For those of you jetting/not jetting off to Cannes for Midem, here’s a guide to follow #MIDEM. Top tweeps among the mix are @iancr, @spinaltap, @msutherlanduk, @amandapalmer, @hypebot, @petewentz, @ginab,@gleonhard, @lyricfind, @JeffreyHayzlett. Watch for brands (Converse, Kodak, Pepsi, Coke…), artists (Pete Wentz, Pharrell Williams, Adam Payne..) and unique opportunities like the Matching Room where bands are matched with brands and the Listening Sessions where music is placed into cable shows like The Hills, Dexter and House, into music trailers, into TV commercials (Pantene), and into video games (DJ Hero).

Saturday, January 23
*10 Monetizing Music, Ted Cohen, Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls), Hal Ritson (Young Punx), Paul van Dyk.. (Debussy, Level 1)
*10:55, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien Video Address (Debussy, Level 1)
11, Global Music Consumption (Debussy, Level 1)
11:15, Eric Steuer, Creative Commons
*11:30, Jeffrey Hayzlett, Kodak (Debussy, Level 1)
*12, Pharrell Williams (Debussy, Level 1)
*2:30, Terry McBride (Debussy, Level 1)
*2:35, Labels & Digital Service Deals – Spotify, WMG, The Orchard, Sony, We7, Deezer, Beggars Group (Debussy, Level 1)
3, Thierry Zemmour press event, cocktails (Blue Lounge)
*4:30, Bruce Houghton, Hypebot (Debussy, Level 1)
*4:35, Owen Van Natta, MySpace (Debussy, Level 1)
*5:05, Fan Engagement – Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy, Gina Bianchini NING (Debussy, Level 1)
6, NRJ Music Awards Red Carpet (Palais des Festivals)
6, IMPALA Cocktails (Martinez/Salon Macassar)
8, NRJ Music Awards (Grand Auditorium)

Sunday, January 24
9:30, Press breakfast with Dominique Leguern (Press Club, Level 1)
9:30, IMZ Avant Premiere Screenings (Aud A, Level 3)
10, Show Me the Digital Money – Gerd Leonhard (Academy, Hall 01)
10, Future of Digital Licensing – Bob Kohn, RoyaltyShare, ASCAP, SoundExchange, MEF… (Esterel, Level 5)
10:30, Frederic Mitterrand (Palais des Festivals)
11, Celebrating South Africa (Blue Lounge, Level 1)
11, Meet Australia (Networking Village, Level 01, Aisle 11)
11, Monetization of Mobile Music (Academy, Hall 01)
11, Meet USA (Networking Village, Level 1, Aisle 11)
11:30, Direct-to-Fan Social Media (Manager’s Village, Hall 01)
11:30, Pitchfest – 15 Hottest Digital Music Start-Ups incl www.tunewiki.com (Lab, Hall 01)
12:15, Photo call Wayne Beckford (Terrasse Les Ambassadeurs, Level 4)
12:30, MusicDNA successor to MP3 (Blue Lounge Level 1)
12:30, Photos: South African Artists (Terrasse Les Ambassadeurs, Lvl 4)
12:30, International Music Managers Forum (Aud H, Level 3)
2, CAVA Symphonic Suite (Aud D, Level 3)
2:30, Meet Japan (Networking Village, Level 1, Aisle 11)
2:30, What works for Ralph Simon, Mobilium (Debussy, Level 1)
*2:35, Music Apps – Shazam, Interscope/Geffen/A&M, Tapulous, Nokia.. (Debussy, Level 1)
3, Develop Your Artist for Intl (Managers’ Village, Hall 01)
3, Matchmaking with 2010 15 Hottest Digital Startups – Aviary, Awdio, BandCentral, Band Metrics, Digiclef (Lab, Hall 01)
3, IAEL (Esterel, Level 05)
3, Making Money in S Africa – Sony/ATV.. (Aud K, Level 4)
3:30, New Models in a Fragmented Industry (Varriere Californie, Level 5)
*3:30, Peter Gelb, Metropolitan Opera on HD transmission to cinemas.. (Debussy, Level 1)
4, Press event Sophie Mervier (Blue Lounge, Level 1)
*4, David Jones, Havas, Bill Werde, Billboard (Debussy, Level 1)
4, IMZ Avant Premiere Screenings (Aud A, Level 3)
4, Meet France (Networking Village, Level 1, Aisle 11)
4:30, Harvey Goldsmith, Artiste Management Prod (Debussy, Level 1)
*4:35, Monetizing the Concert Experience – Wolfgang’s Vault, Hypebot, AEG, Bonnaroo, The Collective (Debussy, Level 1)
5, AAIM Cocktails (Stand R36.18)
5, SACEM Press Event (Press Room 1, Level 3)
5, MIDEM Classical Awards (MCA Booth R 29.38, Rivera Hall)
5, IMMF Open Council Meeting (Managers’ Village, Hall 01)
5:30, Content Industries Finding New Revenue – Gerd Leonhard (Debussy, Level 1)
*5:45, Mika Salmi,Habbo, Jonathan Klein, Getty Images (Debussy, Lvl1)
*6:15, Daniel Ek,Spotify, Patrick Walker, YouTube (Debussy, Lvl1)
7, Sonicbids MidemTalent Showcase (Carlton, Zephyr)
8, The Fringe – Mafalda Minnozzi, Odette Albani (Morrison’s Irish Pub)
8, La Boheme screening with Mirella Freni (Debussy, Level 1)
8, Opening Party (Martinez Ballroom)
10, Jazz (Carlton, Zephyr)
11, Catalan Jazz (Majestic, Salon Diane-Jazz Club)

