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| Tom Gee (guest) |
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Posted:04/06/2008 2:01 PM |
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Anything that fits in Fletcher!!!! There are lots of great operas that fit this wonderful auditorium without having to go outside of the small theater comfort zone and mounting something like Aida.
We have a great house in Fletcher, let's use it. We don't have a large house anywhere in the area. Memorial Auditorium doesn't even work for the Broadway stuff they try to do over there. It started life as a wrestling arena and despite the constant reconfiguring it hasn't worked for anything else yet.
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| Catherine (guest) |
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Posted:04/15/2008 9:52 PM |
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The opera I most wish to see is "I Pagliacci" which is most often performed with "Cavalleria Rusticana"!
I'd also love to see "Turandot"!
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| RXBOCA (guest) |
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Posted:04/16/2008 3:49 PM |
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HOW ABOUT SOME LESSLY PERFORMED OPERAS LIKE SAMSON & DELILA, LA GIACONDA, LA JUIVE, RECENTLY REVIVED BY THE MET AFTER ABOUT 60 YEARS, PORGY AND BESS, 3 PENNY OPERA
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| Linda (guest) |
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Posted:05/08/2008 1:04 PM |
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I'm a new subscriber, so forgive me if I suggest something you've produced recently. I'd love to see "La Traviata," "Don Giovanni," and "Lakme."
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| Guest (guest) |
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Posted:05/12/2008 4:24 PM |
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I would love to see Lakme, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (one of my favorite comedies), Carmen, or La Boheme. Any of these would please me immensely!
Ciao,
Anonymous Opera Lover
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| Loving Libra (guest) |
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Posted:05/13/2008 12:21 PM |
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We would love to see Porgy and Bess!
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| solosoprano (guest) |
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Posted:05/14/2008 2:22 PM |
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I would love to see Susannah, Peter Grimes, Rape of Lucretia
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| fiddlesticks (guest) |
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Posted:05/21/2008 12:05 AM |
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Anything with Angela Maria Blasi. She is a rare artist and we are lucky to have her here.
How about Eugene Onegin, La Rondine or Otello? It would be a gift to our region.
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| jd (guest) |
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Posted:05/23/2008 4:20 PM |
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For a different, but wonderfully approachable opera experience, Peter Sellers' stagings of Mozart operas -- setting the classics in a contemporary environment -- might get the town talking.
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| Phil (guiest) (guest) |
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Posted:05/24/2008 1:43 PM |
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The idea of doing some more Strauss or perhaps at least a Flying Dutchman is wonderful. I might also recommend doing Weber's Der Freischutz (especially if it is scheduled around Halloween! Perfectly appropriate!), and Ariadne auf Naxos is gorgeous. If you get a stage director who will really bring out the in jokes about theater and performers that are in both the prologue and the actual opera while allowing the apotheosis that is part of that opera to shine through, you'd have a stunning production. And supertitles would make it understandable to the audience.
Faust is a good opera, and although the story comes from Germany, the opera is typically French. And I would heartily recommend Samson et Dalila by Saint-Saens. Although there is chorus in it, that chorus doesn't need to be huge, and the scene between Samson and Delila in which she gets his secret out of him is to die for.
Fledermaus is a great idea, especially if you could do it around the New Year as a gala. And you could do Jenufa, which is a gorgeous opera, perhaps even in a good English translation, although I would probably prefer the original Czech with supertitles. It doesn't demand a great deal of chorus and has wonderful scenes and good parts.
Finally, you might consider doing some more really great classic operettas and even some of the classic musicals, especially those that tend toward opera anyway. West Side Story, Candide, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, all have a lot to give if done well, and they can also help draw in audiences. Opera is music theater, and it is good to remember that there are plenty of operas that have dialogue in them. For instance, Carmen was originally a dialogue opera. Fidelio (and this is another opera you guys should really consider) has dialogue in it. So does Magic Flute, another great opera. Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio also has dialogue, as does Freischutz mentioned above.
There is a wealth of repertoire to choose from that wouldn't necessarily chase the audience away if it is done well, and while I love Italian opera, not all opera is Italian, by any means. The Rape of Lucretia or Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten would be great choices for a season. It all comes down to how it is introduced to your public, and along those lines, a Taste of Opera is an excellent idea and much to be continued.
A long rant, perhaps, but sincerely meant.
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| raleighlovesopera (guest) |
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Posted:05/29/2008 6:50 PM |
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I would like to see some Monteverdi L'Incoronazione!
I know you need to choose popular operas that sell seats, of course, but maybe once in a while do something on the edge like early music or something from the modern era. Streetcar Named Desire by Previn or Ghosts of Versailles...perhaps Kurt Weill?
