Intermezzo

Minimalist music makes you sick

If you play it, that is. So says a doctor from the specialist musicians' clinic at Düsseldorf University Hospital. It's repeating the same sounds for hundreds of bars that does it. Staying in the same posture with only slight movement can lead to pain, he says.

But then so can practicing for too long, or in the wrong way, without breaks or warm-ups. Other health problems musicians can suffer include osteoarthritis, dermatosis, tinnitus, hearing loss, and stage fright. Depression too. Wouldn't you, after reading that list?

 

Wagner Peep Show

Ever wondered what the Ride of the Valkyries would look like rendered in rabbit-shaped marshmallows?

The US equivalent of Creme Eggs are Peeps - the main difference being that nobody knowingly puts a Peep into their mouth unless they're drunk, starving or under five. Every year, adult Americans with too much time on their hands acknowledge the inedibility of the rubbery Easter bunnies and chicks by arranging them in exotic tableaux and entering them in Peep Diorama contests.

Batting for Team Opera, here's one of the entrants for this year's Washington Post competition. 'Ride of the Valkyrpeeps', loosely based on Otto Schenk's Die Walküre, honours the Wagner bicentennial with a full staging, complete with orchestra and audience.

Check out the band. All chicks. Suck on that, Vienna Phil.

All photos by the artists - more photos here.

Court upholds nude opera photo ban

A German court yesterday upheld the right of the Cologne Opera to ban press photographers from the opening night of its Samson et Dalila back in 2009. The opera house instead offered the press a  selection of its own images.

Tilman Knabe's controversial production featured blood, nudity, gang rape, corsets and torture.  The hardcore scenes sent some of the regie-hardened cast home on 'sick leave'. But it's just the sort of stuff that German tabloid Bild (a cross between the Sun, the Daily Mail and Nuts) loves to stuff its pages with.

The action was brought by the tabloid's publishers, Axel Springer Verlag. They complained that the photos would have been in the public interest, and so the ban amounted to censorship. In response to the opera house's contention that Bild had a reputation for sexist images, Axel Springer said that they shouldn't have made assumptions.

Cologne representatives pointed out that the house was obliged (contractually, in some cases) to protect the privacy of the performers. Many were naked on stage.

Münster judges ruled that the opera house was indeed obliged to provide information to the press, but could decide how and what to present. They also said the interruption caused by photo-taking was not in the interests of either performers or audience.

Axel Springer are considering whether to appeal.

Popeular music

The newly-elected Pope Francis I is, apparently,  a big opera fan. 

New York's Cardinal Edward Egan says of Pope Frank, "I sent him a couple of Metropolitan Opera recordings. He's a great follower of our opera here in New York".

Bloody protest at Latvian National Opera

When the chorus of the Latvian National Opera decided to strike last year in protest at government austerity measures, the courts swiftly ruled their action illegal.

Fearing a similar reaction, the opera's orchestra hit on a cunning ploy to challenge their 35% pay cut.

Instead of striking, 69 of the 103 musicians yesterday donated blood to the national transfusion service - which under Latvian law entitles them to two days off work. Management attempted to halt the action, claiming the orchestra's recent Russian tour breached a one week quarantine restriction, but in vain. Or vein.

The musicians say they will donate again in nine weeks time if their demands are not met.

Plugged in

Classical musicians tell the St Louis Post Despatch how iPads, smartphones and Bluetooth technology are helping them do their jobs.

Bus Stop Opera

"With the first light, always before everyone else, I wake up, take the S60 train from Birkenwerder." That's the first line of Yvonne, a new mini-opera to be performed in Tel Aviv's usually frantic Central Bus Terminal while it's closed to passengers on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Underwear sniffing, violence, and hot dogs are incorporated into a plot set in the lingerie section of a Berlin department store built on the ruins of a synagogue.  A cross between Fassbinder movies and Are You Being Served? reported one dress rehearsal witness.

Shameless

Making cunning use of Swindon's scarce promotional resources, a soprano from the Grand Opera of Belarus sang to *butterflies* at the local *Butterfly* World to promote the company's touring performance of Madame *Butterfly*.

Bet Peter Gelb never thought of that one.

Drinking problem

Old hands Ian Bostridge and Thomas Quasthoff demonstrate the vital art of (non-alcoholic) personal hydration, just one of the recently-acquired career skills that soprano Elisabeth Meister describes in her latest blog post.

Essential reading for vocal students - and a fascinating reminder for the rest of us that being a singer involves a lot more than just singing.

Masterclasses for all

If Joyce DiDonato's Juilliard masterclass left you wanting more, did you know you can go and watch masterclasses in London all year round?

The Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music and Guildhall School host instrumental and vocal masterclasses primarily for the benefit of their students, but members of the public are nearly always welcome to observe, and there's usually no charge. Maxim Vengerov, Ann Murray (both free) and Juan Diego Flórez (fee) are amongst those you could watch sharing their experience over the next few months.

One potential disadvantage of conservatory classes is that they generally take place during working hours. No such problem at King's Place, which this season is hosting a series of chamber music masterclasses (free to watch) on Sundays.

Some teachers are of course better or more entertaining than others (same with the students) but it's one way to acquaint yourself with the finer points of performance practice, and appreciate the some of the challenges performers face.