Monday, January 25
9:30, IMZ Avant Premiere Screenings (Aud A, Level 3)
*10, Music in Video Games – MTV, Ubisoft, Activision/Blizzard.. (Esterel, Level 5)
10, Smartphone Music Apps (Academy, Hall 01)
10, IAEL Legal Workshop (Aud K, Level 4)
*10:30, Brands Music Strategy – Coke, Nokia, Carhatt .. (Esterel, Level 5)
10:30, Meet IAMA (Managers’ Village, Hall 01)
11:30, SNEP Press Event (Pree Room 1, Level 3)
11, Digital Marketing (Academy ,Hall 01)
*11, NASCAR, Edsel Dope, Banshee Music, Glassnote Entertainment – Sport Music New Revenue Stream (Esterel, Level 5)
11, Meet Korea (Networking Village, Level 01, Aisle 11)
*11:30, Converse, Pepsi, Cornerstone – Music in Marketing (Esterel, Lvl5)
11:30, Multi-territorial Licensing (Aud K, Level 4)
11:30, Pitchfest – Digital Music Startups (Lab, Hall 01)
12, Press event – 3rd Century of Pergolesi’s Birth
*12, Gap – Music to Engage Customers – Adam Payne, Alliance Marketing Partners, Sonicbids (Esterel, Level 5)
12, Local platforms as an alternative to the music market (Aud J, Level 4)
1, Sync & Brands VIP Lunch (Gray d’Albion Hotel, Salon 4)
1:30,SPEDIDAM (Aud J, Level 4)
1:30, China’s Music Business (Aud D, Level 3)
*2:30, Zync Listening Session – Gary Calamar, Go Music (Music Supervisor, Dexter, House, True Blood, Six Feet Under)
2:30, Meet S Africa (Networking Vilalge, Level 01, Aisle 11)
*3, Masao Morita, Sony Music (Esterel, Level 5)
3, Matchmaking with Digital Music Startups GoMix, Kickstarter, Pops Worldwide, Radionomy, Silence Media (Lab, Hall 01)
3, UPFI press event (Press room, Level 3)
3:15, Photo Calls:  Diving w Andy.. (Terrasse Les Ambassadeurs, Level 4)
3:30, Mobile Music Apps (Academy, Hall 01)
4, Press event, SIRE Records (Blue Lounge, Level 1)
*4, A&R in the Digital Era (Esterel, Level 5)
4, I’m with the Brand – Heartbeats Intl (Aud K, Level 4)
4, Meet UK (Networking Village, Level 01, Aisle 11)
4, Cocktails (Argentina Pavilion Stand 14.19)
4, Cuba Disco (Stand 12.29)
4:30, Artist Management from Pop to Classical – UMG (Esterel, Level 5)
4:30, Digital Advertising (Academy, Hall 01)
4:30, Press event ADAMI (Aud J, Level 4)
5, Own the Consumer – Wildlife Ent (Arctic Monkeys)… (Esterel, Level 5)
5, A2IM Cocktails (Stand R36.18)
5, Swiss Cocktails (Stand R38.03)
5:30, Meet Turkey (Networking Village, Level 01, Aisle 11)
5:30, Manitoba Music Cocktails (Stand 18.02/20.01)
5:30, Metadata (Academy, Hall 01)
6, Japan Night (Martinez, Acajou)
6, British Acoustic: Bobby Long, Kay Shotter, Robinson, The Yah-You’s (Martinez, Ballroom)
7, Sonicbids MidemTalent Showcase (Carlton, Zephyr)
8, JETRO Cocktails (Martinez, Acajou II)
8, Makeba Gala Dinner (Carlton, La Cote & Grand Salon)
8, The Fringe (Morrison’s Irish Pub)
8:30, British at Midem (Martinez Ballroom)
9, Created in Taiwan (Martinez, Acajou)
10, Talent Jazz (Carlton, Zephyr)
11, Carte Blanche SACEM (Majestic, Salon Diane-Jazz Club)

