I have to run, but I wanted to thanks everyone for the INCREDIBLE questions! If you want to purchase tickets, click here. Hope to see you there!
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Hey Reddit! My name's Gabriella Reyes, I'm a soprano with New York's Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. So excited for my first AMA!
In three weeks, I'll be kicking off the Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra Festival with Branford Marsalis in San Diego, CA, which will take place between September 11-18. It's a five-concert orchestral festival bringing members of the world's top orchestras together, on one stage.
Opening Night will commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11, presented in collaboration with the National Conflict Resolution Center. Concerts begin at $49 per four person pod. Opening Night will be live streamed! Click here for Opening Night details.
CEO Nancy Laturno will also be available to answer any questions that arise re: logistics, COVID testing protocols, etc.
Check out photos of the events by clicking this sentence.
Click here to learn more about the festival.
Click here to view the All-Star Orchestra full roster.
Proof: https://imgur.com/a/bGqKW6K
While some of the stories about the disastrous premieres of other operas are quite funny, Carmen’s is more sad. The public reacted well to the first act as well as to the entrance of the toreador in the second act, but then it cooled off quickly as the operagoers were scandalized by Carmen’s “immorality.” Bizet died shortly afterward of a heart attack, at the age of only 36. He never lived to see Carmen’s massive success in the next few years, and some believe that his disappointment over the poor reception of his opera contributed to his death.
This performance from the Met features a big-name cast including my personal favorite Escamillo, Samuel Ramey. Enjoy!
Hi all, I hope this is ok to ask here. I have tickets to March performances at the Met (Tosca with Alagna and Don Carlos with Polenzani). I’m excited but in my haste I could not decide on seats so I got ones both in orchestra center row P/Q and Parterre 15/17 front row. I have never sat in Parterre but have sat in orchestra and dress circle. I will be alone.
Questions for those with more experience
- Are the seats farther apart in Parterre than in orchestra? It looks like that from the seating chart. Are they bigger/smaller than orchestra?
- Will it be weird sharing a box with people who are together?
- Is it too far from the stage for a good view?
I like being close to really see all the action and expression (and perspiration lol), but I am also 5’5” and if I get stuck behind someone tall in orchestra that would blow.
I’m coming from FL and have only been to the Met three times. Thanks a bunch.
The Metropolitan Opera House is the most important opera house in the United States. It is also one of the oldest. It opened its doors for its inaugural season on 22 September 1883 with a performance of "Faust" by Charles Gounod.
The Met has gone through interesting and important phases, and its establishment coincides with the growing interest in the works of the newly deceased Richard Wagner, the late works of Giuseppe Verdi, the emergence of Puccini and the Verismo composers, and the Austro-Germanic post-Wagnerians led by Richard Strauss.
As a result, the entire Ring Cycle (except for Die Walkure), Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal and Die Meistersinger were all performed for the first time in the United States at the Metropolitan Opera House during the reign of manager Leopold Damrosch, who was General Manager from the 1884-1885 season to the 1890-1891 season. During his tenure, all of the repertoire was sung in German.
The first opera to receive its United States premiere at the Metropolitan is "La Gioconda" by Almicare Ponchielli. It was a vehicle for the soprano who sang Marguerite in "Faust" on the opening night of the 1883 season, swedish soprano Christine Nilsson.
The following operas will be featured this week:
Almicare Ponchielli La Gioconda USA Premiere Date 20 December 1883
Richard Wagner Tristan und Isolde USA Premiere Date 01 December 1886
Giuseppe Verdi Falstaff USA Premiere Date 04 February 1895
Richard Strauss Salome USA Premiere Date 22 January 1907
Giacomo Puccini La Fanciulla del West World Premiere Date 10 December 1910
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Cosi Fan Tutte USA Premiere Date 24 March 1922
Samuel Barber Vanessa World Premiere Date 15 January 1958
Link: https://my.mail.ru/video/embed/1103528822357305825
Libretto: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18iS0GIVJvBYXf7-RmHD_7aZoVMSf84wz/view?usp=sharing
For the last day of Underrated tenors week, we have Offenbach's masterpiece, Les contes d'Hofmann. An operetta composer for most of his life, doing this work was a challenge for him, but he managed to pull off one of the best operas ever. It's a shame he didn't see the success of this master work, he died four month prior to the premiere. Unfortunately, there were a lot of things in the opera that were still pending when the composer died, so there has always been some uncertainty within the opera community about how Offenbach planned his opera to be. For example, until the late 80s the order of the acts was performed wrongly (Olympia-Giulietta-Antonia), but fourtunately musicologists and hitorians have been doing their best to recreate what Offenbach wanted, so now we know, among other things that the order of the opera is Olympia-Antonia-Giulietta.
