OperaNow! #251: The Most Accessible Opera Podcast?

The Hymen's Return!...First female conductor EVER this season at Baltimore Opera House...ENO chorus votes to go on strike...Roberto Alagna steps in to save Manon Lescaut at The Met (but thinks he overdid it).

Oliver's Corner previews Roberto Devereux, an opera you should know.

This week features Michael, The OC and Matt Boresi of The Paternity Test Podcast

Comments

[Thérèse]

Thank you - far away across an ocean, your podcast is a joy to receive - passionate people conversing, idées étincelants, and thus fighting off an otherwise drab and at times frightening reality out there! Merci!

[Michael Rice]

Thank YOU! It's been awhile since we had a compliment.

[Gianmarco]

Great discussion about "how to solve the opera problem" - obviously ongoing, and not something that can be neatly tied up, but probably good to revisit every few months at least! In fact, your discussion which preceded it regarding all the pop-up indie opera companies is completely tied to the problems bigger opera companies are having. As the opportunities to perform with large companies diminish, the rise of indie opera continues. But I agree that in big cities like Chicago, New York, Toronto etc. the proliferation of these companies makes you wonder...can they all sustain themselves...wouldn't it be better if there were just one or two of these types of companies, pooling their resources. But, it's difficult - singers/budding directors/impresarios probably have their own vision of how they think things should go, and collaboration isn't always straightforward. I'm not sure how it will all end up, but I suspect ultimately only a few of the stronger of these companies will tough it out.
As far as the problems at ENO which mirror the difficulties at the MET a year or so ago...as Mr. Boresi pointed out...the costs of bringing all of these highly trained artists together is staggering. I'm all for artists being paid what they're worth etc. etc. but the demands of unionized chorus singers and orchestral musicians (not to mention backstage crew) is crippling the industry. Again, I really don't know what the answer to all of this is but it doesn't look great.
Finally - thanks for introducing us to Roberto Devereux Oliver (BTW, the final syllable of Devereux is kind of a schwa sound, not an "oh" sound...) but I miss your analysis of the music! Hopefully you'll be able to give us a bit more of this for the next session!