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… or “Like a Bat out of Hell” Act II: The Underworld Load-in of the Underworld set yesterday afternoon. It was so convincing that by mid-afternoon we had attracted a bat. He seemed very much at home, having flown into the dark theatre and escaped the bright sunshine outside. My favorite part of all of

This afternoon brought the first orchestra rehearsal, held next door in the rehearsal room because the production team is in the theatre setting lighting cues. After spending last evening listening to the 120-player NSO (see below), I feared that my return to the baroque would be disappointing. Not so. Beautiful colors. Strings, recorders, oboe, bassoon,

Busy, schizoid, borderline maddening day. (Kinda felt like Orasia, Orpheus’ nemesis, at left:) Started with a phone interview on Romeo et Juliette (for future play on Viva la Voce) – this is a wonderful thing, but my mind is stuck in the early 18th century at the moment. Then we recorded WTOC’s first podcast –

I try to steer clear of press hype, but I have to call your attention to last weekend’s Wall Street Journal. The online version is subscription-only, but you may be able to access this link. If not, here’s the pertinent excerpt from The Best of the New Operas by Heidi Waleson: The 30-odd operas on

Only enough time for a quick post. I unplugged (well, mostly) yesterday, and as a result today will be a bit of a scramble. But worth it. Saturday night’s Spanish Treasure recital (cast photo at left) was gorgeous. If you’re curious about what was sung, go here. Every classical singer should have some of this

I love the National Spelling Bee! Smart, single-mindedly focused, proudly unconventional kids. I can’t spell a single word I’ve heard in the last half-hour. (Actually, I got luckier toward the end with Weltschmerz and Kundalini:) But I was plenty pissed that the announcer guy mis-pronounced sciolto as “shalltoh.” You don’t tell the kid that the

Catching up on last week’s newspapers… got more than a little testy after reading this in the Post. Responsible as I am for mounting productions in a 380-seat house, paragraphs like this one left me cheering: Chamber opera, like chamber music, exists (among other reasons) to remind big-time makers of big opera what the core

Enjoying a busman’s holiday. Here on business, visiting Opera Theatre of St. Louis, but I really feel like I’m playing hookey*. (Or at least that’s what we used to call it.) Last night, a huge amount of fun was had at Barber of Seville (photo by Ken Howard; WTOC alum Kate Lindsey with her Barber

No, it’s not an elaborate game of hopscotch. It’s just the rehearsal room floor. If you’ve never been on the upstage side of the footlights, you might be interested to know what the performers spend weeks looking at before they get onstage. We’re in our beautiful rehearsal space (natural light! air conditioning!) next door to

Off to the Kennedy Center Terrace Theatre this evening for Britten’s Turn of the Screw. The Terrace is such a beautiful place for chamber opera, and it’s so rarely done there any more. The economics are daunting. Hard not to hemorrage money with only 500 seats available per performance. (I should know… we’re nuts enough