Tuesday, January 26
8:30, Billboard Dealmakers Breakfast (Carlton, Salon La Cote)
9:30, IMZ Avant Premiere Screenings (Aud A, Level 3)
10, Role of the Publisher – Andrew Keen, Cult of the Amateur..(Esterel, Level 5)
10, Music & Twitter (Academy, Hall 01)
*10, MTV Listening Session – Joe Cuello, MTV will judge 5 finalists for placement in future episodes of MTV’s The Hills.. (Aud K, Level 4)
10:30, Publishing Summit Imagem, Nichion, PRimary Wave, Fairwood, Third Side..  (Esterel, Level 5)
11, Press event: Chopin Year 2010 (Blue Lounge, Level 1)
11, Meet China (Networking Village, Level 01, Aisle 11)
11, Digital Marketing on a Shoestring (Academy, Hall 01)
*11, Matching Bands to Brands – Valerie Chollet, The Matching Room, Natasha Kizzie, Euro RSCG – brand coaches advise managers on getting artists’ sponsorship deals (Managers’ Village, Hall 01)
*11:30, David Renzer, UMG (Esterel, Level 5)
11:30, Pitchfest – Digital Music Startups (Lab, Hall 01)
*11:30, RipTide Listening Session – get your music into movie trailers (Aud K, Level 4)
11:45, Photo Calls:Black Swan Effect.. (Terrasse Les Ambassadeurs, Lvl4)
1, MIDEM Networking Lunch (Les Ambassadeurs, Level 5)
2:30, Political Initiatives (Blue Lounge, Level 1)
2:30, Artists’ Online Presence – 360 Approach (Academy, Hall 01)
*2:30, Grey Listening Session – become the anthem of Pantene (Aud K, Level 4)
3, Focus Germany – Edgar Berger, Sony Music.. (Esterel, Level 5)
3, IAEL on Live Shows (Aud H, Level 3)
3, Matchmaking Digital Music Startups – Songkick, Streamjam, Theslytyone, Tracks & Fields, TuneWiki (Lab, Hall 01)
3, Manager Summit  with Peter Jenner, fmr mgr Pink Floyd (Managers’ Village, Hall 01)
3, Meet Brazil (Networking Village, Level 01, Aisle 11)
3, IMZ Avant Premiere Screenings (Aud A, Level 3)
3:30, Social Media to Promote Music – Gerd Leonhard  (Academy, Hall 01)
4:30, Press event – Sweden Top Jazz (Blue Lounge, Level 1)
*4, Michael Gudinski, Mushroom Group (Kylie Minogue) (Esterel, Lvl5)
4, IAEL Publishing (Aud K, Level 4)
4, Mack Avenue Records (Foyer Aud D, Level 3)
*4:30, Denzyl Feigelson, AWAL (brand advisor – iTunes, Coke..) (Academy, Hall 01)
*4:30, Indie Models – SellaBand, Downtown Music, Anglo Management, DFSB, Rocket Science (Esterel, Level 5)
4:30, Meet Germany (Networking Village, Level 01, Aisle 11)
*5,  Y Factor, Music Wins on YouTube cocktails (Press Room 1, Lvl3)
5, A2IM Cocktails (Stand R36.18)
5, Mack Ave Label Presentation (Aud D, Level 3)
6, Sonicbids Showcase – Black Swan Effect.. (Carlton, Zephyr)
6:30, Austrian Music Box (Martinez, Acajou)
7, Duo Zikr Voice Message Concert (3.14 Beach)
7:45, MIDEM Classical Awards (Debussy, Level 1)
8, The Fringe – Canadian Blast (Morrison’s Irish Pub)
9, K-Pop Night (Martinez, Acajou)
*9, DJ Hero Party (Martinez, Ballroom)
10, Talent Jazz (Carlton, Zephyr)
11, MIDEM Jazz Club (Majestic, Salon Diane-Jazz Club)

Wednesday, January 27
*10, Timothy Riley, Activision (Blue Lounge, Level 1)
10, Digital Music Ecosystem (Academy, Hall 01)
10, Digital Visions from Indies – Roadrunner Records, Essential Music.. (Aud K, Level 4)
11, IAEL with Sony Ericsson.. (Academy, Hall 01)
11, Breaking the Japanese Market – JVC…(Aud K, Level 4)
11, Scandinavian MMFs (Managers’ Village, Hall 01)
12, Marketing, Measuring, Managing Data – Topspin (Academy, Hall 01)
2:30, Digital Communities in Classical Music – John Kieser, SF Symphony (Academy, Hall 01)
*2:30, DJ Hero Listening Session – get your song mashed up in the next DJ Hero (Aud K, Level 4)
3, IMZ Screenings (Aud A, Level 3)

Franco Zeffirelli’s productions have been staples at the Met and worldwide

The new year has opened with a number of well-loved favourites at various opera houses around North America and overseas.  Tickets continue to sell, but not without controversy, perhaps the most bothersome at the Metropolitan Opera.  As of late, Mr. Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Met has been dealing with some much deserved flack for the failed production of Puccini’s “Tosca,” a failure that was secured by the modern and inauthentic direction of Luc Bondy, but also by the continued problem of inappropriately casting non-Italianante voices in Italian repertoire and vice-versa in the Germanic repertoire.  Many patrons have been bothered by Gelb’s failure to admit that the Bondy production failed.  He has only publicly stated that beloved Franco Zeffirelli’s production of “Tosca” would be remounted.  In what seems like a bit of retaliation, Gelb has now decided to withdraw Zeffirelli’s “Boheme” production for a new one.

At a time when podcasts, internet streaming, and digital cable are at an all-time peak of interest, the artistic genres that have maintained verisimilitude seem to be suffering. Why now, after a century of excellence, is it necessary to “modernize” even those things that do not need to be modernized?  I’m all for new ideas, but when those new ideas interfere with the composer’s indications or with aesthetic truths, then I raise my hand in defiance.  We are in a crucial period where the maintenance of opera as a valuable art-form relies heavily on authenticity, but in these times the authentic voice of opera is facing the possibility of becoming mute, a prospect I will fight tirelessly to prevent.  It is why the value of the productions are lesser and why the wrong voice types are constantly being cast in repertoire that not only affects the singers’ vocal health, but mars the essential quality that these styles are meant to promote.

What’s goin’ on?

Peter Gelb

Of course there are those who think this is fine and dandy, and that opera needs to be multimedia-ized in order to retain a voice.  Certainly, it is great to promote it to the younger generation who really have no means of knowing it otherwise, but do we need to inject every production with an alternative antibiotic, usually some blatant and unnecessary sexuality that was not intended by the composer?  Might I be so bold as to say that Opera is sexy on its own and so are its characters, so is the music.  Is it possible that most operas, if presented authentically, are expressive enough solely in the combination of their text and music to deliver the same punch that directors are trying so hard to achieve?  It’s already there, in the mix, so why add more ingredients?  Overlooking what is innate in the art for the sake of making opera suit the times seems like a waste of time to me.

Food for thought at the dawn of a new decade.

