August is the Crappiest Month

August 5, 2008 - First of all, let me rush to apologize to T. S. Eliot's spirit for the blatant paraphrasing of The Wasteland, but I have certainly been realizing why I hate late summer so much. On the one hand, the weather in Baltimore during this month is hideous: hot, humid, and hazy - blech! Being someone who sweats rather than perspires, I would much rather be cold than hot any day of the week. However, the other reason I hate it is that it often is the month during which many things for the upcoming season have to be finalized and also the month in which most artists, designers, crew, etc. are the most unreachable due to the all too understandable desire to flee to more habitable climates. Oh well, I guess "to every season, turn, turn, turn". . .Okay better go before I get myself sued for any more plagiarism. Next post, all original material. I promise.

Provocative Poultry Post

July 29, 2008 - Those who read this blog regularly (yes, I'm remaining optimistic that there are those of you who read this regularly) already know that I've become enamoured of a blog called Chicken Scratch, maintained by Carl the Opera Cleveland chicken. Well a few posts back, Carl talked (or perhaps pecked the keyboard is more accurate) about supertitles and what a great aid they are in bringing new audiences to opera. I agree with Carl that supertitles are infinitely preferable to sitting listening to an opera sung in a language you don't understand. However, I would posit to Carl that even better than supertitles is the experience of hearing an opera in your own language. Opera in the vernacular was the norm for several centuries before the advent of supertitles, and every opera composer from Monteverdi to Poulenc was happy to entertain the idea of their works being translated (Poulenc even was actively involved in the preparation of singing translations for The Dialogues of the Carmelites and mandated as much as he could that the opera be sung in the vernacular) if it meant success in a city outside their homeland. Opera Vivente is vehemently engaged in reinstituting this type of direct, dramatic communication with out audiences. If Carl would like to attend a performance at OV, I have premium poultry seating available in the front row and would be honored to have him as my guest. See you at the opera (in English) Carl!

Artscape Finished but No Rest for the Weary

July 24, 2008 - Well, Artscape performances are over and were a great success. Many thanks to the patrons who braved blistering heat to come hear us and particular thanks to Tim Smith for his review. Now it's full steam ahead for the opening of the season with Mozart's Lord Giovanni aka Don Giovanni in the original language opera house world. We're in the midst of finding the last few choristers, finalizing set and costume designs, contracting orchestral musicians, writing press releases, etc. as well as all the day to day operational things, e.g. working on program layout, selling advertising, fundraising, fulfilling ticket orders . . .well the list goes on. And speaking of ticket orders, individual tickets go on sale August 1st! See you at the opera! - John Bowen

Baritone French Kisses Ficus Tree!

Latte boy saves lesbian lovers! Love trumps literature! Soprano and baritone sing the joys of sentence fragments! Just some possible headlines for our upcoming performances at Artscape. Intrigued? Come see what it's all about on Sunday at 3 and 5pm at the Brown Center at MICA.

What a Sight!

July 15, 2008 - Well I loaded in all the stuff for our Artscape performances yesterday (quite a feat given the road closures, security at the Brown Center, etc.). Last night as I took a desk chair, a longbow, a 6' silk ficus tree, and a bag full of coffee cups to my car, I thought "I wonder what the casual observer thinks I'm about to engage in." See you at Artscape. - John Bowen

P.S. The Artscape blurb doesn't mention it, but our performances of Monteclair and Handel feature Harmonious Blacksmith, Baltimore's innovative period instrumental ensemble led by Joe Gascho.

The Artscape Flurry Begins

July 10, 2008 - Spent the past week finishing translation of Don Giovanni forever hereafter to be referred to as LORD Giovanni (since that's what Don means after all) so haven't been posting. And now am on the eve of the big flurry of activity leading up to our performances at Artscape, so probably won't post much until after 7/20 (performances are at 3pm and 5pm btw). I'll try though. The Artscape pieces are extremely cool and unusual so they might warrant a little backstage banter posting before the shows. I hope you'll stop by the Brown Center at MICA and have a look. - John Bowen

Quick Anniversary Weekend Note

June 29, 2008 - Took a break this weekend to celebrate my 10th anniversary with my partner, Bill. Had a wonderful (as always) dinner at Chef Cindy Wolf's Charleston Restaurant. BTW, Chef also maintains an interesting blog. And speaking of interesting blogs that are more in the realm of opera, I've become addicted to Chicken Scratch, the blog of Carl the Opera Cleveland chicken. Perfect summer reading. Enjoy and see you at the opera. - John Bowen

Brief Recap of OTSL

June 23, 2008 - I'd meant to write this review/recap of my time in St. Louis as it was happening but ended up spending too much time under the tent reconnecting with old friends and meeting singers. Then I'd meant to do it immediately upon returning to Baltimore, but ended up returning to a number of crises at Emmanuel which required my immediate attention. So now, quite frankly, I'm up late typing this post in order to stave off a panic attack brought on by the realization that I've simply got too much to do. The reasoning was a little like this "Well, if you go post on the blog, at least you won't have to stress out about that any more". So here goes:

