<p>November 13-22 is National Opera Week and there are many special events going on around the country to celebrate and to bring opera to the public. Once again, The Metropolitan Opera will be offering a week of their MetPlayer service, Free: News</a> Flash</p>
<p>I though it might be fun to share what's going on in various areas of the country and for those of us who have kids either in college as an undergrad or grad student, or who are playing as a part of an opera production to share what's going on. Also, if there is are any special performances in your community that you know of, list them as they might be of interest to someone visiting or passing through.</p>
<p>I have two to report: first, because we live in Rochester, NY, there are always events at Eastman, either the school or at the Eastman Theatre (I am too old to call it by it's new name..), and this weekend will be a joint venture of the Rochester Pops and a small group of singers, led by the conductor's (Jeff Tyzick) daughter, Jamie, a mezzo soprano. They will be singing some set pieces highlighting love ( how about the Duet from Lakme and the Lindt truffles commercial, or British Airways?).
We will be heading west to see the CIM Opera Theatre, who are also celebrating the theme of Romantic Opera -the period this time, though- with fully staged scenes from "HANSEL AND GRETEL", "DER FREISCH</p>
<p>Indiana University is video streaming its current production of “The Magic Flute” on 11/13, 11/14, 11/20 and 11/21 at 8 pm Eastern (I think that’s the correct time). I watched “Romeo and Juliet” last month and it was wonderful to see and hear all of the young singers perform live. A minor correction re: the Met Opera MetPlayer. They will be offering clips every day from various operas - not complete operas for free.</p>
<p>Oops, violinmom, you’re correct! Usually, when the offer the “free access” weeks, they have permitted viewers use of their entire library of materials, but I guess that’s not to be the case this time 'round. Could you please post the info for the IU site? I’d love to see these- if anyone else has similar sites, please share them. I know that several parents have offspring performing in orchestras which have streaming broadcasts…
Has anyone read the article about the woman in Scotland who died and left 7.5 million to the Met? </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/arts/music/11opera.html?_r=1[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/arts/music/11opera.html?_r=1</a>
She left a MUCH small amount to the Royal Opera Trust because she didn’t care for some of what they were doing. One has to wonder what she would have thought of their latest ““Tristan und Isolde” with a set consisting of a table & two chairs! But that’s not much worse than the Met’s stark " Tosca” or, even worse, their new production of Janacek’s “From the House of the Dead”, where, with complete disregard for the composer’s explicit instructions of the setting being in a Siberian meadow(yes, there are such things there!0, it has been reset in a Gulag, with sets in colors of white, black and grey.</p>
<p>Here in South Florida, the UM Frost School of Music is doing a Wall-to-Wall Opera production, so named because it’s like 6 truncated operas in 60 minutes :P. I’m sure I will enjoy it.</p>
<p>Now THAT sounds different, TerranceC. Much different than the usual 3-4 staged scenes spread over a couple of hours. Is this a new concept for Frost or have the used it before? It also sounds like a terrific way to introduce kids and the general public- who’s only experience with opera comes from an old cartoon with a hefty lady wearing a hat with horns on it, bellowing Wagner!
After you see it, would you give us a “review”, please? Do they have a link to the event?</p>
<p>This is their second time doing this Wall-to-Wall Opera and, as you correctly said, it is a way to introduce opera to the general public as it’s part of an Opera for All series.</p>
<p>“Saturday’s events begin at 11 a.m. and include short operas based on Aesop’s Fables, a reprise of Six Operas in Sixty Minutes!”</p>
<p>So I’m assuming that the six operas happening in 60 minutes are not ones that are part of the standard repertoire, but this goes back to helping kids get involved. I think it is a neat idea as well. And from the link, I believe opera scenes will be shown in the evening.</p>
<p>Sorry this little mini-review is so late in coming, but I finally have time to write something. I can only comment on the Friday performance as I ended up only going to that one.</p>
<p>First off, the performances were part of the University of Miami’s Wall to Wall Opera For All Festival. The scenes that were performed were the Act 2 Finale from Le Nozze di Figaro, a selection from Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, what seemed to me like a children’s opera called the Fox and the Hen, the aria “Il mio tesoro” from Don Giovanni, a contemporary opera called The Sisters Antipodes, and the Act 2 Finale from Die Zauberflote. All in all, it was a great night of performances. One baritone truly stood out: a graduate student named Jeffrey Wienand. The singers were mostly sophomores and juniors, and I felt while they were good, no one really grabbed me.</p>
<p>This certainly does not speak for the teachers at UM, though. As I’ve gotten further along in the application process to music schools, I’ve had more and more interaction with the professors there and all of them seem very adept and able to take a serious person to the next level.</p>
<p>Two great things happening at Bard with regard to opera. </p>
<p>First, we have settled on our spring opera production schedule. In addition to performing Ravel’s L’Enfant, we are commissioning two new operas by young-but-established composers [David</a> Little](<a href=“http://davidtlittle.com/events/]David”>Events – David T. Little) and [Missy</a> Mazzoli](<a href=“http://www.missymazzoli.com/]Missy”>http://www.missymazzoli.com/). Our first commission, “A Bird in Your Ear” by David Bruce, has since gone on to win several awards, and was also featured in NY City Opera’s VOX Festival in 2008. So I think these collaborations do produce some fine work.</p>
<p>Second, our first Annual Gala went quite well. James Levine was the guest of honor, and he made us all blush with a full-throated endorsement of our Graduate Vocal Arts Program. Pictures from the bash wound up in the NY Times Style section, to boot (#19-20 on the following photo spread):
[NYT</a> Fashion & Style > Image >](<a href=“Fashion & Style > Image >”>Fashion & Style > Image >)</p>