Singing for my supper

The article about NYCO I linked in this post has run a correction on what is a pretty glaring error: " The New York City Opera has suspended plans to announce its fall season. The headline of a previous version of this article incorrectly said it has suspended its season." Glad to hear that it sounds like merely a delay in finalizing plans rather than scrapping them altogether, but shame on you for that kind of misake, Wall Street Journal!

Ok, so a day late - although I don't think a dollar short, and no less heartfelt. Those endless hours at the typewriter in Los Angeles! You were determined that there were never going to be any real financial concerns to scare a kid into wondering if everything was going to be ok. To make sure that I really could keep up with the horses and the horseshows. That I could go back to the UK to study, first to reconnect with those important childhood years spent in England, and subsequently to complete my performance training at one of the most prestigious conservatories in the world without having to work 5 jobs just to pay the rent. Strangely, one of the things I remember most of our LA years was the Sunday night family steak dinners at The Mainsail in Marina Del Rey (or was it Venice?). The dark-paneled, underlit gloom which they billed as "New York Steakhouse", somewhat California-ized by funky murals on the walls and typically Los Angeles servers who almost certainl...

This has been so much fun - the entries are really a hoot. Funny if you're only passingly familiar with the stories, and even funnier when you know them well (or have sung them!). Great stuff. The prize list is growing all the time, so I encourage everybody to have a look and a try, if only for a giggle! For those not familiar with twitter, to find the summaries go to www.twitter.com search the hashtag #operaplot (include the # symbol in your search). Here are some of the ones I submitted - I'll leave you to figure out which operas they are (comments welcome!): Druid love triangle goes up in flames while secret squeeze runs off with the kids. (this one was actually quoted in an LA Times article yesterday , which was kind of fun!) SWM seeks doll, sick singer, adventurous lady & bi-curious violinist for raving and poetry. No medics, please. Wedding bells for single-mother acquitted in baby-drowning scandal. Breaking News: mom pimps teen to get a head. Authority figures ...

Click here for rules Short version: summarize an operaplot on Twitter in a status update of 140 characters or less. Tweet must include the hashtag #operaplot. Even if you're not an opera fan, it's worth tootling over to Twitter and searching the hashtag #operaplot to check these out - anybody who thinks opera, opera singers and opera fans are boring fuddy-duddies is in for a surprise!

I generally avoid discussing politics in public, having taken to heart sage advice given to me as a student that the three things you should never talk about on the job are politics, religion and vocal technique. Well, I've never managed to keep my mouth entirely shut about the latter, and apparently I'm now going for a two-out-of-three failure rate, but so much is going on that I'm finding it impossible to keep stumm. Even as the US government was threatening shutdown of its own, there was news again this past week of more opera companies suspending seasons, and symphonies filing for bankruptcy; in the UK, eyebrows were being raised over the recent Arts Council of England cuts . All of which has resulted in a great deal of activity in the press and blogosphere which needs to be shared and rather than paraphrase, I'm taking the liberty of linking to some of these articles and interviews. Much food for thought. From the Guardian Stage blog: Why do some theatre cr...

The Cardinal's Nest I don't think it's just us mezzos who regularly face this, but a recent blog post I stumbled over has sure hit the nail on the head, almost word-for-word echoing my own experience and understanding! I won't even add comment here, since the author has said everything I would have myself. Enjoy!