Opera Holland Park’s Post

Earlier this month Arts Council England put out a 115-page document (Ross from Friends - "front and back"!) analysing the state of opera in the UK's biggest nation. The headline-grabbing part of it is the section where the authors express criticism about how many of the most performed works between 2017 and 2023 are by Puccini, Verdi, Mozart or Bizet, i.e. older works from the classic canon. That means, they say ominously, that opera “may find it harder to make an argument for its continued evolution as a cultural practice”. In The Times I argue that not only the methodology is flawed here, but so is the agenda. No operagoers - the general public - were actually consulted for this report. And while it's convenient to blame an ageing or conservative audience for the reliance on core parts of the repertoire, it isn’t borne out by the evidence. Go on to TikTok (before they ban it), search for “opera” and it’s La traviata, Carmen and The Magic Flute that soundtrack the most-watched operatic memes. A clip from the Royal Opera House of The Magic Flute has more than two million likes. Accessibility is supposed to be a watchword of the Arts Council, so what’s wrong with regularly offering audiences the most accessible works? #opera #artsandculture #letscreate https://lnkd.in/dM9FqUAk

Ruggero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci," premiering in 1892, is a pivotal opera that explores love, betrayal and the interplay of reality and performance. Check out the #AllYouNeedtoKnow series on Abelson

OPERA LOVERS TAKE NOTE The “PERFORMANCE-LINKED” Kindle e-book has been invented! Hear and see performances of opera stars you have only heard of, but never actually heard. Listen to excerpts or the entire operas they sang. You can put this book on your Iphone or Android as well as a Kindle or your laptop to hear and see them sing as you read about them! You say you’ve never heard of Selma Kurz? She was better known than Nellie Melba--in Vienna, certainly! Worldwide? Not so much. From Meyerbeer to Mozart, you can listen to Selma Kurz perform more than twenty-five different operatic selections. Over 700 Internet links and 200 hours of performances by famous and not-so-famous artists that author Limansky evaluates—their biographies, history, performances, and voices are described in technical detail. You can even get a Performance-Linked PRINT EDITION of "Early Twentieth Century Opera Singers." You say you can't click a link on a printed page? That's true, but we've devised the way to do that. Included in the price of the print edition you will get a PDF of the links, arranged in the order in which they appear in the book. You mount that PDF on your phone or laptop and click away as you read--just like the e-book. Buy it so you can see it and hear it as you read about it--Performance-Linked print and e-books by YBK Publishers. https://bit.ly/3vzws4X

Have you read Brad Cohen's interview in the summer issue of Mindfood's STYLE magazine? Speaking to STYLE's Eleanor Black, our Tumu Whakarae General Director explains his ambitions for NZ Opera and what he's looking forward to in our 2024 season, as well as outlining our jam-packed participation programme for this year. To get the full story, read the article below. https://loom.ly/pSZY1RE

And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful Haydn" And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful Wozzeck" And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?" Indeterminacy is at the core of Europeras 3 & 4: from the arias sung to the costumes worn, each decision about the production is made using chance procedures. On the Detroit Opera blog, Matthew Principe, Director of Media and Special Projects, details how the piano parts for Europera 3 were selected (randomly) and how they will be juxtaposed with bits and pieces of famous opera arias. What do opera production and furniture building have in common? The old adage “Follow the instructions!” Read more at https://lnkd.in/gWqKVNiU

Want to know more about the business side of the opera world? Read below to learn what INO Artistic Director, Fergus Sheil, will be addressing at this years' Business of Opera Summit...

"SAID ON OPERA is a compelling read for opera enthusiasts, scholars, and students alike. It stands as a testament to Said's erudition and his ability to traverse disciplinary boundaries, offering a richly textured, nuanced appreciation of opera. Through Said's interpretive lens, the book not only enriches our understanding of the operas discussed but also invites readers to consider the broader societal, political, and cultural implications of the art form, thus reaffirming the enduring power and relevance of opera in contemporary discourse." —Athena, Marginal Space https://buff.ly/3vbbY2v #BookReview

Maria Callas once said that “The opera starts long before the curtain goes up and it ends long after the curtain has come down”; and to be honest, that’s also the case when you have a keynote or a presentation to give. You wake up in the morning thinking about it, you start to imagine yourself on that stage, you do a rehearsal, you check over and over again if you know your words and once the moment is there you go in full spotlight. What most singers do and most speakers don’t, is a solid warming up before going on stage – the rehearsal is not a warming up; the rehearsal is a checklist that you know the above - What should actually be part of the routine instead of overthinking your words and stressing about the moment that the curtain goes up? Some of the things to focus on (the list is longer…): How is your energy? Do breathe from the chest or do you breathe from the lower part of the belly? Is the rest of your body relaxed? How is your voice and is your voice in position? Speaking in front of an audience is more than just repeating your words and do that in ‘the most perfect way’ possible. Standing on stage means knowing how to use your words as a valuable service to the ones that are listening to you and transmit your energy with intention.     Want to know more? Have a look at www.reinoutbosman.com

This is a subject I am also grappling with. Somehow, it’s hard to move opera’s great institutions into the 21st century. In a world in desperate need of a new Vision for the future, why are we enslaved to the stories of the 19th century in one of history’s most exciting, emotionally charged, physically and acoustically vibrant art forms? Instead of broken-record 100+ year old pieces, the opera could return to its historical role: as the performing arts’ greatest innovator. Let’s find our composers, librettists and storytellers—and give them opportunities to learn, explore, and exchange with their audiences and performers. Let’s shake up the format—so that people can digest the pieces in a high-paced world. Let’s stop settling for blasé and formulaic, Sexist, backwards, and downright ridiculous. Let’s let the voices of opera rise to regenerate and reinvigorate us to move forward—as they always have in the past. (Especially as it was once in my beloved Vienna, the opera capital of the world.) Opera should ignite our senses, emotions and imaginations. Settling for less ensures its decline.

It has been a while since I talked about the #BGP book (from theory to practice) on my social channels. Since the three authors are always mentioned, well here they are! Let me show you the faces behind the opera! All the information about the book here: https://lnkd.in/ddsesUQt With Tiziano Tofoni and Antonio Prado.