“What’s Goin’On?”

Presenting the curtain call for the cast of the Metropolitan Opera’s debut production of Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s last opera, From the House of the Dead, based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Directed by the Excellent Patrice Chéreau. Music Excellently conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Metropolitan Opera House Excellently managed by Peter Gelb.

The curtain call for the Metropolitan Opera's debut production of From the House of Dead. Image courtesey The Excellent People. November 28, 2009, 9:36 pm.

]]> http://thelastverista.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/guleghina-cancels-and-lise-lindstrom-makes-met-debut-as-turandot/ Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:52:54 +0000 operadoc http://thelastverista.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/guleghina-cancels-and-lise-lindstrom-makes-met-debut-as-turandot/

Soprano, Lise Lindstrom

The old proverbial concept of “being in the right place at the right time” is still working wonders for singers.  On October 28th, the Met’s resident soprano, Maria Guleghina unexpectedly cancelled due to illness, leaving B-Cast soprano Lise Lindstrom to make her debut several days earlier. In this interesting turn of events, Lindstrom solidified her place at the Met and likely caused some uneasiness for Guleghina’s future performances.

Lindstrom’s voice is a sharp, crystalline laser at the top, evoking memories of Nilsson, even if her middle and lower voice leave something to be desired.  She was accurate in Puccinian aesthetics if not a little stilted in her Italian pronunciation.  Some reviewers seem to be more concerned about the size of Lindstrom’s voice, but I say, size doesn’t really matter…it’s whether or not you can evoke something that slaps the audience emotionally in the face.  While the role of Turandot seems to me to be the wrong direction for Guleghina to take at this point in her career, she is going to have to pull out all of the stops in order to compete with Lindstrom’s new found adoring public.

Also giving an acceptable performance was Russian soprano, Marina Poplovskaya, as Liù.  The voice has a lovely, warm tone to it and pronounced beauty, however, Poplovskaya didn’t use her innately beautiful voice to its potential.  Although the audience responded graciously to her singing, Liù’s arias, which are authentic examples of Puccini’s “povera faccia melody” were lacking in emotional depth.

For me, the success of the night was resident tenor, Marcello Giordani, who sang with true Italianante impetus and remained true to Puccini’s aesthetic.  His understanding of the “punto di linea” was evident in every nuance.  Although his voice often displays its most beautiful colore bruciato in the higher tessitura, Mr. Giordani was expressive and authentic in his approach.  The Nessun Dorma, which is the key portal to Puccini’s grandeur, was sung eloquently, passionately, and with an exquisite penultimate note, held as Puccini intended it.  Many tenors extend the note when, in fact, Puccini shunned any lengthening of these notes at the end of the aria. Had he wanted to write a long note, he would have. This shows that Mr. Giordani is more devoted to accuracy than he is centered on showing off his abilities. Bravo Marcello!!!

All in all, this performance of Turandot was much more successful than opening night’s “Tosca.”  What was more interesting was Peter Gelb’s interview during the intermission in which he suggested that they were “simply trying to give the audience something they could relate to.”  I’m all for anachronistic presentation, but bringing the past into the present doesn’t always mean that the audience wants something different, or that they can’t relate to something from the past.  After all, if opera isn’t a historical art, then what is it?  The very vocal audience at the Met, with someone even yelling out “Viva Puccini” after Giordani’s Nessun Dorma, are telling directors and producers exactly what they want.  VIVA IL POPOLO!!!!

Bartlett Sher rehearses at the Met in 2006.

Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb has enlisted some of the world’s greatest directors to shake up Met productions and make them more theatrical.

Patrice Chéreau

Two of them,  Bartlett Sher (director of the hit revival of South Pacific) and Patrice Chéreau, will join Gelb for a conversation on opera, theater, and the art of directing at the New York Public Library tomorrow evening. Both directors have new productions on the schedule at the Met this season. The talk is called Cognitive Theater.

The talk starts at 7 pm in the South Court Auditorium at the New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets. Tickets $25, available online.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my previous post about Peter Gelb, and why precisely his efforts at the Met bother me. I’ve also been thinking about Wagner, whom I love, but lots of people hate. What it all boils down to is balance, and the lack thereof that exists in classical music.

This industry, and the history of the art form, are chock-full of examples where the balance is off. I like Wagner and movie music and Broadway musicals because they are over the top, but that’s why many people hate them. The extremism that motivated Wagner’s composition also contributed to his horrible political leanings and articles (Mark Swed wrote a fantastic reflection on this subject). 20th century music history built on the extremes of the Romantic period, from Arnold Schoenberg’s private concerts, to Milton Babbitt’s infamously mis-titled article, to the mis-guided practice of labeling music and forcing ourselves to categorize art, and the list just goes on and on. Read Greg Sandow’s blog for another example.  I’ll stop there because I’m too lazy to find more links.

The subject of gender and racial disparity come up periodically. My company’s education program is intended, in the most vague idealistic terms, to help bridge racial barriers, but in the meantime, our roster is determined by musical excellence (out of 20 musicians, we have 1 African-American and 3 Asian members). To be honest, children from white, upper-middle-class backgrounds have more advantages and opportunities to excel.

This article in Variety prompted some discussion on Twitter about gender differences – the female writer mentioned that she feels uncomfortable asking “How do you feel about being a woman in this field?”  A recent conversation with my friend about a womanizing music teacher got me thinking of the various biases that our industry can’t seem to eradicate. Men are still on top, at a time when most industries and sectors of society have moved on from the conversation of imbalance.

