Posts Tagged: zaide

They Grow Up So Fast

I’m a mother.  Of two grown children.  And although I work consciously to keep that part of my identity separate from my work, there is the inevitable overlap. I unfortunately have little patience for educators/administrators/mentors who take their roles to a maternal (or paternal) extreme, treating students and other younger people on their watch as

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The Polls Have Closed

Each of our four Zaide audiences chose their own ending to Mozart’s unfinished opera. By the Numbers For the statisticians out there, overall voter turnout was 90%.  And of the three available endings, audiences chose: ENLIGHTENMENT (simple, happy ending) won twice and received 35% of the total vote over all performances. FINALITY (tragic ending) won

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News of Zaide Goes Global!

June 17, 2010 News of Zaide Goes Global! Thanks to some great media coverage of Zaide, for which we’re very grateful, word of our production has spread across the globe with reports (so far) coming out of  Sweden, France, and England!

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Life Can Be Cruel. Should Art Be?

Over the last week I’ve had more honest and provocative conversations with our patrons than I’ve had in years.  Some are intrigued and others are outraged.  Although I’d prefer to avoid the latter, it’s the flip side of the same coin as the excitement that’s been present in the theatre during Zaide. We debate the

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“Happy ending or sad? Status quo or unexpected plot twist?”

Anne Midgette previews Zaide in today’s Washington Post: Wolf Trap Lets Audience Choose the Ending to Mozart’s Unfinished Opera Zaide.  Completely with amazing photo by WTOC conductor and Wolf Trap Opera Studio Manager Eric Melear! 4 shows, starting tomorrow night.  Sunday 6/13 is sold out, but some tickets are available for tomorrow’s opening night, and

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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

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Backstage Buzz: The Zaide Edition

June 5, 2010 Backstage Buzz: The Zaide Edition Our summer series of artist panel discussions kicks off Tuesday, June 8 at 1:00 pm.  Hana Park (Zaide), Michael Sumuel (Osmin), Mattie Ullrich (Costume Designer) and James Marvel (Director) sit down to talk about their journey in bringing this compelling Mozart drama to the stage. Backstage Buzz

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Meditations 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

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Meditations 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

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