February 21, 2006
Happy February
Hello all,
I forgot that II had written my first entry all the way back in December, and it has been sitting and waiting for me to approve all this time....woops! So, if you are wondering why I listed an entry all the way back from December, it seemed like such a waste not to post it!
Well so far the New Year has been busy. I have not been involved with Xerxes, 1. Because they’re really aren't any parts for tenors in Handel, and 2. I was gone in January to sing my first Alfredo in Charlotte, NC. I did 1 performance as Alfredo and 3 as Gastone. It was little confusing at times. For a while, I really wanted to sing everyone's parts but my own! I quickly got over that syndrome! It was a great experience. Alfredo was a good reach for me, it really required that I go back and evaluate where I was technically, and work hard to go farther with it! I spent a lot of time listening to all my lessons from December, and, because of the lack of stage time, I was singing through Alfredo almost everyday in my room...I felt sorry for my neighbors! But, through it all, I am happy to say that I feel Alfredo was a huge success, and I look forward to revisiting Traviata soon!
While I was in Charlotte, I worked really hard on getting in better shape. Next season brings some real challenges to all of us Male Young Artists as we prepare for Billy Budd. Not only is the music difficult, but also it appears that we are all going to have to be shirtless during the production. I know, senseless nudity! But Nathan Gunn who is going to be singing Billy Budd, is known for having an amazing physique, and going shirtless at the drop of a hat...and well, I am trying not to embarrass Pittsburgh Opera, and all of my ancestors, so I am really getting in shape. I got my new running shoes and I have been trying to run on the treadmill here at the Allegheny Center every other day...and working a lot on core training. It is tough, but I think it is starting to pay off. Hopefully, Pittsburgh Opera will be able to get a better workout facility donated to us for next year! The Allegheny Center is not the best, and sometimes I wonder if the treadmill is going to be able to handle me running on it! No offense to the Allegheny Center!
I am trying to make my plans for this coming summer, and it looks like I am going to spend a considerable part of it in Italy! I am trying to pull the funds together as we speak. My goal is to continue to work on my fluency, eat some great food, and drink good wine. Lorenzo Malfatti is trying to help Chuck Unice and me get to Lucca to participate in his program there. It is quite expensive even though we have both been given scholarships. Hopefully we will be able to find a way to make that happen. I think it would be a fantastic experience for both of us! I am going to make it to Italy no matter what happens...I think! A few years back, I lived in Firenze during the summer while I studied Italian. It was an amazing experience! I learned a ton of Italian, and it was fantastic living in another culture! Oh, I could go on forever about that, but I will save those stories for later!
I forgot that II had written my first entry all the way back in December, and it has been sitting and waiting for me to approve all this time....woops! So, if you are wondering why I listed an entry all the way back from December, it seemed like such a waste not to post it!
Well so far the New Year has been busy. I have not been involved with Xerxes, 1. Because they’re really aren't any parts for tenors in Handel, and 2. I was gone in January to sing my first Alfredo in Charlotte, NC. I did 1 performance as Alfredo and 3 as Gastone. It was little confusing at times. For a while, I really wanted to sing everyone's parts but my own! I quickly got over that syndrome! It was a great experience. Alfredo was a good reach for me, it really required that I go back and evaluate where I was technically, and work hard to go farther with it! I spent a lot of time listening to all my lessons from December, and, because of the lack of stage time, I was singing through Alfredo almost everyday in my room...I felt sorry for my neighbors! But, through it all, I am happy to say that I feel Alfredo was a huge success, and I look forward to revisiting Traviata soon!
While I was in Charlotte, I worked really hard on getting in better shape. Next season brings some real challenges to all of us Male Young Artists as we prepare for Billy Budd. Not only is the music difficult, but also it appears that we are all going to have to be shirtless during the production. I know, senseless nudity! But Nathan Gunn who is going to be singing Billy Budd, is known for having an amazing physique, and going shirtless at the drop of a hat...and well, I am trying not to embarrass Pittsburgh Opera, and all of my ancestors, so I am really getting in shape. I got my new running shoes and I have been trying to run on the treadmill here at the Allegheny Center every other day...and working a lot on core training. It is tough, but I think it is starting to pay off. Hopefully, Pittsburgh Opera will be able to get a better workout facility donated to us for next year! The Allegheny Center is not the best, and sometimes I wonder if the treadmill is going to be able to handle me running on it! No offense to the Allegheny Center!
I am trying to make my plans for this coming summer, and it looks like I am going to spend a considerable part of it in Italy! I am trying to pull the funds together as we speak. My goal is to continue to work on my fluency, eat some great food, and drink good wine. Lorenzo Malfatti is trying to help Chuck Unice and me get to Lucca to participate in his program there. It is quite expensive even though we have both been given scholarships. Hopefully we will be able to find a way to make that happen. I think it would be a fantastic experience for both of us! I am going to make it to Italy no matter what happens...I think! A few years back, I lived in Firenze during the summer while I studied Italian. It was an amazing experience! I learned a ton of Italian, and it was fantastic living in another culture! Oh, I could go on forever about that, but I will save those stories for later!
Post-Xerxes opening
I am happy to report that Xerxes opened last Saturday and went extremely well. Maestro Wedow led a superb performance! As incredibly as the cast did at final dress, they out did themselves on Saturday night. The dramatic arcs of each character became so clear, and the ensemble acting moments were quite moving.