Now, with all the NEA audience trending data, the new extreme is concern about reaching audiences (or lack thereof). Hence, Mr. Gelb’s efforts to breathe life into the Met’s productions, shake up the audience, whatever it takes to reinvigorate the art form, and a slew of “audience engagement” consultants, and studies about audience trends, etc etc. The art form and business certainly need innovation. I just hope that these concerns (not new, certainly) are balanced with a healthy understanding of all the concerns at stake.

This industry is populated by people with intense, passionate views, which can sometimes come across as an extreme when we lose focus (I speak from personal hind-sight), and I think we’re only going to be taken seriously as an industry/business model when we learn to put everything in perspective appropriately. Being a maverick may get you a lot of attention, but doesn’t bode well for long-term success.

P.S. Please comment! I feel like I’m talking to an empty room. If what I’m saying sucks and you don’t want to read it, or I’m sounding preachy, or you think I’m completely nuts, or maybe your eyes glaze over after 200 words, let me know.

I was going to write a love letter to Peter Gelb like I did for Gerard McBurney. He started off early in his career doing some press and marketing things, and now has basically one of the best jobs in classical music in America (possibly also the most stressful, but you know how that goes). It was all very inspiring. Even the booing of Tosca was kind of exciting, especially given his thoughts on changing up the art form in the NY Times feature.  Lest I have not made myself clear, the classical music industry/performance practice/mindset needs a revolution.

I was disappointed, therefore, to read and find myself agreeing so strongly with Anne Midgette’s thoughts about Peter Gelb’s opinions of previous generations of opera performers and Alex Ross’ reactions to the performance and criticisms of it.  As much as I’m afraid I’ll sound like a snob for saying this, Gelb just doesn’t have a lot of opera experience in his background. The armchair quarterback in me wants to say, “It’s not a revolution if the show isn’t good!” The whole world should just listen to me and do what I say

Fortunately, I know no one would react to this the way Katherine Jenkins reacted to her detractors (seriously, click the link. she’s a hoot), by saying that “oh the critics just don’t get what Peter is trying to do!”

In other news: read Lisa Hirsch’s take on the opening productions of the SF Opera’s season. Just because.

“The Met made the evening news.” Indeed it did, in the only way anything in the high arts could make the evening news, by becoming juicy gossip. The story is that the audience booed the opening night production of “Tosca.” Please note, they booed the production, not the singers or musicians.

The new Met director, Peter Gelb, is on the record as wanting to bring in new audiences to the opera house, and his means for doing so seem to be a combination of creating new productions of standard works and commissioning new operas. I am in complete sympathy with his means and goals, but fundamentally the results, as Alex Ross points out, need to be good. The boos had nothing to do with the quality of the performance, however, and so I’m actually glad they came.

I have not seen the production yet, but reliable critics have weighed in on the musical shortcomings, as well as those of the stage sets and direction. The tell is that the singers got the usual ovation, and that’s the problem Gelb, hopefully, is working to solve. He will ideally save opera from its fans.

Opera is sung drama, with music which tells us about the characters and the overall story. The characters sing because they can find no other way to express themselves, and the singing and music tell us about what is going on inside them, especially the things they themselves are unaware. The use of music gives opera a dimension no other medium has, not even film, in that the drama can run on separate, parallel tracks and still be together and mutually supportive in real time. The great example of this is the quartet from “Fidelio,” Mir ist so wunderbar, where the four characters privately sing about each other, and do so in simultaneous consort. Nothing else in human culture can express something so indescribably complex in a way that is immediately transparent and apprehensible.

Too many opera fans miss this drama, though, and think of opera as a collection of arias to be followed immediately by applause, not for the character or the music, but for the star diva/divo, “Brava Angela,” rather than “Brava Violetta.” Verdi, however, did not write arias to display a star, but to allow Violetta to reveal herself to us. When the experience of this dramatic characterization is so overwhelming that the audience must respond, then by all means, allow me to join in (there is a live recording of “Fidelio” which is so overpowering that the audience overwhelms the finale with deserved, passionate shouts and applause), but attending opera just to gush over a particular star does not indicate an actual appreciation of the form or the work. Same for accepting the most literal production and nothing else. By all means, again, boo a lousy production – I have – but also boo a lousy performance – I have – even if it’s by a star whose name is up there in lights.

I’m encouraged by the booing in this sense, that if Gelb manages to drive away the type of audience that sleeps or chats through most of the production, only to perk up for the obligatory applause after Vissi d’arte, then he will have made the Met culturally relevant by replacing them with audiences interested in the drama, and in what the production says about the drama. The idea that the drama is important should be implicit, but that’s rarely the case in the greatest hits parade of decrepit warhorses like “Tosca” which burdens most opera houses. I think the future is exciting for the Met, and they have already brought in new audiences with “Satyagraha” and “Doctor Atomic.” They should be able to keep that new audience, and gain more, by making the standard repertory something that matters, and the fact that it still exists means it does indeed matter. Treating it as such means that some productions will fail, but nothing ventured nothing gain. Bring us more things to boo, please, Mr. Gelb.

FIASCO

“Tosca” at the Met.

by Alex RossOCTOBER 5, 2008

Karita Mattila, the Finnish soprano, was miscast in the title role.

