Focus on February, part 2

February 2, 2010 - This Thursday and Friday, Opera Vivente will hold the second set of auditions for the 2010-2011 season. In general, I really enjoy hearing singers, particularly those whom I have not heard before. But it seems every year, there's some new worrisome trend that normally generates at least one blog post. This year's winner - TARDINESS! Yep, back in the Fall, I was amazed at how many singers were late for their auditions, and for this round, I'm astonished at the huge number of singers who waited to the absolutely last second to send in their materials. Deadlines are meant to circumscribe procrastinators NOT serve as an indicator of the best time to send in your materials. "By January 31st" does not mean "only on January 31st". I can hear all the singer excuses flying through the air now: "I needed to get a new headshot and the photographer didn't turn it around fast enough", "I was waiting to see if I could add that live recording from the lobby of the Met to my CD", "The cat ate my resumé". Blah, blah, blah. The simple fact of the matter is that while there are sometimes justifiable reasons for just barely making the deadline, most of the time it's simply a problem with time management or priorities. You didn't send something in until the last possible second, because you weren't really concentrating on finding opportunities for yourself as a singer. AND (here's the problem with that ladies and gentlemen), the company who gets your materials at the 11th hour (or sometimes even beyond that) has just formed their first impression of you: procrastinator and/or someone who doesn't pay attention to the details.

Forewarned is forearmed. And in case you're wondering what the very close second issue was this past Fall, click here to read a wonderful new blog's first post.

Focus on February, part 1

January 23, 2010 - So OV has very full month coming up in February, so I'm going to do a short series of posts giving more details. First up, Club OV's cabaret in honor of Valentine's Day entitled My Foolish Heart.

Club OV is the cabaret arm of Opera Vivente. Cabaret gives people a chance to enjoy great music sung by fantastic singers in a truly relaxed atmosphere: table seating, candlelight, food and drink throughout the performance, laughter and comment encouraged. For My Foolish Heart, we have OV favorites Joy Greene (most recently Lady Anna in Lord Giovanni), Jessica Renfro (our hysterically funny Tisbe in Cinderella), Ken Gayle (Pelléas in our upcoming production of Impressions of Pelléas) and Chris Austin (most recently Lord Magnifico in Cinderella) accompanied by Dana Scott at the piano, singing love songs by composers as diverse as Gershwin, Sondheim, and John Lennon. The program starts with a set extolling the praises of love, followed by a "new love" set which includes the cabaret cult classic "Taylor the Latte Boy", a "trouble with love" set, a "love lost" set, a "love the second time around" set, and closes with a "true love" set.

With tickets priced at $30 including food, this is a great way to celebrate the season of love with your special someone. Or take advantage of the informal "talking encouraged" atmosphere (and the cash bar) to make a connection with a "stranger across a crowded room". Seating is limited so don't wait. Fall in love with love by clicking here.

Resolutions for 2010

December 31, 2009 - So last year around this time, I blogged a typical favorite things of the past year post, but since with very few exceptions (a new President, getting an award for 10 years of leadership of OV from Opera America, and the continued love and support of my family and friends) this year has pretty much sucked a big pile of suckitude, I decided to blog about my aspirations, goals, hopes, etc. for 2010.

In the coming year, I hope to be more realistic in assessing what I can accomplish and the relative importance of those accomplishments. I will aspire to not take other people and their contributions for granted, and to not put off doing and saying things that affirm, praise, or console because of a belief that "oh, there's always time to do that when I'm done doing this". I've discovered that's often not the case. I plan on being more attuned to the pleasure of simple, little things that cross my path every day and which have hitherto often gone unnoticed and under-appreciated and (the flip side of this coin) to address and then let go of petty slights and insults (real or imagined) rather than let them fester.

And finally, I'm going to attempt to be a colleague, friend, son, husband, and person that people are pleased and proud to have in their lives all year through, not just during the holiday season when we all rush around trying to make amends for all the things we did or neglected to do during the previous 12 months.

I wish all of you a happy, healthy, and abundant 2010.

A Holiday Teaser

December 8, 2009 - Last night we had the first rehearsal for our upcoming holiday cabaret, "All I Want for Christmas Is. . ." Click here for a little video teaser - the quartet rehearsing Fred Silver's "The Twelve Days After Christmas".

Only a few tickets left. Click here to get yours before we're sold out.

Auditions Post-Mortem

November 23, 2009 - Our Autumn round of auditions has now come to a close. I have to say that I was very impressed with the general level of singing. Definitely some very strong candidates for all the roles in the 2010-2011 season. One thing that I did notice, however, was that singers really do not take enough care with their resumés. In addition to having several people proofread them, I also highly encourage singers to enlist the services of someone with graphic design experience. You wouldn't submit a headshot taken with a disposable camera by a friend so why submit a resumé that's been typed on a home computer using a basic word-processing program?

