response 42 of 221:

Mar 20 00:53 UTC 1997

We just got the ad in the mail for the UM School of Music production
of Mozart's opera MARRIAGE OF FIGARO.  This will be performed at the 
Lydia Mendellsohn Theatre from Wednesday March 26 through Saturday
March 29.  Tickets are quite reasonable, something like $14/$18, with 
generous student discounts.
 
If you live in the Ann Arbor area and you want to try an opera with a 
minimum of investment, this is for you!!  Similarly, if you have never 
experienced opera in a house as small as the Mendellsohn, you should 
try this.  
 
If the past is a reliable guide: all four performances will sell out
by early next week, and then tickets will be made available for one or 
both of the dress rehearsals.  These will be even cheaper!
 
Rane, do you go to the student operas?

response 44 of 221:

Mar 23 17:43 UTC 1997

        Since I am listening to the Rock Oper "Jesus Christ Superstar"
here on a Palm Sunday, I was wondering if this 25 year old is 
classic opera yet?

response 46 of 221:

Apr 10 01:10 UTC 1997

It's past time for me to comment on the two performances we saw 
of UM's production of MARRIAGE OF FIGARO.  Thusday's performance 
was a little shaky, though it tended to light up whenever the 
Countess was on stage.  I spent a lot of time losing myself in 
Mozart's instrumental textures.
 
The Easter Sunday performance, which had been added at the last minute,
was only sparsely attended.  Y'all should have come.  In place of the 
full orchestra there were just two pianos; but the two pianos seemed 
to often hold together better than the Thursday orchestra, and the 
spare accompaniment allowed me to "see" into the vocal lines in 
a very appealing way.  The Sunday cast was much better: special 
praise goes to Allan Schrott, the Sunday Figaro, who has his 
singing and stage presence very well together.
 
---

David Daniels, a UM alum who had an opera performance class with 
Leslie some years ago, has been given the Richard Tucker Award for 1997.
The Tucker award is probably the most prominent given to young American 
opera singers; David Daniels will be appearing in this year's 
Richard Tucker Gala, a concert at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC
in November which is broadcast over PBS during the holiday season.

---

We just got a flyer from Cleveland Lyric Opera, which is doing a summer
season in English.  "My Fair Lady," Mozart's "Abuduction from the Seraglio,"
and two contemporary operas I have never heard of, one aimed at children.
We'll try to get out for the "Abduction," since we have never seen that
opera before.

response 48 of 221:

Jun 15 14:20 UTC 1997

I don't know if anyone is actually reading this item anymore, but what the
hey!  

Jane England, I found out today, has a CD out of her singing solos of some
famious Wagner and other operas!  Quite good!

response 50 of 221:

Jun 15 19:14 UTC 1997

I need to find the dates for the BUTTERFLY being sung in English 
in Adrian, Michigan, this summer.  Argh.

response 52 of 221:

Jul 1 07:55 UTC 1997

Re #48:  Do you mean Jane Eaglen?  She is a Wagnerian soprano who
appeared at the gala for the Detroit Opera House in April of 1996 
(for which I was a member of the chorus).  I think I might be 
interested in getting her CD.

Re Puccini in Adrian:  Performances are in late September, according
to my accompanist, who is also chorus master for that production.

response 54 of 221:

Aug 15 19:38 UTC 1997

Opera Lenawee is performing Puccini's MADAME BUTTERFLY, September 19
through September 27.  SUNG IN ENGLISH!!  Performances are at the 
Crosswell Opera House in Adrian, Michigan.  
Tickets 517-264-3121.  Webpage:  http://www.aso.org/

response 56 of 221:

Aug 16 20:10 UTC 1997

  You know, I'm not by any stretch an opera purist but I've concluded
  (admittedly after only one or two performances) that I don't like
  opera performed in English.  I'm still almost totally unable to
  comprehend the lyrics and the performances I've been to in English
  have omitted supertitles (because after all, it's in English and we
  all understand English, right?  arrgghh..)

  Anyway, it's ironic but true -- I've had much better luck following
  operas that are sung in Italian or French thanks to the projected
  supertitles..

response 58 of 221:

Aug 31 01:30 UTC 1997

Leslie and I only became aware of Opera Lenawee because Leslie's 
accompanist works with their chorus.  We saw t their production 
of Britten's comic opera Albert Herring in spring '96, and we 
enjoyed it.  Part of the compaany's appeal is their cozy little 
opera house, which only seats around 600.  I would say, gear one's 
expectations to about the level of a UM student opera production.
 
I certainly understand where mcnally & srw are coming from regarding
opera in English.  I have a bit of a fetish for opera in English, as 
I think I've written before; I believe it has the potential to be 
much more emotionally involving.  But a lot of my excitement is 
that productions in English are pretty rare; I don't think I have 
seen any, other than at the UMich School of Music.
 
The world's chief advocate of opera in English is the English 
National Opera (ENO).  Unfortunately, our 1995 London visit was 
mis-timed, and we missed the opening of their season by one week.
The ENO is the only company which records opera in English.

response 60 of 221:

Aug 31 16:40 UTC 1997

Operas in foreign languages translated into English, for t the most part.
In the case of Puccini's MADAME BUTTERFLY, the original language of 
the book is Italian.
 
Of course some people would argue that English is a difficult language
to understand when sung...  I *have* seen references, mostly on TV, 
to operas in English with English titles.  I think THE ASPERN PAPERS
was presented this way.

response 62 of 221:

Sep 4 05:29 UTC 1997

or nearly any other language. 

response 64 of 221:

Sep 12 01:53 UTC 1997

Just seeing those sets would be interesting enough by itself.

response 66 of 221:

Sep 16 19:17 UTC 1997

I saw an airplane ad for the performance. The plane was circling the U-M 
stadium during the Colorado game.