Category: music

“Of the 72 applicants this year, 50 were women; 35 sopranos and 15 mezzo-sopranos. The conservatory decided that even though it would make for skewed student productions, it could not admit male singers on the grounds of gender alone.”

“It seemed fair enough to ask some members of the chorus I met – who have to remain anonymous for contractual reasons – exactly how this whole horrible if not totally unfamiliar episode in ENO’s beleaguered recent history began, and how it developed.”

“Composers are afraid of it; it’s really complex, and each instrument is so different. when you go to play a concert, you can’t just go the night before or day of, like a singer or a pianist. And most conductors haven’t been trained to deal with it regularly; it’s different and strange, almost like bringing in another orchestra.”

“The companies are all flexible in terms of venue and budget, and bring the audience much closer to the art form than most forms of traditional opera presented in theaters with thousands of seats. They all offer extremely affordable ticket options combined with well curated interesting programming.”

“Both Rachmaninoff and Liszt had legendarily large mitts. … Meanwhile, shorter digits haven’t impeded the success of other pianists, such as Daniel Barenboim (who can only reach a ninth on the keyboard), and Wael Farouk, who was born with unusually short ligaments and fingers.” includes video)

There’s a chorus-heavy opera this week for which they say they’ll stand silently and refuse to sing 25% of the score – to match the 25% pay cut they’re being asked to take.

How such a promising tenure at Spain’s Teatro Real went so sour; the problems with the Paris Opera and Paris audiences; why he constantly worked with some collaborators and refused others entirely; what he believed was most important about opera. (in French)