Anyway, I was disappointed that none of the public observed the auditions. We had opened them to the general public as part of National Opera Week. Maybe there were so many things going on onstage during this past weekend that people just didn't have the energy for any kind of "behind the scenes" offerings. There were so many things going on, it was difficult to attend everything. I myself made it to opening night of Peabody's Così fan tutte and the second performance of University of Maryland's La finta giardiniera but unfortunately was unable to see Baltimore Concert Opera's Don Pasquale or Baltimore Opera Theater's Il barbiere di Siviglia. If any of my readers were able to attend those productions I'd love to hear what you thought of them.

Next up - OV's Holiday Cabaret on December 11th.

National Opera Week

November 5, 2009 - In just a little over a week, America will be celebrating National Opera Week (November 14-21). This joint initiative between Opera America and the NEA will kick off with the second annual NEA Opera Honors in Washington, DC on Saturday, November 14th. Throughout the week, opera companies across the country will be offering various operatic activities to bring about an increased awareness of the art form to their respective communities. To mark the occasion, Opera Vivente will be "lifting the veil" on an aspect of opera production that is virtually completely unknown to anyone other than professional singers: the audition. Opera Vivente invites any people interested in the process by which singers get cast in roles to attend our auditions in Baltimore. The audition period is Friday, November 20th from 12-4pm, Saturday, November 21st from 2-6pm, and Sunday, November 22nd from 3-5pm. The auditions will take place at our venue located at 811 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. Come enjoy this rare opportunity to hear what normally only industry "insiders" hear. And help spread the word that opera is a vital, exciting, and relevant art form worthy of celebration not just for a week in November but throughout the entire year.

See you at the auditions! - John Bowen

All I Want for Christmas Is. . .

October 24, 2009 - So rather than wallow in regret over the cancellation of Devils, Demons, and Divas, I've decided to throw myself full-force into planning our upcoming cabaret entitled All I Want for Christmas Is. . . This program has really developed quite a following over the past two years and is as much fun to put together and perform as it is to attend. This year will feature OV favorites Joy Greene, Jennifer Blades, Frédéric Rey, and Christopher Austin singing songs about all sorts of holiday wish lists, running the gamut from silly to sublime. As I'm planning the program, I'd love to hear from our fans what they'd like most for Christmas (or Hanukah or Kwanzaa or Ramadan). So go ahead and post a comment and see you at the cabaret.

Supertenor

October 2, 2009 - Last night, I saw one of the most spectacular displays of vocal technique and artistry I have every encountered. On Monday, Gran Wilson (our Prince Ramiro) was in a bicycling accident in which he sustained a cracked rib, a punctured lung, and several other more minor injuries. Since Ramiro is not exactly a minor or easy role, I frantically scrambled to find someone who could sing the role with the score from the orchestra pit, thinking that the best case scenario would be that Gran would be well enough to walk the role and the worst case scenario would be that I would walk the role in Gran's stead since I know all the blocking and am roughly the same size as Gran and could fit in his costumes. Joseph Shadday (a new student of Gran's) was consequently found, rehearsed, and ready to sing last night. But none of us were ready for Gran's announcement at 2pm yesterday that he felt recovered enough to sing all of the role except Ramiro's stratospheric second act aria. I mean, come on, this role is taxing enough with both lungs - sing it on one lung?!? But sing it he did and it sounded fantastic. In fact, audience members who had heard my pre-performance announcement about the situation told me at intermission that without the announcement they would never have known that anything was amiss. So BRAVISSIMO Gran! You are a beacon and hero to us all.

There are still tickets available for Saturday's performance. Come hear Supertenor for yourselves. He's planning on singing even the stratospheric aria that night.

A few random musings

September 30, 2009 - Just some thoughts that have been running through my head.

One man's tired cliché is another's cherished memory.

Innovation that provides no insight is not brilliance, merely a desperate cry for attention. Cinderella done with an all male naked cast or in an insane asylum may be innovative but does it really provide any insight into the themes of the piece (or entertain any but the most prurient and/or jaded audience)?

Companies that are continuing to produce art (even if it's not "lavish") in the current climate deserve respect (even if it's begrudging) not carping about the physical elements that their budgets allow.

Comments welcome.

And there are still good seats available to the two remaining performances of Cinderella. Click here to get yours or show up at the door and save yourself the processing fee.

See you at the opera!

A Little Rehearsal Video

September 11, 2009 - On this national day of mourning, I thought we could all use a little pick me up. So, please to enjoy a little clip of the opening of Rossini's Cinderella recorded at rehearsal on Wednesday night.

Remembering that the arts heal wounds with laughter, tears, and a sense of our shared humanity, see you at the opera.