when the fat lady sings

[William the White]

Well, the Opera season starts tonight, with the New York Met's production of Shostakovich's The Nose.

At Cineworld in the Valley in Bolton, and a cinema very near you, wherever you are...

The opera thread back on page one!

Nice to get this season going - and a comic opera a good antidote to the grim football.

Gogol's absurdist tale is matched by Shostakovitch's not exactly mellifluous composition (I liked the music, references to jazz throughout). And the production was always interesting and imaginative, with nods to Soviet constructivist art, use of animation, film and Brechtian commentary. I really enjoyed.

And under two hours!

[William the White]

Having seen the Newsnight preview and read the ecstatic review in today's Observer i think it safe to say that Terry Gilliam's production of Berlioz's debut opera Benvenuto Cellini by the English national Opera is set to be the most exuberant, over the top, wild rush of musical and theatrical craziness of any opera of this year/decade/century-so-far...

I checked it out and the cheapest available seats where I can sit (fear of heights limiting me to the stalls or dress circle) run at £99. Add onto that the journey to London etc. And, well, I'm not going to see it live.

My compensation is it's on at Cineworld in live transmission on June 17, 19.00. And other cinemas, no doubt.

[William the White]

Having seen the Newsnight preview and read the ecstatic review in today's Observer i think it safe to say that Terry Gilliam's production of Berlioz's debut opera Benvenuto Cellini by the English national Opera is set to be the most exuberant, over the top, wild rush of musical and theatrical craziness of any opera of this year/decade/century-so-far...

I checked it out and the cheapest available seats where I can sit (fear of heights limiting me to the stalls or dress circle) run at £99. Add onto that the journey to London etc. And, well, I'm not going to see it live.

My compensation is it's on at Cineworld in live transmission on June 17, 19.00. And other cinemas, no doubt.

I saw it on screen last night.

It was all of the above.

One for live performance if at all possible I'd say. Glad I saw it at cineworld but definitely second best.

[William the White]

So - the annual attempt to revive the opera thread, as curator, sole contributor and almost only reader, I suspect...

Anyway, tonight I saw Opera North's production of La Traviata and it was tremendous. Packed house, enthusiastic audience giving most arias applause and half a dozen curtain calls at the end, with some of the audience - including me - standing and cheering.

Beautiful singing - with two young south Korean singers, soprano and tenor leads, singing the lead roles of Violetta and Alfredo wonderfully. They were matched with a tremendous performance by a baritone Germont, who has the joy of singing the stand out aria of the opera (imho) - Di Provenza, il mar, il sol and doing it stunningly well.

For the last three or more years my opera habit has mostly been fed by live broadcasts from the brilliant New York Met - they are wonderful - and they are about £12 a ticket. Tonight's were £46. Add on parking, petrol, a pizza express and you are looking at close to £150 for a night out for two, and that's a bit of a gulp. We aren't going to do that often. (Vienna opera house has 500 plus standing tickeys for each performance, at 3 or 4 euros - people that are damn near broke can afford opera! We did it last week.).

But tonight was a reminder of just how brilliant live opera can be.

So, we've decided that our cultural focus for next year will be live music. This means that at least once a month we attend a live music event.

Great.

[Dujon]

Purely as a matter of interest, WtW, I have checked the pricing for the production of Tosca which is the next available opera to be seen at the Sydney Opera House. It will be next Wednesday 26 Nov.

Stalls: $99 - $249
Circle: Same as stalls
Balcony: $59 - $99

There is quite a variation. I assume that such pricing is based on the distance to the stage and perhaps the view and any obstructions. Still if it takes your fancy it's possible to have a bonzer night out for a mere $500 (less a couple of dollars) or slum it for $120. That's for a couple, of course. Then, as you mentioned, there's the cost of getting there and back plus and food and drink necessary to get through the night. In my case it's a taxi to my local station; 1.333' hours on a train to Central; change trains (a right proper traipse around the complex) to Circular Quay and a short walk to the Opera House. Then there's the return trip: I don't know what time Tosca is likely to finish but timing is critical. Trains run from Central to my station at roughly one hour intervals so it's conceivable that my wife and I would be banging around a deserted concourse for some time. Taxi at the home end? Probably a walk home. It's only a kilometre or so, but ...

Even should I be interested in opera that sort of sortie would be quite unattractive. It's no wonder that the hoi polloi shun the art.

[Prufrock]

I don't think they let you in anyway if you say "the hoi polloi" .

[William the White]

So, tonight was The Barber of Seville at cineworld in the continuation of the opera weekend.

A calm asessment says that, in comparison to Opera North's Traviata, that i saw yesterday, in all artistic respects the Met production was superior. Singing, music, design, directing, costume. There was greater craft, imagination (and a much higher budget) in the Met's production.

But the one I enjoyed most was certainly La Traviata. Opera live, in the flesh, when it reaches the high standard that Opera North did, beats opera of world class standards on a screen, in HD.

I'm glad I saw both, though. Very.

[William the White]

This afternoon I saw the student production of The Merry Widow at the RNCM.

Tremendous work all round - orchestra, singing, staging.

Those students are stunningly good musicians. I suspect the RNCM will feature regularly in the upcoming Year of Live Music that is our cultural focus for 2015.

[William the White]

Opera... from the best Opera company in the entire world... at a cinema near you...

And me... TFFT!

Starting October 3...

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