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The Booky Man: The Fellowship of the Reads
Opera seems an unlikely portal to a new column on books. Still, a recent evening at an Atlanta production of The Elixir of Love, Donizetti’s long and silly little love song, left me thinking more of reading and readers than of bel canto, lovely as it is. As a writer, observance is blessing and curse at once. Forget immersion in most any moment—lovemaking, gardening, sports events: The Writer perversely takes notes in the midst of overwhelming pleasures and the humdrum alike. How pretty her eyelashes. The earth feels warm here, like freshly baked bread. Fourth and goal, why is Saban... read more
Found in: Features, ColumnsTwitter: The Opera is a Real Thing That's Actually Happening
@Radames Slavery sux, u should ditch Pharaoh. g2g my dad's here #niledeltaOK, a real Twitter opera will probably look nothing like that, but that doesn't mean the Royal Opera House of London (pictured above) isn't doing it anyway. Yes, that's right, they're creating an opera composed entirely of storyline suggestions sent to their Twitter account. More than 350 people have contributed so far.... read more
Found in: Concerts, NewsFormer Football Player Now Member of New York Metropolitan Opera
During his days as a football player (first at the University of Colorado, then in Finland and finally with the Arena Football League), Keith Miller didn't listen to stereotypical motivation music. While teammates spent locker-room sessions jamming to hip-hop and metal, Miller confesses that was never his scene. "I used to listen to the 'Queen of the Night' aria before games," he told The Savannah Morning News. This interest has evolved considerably since those days and has become a new career for the former fullback. Miller studied at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, and he's now a member... read more
Found in: Culture, NewsManchester International Festival: Rufus Wainwright's opera Prima Donna
There's always been hints of the operatic in the music of Rufus Wainwright—the emotive crooning, the vocal gymnastics on his most epic tunes and, of course, the penchant for the melodramatic. But tonight marked his debut as an actual opera composer at the world premiere of Prima Donna—part of the Manchester International Festival.... read more
Found in: Blogs, High GravityMozart's Cosi fan tutte gets modern with text messaging
We really probably shouldn't be surprised, considering it seems no one is safe from the pervasive power of technology nowadays. No, not even you, opera. In an unprecedented level of technological integration, the New York Times reports that Underworld Productions Opera Ensemble has decided to embrace the age of the cell phone and allow theatregoers to vote via text on the outcome of a modernized version of Cosi fan tutte.... read more
Found in: Culture, NewsPhilip Glass says hi-ho to opera about Walt Disney
What to do with three Academy Award nominations, eight symphonies and a swathe of film scores and solo works under your belt? For esteemed classical composer Philip Glass, the next logical step would naturally be an opera about the life of Walt Disney, right? So it's no surprise, then, that he was commissioned to do just that.... read more
Found in: Culture, NewsAtlantis Music Conference and Festival 2008, Part 1: Why is there glitter on this couch?
Indie rockers don't really do red carpet arrivals. The independent recording world exists for the most part outside of the bubble of light created by a media pit full of photographers. It was a blessing, then, that the first flash-bulbed arrivals to the Atlantis Music Conference and Festival 2008 opening party at Midtown's swank Opera club happened before sunset, keeping our sheltered, singer-songwriter-listening journalist types' corneal damage to a minimum. But then the evening got pretty iridescent pretty fast.... read more
Found in: Paste:LocalDavid Cronenberg's The Fly headed for the opera
Are you ready for The Fly: The Opera?... read more
Found in: Culture, NewsAl Gore's Inconvenient Truth heads to the opera
Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth is being reworked into an opera by Giorgio Battistelli for Milan's famous La Scala opera house. Continuing in the grand tradition of other movies being turned into operas (Lost Highway, The Fly, Brokeback Mountain), the opera-ified version of the movie that is credited with launching the 'green' movement is set to be performed for La Scala's 2011 season.... read more
Found in: Culture, News
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