Last Thursday took us offsite, to The Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. We’re in our sixth season of Vocal Colors – one-of-a-kind concerts in which our artists pair songs with artwork from the permanent collection of the museum. As is typical of these projects, last week’s performance featured composers from Debussy and Rachmaninoff to Paul
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Spotlight on the Studio. Where It Belongs.
Sunday afternoon brought a chance for the 2013 Studio Artists to shine. And shine they did. What a terrifically talented, generous and strong group of people. Bravi tutti. Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) Act II Trio: “Ah qual colpo…Zitti ziti” Rosina – Grace Newberry / Almaviva – Brian Yeakley / Figaro – Brian Vu Così
Read MoreTraviata Liveblog (Laterblog): Rearview Mirror
Well, that happened. And it was better than it had any right to be. I’m still not quite sure how to talk about it without sounding insufferably enthusiastic. But it was a magical night, from all perspectives. We inhabit a long-standing, venerable and demanding art form. The pressure to hit all of the marks is
Read MoreTraviata Liveblog: 42 Hours to Curtain
Overnight rehearsal #2. Projections, props, light cues. Assistant stage managers “light-walking” until the sun comes up. Putting the Keurig machine into motion at 1:45am. Quiet in the theatre, with middle-of-the-night slow modulated talking into headsets.
Read MoreTraviata Liveblog: 49 Hours to Curtain
We’re in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall for the “Sitzprobe” – when we bring together all musical elements: National Symphony Orchestra, Washington Chorus and Wolf Trap Opera. I’m a musical animal, having entered this business through my life at the piano. The shaping and shepherding of lights, costumes, sets and projections is exciting to be
Read MoreTraviata Liveblog: 68 Hours to Curtain
Ian Anderson loads out of the Filene Center, and Verdi moves in. Welcome to Wolf Trap. In order to tech opera – to focus and cue lights and projections – you need darkness. Ergo, overnight rehearsals are a reality of amphitheater opera. The obvious negatives (goodbye, normal sleep cycle…) are mitigated by adrenaline and by
Read MoreTraviata Liveblog: 76 Hours to Curtain
Leaving the Rehearsal Room… The team is completely assembled for the very first time, and the production designers (costume, scenic, projections, lighting, wigs, makeup) watch a run-through. It’s 4pm on a Tuesday, the singers are working through the opera in street clothes in a regular room. And you still cry when Violetta dies. Rehearsal ends,
Read MorePlaces to Live, Wonders to Wander to
We traveled around the world twice, in a new and fascinating fashion. For the first time, we forsook the proscenium space of the Barns stage, and artists and audience alike took the trip from the floor of the theatre. As any performer who’s done theatre-in-the-round knows, it is both a gratifying and terrifying experience. Nothing
Read MoreThe Rossini Gestalt
In opera, the whole should always be more than the sum of its many parts. Rossini’s Journey to Reims has so many sparkling moving parts that if it were to be simply the sum of them, perhaps that would be more than enough. But sometimes you get luckier than you imagine. We have high hopes
Read MoreInitiation Rite: Death By Aria
The Studio Artists are here, and all is right with the world. Our Studio program is only in its 7th season, but I really can’t remember a time without it. These generous and talented undergraduates and beginning graduate students amp up the already significant vitality and energy around here. (And that’s saying something, for a
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