The 2012 Great Arts Blogger Challenge is on! Spring for Music has kicked off a contest designed to find the best arts blogger in the country. Over the next month, entrants (there are 42) will post entries on 4 assigned topics. I’m not playing along officially (I shrink from competition, and I’m a little too
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Picking a Fight, Da Ponte Style
Today, a follow-up to Tuesday’s post on Terms of Derision in Don Giovanni. This time, a survey of some of the threats of violence and fight-provoking language in Da Ponte’s libretto. First, self-violence. In a fit of feigned masochism, Zerlina enumerates all of the painful things she invites her fiancé to do to her to
Read MoreTerms of Derision and Name-Calling in Don Giovanni
Upon opening my Giovanni score (well-worn, now embarking on its 8th production), I was greeted by an old friend. During a 1995 production, my colleague Laurie Rogers created a wonderful document called “Terms of Derision and Threats of Violence in Don Giovanni” in which she outlined some 83 Italian insults and threats in the libretto.
Read MoreSometimes Indirect Routes Are the Best Kind
Thank you for allowing me to point you to a wonderful new place on the interwebs! My WTOC colleague Lee Anne Myslewski has launched a terrific new site called Indirect Routes: Stories from Creative Wayfarers. She’s been talking to all kinds of interesting people about their zig-zag paths to their current professions, and she’ll be
Read MoreToday’s Yin & Yang
This post in Anne Midgette’s Classical Beat blog (on the topic of this NY Times review) has stayed with me for several days, but I’ve had a difficult time deciding why. It is not my intention to take on the writer, for I have no definitive answers of my own. Yet there’s something here that won’t
Read MoreAny Place I Hang My Hat…
I will never truly understand how people in our business make peace with their lives on the road. Had I not been fortunate enough to make a career staying essentially in one place, I’d probably be doing something else right now. This week, our friend and colleague Louisa (a.k.a. Little Miss Bossy, a wonderful director
Read MoreBuon Compleanno, Gioacchino!
For your enjoyment at left (for as long as the link is still good), Google’s homepage homage to Rossini’s 55th Leap Year birthday (February 29, 1792). Which makes Gioacchino the same age as me for a just a few months, and makes me smile :)
Read MoreDim Sum, Studio Style
A post by Lee Anne Myslewski I’ve been playing long-distance Jenga. My Studio Co-Manager Grant Loehnig and I have these twelve talented Studio artists that will be spending the summer at The Trap. They serve as chorus and sometimes sing small roles in the mainstage operas. They have an educational curriculum that they follow, that
Read MoreAw, Shucks…
I’m a data geek. I collect far too much of it. To me, an hour romping in survey results is like heaven. At the end of each season, our artists are encouraged to respond to a survey so that they can really tell us what they think about the summer that just ended. It’s anonymous,
Read MoreDividing Without Conquering
A great link popped up in my RSS feed over the weekend, rocking my world with the clashing of two of my favorite things: Freakonomics and Opera! In short, the writer is a believer in comparative advantage* in economics (and baseball:)) but has realized that its benefits do not extend to opera. He had just
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