to eight:
Krenare Gashi, Soprano, Kosovo-Albanian Age 22
Christiane Karg, Soprano, Germany 27
Sung-Kon Kim, Baritone, Korea, 32
Fernando Javier Rado, Bass, Argentina, 21
Marina Rebeka, Soprano, Latvia, 27
Diego Torre, Tenor, Mexico, 27
Yali Wang, Soprano, China, 26
Anita Watson, Soprano, Australia, 27
The audience prize went to a splendid young singer who did not make the cut. This was:
Julia Novikova, Soprano, Russia, 24 - she knocked the audience dead with her performance of Lakme's Bell Song. She is an audience winner and will do really well I have no doubt. This is a nice consolation prize.
I will make no further comment until its all over. We had a great evening and we will have a super program tomorrow when each of the finalists will sing two pieces.
Tomorrow is another day - now time for sleep.
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(Originally posted October 24, 2007)
And so we have the semifinalists - not 12 as planned but 16 since the field was so tight and the time constraints on preparing the orchestra for the semifinal concert on Friday was the only reason we did not have more. This was the toughest race yet and demonstrates the very high and even standard we reached in this the 20th anniversary year. And below you have the happy 16 who go through to the next round. Below them you will find the list in alphabetical order of last name.
Krenare Gashi, Soprano, Kosovo-Albanian Age 22
Daveda Karanas, Mezzo, USA, 28
Christiane Karg, Soprano, Germany 27
Sung-Kon Kim, Baritone, Korea, 32
Takesha Kizart, Soprano, USA, 30
Alexander Lewis, Baritone, Australia, 24
Vuyani Mlinde, Bass-Baritone, South Africa, 27
Julia Novikova, Soprano, Russia, 24
Kristine Opolais, Soprano, Latvia, 27
Lee Poulis, Baritone, USA, 27
Fernando Javier Rado, Bass, Argentina, 21
Marina Rebeka, Soprano, Latvia, 27
Yasuko Sato, Soprano, Japan, 29
Diego Torre, Tenor, Mexico, 27
Yali Wang, Soprano, China, 26
Anita Watson, Soprano, Australia, 27
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(Originally posted October 23, 2007)
You may have seen my little interim post below about today's activities. So I thought that it would be a good thing to give you an expanded view of what we are up to.
We are a diverse collection of variously qualified individuals. We have our own biases, our own priorities, our own beliefs in what is important. Therefore, whatever we concluded today will have been affected by these rich experiences that we have been fortunate enough to have had.
So what is the scoop? I think that the first thing to be said is that I consider that the Jury's collective wisdom at the end of the voting process is quite reliable. Whatever our individual differences may have been, somehow at the end of the session we came up with an answer that we could all live with. Oddly, this was not the case with the last group between 6 and 7.30 this evening by which time we were punch drunk and losing our marbles, or whatever else it is that keeps us on the strait and narrow. So we may think about that again tomorrow.
Nevertheless the reality is that we have to discard about 34 of the 46 highly selected and admirable singers that we have selected for the finals this week. This is not just painful. It requires a ruthless determination that does not come easily to any of us.
So we have the obligation to bring 12 to the semi-finals. We will have a good deal of sympathy for those that do not "make the cut". Those who do not should not worry about this. Some remarkable singers have been "discarded" from Neue Stimmen at this stage. Violeta Urmana and Angela Denoke are but two. It really does not matter - but it would be really nice to have the prize money.......!!
We will be totally specific tomorrow. The fact is that 34 will be on the way home. That is a shame, but there is no other way. This year is as competitive as any other - and it breaks my heart that so many go home after the first round.
We are on parade again at 10 tomorrow.
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I am eagerly anticipating the Chicago Opera Theater’s opening night performance (tonight) of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schönberg’s Erwartung. Wearing my Chicago and COT cheerleader outfit today, here are my top eight reasons you should see these operas:
1.) They are so seldom performed. When again might you have the opportunity to hear these masterpieces live and staged?
2.) Because Sam Ramey is Bluebeard. Did any of you hear his performances of this work with Jessye Norman at the Met in 1989? It was riveting theater and it scared the heck out of me. Spooky stuff. Click here for the cast list.
3.) Because Ken Cazan, who staged COT's haunting Death in Venice, is back.Death in Venice was about the most emotionally engaging opera I have seen in this town (right next to LOC’s Dialogues of the Carmelites this past season) and I can only imagine what he has in store for us this time.
4.) Because Nancy Gustafson is singing. A Vienna State Opera star, and a Chicagoan, it is a real coup for COT to have her.
5.) Because the talented conductor Alex Platt is on the podium. COT reserves its most technically challenging scores for Alex to conduct, and he always “delivers the goods.”
6.) Because COT (thanks to its visionary general director Brian Dickie) gives us high quality and brave theater for Chicago. COT needs and deserves our support to continue presenting operas of this calibre.
7.) Because Krisztina Szabó is singing. This Canadian singer is the real deal.Do you remember her as Ottavia in L'Incoronazione di Poppea? She was stunning. It will be great to hear her stretch into “Judith” territory and take on Bartók’s dramatic score. Her ethnic background is Hungarian so I am counting on her.
8.) Because I said so?
I encourage you to go, go, go – and enjoy.
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Light Opera Works hosted our annual spring gala in March. 200 patrons attended a reception and dinner at the North Shore Country Club. Each year we honor an artist who has made a special contribution to Chicago. Past recipients have included Frank Galati, Dominic Missimi, Nancy Gustafson and others. This year we honored Sir Andrew Davis.
Never having met him before, I must admit a certain anxiety in interacting with a "knight". I thought the readers of this blog might be interested to know that Sir Andrew was one of the most down to earth people I have met in the music world.
He was so friendly, greeting our staff and patrons with warmth and attention. He was completely available to the donors - spending almost 5 hours at the event.
After receiving his award, he delighted the audience with a Gilbert and Sullivan parody song that saluted Light Opera Works and our repertory choices over the years. This was a wonderful surprise.
Sir Andrew may not have arrived riding a white horse but he certainly was Light Opera Works' "Knight in Shining Armour".
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