It takes a certain effort to suck the life out of “Tosca.” No other opera in the repertory is so immaculately crafted to deliver its thrills on cue. Revolutionary sentiment seethes in royalist Rome; a famed diva, in love with a rebel artist, confronts a Te Deum-singing, sexually slobbering chief of police; the villain is stabbed with a dinner knife, the lover falls to a firing squad, the diva leaps to her death while screaming about God. Each act unfolds in real time, in precisely mapped locales, with no major improbabilities impeding the flow of events. The music is both refined and brutal, late-Romantic opulence pinned to raw action. If a director purchases sufficient quantities of papier-mâché to suggest the settings specified in the libretto, and if singers and orchestral players merely approximate the notes in the score, you are assured of a passable evening’s entertainment. If you happen to have Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi on hand to play the diva and the heavy, you get high-low bliss, like a B movie directed by Rembrandt.

“Tosca” has played at the Metropolitan Opera almost nine hundred times, and until last week, when a new staging by the Swiss director Luc Bondy was unveiled, the company pretty much stuck to the script. For more than twenty years, audiences swooned over a Franco Zeffirelli production, in which the Roman settings—the Church of Sant’Andrea Della Valle, the interior of the Palazzo Farnese, and the top of the Castel Sant’Angelo—were re-created in fanatically ornate detail. Like most Zeffirelli stagings of the eighties and nineties, it was a Cecil B. De Mille affair, with supernumeraries running amok. Nonetheless, it was handsome to behold, at times magnificently chilling. I was one of thousands mesmerized by a “Live from the Met” telecast in 1985, starring Plácido Domingo and the late Hildegard Behrens. I last saw the show in 2005, with Aprile Millo, one of the few working Toscas who have the right verismo bite in their voice, chewing up as much of the scenery as she could stomach.

When Peter Gelb took over as the general manager of the Met, in 2006, he made it clear that he wanted a more agile sensibility—opera as live theatre rather than diorama. Inevitably, he has begun to discard the Zeffirelli spectaculars that have long ruled the house. I might have started by getting rid of the chintzy “Traviata” or the cutesy “Bohème,” but Gelb was within his rights to go after “Tosca.” No production is sacrosanct, and connoisseurs have long complained that Zeffirelli isn’t nearly as faithful to the composers’ intentions as he likes to claim. We can be sure that Verdi would have loathed the idea of an extended pause for a scenery change in the middle of Act II of “Traviata.” Puccini almost certainly would have rejected a split-level approach to Act III of “Tosca,” with Cavaradossi, Tosca’s lover, singing about the stars in a dungeon. (Zeffirelli in his younger days was another matter: his direction of Callas and Gobbi in Act II of “Tosca,” as seen on a 1964 telecast from Covent Garden, is remarkable both for its attention to detail and for its ferocious formal control.)

By all means, then, let’s have a new “Tosca.” But it needs to be good. And this is not. Although Bondy has conceived potent stagings of “Salome,” “Don Carlos,” and Handel’s “Hercules,” among other operas, he has failed to find a clear angle on “Tosca,” and instead delivered an uneven, muddled, weirdly dull production that interferes fatally with the working of Puccini’s perfect contraption. Karita Mattila was miscast in the title role. No one else sang with particular distinction. By the end of opening night, Gelb had on his hands a full-blown fiasco, with boos resounding from the orchestra seats, the upper galleries, and even the plaza outside, where people had watched on a screen for free. You could almost hear Zeffirelli laughing from his villa.

The sets are by Richard Peduzzi. The church in Act I consists mainly of featureless gray brick walls, as if a gut renovation were under way. Historical cues are vague: Cavaradossi wears a modern-seeming raincoat, Scarpia’s henchmen are outfitted with what might be called Victorian psychedelia (top hats, dark granny glasses, canes), and Tosca enters in an eccentric thrift-shop assemblage of no obvious provenance. The lighting is dim without being atmospheric. All the same, the set serves the action, and an impressively sinister Te Deum procession closes the act: priests and altar boys advance in a thick crowd behind Scarpia—a chorus line of malignant power.

Things get goofy when we arrive at the Palazzo Farnese. At the start of Act II, Scarpia is attended by no fewer than three prostitutes. Such neon-sign direction condescends to singers and audience alike: are we too stupid to recognize that Scarpia is a lecher? (Gobbi said it all with his eyes.) Tosca’s struggle with Scarpia has a gutsy violence to it, but an awkwardly elongated stage layout saps the tension. The major gaffe of the night comes after Tosca kills Scarpia, when, according to the libretto, she places candles by his side and a crucifix on his chest. This business predates the opera, having been invented for Sarah Bernhardt in “La Tosca,” the play by Victorien Sardou, and it need not be retained. Yet something should happen during the thirty-bar postlude that Puccini composed for the ritual. And it should involve Scarpia, whose signature chords echo in the orchestra. Here Tosca climbs onto the windowsill, apparently with the thought of ending the opera an hour early; turns back to utter the line “Before him trembled all of Rome”; returns to the window; and then picks up the Marchesa Attavanti’s fan and retires to the couch. Tosca murders, then dithers.

Netrebko

As Interchanging Idioms reported last week, Gramophone’s March 2009 issue will feature Anna Netrebko and Angela Gheorghiu, arguably opera’s two hottest arias at the moment, and ask which of the two is today’s true prima donna.  (Why they can’t say both are ruling the streets is beyond me, but as editor James Inverne explains, it’s a throwback to the mid-20th Century era of dueling divas).  New recordings by both Angie and Netrebs will be reviewed, and critic gurus will take turns defending both sopranos in a verbal celebrity deathmatch kind of way.

Naturally, since it’s the Gramophone, it’ll probably end up being very restrained, respectful, and ultimately a love letter of sorts to both gals.  But it touches on a point that Hollywood caught wise to decades ago: star power sells.

