Electronica
This is a rather old story, but La Cieca heard it confirmed just recently. You all have heard, I trust, that this summer the Arena di Verona, for the first time in its nearly 100 year history of opera performances, is miking both singers and orchestra. Why? Because Franco Zeffirelli, director of all five of this year’s productions, demanded amplification: “Se non mettete i microfoni ai cantanti non lavoro in Arena!” [Corriere del Veneto]
Miking at the Arena?? And what does Flo-Flo Cossotto have to say about this outrage?
“BADA!”
At first I was surprised and then it made perfect sense. After a few good years in his early career when Zeffirelli was actually an artist, his obsession has been the gargantuan, overblown, screw opera just look at how big and vulgarly overproduced I can make things approach. Destroying the natural voice with amplified, mixed and falsified sound is totally in line with the rest of his aesthetic (if one could even use that word in connection with his work) and subverts the last vestige of anything real or meaningful in his productions. Disgusting.
The gargantuan crowd scenes have at least served one purpose in the past – they allowed Zeff ample opportunity to cast his beloved pretty boys as supers (not to mention the subsequent invitation to come and “visit” Zeffie-Poo in the privacy of his incredibly lavish boudoir)…..
France = filth
My god – all those poor frogs – I meant – I hope obviously – Franco.
Yea, as in Franco-American Spaghetti.
Amplification kills the arena miracle.
Not that I love La Zafa that much, but:
1. What is being produced there this year?
2. Who is singing what?
3. Are there artists who can actually be heard?
After all, seems like these days, with the lack of mature voices singing some beloved operas, it would not be a bad idea to mic some of those singers.
Artists include Maria Guleghina, Giovanna Casolla, Marco Berti, Salvatore Licitra, Tamar Iveri, Fiorenza Cedolins, Dolora Zajick, Marianne Cornetti, Ildiko Komlosi, Tichina Vaughn, Carlo Ventre, Walter Fraccaro, Kirstin Chávez, Kate Aldrich, Marcelo Alvarez, Andrew Richards, Mark S Doss, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Sondra Radvanovsky, Marianne Cornetti, Mariana Pentcheva and Marcelo Alvarez.
Verona Season 2010
Guleghina and Licitra are artists?
Marianne Cornetti, Marianne Cornetti, Marcelo Alvarez and Marcelo Alvarez?
That really is amplification.
It’s stereophonic sound.
what a crime…because they will NEVER go back after this. once that wall has broken down, why would they return to the natural acoustic? SUCKS!
Guleghina miked? Double uggghhh…
I have never been to Verona and I would have thought they had always been miked.
Are the acoustics that wonderful for so large a venue?
How many does it seat?
35 years ago I was at Caracalla for Aida. How did those acoustice and size of venue compare to Verona.
Aren’t most, if not all, outdoor venues miked?
Just seeking information.
According to the article, Caracalla is miked.
This is an extraction from Trip Advisor from a review written by a visitor early this year. After reading this, I think I might welcome amplification.
“1. We had very good seats in the stalls, about half way back to one side. However, the acoustics meant that the orchestra and soloists were all rather quiet and there were noticeable synchronization problems – singers or trumpets on stage not in sync with the orchestra. There were also bad echos at times – the same sound reaching us twice sometimes.
2. The sound level might not have been such a problem if there hadn’t been so much extraneous noise in the arena. I can forgive the one aircraft that flew over but members of the audience talking, rustling, fiddling with cameras, and in the case of the man next to me actually humming at one point really isn’t acceptable at a performance like this. One woman near us hadn’t turned off her phone; it rang at one point for some time while she extracted it from the depths of her bag, at which point she proceeded to answer it! It wasn’t just the audience: we were close to one of the exits, where several members of the arena staff were positioned, and they were moving about on the noisy floor and making other distracting noises and movements most of the time.”
3. In the instructions that came with our tickets there were very strict rules about cameras and camcorders. Not only shouldn’t they be used but they’re not even allowed into the arena It’s perfectly reasonable to ban their use – most venues do the same. However, this rule was not enforced at all and all through the performance people were take photos – mostly with flash (which is pointless anyway). This was very distracting and at times the hundreds of flashes going off could, I imagine, be quite dangerous for anyone with epilepsy. Members of the Arena staff close to us could easily have seen people near us using cameras and asked them to stop but they made no attempt to do so.
I live in Verona and I have to say that I’m in favor of the amplification. Before this it was impossible to hear anything remotely similar to the opera in question unless you were seated in the first couple of row in the orchestra seating. And god know I’m not going to fork out €190 for a ticket!
The only problem, and this comes from an expierence just 1 week ago, is distortion. At an Aida we got to the opening of the 3rd act and Hiu Hue(forgive me for the spelling) started her lovely performance of O patria mia. And when she got up to the climax high C she wanted to pull a Cabelle and do it pianissimo. Well, I think she sang it pianissimo, but all of a sudden there was a wall of white noise that came through the speakers and you could no longer hear the voice…
The idea of the system should be that we shouldn’t be aware of the amplification. Not an easy task… And as the article from Corriere del Veneto(my hometown newspaper!) says, there is still a huge problem with the balance within the orchestra and between the orchestra and stage…
Maybe next year they will improve!
Franco wants this effect LOL
Filth.
Who’s Zerlina?
I know the video is cheezy, but I really miss Pavarotti. I only saw him once live at the MET, as an aging Radames.
Sheryl Crow – if you click on the YouTube logo you are taken to YouTube which gives you details of the clip.
The man is clearly not responsible enough at this point to be in the positions he occupies… regrettable and stupid that he is allowed to muck up whatever is left of his own legacy…yuck.