The Dallas Opera Blog

Have you been following the mesmerizing sequence of events at Chicago Lyric? The whack-whack firing of one of the world’s great divas, Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu, for multiple misdemeanors?  And the triumphant debut of her Latina understudy?  It’s been quite a ride.  From John von Rhein’s column in “The Chicago Tribune”:

“Indeed, everyone in the opera world will tell you that opera in the early 21st Century is a genuine artistic collaboration. It has moved light-years beyond star singers doing their own thing, which was true in many parts of the opera world for much of the last century. With great artists thick on the ground during that time, audiences demanded little more of the top performers other than they stand on their marks and sing, which they usually did gloriously.

But the Tebaldis and Milanovs and Bjoerlings are gone, and the few genuine opera stars who remain are being held to different standards, even if they still command big fees. (Gheorghiu and Alagna are thought to be paid more than $60,000 a performance by the top houses.) Opera companies generally are less forgiving of naughty behavior by the artists than they ever were.

One reason is that general managers of big-budget opera companies such as Mason are CEOs as much as they are impresarios. They are charged by their boards with making sure both the bottom line and the artistic product are healthy and that nothing disturbs their fine equilibrium.

Which means that the inflated demands and egomaniacal whims of artists are no longer to be tolerated — not when they could jeopardize the quality of a product that typically costs more than $1 million to put onstage, generates thousands of dollars in ticket sales and represents the combined efforts of many different artisans — singers, orchestral players, backstage support staff, conductors and coaches.”

Here’s the entire article:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-1007_

divasoct07,0,1775497.story

Don’t miss musicologist Phil Gossett’s quote at the end (He wrote the fabulous article you’ll be reading in The Dallas Opera’s MACBETH Playbill).

Suzanne Calvin, Assoc. Dir. of Marketing, The Dallas Opera

Soprano Ava Pine’s been attracting notice among Dallas audiences since her memorable debut in last season’s NABUCCO — if not before — and it seems that Fort Worth audiences and critics are equally smitten.  Check out this very nice creative profile of Miss Pine by Star-Telegram critic Matt Erikson.  If it leans a little heavy to the west…don’t let that bother you: Ava’s appearing in four of our productions this season.  She has more than enough talent to cover the Metroplex.

http://www.star-telegram.com/performing_arts/story/259831.html

Suzanne Calvin, Assoc. Dir. of Marketing, The Dallas Opera

Alan Peppard’s column in last Friday’s edition of “The Dallas Morning News” relates an interesting conversation between First daughter Jenna Bush and “Texas Monthly” magazine’s Dallas-based executive editor, Skip Hollandsworth. In the course of an interview designed to promote Jenna’s new book, Ana’s Story, she mentions being scared — really scared — at times in the White House.

“I’m not kidding. I have heard ghosts, I really have — ghosts singing opera. One night, opera noises came out of my fireplace. When I told my sister, she didn’t believe me, but the next week, we were up late in that bedroom and we heard 1950’s piano music. People will think I’m crazy for saying that.”

Not necessarily. As Peppard points out, numerous White House residents have been convinced they’re not exactly alone, including Lynda Johnson, who lived in the room Jenna now occupies and reported paranormal activity.

I’m particularly intrigued by the reports of “opera noises.” I’m not certain what qualifies in this day and age as an “opera noise,” but if haints are hanging about the executive mansion, I’m glad they show the good taste to be humming, singing, or moaning some of opera’s greatest hits.

Gives a whole ‘nother meaning to “Cold Little Hand”…doesn’t it?

Suzanne Calvin, Assoc. Dir. of Marketing, The Dallas Opera

I have to wonder in the midst of the posthumous reports, analysis and accolades accorded to the great Italian tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, whether he and Domingo are the last of a kind. Not that there won’t be equally gifted opera singers appearing on the horizon to electrify our audiences, and equally gifted “showmen” capable of garnering adoring fans, worldwide.

What I suspect has changed is our lightning-paced culture’s capacity to maintain interest in the same topic or talent for a period of years — even decades. It takes white-hot public attention to become a superstar, yet that can evaporate overnight. The steady interest and adulation that creates a “world-class artist” and — importantly — gives that artist the leeway to make more daring and unexpected choices may be a victim of the 24 hour news cycle and the increasing speed with which singers, actors, and other entertainers wear out their welcome from the general public.

Will there ever be another Pavarotti? Almost assuredly.

Will he be recognized, as such? Yes, but Andy Warhol’s maxim about everyone enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame might soon appear to be an over-estimate. A great artistic career in the public eye, spanning decades, could become even more rare than it is today.

However, there could be an upside: Freedom from the kind of attention that followed Pavarotti’s life and career won’t create wealthier artists but it may promote many more balanced, happy and profoundly creative professional lives if we, the audience, are willing to pay for what we hear onstage….rather than relying upon what we’re fed by the mass media. And won’t that be an interesting time for opera????

Suzanne Calvin, Associate Director of Marketing/Media and PR

The Dallas Opera

“I have a recurring nightmare. I am in Rome visiting the Sistine Chapel. I look up at Michelangelo’s incomparable fresco of the “Creation of Man.” I see God stretching out his arm to touch the reclining Adam’s finger. And then I notice in the other hand Adam is holding a Diet Pepsi.”

This humorously disturbing image was cited by the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts in his recent commencement address at Stanford University. As presented in a condensed version in the June 19th edition of “The Wall Street Journal,” the NEA’s Dana Gioia makes a compelling case for restoring opera singers, jazz musicians, poets and the like to the list of possible guests on general interest television shows.

Why? For the common good.

“When virtually all of a culture’s celebrated figures are in sports or (popular) entertainment, how few possible role models we offer the young….Adult life begins in a child’s imagination, and we’ve relinquished that imagination to the marketplace.”

