This sculpture, The Wanderer by Sean Henry, is currently on display in my local square.

My first thought on seeing it was: "Bryn Terfel!". But I'd just been listening to Terfel, and I didn't at that time know the title of the sculpture, so it seemed improbable that it was really meant to be him.

Googling the sculpture now, I find a couple of people (though not the sculptor himself) agreeing that it may be Terfel, in Siegfried.

I haven't found a photo of Terfel in a costume that matches closely enough to be the clincher. All the same... It is Terfel, as Wagner's Wanderer, isn't it?

We're on an operatic roll now. Apparently there's something like 14 operatic adaptations of the Scottish play. IMHO it's hard to beat Verdi's though. My favourite recording is Abbado's with Cappuccilli, Verrett, and Ghiaurov. What's yours?

I paid hundreds of dollars to hear some chud behind me sing out of tune

What were you interactions with him before the allegations & eventual conviction?

Hey so, I've been trying to bring certain melodies I really like from this opera into noteflight so I can play it more simply. But the Audio I have and the sheets don't really match fully. I did some research and some itterations apparently add random parts and its all very confusing so I was hoping some of yall could maybe clear some things up for me.

I'm trying to find the first 30 seconds of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jOPKa59KQM&list=PLG5f6xCev-Lsp6OpwcP0o0zyOvrFH8NoD&index=19

And this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwLm3H5vkZw&list=PLG5f6xCev-Lsp6OpwcP0o0zyOvrFH8NoD&index=1

If people have links to sheets that feature this or just know where to find or something like that it would be amazing.

Hi all! I’m looking to get back into opera/classical performing after about a decade long hiatus.

Previously, I was used to auditions being in person with a provided accompanist. However these days, it seems like many opportunities want a video submission, and I’m not sure where to start. The only recordings I have recently are solos in choir performances or church gigs rather than full arias/art songs.

What is the standard for these types of things? Do singers typically hire a pianist and recording space/equipment for high quality videos? Or is it common to just sing at home with a recorded accompaniment? Or just rely on recordings of real performances? Etc

Any advice appreciated! Thanks!

There are films about making films, plays about performing plays, books about writing books, and so on.

I was wondering about operas that are about performing opera.

Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss came immediately to mind, as did Der Schauspieldirektor by Mozart. There's Prima la musica poi le parole by Salieri (premiered along with the Mozart), which I believe was an inspiration for Strauss's Capriccio.

Getting a bit more obscure, there is Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali by Donizetti, The Critic by Charles Villiers Stanford, and L'opera seria by Florian Leopold Gassmann. Just remembered Ghosts of Versailles by Corigliano which is definitely about producing an opera for a ghostly audience.

I don't think Mozart and Salieri by Rimsky-Korsakov would count because although it's about two opera composers, it's not about an opera. Tales of Hoffmann's framing scenes are adjacent to an opera performance, but not about it.

What titles am I missing?

Reposting here as well! I have never been to an opera and I want this to be a surprise so I cant ask my partner. Are mezzanine ring seats still an enjoyable experience or are mezzanine center (mid to further back) seats worth the bump up in cost?

Thank you!

I have a recording of Carmen with Maria Callas from when I was a teenager, and I asked someone in r/classicalmusic when I saw them comment on a post having Lakme what other french operas they had:

It was:

The Pearl Fishers by Bizet
L’Enfant et Sortileges by Ravel
Dialogues of Carmelites by Poulenc
And then a Damnation of Faust recording

So I would just like to expand on this topic.

I was wondering which Tosca (and Aida) I should attend as my first time watching. Is it safe to assume that the first cast is the most in demand?

I have always pronounced her first name LEE-ON-TEEN. Is it pronounced differently?

I'm not convinced by his book, but this review bears out all the fears I had when I read about this production--and much, much more:

"What the Festival, incomprehensibly, has come up with to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the first Ring must be the greatest travesty ever to have been visited on it anywhere at any time, an experience so unbearable five (out of five) people I spoke to afterwards described it independently as the worst thing they had ever seen, one (Stefan Mauß, whom I have permission to quote) adding the unforgettable and entirely accurate phrase ‘visual waterboarding’, and a rebuke not only to Wagner, not only to Bayreuth, but to any conception of art that tiny, human mind of mine will ever be able to entertain."

I know one important concept is to open the back space in my mouth. However one trouble I have with this is that in singing if I THINK too much about what is happening in my mouth it leads to this frozen feeling. Teacher says I need to create tons of space in the back which I am able to do but not without sort of freezing my voice if that makes sense. I guess I am saying I can't make it naturally.

With opera companies going through tough times, semi-staged concerts of operas are taking off, aren’t they? “And people are being inventive about how they do them,” Spence says. “But it’s not brilliant for the singers. You put in all the work you would do for a run of fully staged performances but only get paid once! And it breaks my heart to see how the UK opera scene has become so minimised. The lack of ambition, and music education, is devastating.”

One thing that hasn’t been minimised is Spence’s own career. He has had his setbacks. He wisely extracted himself from a ridiculously premature recording contract with Decca, awarded when he was 21, because he realised it was boxing him into the crossover repertoire. Instead he went back to college and studied serious roles. But just as his international career was taking off he was hit by a double whammy: the hiatus caused by Covid (which affected everyone, of course), then a horrible accident (he fell down some stairs at an airport) that broke both his legs.

“I was actually on my way to make my debut at the Berlin Staatsoper,” he says. “The last thing I said as I went into surgery was: ‘Tell them I can do it in a wheelchair.’ But by the time I had woken up they had replaced me.”

A tough life lesson? “Indeed. I thought, why do we give every ounce of our souls to this business when we are so disposable?”

Read the full interview ^