Bills and Business Models

Editorial

2013 was a bad year for the business of classical music. New York City Opera was North America's big story in the ever-widening category of struggling or bankrupt opera houses. Seattle Opera suffered large cutbacks in order to stay alive, and the Minnesota Orchestra's standoff with the board has cost them at least a season and a half. And although outside of our stated calendar year, Canadians certainly felt this week's closure of Opera Hamilton.

Young Pups and Puccini

Op-ed

George Carlin said on playing the blues, "I'll tell you a little secret about the blues: it's not enough to know which notes to play, you have to know why they need to be played."

"We don't have the cash to carry on."

Editorial

Let's make no fat-lady-singing jokes; this is just sad. Opera Hamilton announced today that it would "cease operations." The company has canceled its upcoming gala Popera, scheduled for Saturday night, as well as its production of Carmen that was set to go up in April.

Shiny New Operas

Editorial

Starting in 2014, the operatic repertoire will grow with fresh and intriguing new pieces. Here are a few to which I look forward.

Humility and Hadrian

Op-ed

"That is what, most of all, is shrinking audiences for contemporary music: not any particular musicians, stylistic approaches, or programming, but rather a pernicious idea that contemporary music can only succeed if it bets against itself, and pretends that losing was really winning all along."

Schmopera's Faves of 2013

Editorial

Selfishly, I chose to wrap up the year with a list of my favourite tidbits of operatic delight. Included are my favourite renditions of great moments in opera.

Listening to: Ileana Montalbetti, soprano

Interview

Canadian soprano Ileana Montalbetti is on the rise. A graduate of the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio Program, she bravely dives into challenging roles like Elettra, Leonore and Antonia. Ileana shone most recently in Canada as Ellen Orford in the COC's production of Peter Grimes.

“A sweet girl on the podium can make one’s thoughts drift toward something else.”

Editorial

Ah, classical music. Old-fashioned to the bone. It's almost charming, except we still need to write articles about the plight of the female conductor and the female composer. Young Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko basically said that the male players in the orchestra wouldn't be able to control themselves if they had to look up at the podium and see a pretty lady there.

Stephen Fry's latest charming appearance at the Royal Opera House

Humour

I think this event was a groundbreaking step forward in making opera accessible to a new generation. Moderated by our favourite Stephen Fry, the Intelligence² debate was whether Richard Wagner or Giuseppe Verdi reigned as an operatic master.

Muppets at the opera

Humour

There is this fascinating relationship between opera and the Muppets.  Considering that The Muppet Show follows the blueprint of the classic revue show, it’s not that odd; revues are built on sophisticated satire of anyone or anything famous at the time.