Controversial production from new Opera London

By way of a follow up to Tuesday's post on the newly developing Opera London, I have heard whispers about their new production from someone "close to the new company". It sounds like this summer's production of Giulio Cesare by the "new" group will be one of the most controversial stagings to hit Canada in a while. According to the email that I recieved:

They have a young canadian (sic) director that I know from people inside is doing something very radical and strong to the piece, remaking it all to be about American and coalition forces in Afghanistan now, and there will be quite a lot about radical islam,(sic) terrorism, violence, and America's part in the middle east. The orchestra is trying to downplay this aspect because they don't want to create too much controversy or something (maybe afraid of something), but from what I hear from orchestra folks inside this director and his team are pretty radical, and it isn't going to be like anything else seen in Canada usually.

This, needless to say, should be pretty interesting. The director in question, Timothy Nelson, has a blog of his own and goes into some detail about what is going to be coming in the production:

My desktop is full of images of the blown bits of buses, buildings, hands, faces, and lives. It is heavy, and yet I don't think it exceeds the fullness of the work, and that is a good sign. What I love about “Giulio Cesare” is that, contrary to how I think most people approach it, the piece really is a fantastic collage of grays. No character is defined as all good or all bad, they are remarkable three-dimensional, and each has a unique perspective. Probably that, more than anything else, is why I'm drawn to this opera like a moth. I don't think we can begin to understand that horrors of terrorism, radicalism, fundamentalism, or any ism without first recognizing that all isms have a perspective, and even more terrifying, that the potentiality for all those isms exists in ourselves.

In a YouTube video post, he calls the production "What opera should be," "it's about good and evil; wrong and right; ... justice and vengeance" and "that we can meditate on some of these issues and come out changed ... it's my hope that you'll come with and open head ... and find"(it) meaningful for your own life:



and that's just his first post in a series about the production. This will definitely be a production to watch this summer.

The first company survey/profile: DragonDiva Operatic Theatre

About eight months ago I published a post wherein I talked about getting some of the small and medium sized companies to answer some questions so that I could put together profile posts of their companies on the blog to get a state of the industry for singers who haven't yet made the jump to A and B level houses. The thought was that, in addition to a little bit of PR for the companies involved, singers could have their questions answered without having to email every company to ask. I'm also willing to ask questions that most individuals don't. It's also a good, if brief, look at some of what goes in to setting up auditions and a production, as well as the costs involved. The answers are pretty much verbatim with the questions in bold and the responses following. As always, let me know if I've missed a question that you want answered.

Well, I may not be fast, but I'm slow. My friend and colleague John Arsenault, Music Director of DragonDiva Operatic Theatre has bravely volunteered to be the first one up. DragonDiva has been around since 2007 and is run by a dedicated group of singers who saw a gap in performance opportunities in Vancouver and actually decided to do something about it, for which they should be loudly applauded.


DragonDiva Operatic Theatre
Location served: New Westminster/Greater Vancouver Area
Number of productions/year: 2
2009/2010 season's operas: Iolanthe - Gilbert and Sullivan
Hansel and Gretel (in concert)- Humperdink
2010/2011 season's operas: Cendrillon - Massenet
Hansel and Gretel (staged) - Humperdink
Approximate annual (or per-production - please specify) budget. I know that it varies, but try to guess: Approximately $8,000-$10,000 per production
Rehearsal period length and frequency:Generally. we rehearse 3 times a week for 3 hours each rehearsal.
We rehearse in the evenings so as not to interfere with "day jobs". For a typical show we will have 2 weeks of music rehearsal, 5 weeks of staging, and a tech week.
Are rehearsals generally evenings or days? Evenings.
Number of performances per production: 4-7
Performance venue(s) and size:Mainly the Bernie Legge Theatre, Queen's Park, New Westminster.
What are your ticket price ranges?$18
Typically, are your productions with orchestra, piano, or small instrument ensemble with piano?Sometimes piano, sometimes piano with small ensemble.
Are your roles paid? Lead roles? Secondary? Small roles? Chorus?Unfortuately not. We are only a 3 year old company and are still building our "nest egg". We just beacame eligible for grants last year, and so were able to offer the value of the grant to our cast as an honorarium (approximately $50 each). It certainly wasn't much, but maybe covered some gas money for trips to rehearsals. We are very much working toward paying our singers, as we strongly believe in performers being paid what they are worth. Our board has four regularly working singers on it, and our Artistic and Music Directors are both professional opera singers, so we certainly value our casts.
Do you have a relationship with Actor's Equity/Union des Artistes?No (and yes) see below.
Regardless of a relationship or not, how does Equity effect your management of your company?We are absolutely limited at the moment. The Artistic and Music Directors are Equity members. We often have colleagues who we work with in a professional capacity who are interested in taking principal roles with our company, however at this time, with an $8-10K budget per production, there's no money left for Equity contracts. Of course we hope to change that in future. So at this point, the artist has to approach Equity to ask for permission to do our show. Equity has been quite gracious so far, but at some point the grace period will end.
What is the typical level/amount of performing experience that your lead and secondary singers have?Generally our leads are graduates of a university level opera training program, or at least current students in an opera training program. Our secondary roles are often either students or avocational singers, but sometimes they are also graduates of university level training programs as well. It really depends on the show, for example a G&S show tends to bring out a different kind of singer than say, Cendrillon!
When do you hold auditions? Generally in the spring of each year (March or April)
Who do you want to hear from when you audition singers? Established artists? Fresh faced kids hungry to prove something? Anyone who wants to be in a show. We've had everything from high school students to seasoned performers to emerging young professionals in our shows. We think everyone brings something valuable to the table.
How far in advance do you cast? We cast about 3 months in advance of the first rehearsal.
How far in advance do you choose productions? We have a general 5 year plan. So, we know what we would like to do over the next five years, but we finalize approximately one year in advance. Sometimes it is necessary to change the show depending on our current financial situation.
When you audition, do you want to hear arias from the operas you're casting, or not at all? We're open to hearing arias from the opera. However, I want the singer to sing what they feel shows off their voice the best. You don't need to sing the aria from the show for us to hear whether your voice will fit it or not. So, I encourage people to sing what they sing best. However, if you feel that the aria is a great fit for you and you would us to hear it, I certainly am not opposed to that either.
How often do cast members get re-cast in other productions if they do well in their first one? It is impossible to hear a singer and discuss their potential casting in a show without remembering the excellent (or not so excellent) work they have done for you in pervious productions. I would say it is quite influencial. Often you will have someone in a supporting role in one show, and if they do a really great job and they are vocally appropriate for the lead next time, we certainly would tend to consider them for a bigger role.
In an audition: Sing it or act it?A little of both. Sing as you would sing in any other performance. You don't need to go over the top with the drama, but please look alive. Our director is very capable and can show you what to do on stage, but we do want to see that you can be engaged and present in your performance.
What else would you like singers to know about your company?We would like singers to know that DragonDiva is a company that LOVES singers. We are here because we are professional opera singers ourselves and we know how difficult it is when you are starting out to find opportunities to get on stage and hone your craft. We do regret that we can't offer compensation at this time, but we will not ask you to pay any fees to be in our shows. We do fully staged productions with sets, props, professional lighting, newly built costumes and though we do our shows with piano rather than orchestra we hire one of the top opera pianist in our city, who is also on staff at Vancouver Opera. We also make DragonDiva a safe and collegial working environment, where a singer can feel comfortable with themselves no matter what their current level of experience.