The tenor this final day is no other than Neil Shicoff, an amazing voice with a very diverse repertoire. He excels at French opera, at Italian opera, at contemporary opera, Russian opera and so on. A very compelling actor too, his performances are definitely a good watch always.
This performance is from the Met (with the wrong Act order), in which the three ladies are played by Gwendolyn Brandley, Roberta Alexander and Tatiana Troyanos. James Morris has the chance to do all four villians along Anothony Laciura, who plays all of his minions. Susan Quittmeyer completes a brilliant cast led by the wonderul Charles Dutoit.
So, that's it! Hope you enjoyed this week!
I have used a Pilot Metropolitan for the past year and woah I've loved the experience so far, and I'm pretty surprised I haven't lost it lol.
So after looking through the sub I settled on my next pen The Lamy Safari.
I'll definitely use this pen for at least 3-4 Months before buying a new pen (don't want to get carried away now lol).
What are some good pens to get after these?
Priorities:
- Writing Smoothness
- Looks
- Build Quality
I like the weight of the Pilot. I do not really like anything flashy so preferably a pen with good build quality and all black and or a sleek look.
Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DHKmwrYydzCXWrwKyRU-bdWR0OUgb4r0/view?usp=sharing
Libretto: http://www.murashev.com/opera/Die_Zauberfl%C3%B6te_libretto_German_English
Ah, Zauberflöte. One of my favourite operas ever. For some it's a simple fairytale, for some it has some deeper meaning and for others it's all about masonic entry rituals. In reality, it's a bit of everything, as Schikaneder, the librettist, wanted the opera to look good above all, so he and his team included what they thought would look good on stage.
The tenor in focus today is one of my favourites, Francisco Araiza, a Mexican tenor with such a beautiful singing that he's the closest thing we got to Wunderlich, being more versatile too. Specialized in Mozart and bel canto, he made a name for himself around the greates opera houses in Europe, being hand-picked by the best conductors, such as Karajan, Böhm or Muti, to be a part of their productions. He also paved the way for other Mexican tenors that would be very successful afterwards, like Ramón Vargas, Rolando Villazón or Javier Camarena. So, if he was known for Mozart and bel canto, why is he here? Why did the Three Tenors affect him? Well, because he was much more than a Mozart and bel canto specialist. His Verdi is fantastic and his Puccini is equally good, which is a shame because there isn't a single decent video recording out there of him singing these roles, as most of opera executives wanted the Three Tenors in these roles, so he kept recording Mozart, french opera and bel canto.
Today I bring you one of my favourite ever productions, the Zauberflöte I used to watch all the time when I was a kid, it all looked very magic to me. I also wanted to post this version because the Met skipped it in their daily free streams. Our tenor is paired with the fantastic Kathleen Battle, another one of my favourite singers ever, as Pamina here, while Manfred Hemm is a brilliant Papageno. Luciana Serra makes a thrilling Queen and opposite of here whe have a wise and noble Kurt Moll as Sarastro. All of them led by the wonderful mozartian (and not-so-wonderful person, probably) James Levine, who nails the interpretation of the work.
BLACKFACE ALERT: This production has blackface, so I understand if you're uncomfortable watching it.
She was the understudy for the woman I keep finding, wearing a bright pink dress and being a wind-up-doll. She sang the song up an octave from where it’s usually sung and a few actors in the fake audience on stage are visibly surprised at the high note she hits. All I can find now is the main actress, who sings it the normal way.
I have to run, but will do my best to circle back through the day! I wanted to thanks everyone for the INCREDIBLE questions! If you want to purchase tickets, click here. Hope to see you there!
//
Hey Reddit! My name's Gabriella Reyes, I'm a soprano with New York's Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. So excited for my first AMA!
In three weeks, I'll be kicking off the Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra Festival with Branford Marsalis in San Diego, CA, which will take place between September 11-18. It's a five-concert orchestral festival bringing members of the world's top orchestras together, on one stage.
Opening Night will commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11, presented in collaboration with the National Conflict Resolution Center. Concerts begin at $49 per four person pod. Opening Night will be live streamed! Click here for Opening Night details.
CEO Nancy Laturno will also be available to answer any questions that arise re: logistics, COVID testing protocols, etc.
Check out photos of the events by clicking this sentence.
Click here to learn more about the festival.
Click here to view the All-Star Orchestra full roster.
Proof: https://imgur.com/a/bGqKW6K