Just last week, while enjoying a break from work myself, I was listening to a TV report about a teenaged girl with a disability. As she talked about her lifelong dream to become a fashion model and how she was determined to overcome the odds to achieve that dream my brain practically split in two:

Left brain: Good for her for passionately pursuing her dream!

Right brain: What a stupifying waste of effort! Will no one encourage this young lady to pursue a halfway realistic, healthy and meaningful career with a potential shelf life of more than five years?

But, no.

We live in a world that worships at the altar of celebrity. Celebrity based on looks, money and notoriety rather than talent, intelligence, or heart. So long as we, as a society, continue to dream at the level of the lowest common denominator, we can expect no higher calling for our children.

Shame on the producers, the people who book guests, the publishers, the assignments editors, the readers, the viewers, the listeners.

Shame on me. Shame on us.

Suzanne Calvin, The Dallas Opera

Anybody who swings by The Dallas Opera offices needs to take a second to walk past Jonathan Pell’s office.  Our longtime director of artistic administration, sitting behind his desk loaded with snow globes from several continents, looks rather different these days.

No, the same obsessive-compulsive organizational skills are in evidence.  The same penchant for collecting, the same neatly arranged photo albums of his foreign excursions; but you can’t miss it — it’s right under his nose.

A nasty sidewalk tumble about five weeks ago left him with a right wrist and hand encased in Plaster of Paris (or whatever they call it now).  Jonathan adapted well, all things considered, but couldn’t quite figure out how his favorite razor could deliver a smooth, left-handed shave.  Hence the new beard.

Not just any beard, but a distinguished salt-and-pepper concoction more reminiscent of a Confederate colonel in a Civil War re-enactment than Charlton Heston as Moses.  Jonathan winces when we tell him the beard suits him; however, I’m really beginning to wonder whether he’s actually going to shave it off, once his fidgety digits come out of the cast.

Stop and think, Jonathan.

We all lusted after the sleek, cat-like Sean Connery of the early Bond films, but, the older screen legend with the salt-and-pepper beard is the one we love best.  Save — don’t shave — those natural resources.

Suzanne Calvin, The Dallas Opera

American.com, an online magazine of ideas, points out that the United States now has a total of 125 going opera companies, which is more than either Italy (twice as many, in fact) or Germany. Furthermore, “roughly as many Americans attend live opera performances as attend NFL football games.”

The National Endowment for the Arts found that opera attendance jumped 46 percent between 1982 and 2002 (the last year for which we have figures, which begs the question: how in the world can the NEA move that slowly?), at a time when other branches of the performing arts have struggled to fill the house.

Opera is rapidly becoming a major factor in American tourism, attracting both national and international aficionados. And, all in all, annual opera admissions in this country are now estimated at 20 million.

I kid you not. 20 million.

Just to put it in perspective, 22 million attended NFL games, including the playoffs, last season.

So, why do the performing arts continually have to BEG for coverage, especially from local television stations?  Why are local arts columnists an endangered species?  What part of “relevant to the life and health of our community” don’t they get?

Whoever the heck “they” are?

Suzanne Calvin, The Dallas Opera

There’s a fascinating new survey conducted by the Gallup Organization for the Atlanta Opera that says, in essence, we opera-types don’t really understand what drives our customers to make that all-important ticket purchase.  Here are some of the more interesting/controversial findings:

Current and former subscribers (in Atlanta, remember) say that it doesn’t much matter to them whether the opera venue is located downtown or outside the central district.  What clearly matters is the length of the drive, from start to finish.

Easy access to good food and drink, however, is extremely important to those surveyed.  An abundance of nearby restaurants is considered a huge plus in promoting ticket sales.

And — most controversial of all — expensive international singing stars aren’t a draw for most subscribers and former subscribers.  Even those with big names aren’t recognized or considered particularly influential in prompting a ticket purchase.

So, my question to everyone out there is:  What matters most to you, as a patron of The Dallas Opera?  You must have your own internal list of what you want out of your Dallas Opera experience (and what you are eager to avoid), please share it.  And I’d love to hear your reactions to the Gallup findings, too.

Suzanne Calvin, The Dallas Opera

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Gee…This is one of those moments in Dallas Opera history.

Not one of those sublime moments like the pairing of Ruth Ann Swenson and Ewa Podles in Rodelinda, or, one of those make-your-heart-dance-in-your-chest moments like the playful interaction between Vivica Genaux, Giorgio Caoduro and Donato DiStefano in last season’s The Barber of Seville. Neither is it one of those can’t breathe moments like the finale of The Dallas Opera’s magnificent Lohengrin, nor is it a can’t-see-for-all-the-tears moment like the lump-in-the-throat finish of Jenufa.

Still, it’s a moment.

This marks the first entry of The Dallas Opera blog. It’s a heavy responsibility or, would be, if I had more time to think about it. My task is to introduce you to our latest toy (or tool, take your pick) and explain why you might enjoy participating – either as a spectator chuckling on the sidelines or as a genuine opinion maker.

People who are deeply passionate, like your average operagoer, want to share it with everyone. They have passionate likes and dislikes, including opinions about singers, sets, directors, conductors, policies, programs, patrons, the season itself and the coverage it generates. They love hanging out with others who speak the same language and who are just as joyfully fanatical. Above all, they want to make converts – and so do we.

This blog is your chance to speak to the entire Dallas Opera community and the opera curious from around the world. No passport, diploma or entry fee required. Let your comments be motivated, at least in part, by our mutual desire to do everything possible to make The Dallas Opera all that it can be in the 21^st century and to lead the way into a new golden age of American Opera.

And fun, yes, let’s not forget to have fun!

That dribbling sound you hear is the ball bouncing into your court.