People who don't know much about opera often wonder about what exactly to see.
The Met has taken a small step to help them.
You answer four simple questions - the reason you go to the opera, and which languages, style of opera and type of story you prefer - and the Met website will suggest which of their 2013-14 productions will suit you best.
It's not perfect, and it presupposes a little existing knowledge, but I was quite impressed with the the suggestions it made for me.
not bad at all, with one exception, when i said German opera i meant Wagner, NICHT Strauss ;-) but other than that i would see all it offered :-)
Posted by: Hariclea | 24 April 2013 at 04:51 PM
"lavish productions" not "thought provoking" or "dramatic" or "groundbreaking".
Gah!
Posted by: Operaramblings.wordpress.com | 24 April 2013 at 06:02 PM
I was surprised to be offered Andrea Chenier in the first round, but other than that, yeah, impressive!
Posted by: Lisa Hirsch | 24 April 2013 at 07:25 PM
Well I tried it and with the possible exception of Norma in the first five and Falstaff in the second five nothing I intend to see came up. In the second five it gave me the two Strauss operas I don't plan on seeing (only intend to see Frau) Hariclea no Wagner (but 3 Bellini--all in supercrappy productions) at the Met next season which is why you got Strauss when you selected German.
Posted by: bryan | 24 April 2013 at 09:08 PM
I got the same three supercrappy Bellini productions because I selected Italian as one of my language preferences, I guess. I also drew Cenerentola and Werther - the only two I would be interested in from my first round.
Posted by: Diane | 24 April 2013 at 09:51 PM
wonderful marketing tool for novices ... When I stated I had no language preferences etc ( but great singers of course) - I was entitled to attend Onegin, Werther , La Cenerentola,L'Elisir and Norma .
Why not?;)
Posted by: Alexander | 24 April 2013 at 11:17 PM
I have tried it twice and got the same five operas as you both times. The thing I did different the second time was to put "no preference" for the type of story instead of "romance" as I did the first time.
For the first question I answered that my main reason for going was "to expand my operatic experience". But they don't know what my experience is, so they cannot tell what I need to see to expand it.
Although I love all five operas they suggested, I did not think having three by Bellini included was a very balanced selection. If choosing for myself I would have wanted to see The Nose! I said langauges I liked included Russian but got nothing in that.
Posted by: Miriam | 25 April 2013 at 09:13 AM
Wozzeck, Rosenkavalier, Arabella, Frau, Prince Igor.
Since "Rosenkavalier" is one of those operas I'll never listen to again and "Arabella" bores me to tears, I think it says more about the Met's offerings than my tastes.
Posted by: Henry Holland | 25 April 2013 at 10:28 PM
The operas which I never wish to hear (or see) again are Falstaff, Pelleas et Melisande and Parsifal. The Met came up with Falstaff for me, but the other slections were fairly accurate.
Posted by: Sarah R | 26 April 2013 at 11:24 PM