I hope that the cast is able to relax a bit over these days off, and recharge for the second performance this Wednesday evening. While some downtime is absolutely needed at this point in the process, three full days off present a scary situation to a director. Leading up to opening night, the cast is able to constantly fine tune their performances, as well as use the momentum of tech week to propel them to opening. The schedule of the second and third performances, by contrast, allow the singers to take a break from Xerxes. Like I said, while this rest is extremely beneficial, one can only hope that the cast doesn't put Xerxes too far from their minds. I guess that is what the brush-up rehearsals before the other shows are there for.
All that aside, though, the show came off very well, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. I consider myself very lucky to have worked with such a fine ensemble of artists. Any praise they garner is well-deserved after five weeks of incredible collaboration and performance.
I hope that the cast is able to relax a bit over these days off, and recharge for the second performance this Wednesday evening. While some downtime is absolutely needed at this point in the process, three full days off present a scary situation to a director. Leading up to opening night, the cast is able to constantly fine tune their performances, as well as use the momentum of tech week to propel them to opening. The schedule of the second and third performances, by contrast, allow the singers to take a break from Xerxes. Like I said, while this rest is extremely beneficial, one can only hope that the cast doesn't put Xerxes too far from their minds. I guess that is what the brush-up rehearsals before the other shows are there for.
All that aside, though, the show came off very well, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. I consider myself very lucky to have worked with such a fine ensemble of artists. Any praise they garner is well-deserved after five weeks of incredible collaboration and performance.
February 17, 2006
XERXES - Thoughts Before Opening Night
It's 10:30 the night before Xerxes opens with the Pittsburgh Opera Center, and I find myself in the customary position of any stage director. After pouring over the score with Shawn Kaufman and Antje Ellermann (the designers), Gary Wedow (the conductor), and the singers for the last six months, it's difficult for me to put down my score for the final time. I find it hard to believe that it's actually done. It has been such an amazing journey of discovery, not only in terms of the production, but also for me as a young director.
Baroque opera, especially Handel's operas, presents any director with a very difficult task: to find dramatic truth that will be effective before an audience within the confines of a strict, and sometimes counter-intuitive, musical form. This is made even more difficult by the length of the opera. To carry a consistent dramatic arc through a Handel score can prove to be quite challenging.
So taking all of the elements of Handel into consideration, I set out to tell the story of Xerxes in a way that would be most immediate to an audience and to the singers. So, how, you ask yourself, did I arrive at a production set in New York in the 1920s?! Even though most of Xerxes deals with basic human relationships, Handel still made Xerxes a king and wrote the other characters to respond to Xerxes as if he were in a position of power. Where else, other than in royal circles, have we seen people in such positions of power in which violence and rage are the main tools of keeping that power? The 1920s seemed like an ideal time. A time in which mob bosses ruled the streets and honest citizens (the balance of the cast) were at their mercy. This time period also fit in with my desire to create a visual world that would be more accessible than Handel's original 18th century. It has been extremely gratifying to see the trust that the cast and production team has put into the concept. It is because of their trust and dedication that this production works.
That's all for now. More to come after opening. Hope to see you at CAPA.
Baroque opera, especially Handel's operas, presents any director with a very difficult task: to find dramatic truth that will be effective before an audience within the confines of a strict, and sometimes counter-intuitive, musical form. This is made even more difficult by the length of the opera. To carry a consistent dramatic arc through a Handel score can prove to be quite challenging.
So taking all of the elements of Handel into consideration, I set out to tell the story of Xerxes in a way that would be most immediate to an audience and to the singers. So, how, you ask yourself, did I arrive at a production set in New York in the 1920s?! Even though most of Xerxes deals with basic human relationships, Handel still made Xerxes a king and wrote the other characters to respond to Xerxes as if he were in a position of power. Where else, other than in royal circles, have we seen people in such positions of power in which violence and rage are the main tools of keeping that power? The 1920s seemed like an ideal time. A time in which mob bosses ruled the streets and honest citizens (the balance of the cast) were at their mercy. This time period also fit in with my desire to create a visual world that would be more accessible than Handel's original 18th century. It has been extremely gratifying to see the trust that the cast and production team has put into the concept. It is because of their trust and dedication that this production works.
That's all for now. More to come after opening. Hope to see you at CAPA.
February 14, 2006
Super Bowl Bet: Seattle Opera Follows Through
We couldn't help but share this delicious press release with all of you...
Seattle, WA—Super Bowl hysteria reached beyond the gridiron and into the opera house when the general directors of Seattle Opera and Pittsburgh Opera, Speight Jenkins and Mark Weinstein, made a wager on the outcome of the game between their cities’ respective teams: the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The two general directors agreed that whoever lost the wager would wear the winning team’s jersey to his company’s next board meeting and have his picture taken with his board of trustees standing behind him.
Tuesday, February 7, 2006, just two days after the Seahawks’ 21 to 10 loss to the Steelers, it happened. Seattle Opera’s Speight Jenkins, true to his word, wore a Pittsburgh Steeler jersey, Bettis’s number 36 (provided by Pittsburgh Opera), to Seattle Opera’s board meeting and was photographed standing before the Opera’s trustees.
Jenkins said, “The photo may not be exactly what the Pittsburgh Opera expects, but it carries out the wager and reflects the feelings of all of us at Seattle Opera. Next year will be different.”
Weinstein responded, “It was a valiant Seahawk effort, but as Wagner teaches us in the Ring, no team would have been able to stand in the way of true destiny. Let’s do it again when the Mariners meet the Pirates in the World Series.”
Seattle Opera and Pittsburgh Opera have often joined together as production partners, co-producing such operas as Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann. Seattle Opera’s new production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte opens February 25. Pittsburgh Opera’s production of Handel’s Xerxes opens February 18.