The first show I saw was Offenbach's chaotic and unfinished (at least in any definitive sense) masterpiece, The Tales of Hoffman. Renaud Doucet and Andre Barbe (a favorite husband and husband director/designer team at OTSL) have put their customary visual panache into this production but I must say that I thought the riot of sheer "stuff" onstage meerly served to further obscure a story that is already somewhat prone to obtuseness. On Wednesday, I had a double-header; in the afternoon a matinee remount of Colin Graham's powerful Madame Butterfly starring Kelly Kaduce. It was magnificent and proved that clear intention coupled with masterful performance can trump the most lavish stage business every time. After a supper interval, it was time for Una cosa rara, a Soler rarity known mostly today due to the fact that Mozart quotes a tune from it in the finale of Don Giovanni. Clever, funky, fun production of a piece of fluff that by the middle of the first act really shows just how transcendently more talented Mozart was than any of his contemporaries. Finally, Thursday night brought the much-anticipated opening of Walton's Troilus and Cressida. For me, I have to say that this work, while lovingly presented by OTSL, simply points up that Walton was a great film composer and a not very great opera composer. Too often the music simply evokes a scene or accompanies what's going on rather than driving the action forward with a musical dialectic. Perhaps some judicious editing would help. One thing I will say: Walton could not have hoped for a more passionate advocate of his music than conductor Antony Walker. Bravo, maestro!

Okay. Now I can check that off the list and hopefully sleep a bit more easily tonight. See you at Artscape, of which I will blog more anon. - John Bowen

Notes on NPAC Before a Jaunt to OTSL

June 17, 2008 - Okay. So last week my treasurer Kathy Lambrow and I went to the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver. Although this was my 5th convention, it was Kathy's 1st and we were both excited because 1) this was the first time that OV would attend as a Professional Company Member instead of an affiliate, 2) this was the first time that OV had sent two representatives and 3) this was only the 2nd time that the Opera America conference was art of a larger performing arts convention. Well, interestingly for me was that there was no middle ground at this convention, only "wow, that was inspiring, informative, etc." on the one hand and "you will never be able to repay me for the 2 hours of my life you just ruined" on the other. Oh well, I've learned each of these things has its own distinct personality so I guess Denver will always be the "bipolar" conference for me.

There were some interesting questions and concerns posed at the conference such as "What constitutes live performance?" Marc Scorca (in a very clever sendup of the backstage at the Met interviews with Renee Fleming et al) posed this in his opening speech. Obviously if we are in the same room as a performer it's "live" and just as obviously if we are watching a video of something that happened weeks or months ago it's "not live". But, if we're watching a "live" broadcast, is it "live"? Very zen, n'est-ce pas? Gerard Mortier in his keynote address followed up a bit on this and came down rather firmly on the side that there is no substitute for being in the same space as the live performer performing.

Another issue that ran through the convention was that performing arts organizations need to become better advocates for their relevance and become more involved in public policy. I have to say that I (and thankfully many of my colleagues who sat at roundtables with me during these sessions) were not in agreement with this. In my opinion, arts organizations can not be involved in the advocacy realm in the way that PACs are. One, no arts organization has sufficient excess income over and above their operating budgets to do this effectively, but even more importantly, it's not our job. Those of us who are involved in the performing arts believe deeply in the relevance of what we do. The way we get the rest of the world to buy into that is not by trying to influence politicians, or convince the general public that what we offer is better than what they are already consuming. We do it by 1) producing the highest quality, most compelling work we can and 2) disseminating that work by whatever means are available to the widest possible viewership. Politicians don't inherently care about the performing arts; they care about voters and until we have a large segment of the voting populace demanding a commitment from their leaders to provide them with a thriving cultural scene, they aren't going to change policy. That large voting populace won't become our advocates if they don't know we exist. Amazingly (since I still consider myself a bit of a luddite) I was one of the few individuals in my various groups to advocate a whole-hearted embrace of the new technologies (YouTube, blogs, MySpace pages, Facebook, etc.) in order to reach the widest possible audience. Here's where the so deeply embedded "ivory tower" mentality reared its ugly head. "Well, that's hardly the best venue to show what we do" said one indignant "high-art" practitioner. "And don't you think that seeing your company on YouTube will mean that people won't buy a ticket to see the real thing" said another. I won't burden you with the rather lengthy response I gave to both of them, but I'd love to know where my readers fall on all these things.

Anyway, I must dash to finish packing for my trip to Opera Theatre of St. Louis this afternoon. I'll be seeing the entire season in 3 days as well as taking in a masterclass by Christine Brewer, enjoying a "tent" dinner and an opening night reception for Troilus and Cressida, as well as trying to glean even more information from Charles McKay, James Robinson, and Timothy O'Leary on the operations and best practices of this truly extraordinary American company. However, I could not in good conscience leave without posting to this blog. One of the other wonderful moments at NPAC was a session entitled "The Online Salon Movement" moderated by my dear friend and colleague Monica Reinagel which included a panelist named Drew McManus who was a student in my arranging class at Towson University too many years ago to mention. What a small world! So, out of respect and affection for Monica and Drew, I'm doing due diligence on my blog. Hey, I even posted a comment on another blogger's post yesterday. Guess there's hope for me yet.

See you at the opera! - John Bowen

Hot but Fun: OV's Annual Picnic

June 9, 2008 - This past Saturday, OV had its annual picnic at the beautiful waterfront home of our treasurer, Kathy Kahler Lambrow. Although the heat was pretty intense, the breeze off the river, Kathy's refreshing swimming pool, plentiful cool beverages, and fantastic food took the edge off and a good time was had by all. This event is consistently cited as one of the really great perks of volunteering for OV, so if you read my last post and were a little on the fence about volunteering, maybe this will be the deciding factor. One of our devoted chorus members, Jackie Scott, even brought an OV11 themed chocolate/chocolate cake. Here's a picture of its mouthwatering delectability. YUMMY! - John Bowen