Who wants to make a CD?

It seems like a dream to get your own CD. Whether you self produce, or have a label fall on you with heaped praise, a CD is your ticket to fame and riches right?

Well, maybe if you believe that it's good PR and not much more. With a lot of discussion about file sharing taking money out of artist's (potentially your!) pockets, it's worth taking a look at what kind of sales numbers are required to really make an album your ticket to the lap of luxury.


Here's a chart from Information Is Beautiful detail the kinds of sales, from what mediums, an artist has to sell to make (US) minimum wage in one month. It's not pretty. (Click the image to see the right hand column if it doesn't display normally).


Maybe recordings solely as promotional material are a better bet.

Read the article at InformationIsBeautiful.net

Your input needed: Canadian opera company profiles

I've promised to do it for a while now but I'm finally putting the questions together now: I'm going to be asking some of the Artistic/General Directors of some of the small and medium sized companies in Canada to fill us is on what it takes for them to run a company and what singers can expect when they audition/work for them. What I need from you folks are the questions that you'd like to ask companies.

If you had the ability to ask anonymous questions of the Opera Company Gods, what would you like to know? Auditions? Money? Production nuts and bolts? I'll try to include most of the questions in the email that I send out to them (although I can't make them answer them,) so let me know as soon as you can because I'm going to be sending the first batch out right away.

And, if you run a company, let know if you'd like a profile post up on the blog. The questions shouldn't be too painful :-)

Email me at gtheule at gerrittheule.com or leave your questions in the comments below.

A brand new opera company for Ontario?

Well, isn't this intriguing. A tip has lead me to this as yet unannounced website: www.OperaLondon.ca where we see what I am being told is a new actual opera company in southern Ontario to be lead by Pacific Opera Victoria Artistic Director Timothy Vernon. Apparently born from Orchestra London's dabbles in opera collaborations with POV and (as in this year) the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy at the University of Western Ontario I'm told that it's a next step in formalizing opera for the region. Opera London/ the site currently look like a group in transition where most of the links (including the "Donate" button,) re-direct to Orchestra London, and the Orchestra London website lists the production as their own, but it's clear that they are promoting the same upcomming production of Giulio Cesare as the new company. I tried contacting Orchestra London about it, but they didn't reply.

Also interestingly, although the site lists Opera London as receiving Trillium Foundation support, I can't find a 2009/2010 grant for them on the Trillium website.

New diction resource

Diction! Ain't it fun? Well I've come across a new website/podcast at The Diction Police created by Ellen Rissinger who is and American coach working in Germany, mostly at Dresden's Semperoper. The podcasts look (there are only two right now) like they're going to cover individual songs and arias in multiple languages, and featuring guests who go over the texts as well as talk about diction in general. If she can keep it going it should be a fantastic resource as it builds!

Aaaaaaand, we're back

So, 2 1/2 months, eh? Long time no see. I suppose I owe a bit of an explanation to you all.

When I left for Winnipeg in the fall I wasn't quite sure what it would mean professionally. Sure I wasn't in Toronto, or even Montreal or Vancouver, but that didn't mean that I'd be shut out completely, right? Well it turns out that it was a little more isolating than I expected it to be. In Toronto I felt like I was talking to singers, seeing operas, and generally in touch with the arts community every day, even from Burlington. This disconnect made writing the blog a little bit more difficult and, combined with a ton of extra work both in terms of shows (a fun gig with Winnipeg's Little Opera Company coming up next month) and at home, (my wife finished up her Doctoral dissertation and defense,) means that the blog was what gave.

And now I'm back.

Over the last few weeks, as people have started to notice that I was gone, people started to ask why which, to be honest, felt good as I knew that people actually read this. I've also had a strange turnabout where, in two instances, I've had people turn to this blog as a news outlet on opera in Canada; Most recently I've had someone write in with an anonymous tip on something very controversial coming up.

So here we are. Let's see what kind of opera trouble we can get into....