If that is not in the cards for the near future, a Falstaff, Eugene Onegin, Der Rosenkavalier...I am not sure of your past shows...have not surfed your site enough to find your archives...
I have always loved Korngold's Die Tote Stadt.
Probably have suggested enough!
Thanks for listening!
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| Guest (guest) |
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Posted:05/31/2008 4:38 PM |
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I saw some of those in the list, but just do add support:
Bizet's Carmen
Delibes's Lakmé
Gounod's Faust
Offenbach's Hoffman
I personally love Carmen, and I'm sure it would attract many opera-lovers and first-timers.
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| heather (guest) |
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Posted:06/04/2008 5:32 PM |
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I would love to see you perform La Traviata! It's a beautiful and emotional opera - perfect for newbie audience members who have never experienced opera and a favorite among those of us already in love with the art!
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| ahwiggins (guest) |
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Posted:07/02/2008 11:53 AM |
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Turandot, Tosca, Lakme would be my top three! Thanks
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| Davey in Carrboro (guest) |
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Posted:07/14/2008 6:18 PM |
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Some HANDEL, please, PLEASE! We have the intimate Fletcher Auditorium where we saw OUR TOWN and LUCIA last year, and this would be absolutely perfect for Handel's operas, too. Handel's operas are some of the hottest works being done in houses large and small all around the world. Virginia Opera has recently done GIULIO CESARE and AGRIPPINA. I drove all the way to Richmond for the AGRIPPINA and it was a very good production with a fine cast. I wish I had been able to see their GIULIO CESARE, because I have it on CD and it's very good as well! I just came back from San Francisco where I saw a stunning ARIODANTE, and a month before that a riveting TAMERLANO in Washington. And last November I saw a superb GIULIO CESARE in Chicago. Later this month, I'll be headed to Santa Fe for RADAMISTO. I'm pointing this out to make folks here aware that Handel's operas are being done nearly everywhere, and in most cases they are the hottest tickets of the season.
While there are a paucity of great singers for Verdi, Puccini and Wagner these days, there are many, many fine and exciting singers of baroque opera. If regional companies like Virginia Opera, San Diego Opera and Arizona Opera can perform Handel, there is no reason why Raleigh can't! Some possibilities include: SEMELE, GIULIO CESARE, RODELINDA, RINALDO, AGRIPPINA, ARIODANTE, ALCINA, and TAMERLANO. I'm sure you're aware that David Daniels (one of the greatest countertenors of all time) is from South Carolina, and I'll bet he would absolutely love performing here in the Carolinas. I hope, hope, hope that the Opera Company of NC will try to expand its rep and not only do the ABC operas year after year. Handel is in such demand these days, and every place they are performed has been an "event." The Opera Company of NC, if it hopes to become a strong regional company, must expand its rep. I would suggest looking at your competitors, especially in Charlotte and Richond/Norfolk. By the way, I was told by someone at Opera Carolina that they definitely plan on performing Handel operas in their new, smaller auditorium that should be completed, I believe this year.
In addition to Handel, I'd love to see MANON, ROMEO ET JULIETTE, WERTHER, TROVATORE, BALLO IN MASCHERA, OTELLO, MARIA STUARDA, DON PASQUALE, IDOMENEO, DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL, CLEMENZA DI TITO, COSÌ FAN TUTTE, ELEKTRA, ORFEO ED EURIDICE, IPHIGINIA IN TAURIS, DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER, LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES, HOFFMANN, and FANCIULLA DEL WEST.
Now I realize that the Opera Company of NC is a young company. I also realize that the "bread and butter" opeas are guaranteed to fill more seats. That said, I think it's time to bring to the Triangle more variety than we're getting. I've lived here 15 years and each year I feel the area is becoming increasingly sophisticated regarding the arts. We deserve more than BOHEME, CARMEN, TRAVIATA and TOSCA every year! These are great operas, of course, but unless they have great casts, they don't always live up to their name recognition. If the Opera Company of NC is going to do 3 operas a season, at least have ONE of them be something that's beyond the basic rep--PLEASE!!!! Yes, it's important to perform operas for newbies and for people who only want to see the dozen or so operas they're familiar with, but it's equally important to perform operas for those of us who don't want to see the same works again and again. Please don't treat the Triangle audience as either a bunch of newbies or "opera lovers" that will only come out for AIDA, BOHEME and CARMEN! We're much more sophisticated that that!
Finally, as much as I love Wagner, and operas like DON CARLOS and BORIS GODUNOV, I think those are realistic at this time. Also, I hope that something can be done about Memorial Auditorium, which everyone seems to hate. I see operas all over this country, in national as well as regional companies, and Memorial Auditorium has the worst acoustics of all. In fact, it's the only hall I'm aware of where miking the opera singers (which I HATE!) takes place.
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