parterre box

99 comments

• Pelleas says:

  My favorite part: “If their performance is good, you will feel pretty also regardless of the environment.”

  Hope springs eternal.

  on June 2, 2010 at 9:16 AM
• regiefida says:

  I think that OC’s blog and the opera situation in LA are getting intertwined in a way that is misleading.

  LA opera has some terrific people working for them – they have an excellent “opera for educators” program that tries to bring opera into the schools by providing classes that teachers can take for credit. Since there is not money for a serious arts program in many schools, this is the next best thing.
  Presenters include young up-and-coming singers, academics from the local universities, etc.

  Los Angeles does NOT have a large enough opera-savvy community to support a blog like Parterre ( ok, there can never be another Parterre – but you know what I mean)

  OC has a SoCal “connection” and I suspect that’s why comments end up there.

  Don’t forget that California is facing a severe budget crisis. When a mega production like the Ring needs public money ( direct public money – all arts institutions get indirect public money via the tax exemption for non-profit donations) and gets it, I believe it actually harms the opera community because people who might have been “neutral” or curious, react in a way that many of us would when we feel that “our” money has not been spent wisely.

  The long and the short of it is that opera in LA is a fragile enterprise and has not been well-served by those who make the most noise or biggest splash;

  So cut the posters some slack – they are frustrated.

  on June 2, 2010 at 10:03 AM
  • Henry Holland says:

    The long and the short of it is that opera in LA is a fragile enterprise and has not been well-served by those who make the most noise or biggest splash

    So true. I’m baffled why Domingo and his cohorts were so hell-bent on doing a Ring cycle here before they’d done large chunks of the standard rep. Ring mania at the Dot has gone on for 10 years or more, it’s warped the budget and priorities. It’s going to take years to dig out of the hole the Ring has created, so I imagine more seasons with 3 Puccini operas are in our future.

    on June 2, 2010 at 12:22 PM
• Sadie Salome says:

  Our old friend Marshie is spreading the gospel of Cheryl Studer over there:

  http://operachic.typepad.com/opera_chic/2010/06/opera-chic-interview-jonas-kaufmann-speaks-with-opera-chic-about-franz-schubert.html#comments

  on June 2, 2010 at 10:24 PM