Washington Performing Arts Society is offering WTOC blog readers a special opportunity to save 20% on tickets to Denyce Graves’ recital at the Music Center at Strathmore this Sunday (6/13) at 7pm. Visit WPAS.org or call (202) 785-WPAS and use the code ‘save20‘. There are also $10 student tickets available: Call (202) 785-WPAS and use the
Read MorePosts Categorized: Uncategorized
Meditations on Zaide: Acceptance & Hope
“Remember, this is the curse of being alive: Every man has his own pain. Let us sing, let us laugh, for no one can change this.” The Slave Chorus in Zaide The Serenity Prayer was so much a part of coming of age in the 60’s and 70’s that it now runs the risk of
Read MoreMeditations on Zaide: Family
There’s a spoiler coming, but if you read these rambling blog posts, you probably want all of the facts anyway. Proceed at your own risk. Amid the dehumanizing and frightening world of her captivity, Zaide sees Gomatz, and her immediate love for him gives her new hope. When Gomatz finds her, he is instantly drawn
Read MoreMeditations on Zaide: Punishment & Perspective
“That is the terrible hour where my poor mind awakes from the short anesthesia induced by manual labor.” (Gomatz, in Zaide) As I’ve learned in these few weeks of studying and preparing Zaide, punishment was once primarily corporal – of the body. Then it became temporal – separating offenders from the rest of the world
Read MoreInterrogation
As we barrel into a summer filled with young artists making their way into a demanding and complicated profession, I was pleased to see today’s entry on Seth Godin’s blog. Link to the original version here. Read on for customization. Here, my revised list of questions you should ask yourself if you’re considering or embarking
Read MoreFrom the Trap to Walhalla
The LA Opera Ring opened last weekend, and it boasts a nice selection of Trappers turned Wagnerians. Below, the list of seven WTOC alums who appeared in Saturday night’s Rheingold. Several of them return throughout the Ring, and they are joined by Alan Held as Gunther in Götterdämmerung. Richard Paul Fink, Alberich Michelle DeYoung, Fricka
Read MoreCrawling the Web for Zaide
Google alerts are part of my professional lifeblood. This month,there’s one set to notify me daily of any news with the word “Zaide” in it. This is what I have learned in the last few days: “zaide” or “zayde” is Yiddish for Grandfather. Over at “180 Days with Mozart and Me“, Bill is working his
Read MoreLunch Music is Back
Today, the kick-off of our free lunchtime mini-concerts for staff members of the Wolf Trap Foundation. Wow, it feels good to have music back in the building!
Read MoreBastianello & Lucrezia – Monday 5/24, 7:30 pm EDT!
Two highly enjoyable performances from WTOC alumni at The Barns – streaming on the internet to a computer near you! Go to www.wolftrap.org/discovery or http://www.livestream.com/discoverygoesdigital. A couple of months ago, Rahree and I managed to produce two semi-staged one-act operas without the benefit of our usual summertime complement of amazing colleagues. We survived to tell
Read MoreGirl Power, Dancing Bears and Mondrian
Today we enjoyed a lovely lunchtime picnic at the warehouse with the staff of the scenic and costume shops. We noted tons of girl power at play this summer across the intern and seasonal staff positions. Technical Director Tim McCormick says “I just hired the best people, that’s all.” ‘Nuff said. This afternoon, the Zaide
Read More