It’s not that every boutique opera company needs to sign on a diva

Gheorghiu

(or divo) for next season, but opera in general benefits with a few key ambassadors.  And it helps if those ambassadors have fantastic gams, a shayna punim, or abs you can grate cheese on.  The fat lady stereotype still exists in millions of minds (especially minds in the gen-x and gen-y set), and will be the first image called up when the word “opera” is heard.  But give the people something that is visually stimulating to compliment the aural stimulation, and that stereotype will melt away faster than Deborah Voigt’s extra pounds.

Peter Gelb came under some scrutiny last year when he began putting a focus on singers who were compelling actors and who visually “made sense” in their respective roles (no more 250-lb starving bohemians).  However, as the US’s–if not the world’s–most-recognized opera company, the oness is on them to put their best face forward (as it were).  The Met probably has more patrons and donors than any other opera company in America.  It’s following is there.  For now.   Now it’s simply leading the way for new audiences and using methods that speak to those demographics.

(And anywhere Roberto Alagna goes, I’m going.)

Part of the Metropolitan Opera is totally free, thanks to Peter Gelb.  In his first season, he established the Schwartz Gallery.  I worked for the Met Guild at the time and, during the holiday rush, helped in the gift shop.  Most of the time, I’d sit at a table next to the gallery selling libretti and CDs for that evening’s performance.  The gallery was burgeoning but had a solid exhibition of artwork inspired by the heroines of the 2006-07 season;s new productions (Eurydice, Cio-Cio San…).  Old guard audiences didn’t know what to make of it, 20-something passersby who didn’t even have opera tickets stopped in before going to drink hip microbrews in their Brooklyn enclave.  The next year, they did multiple exhibitions (including my personal favorite, a photographic retrospective of Philip Glass, all taken by Chuck Close).

Cross-promotions are becoming prevalent and, much like the idea of a co-production, could save companies’ budgets.  Especially for marketing and advertising, which are notoriously under-funded.  Even the Met could save a couple of bucks, and have teamed up with….The Met.  Museum that is.  From the Met to the Met displays Anselm Kiefer’s works in relation to The Ring, the Met opera getting some loaners from the museum, the museum getting some West Side (and press) exposure.

I was so happy to read this, however, because I count a similar exhibition at Geneva’s Rath Museum, a retrospective of Wagner in art timed with the Geneva opera’s production of Tannhauser.  The museum embraced a multi-media approach, with listening stations arranged in an aural biography of the composer, meanwhile artistic renderings of Tristan und Isolde, Brunnhilde, and, yes, the T-man made for a comprehensive and compelling installation.  I was due to see Tannhauser in Budapest a couple of days later, but wound up seeing it in Geneva as well due to the exhibit (in turn, was a total fluke that I had come across the exhibition).  Well worth it.  Was Wagner a schmuck?  Yes.  Did he write some heart-stoppingly good music?  Yes.

Opera IS a multi-media art form, a factoid that many forget.  It was conceived in Renaissance Italy as a perfect marriage of words and music.  One could also argue that Wagner helped to perfect the visual component with his demand for theatricality.  I hope these sorts of team-ups are a trend on the rise for companies on this side of the pond.

Baru beberapa tahun terakhir opera mulai mendapat tempat baru di hati masyarakat Amerika dan Eropa, di layar lebar. Inilah metode baru yang dibawa Peter Gelb, general manager Metropolitan Opera New York semenjak tahun 2006.

Sebelumnya Gelb menjabat Classical Director di perusahaan rekaman besar dunia Sony, suatu posisi yang menempatkannya di ujung tombak musik klasik dan perkembangan teknologi.

Menurutnya kala itu, metode baru ini akan meningkatkan popularitas opera di mata publik Amerika. Dan ternyata memang berhasil menarik simpati ke pada seni pertunjukan opera.

Opera sudah mondar-mandir di televisi selama lebih dari 50 tahun. Banyak opera sudah diproduksi di panggung maupun studio untuk ditayangkan di kotak kaca. Legenda-legenda opera pun sering tampak memerankan tokoh-tokoh opera di televisi, yang DVDnya saat ini tersedia di Amazon maupun lapak Mangga Dua.

Namun untuk layar lebar tampaknya belum terpikir oleh banyak manager opera dunia. Bila mana tidak, siapa yang ingin menyaksikan tokoh opera di layar bioskop? Jarang.

Meskipun demikian Gelb berhasil mengubah pandangan banyak orang tersebut, dan menjadikannya contoh bagi industri opera di dunia, termasuk Eropa yang notabene adalah negara asal seni tersebut.

Metropolitan Opera di Big Apple adalah salah satu opera company terbesar dan terbaik di dunia, kualitas produksinya nomor satu di Amerika. Setiap penyanyi opera dunia bermimpi bisa berdiri di panggung The Met dan menaklukkan benua Amerika melalui perannya. Ia yang berhasil di panggung ini, bukan saja akan terkenal di Amerika tetapi juga di Eropa dan hampir 100% meraih karier sebagai penyanyi kelas dunia.

Lalu nilai jual apa yang ia tawarkan? Ia menawarkan siaran langsung secara High Definition di layar bioskop terdekat di kota Anda. Memang tidak semua kota tetapi, acara ini sangat menjangkau pelosok daratan Amerika Serikat.

Siaran langsung? Ya, siaran langsung lengkap dengan surround 5.1 di gedung bioskop. Opera ditayangkan langsung dari New York dengan kualitas prima, lengkap dengan jeda istirahat seperti pagelaran sebenarnya. Proses rekaman diadakan langsung pada saat pagelaran harian yang lumayan dipenuhi penonton.

