Comments on: Opera with a whiskey back

By: twinklefolds

twinklefolds — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:44:09 +0000

I would recommend checking the American Opera Projects on the regular.

If you don’t know about AOP, they are a great organization dedicated to developing new operas from composers, both known and unknown. They start with workshops on the libretto(!)and then work with composers on the development of their operas. At each stage, portions of the operas are presented, usually at the South Oxford Place in Brooklyn but increasingly at Galapagos as well.

They are very worth supporting. If you don’t know them, check them out.

http://www.operaprojects.org/

Also, check out the fledgling Opera Mission presenting new works in the lobby of the Gershwin Hotel. Excellent musical and production values.

http://operamission.org/

By: BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK

BETSY_ANN_BOBOLINK — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:52:34 +0000

It was listed in the events:coming section on the left for about a week as “Opera Grows in Brooklyn” but it didn’t receive any special promotion.

By: Nero Wolfe

Nero Wolfe — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:44:15 +0000

If there was a mention of this on Parterre prior to the actual performance, I must have missed it because it sounds like it would have been interesting to attend.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:17:10 +0000

One thing that struck me is that the atmosphere you describe at Galapagos is virtually identical to the way audiences experienced the plays of Shakespeare, and the operas of Cavalli, Handel, Gluck and Rossini when they were new.

For a hundred years or so the kind of audience manners and theater protocol Wagner imposed at Bayreuth became the standard. Now with audiences doing a lot more talking in theaters and opera houses, along with the plague of cell phones, we may wind up going back to 18th/19th century practice all over again.