Conductor bingo contest

Imagine this. Stepping out of your cab, you pay the driver, John Berry. As you press your £800 ticket-chip to the Royal Opera House's security portal, the doors glide open. You wonder how Placido Domingo's first stab at Wotan will go tonight.  You are, in short, in 2016.

Valery Gergiev has just taken over the reins at the Munich Philharmonic from caretaker-manager Lorin Maazel. But who if anyone has taken his place at the LSO? Simon Rattle is about to leave the Berlin Philharmonic. Andris Nelsons at the CBSO and Tony Pappano at the ROH are both on rolling contracts - and they're both up for renewal. Christian Thielemann has spent four whole years with the Staatskapelle Dresden - one of his longest stints yet. The Great British Bake Off has been cancelled now people can't afford to eat, and Sue Perkins is desperate.

So who sits where in the game of musical chairs?

Can you match the conductors with their future employers?

Angry tenor goes on vocal cord strike

A Quebec tenor has gone on "vocal cord strike" to protest against posters advertising Opéra de Montréal's La Chauve-Souris (Die Fledermaus), in which he stars. That's one of them, above.

The company's advertising campaign this season is rather like ENO's, featuring hot models instead of the singers who actually perform in the show. Presumably they're trying to tempt new audiences - who of course will feel disappointed, if not downright cheated, when faced with the oldish, fattish, plainish regular human beings who have the rare skills and training to sing opera on stage and get paid for it.

"If you don't know a lot about opera, you see this poster of this beautiful girl or this beautiful guy," says Hervieux in CBC news. "When you buy your ticket, suddenly, where is this beautiful guy?"

"Call this guy on the poster to sing," he said in rehearsals as he downed his cords.

The Opéra de Montréal has responded by putting together a new poster - with a photo of Hervieux:

KJ @ ROH

No, not that one.

But look at whose name popped up amongst the extra chorus for Robert le diable:

To distinguish Kathyrn Jenkin (pictured below) from the Welsh wannabee, one of her colleagues provides this useful tip - the Royal Opera House soprano is "a delightfully sweet girl with a BEAUTIFUL voice".

 

When opera is worse than easyJet

"It would be more comfortable on a packed easyJet flight".

Despite a five year refurbishment programme costing 30 million Swiss francs (£20m),  the seats of the Opéra de Lausanne are not bottom-friendly, customers have complained.

Upgrade work concentrated on the stage and infrastructure.  Modern replacement seating itself wouldn't be too expensive, but in order to accommodate it 200 places would have to be removed. The house simply cannot afford that kind of revenue loss, says its director.

Unlike the ROH and ENO, which faced the same issue not that long ago, the Opéra de Lausanne has promised customers that the seating problems will be addressed. The drawback? They'll have to wait 20 years for it to happen.

Chest a minute

Classic FM have gone behind the scenes at the photoshoot for the Musicians Benevolent Fund's recently released opera calendar.

Discerning baritone aficionados will find a rare shot of Duncan Rock fully clothed amongst the usual shirtlessness.

Angry audience drive soprano off stage

The audience at yesterday's Opéra d'Avignon rehearsal of La traviata were not at all pleased when Patrizia Ciofi started to walk through the part of Violetta without singing it. 

Feeling unwell, as she explained on her Facebook page, she preferred to save her voice for the first show. The hissing of the audience was so loud it forced the orchestra to stop, and the curtain had to be dropped.

Forumopera were quick to berate their fellow-Frenchies' disruption of a performance for which the artists were unpaid and the tickets were free.  As they rightly point out,  it's rather like booing a footballer for missing a penalty in a training session.

Richard Jones eat your heart out

Imagine yourself surrounded by an elegantly-dressed opera audience, none of whom cough, crackle sweetie wrappers, leave their mobiles on, or smell a bit whiffy.

Not only in your dreams. This fabulous wallpaper design, Fuoco by Trove, is based on an old photo of the glittering Teatro La Fenice palchi.

A 6ft by 9ft roll will set you back less than a pair of prime stalls seats - $398 at Anthropologie.

Toscanini's treasures on the (London) block

Some of the last possessions of Arturo Toscanini to remain in private hands are to be auctioned on 28 November at Sotheby's London.

The items, which come from the estate of a grandson of the conductor, include personal possessions such as batons and a piano. Of greater historical interest are letters from Verdi, Wagner, Strauss and other composers, rare sketches of Verdi’s Falstaff and a Mendelssohn autograph score for the overture to Die Schöne Melusine.

Sotheby’s estimate the trove will fetch at least $1.6 million. Slide show here, and it should be open for public viewing a couple of days before the sale.

64 shopping days to Christmas

No, this isn't a ticket tout exposé.

The Musicians Benevolent Fund have just launched a 2013 singer-a-month calendar with the self-explanatory title ‘Opera Offstage.’

Retailing at £12, all proceeds will support the Musicians Benevolent Fund’s charitable work.

Here's the full set of stars shot in strange places:

Ferneyhoughiade

To promote their concert series at the Wiener Konzerthaus, the contemporary ensemble PHACE are offering a few lucky Viennese a concert in their own home (for a small fee) this Friday.

The musicians will split into five mini-groups for 20 minute programmes which range from George Crumb's Mundus Canis, musical portraits of dogs on guitar and percussion, to Brian Ferneyhough's Cassandra's Dream, a flute solo at the limits of playability. Pierre Boulez, Arnold Schönberg, and György Kurtag are also represented, as well as some younger contemporary composers.