Thursday, December 07, 2006
Idamineo, Mozart, The Met and Me!
Darling Debbie C. - a well-established member of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and a friend that Peter and I have come to value - was kind enough to offer us tickets to last night's performance of IDAMINEO and we sat center orchestra for this most wonderful production. Peter has never been to a performance there before so it was a rather celebratory evening, a Holiday night on the town. We both dressed up, and it was fun! And the Metropolitan Opera House was decked out in all of its usual gorgeousness and glory! A reason to be in this City: attending the Met!
Since I have been teaching at Steinhardt, i have become acutely appreciative of what it takes to produce a fully expressive human singing sound, so last night was like being in the best sort of class, learning from the best. I adored every single note that came out of every single singer, because I now know how hard it is to do what they make look so easy! The sounds were glorious, expressive and fully engaged...there was actually good acting going on and the communication was clear and lovely. I saw the direction I hope opera is going in: more natural human emotional telling of the story.... ..more of the singer showing up on the stage, the singer as a person, not just an instrument. I see very little opera ....in fact, I go to live performances so little these days (Peter and I are in such a snuggling time of our life together)...but opera is a part of theater I have little experience in, so I know little of its traditions and history, as far as kinds of staging techniques and acting styles are concerned, however, I am constantly observing what "works", what moves an audience, looking out for that magical element that makes the difference....so last night was one huge class for me, with me as willing student giving the singing voice premier place in the technique and action....I have not yet heard enough glorious live human singing voices to be jaded....I simply adore gorgeous human singing sound...so I was pretty much in the middle of a box of good chocolates last night!
And came away filled with awe at what the voice is capable of.
I was able to be more objective (though hardly more) about the stage direction....and found places I could imagine more useful directorial input....but I have never had to move a singing chorus of 100 poeople around a large stage before, and I have never worked in the tradition of Mozart court opera before, so who am I to say I know anything? It was fun "playing" director though, and imagining....and in some cases, I felt like I wsa seeing genuinely innovative staging. I appreciated so much of what I saw.
And I want to write more about it, but have to get to NYU...meeting with Meg B. to talk about acting classes....as we wind down the semester, I will be downtown a lot...many classes to visit and meetings to attend. My last day of real work there, before the Winter Break, is the 14th...we do a showcase of acting class scenes,etc. that day. My students have been working so hard and are in good shape. I can honestly say I am proud of them. And I like them too! We have worked diligently on Shakespeare, Chekov, scenes and monologues...and the lessons i needed to impart about music and language and connecting it all to the human soul ...well...they seem to have heard me. They do seem to have a clue! A useful clue. This, of course, is a wonderful thing to see....and since they came into the school already gifted, it is nice to understand that they are good enough to open their ears and hearts to what their teachers have to tell them. Smart kids.
I wonder if Rick and Amanda received the SLINGS AND ARROWS we sent them yet....hope the two DVDS get to Abingdon safely. I can imagine them sitting in their wonderful cozy den, in their astonishingly beautiful home, giggling and giggling at what SLINGS AND ARROWS has to offer......a great way to end the year: laughing!
Since I have been teaching at Steinhardt, i have become acutely appreciative of what it takes to produce a fully expressive human singing sound, so last night was like being in the best sort of class, learning from the best. I adored every single note that came out of every single singer, because I now know how hard it is to do what they make look so easy! The sounds were glorious, expressive and fully engaged...there was actually good acting going on and the communication was clear and lovely. I saw the direction I hope opera is going in: more natural human emotional telling of the story.... ..more of the singer showing up on the stage, the singer as a person, not just an instrument. I see very little opera ....in fact, I go to live performances so little these days (Peter and I are in such a snuggling time of our life together)...but opera is a part of theater I have little experience in, so I know little of its traditions and history, as far as kinds of staging techniques and acting styles are concerned, however, I am constantly observing what "works", what moves an audience, looking out for that magical element that makes the difference....so last night was one huge class for me, with me as willing student giving the singing voice premier place in the technique and action....I have not yet heard enough glorious live human singing voices to be jaded....I simply adore gorgeous human singing sound...so I was pretty much in the middle of a box of good chocolates last night!
And came away filled with awe at what the voice is capable of.
I was able to be more objective (though hardly more) about the stage direction....and found places I could imagine more useful directorial input....but I have never had to move a singing chorus of 100 poeople around a large stage before, and I have never worked in the tradition of Mozart court opera before, so who am I to say I know anything? It was fun "playing" director though, and imagining....and in some cases, I felt like I wsa seeing genuinely innovative staging. I appreciated so much of what I saw.
And I want to write more about it, but have to get to NYU...meeting with Meg B. to talk about acting classes....as we wind down the semester, I will be downtown a lot...many classes to visit and meetings to attend. My last day of real work there, before the Winter Break, is the 14th...we do a showcase of acting class scenes,etc. that day. My students have been working so hard and are in good shape. I can honestly say I am proud of them. And I like them too! We have worked diligently on Shakespeare, Chekov, scenes and monologues...and the lessons i needed to impart about music and language and connecting it all to the human soul ...well...they seem to have heard me. They do seem to have a clue! A useful clue. This, of course, is a wonderful thing to see....and since they came into the school already gifted, it is nice to understand that they are good enough to open their ears and hearts to what their teachers have to tell them. Smart kids.
I wonder if Rick and Amanda received the SLINGS AND ARROWS we sent them yet....hope the two DVDS get to Abingdon safely. I can imagine them sitting in their wonderful cozy den, in their astonishingly beautiful home, giggling and giggling at what SLINGS AND ARROWS has to offer......a great way to end the year: laughing!
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