Teknik kamera dan perekaman suara juga dilakukan dengan sekejap. Close up penyanyi membuat penonton dapat membaca jelas ekspresi si penyanyi. Tentunya penyutradaraannya sama sekali tidak mudah.

Metode ini mirip sekali dengan siaran langsung sepak bola. Hanya bedanya, siaran langsung ini adalah nonton bareng di bioskop berlayar lebar. Rasanya tentu berbeda dengan menonton siaran televisi langsung di rumah dengan tata suara yang mungkin tidak sepadan dengan di bioskop.

Dari segi konsep pun juga mirip dengan pertandingan sepak bola. Di stadion sepak bola, mungkin hanya 30.000 orang yang menyaksikan, sedangkan bisa dibantu siaran langsung jutaan orang bisa turut menyaksikan pertandingan tersebut. Itu pula yang diharapkan dari siaran Live in HD ini.

Animo masyarakat di Amerika sangat tinggi. Bagi mereka Met adalah kebanggaan, tetapi tidak semua punya kesempatan menonton langsung di Lincoln Center, Taman Ismail Marzukinya New York. Jadi mereka menonton di bioskop saja.

Tidak jarang tiket sebuah bioskop untuk 3 ruang auditorium habis terjual karena banyak ingin menyaksikan langsung proses seni dan budaya dari panggung Metropolitan Opera.

Di musim 2007-2008 Metropolitan Opera menelurkan 8 buah produksi opera berbeda untuk disiarkan langsung. Jumlah tempat yang menyiarkannya pun berjumlah fantastis, 343 tempat di penjuru Amerika Serikat, termasuk di beberapa auditorium kampus. Angka berkembang sampai lebih dari 700 di penjuru dunia, di antaranya Eropa, Asia dan Australia.

Sukses di tahun kemarin dengan total 800.000 orang menonton pagelaran baik langsung di Met maupun di bioskop membuat Peter Gelb percaya diri. Ia pun mencanangkan tahun ini penonton The Met akan mencapai 1 juta orang.

Tahun ini mulai ada asosiasi opera lain yang mulai mengembangkan teknik yang mirip. La Scala di Milan dan San Francisco Opera sekarang juga mencoba merambah layar lebar. Konsep yang mereka ambil adalah metode siaran tunda.

San Francisco karena dekat dengan industri Hollywood akan membuat rekaman ini berkualitas rekaman Hollywood, yang pertama di Amerika Serikat. Begitu juga dengan Royal Opera House di Inggris yang terkenal dengan Covent Gardennya, mulai menyiarkan 6 produksi setahunnya.

Ya, metode Opera di Layar Lebar telah berhasil mengenalkan kembali seni opera di ranah AS. Sebuah strategi manis yang berhasil. Ngomong-ngomong, kapan kita bisa menyaksikan opera-opera ini? Dan apakah publik malah menjadi bosan dengan produksi-produksi macam ini?

~last post before half-week-long weekend

Pictures

• http://www.cinemark.com/images/la_boheme_thumbnail.jpg
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia…300px-Metropolitan_Opera_House_At_Lincoln_Center.jpg
• http://www.cinemark.com/images/la_boheme_thumbnail.jpg

General manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. They have an annual budget of 250-260mm a year. He worked there as an usher when he was young. He has no formal musical training, but he’s now running the world’s biggest opera house. It’s interesting to be juxtapositioned with Liz because she’s transforming Lincoln Center from an architectural perspective, and he’s transforming the Met from an artistic perspective.

He just began his second season as a GM. He was most recently the president of Sony Classical, he was more famous for the crossover hits, like the soundtrack to Titanic — the anti-christ of classical music. The Titanic soundtrack sold 28 million copies, best selling pop album ever. The environment of the Met was at a point where ever since the events of 9/11 its attendence was steeply declining and its audience was aging.

The board declined to tell him just had bad thing were. There was a marketing survey that showed that the average age of the audience was 65 years old, the bad news was that 5 years older it had been 60 years old. The government doesn’t support the arts directly, but through tax breaks for donors to non-profits. The challenge was to come up with a program to convince the audience that gives them hunderds of millions a year would be non-threatening to them but would still appeal to a new audience.

The program was almost like a political platform, with many planks. Where the Met had lost its footing was through its very conservative and cautious approach to the theatrical qualities of opera. Opera is a sublime marriage of music and theatre. Richard Jones said to him, “Oh the Met, I couldn’t possibly work there. That’s where singers stand and sing, or as I like to say, park and bark.” So by increasing the theatrical values of Met by inviting the greatest theatre directors, do 7 or 8 productions instead of 3 or 4, comission new works, to open the Met up. Rehersals for the first time would be open to the general public. The first performance was simulcast into Times Square, with chairs and everything. The announced a family entertainment opera, one in English during the holiday period.

The Met was an isolated artistic island, he wanted to build the bridges back to contemporary art, to bring the Met back somewhere near the mainstream. 24-hour opera radio channel on Sirius, and a bigger connection with movie theatres around the world, like the Times Square simulcast.

Their attendence after six years of decline, is finally going up. They have sold-out houses as the rule, not the exception. Of the first 50 performances, they had 33 sold out. It seats 3,800 people, which is large for opera. The acoustics are all natural, no amplification. The top singers are singeng there than ever before. Trying to demonstrate that opera can be as engaging and exciting as any theatre production. 500 movie theatres in North America, another 100 in Europe, that are hooked up via satillete to show everything live. He’s going to end by showing a trailer for a new HD production they have showing in 3,000-4,000 theatres.