In review: Scenes from the End

Review

"Over the past few years, I have experienced grief. It's impossible to rationally 'describe' your experience of grief because death is absurd," writes Werner in her performer's notes. "When you lose someone, you find yourself surrounded by people who never talk to you about it - not in person anyway - because they simply can't. Or, if they think they can, it quickly becomes unhelpful and patronising, in a weird sort of way."

Aria guides: Dido's Lament

How-To

For our latest Aria Guide, we've picked an aria that has it all: it's beautiful, it's in English, and mezzos get to play Dido, an actual woman. In Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, "Dido's Lament" happens at the end of a simple and sad story: Aeneas, whom Dido loves and has agreed to marry, believes he has to leave her and go to Italy. As he goes, Dido dies from her grief.

Opera and sci-fi: the puritan intersection

Editorial

The great, classic sci-fi isn't about aliens or lasers or teleportation; it's about people and the things we go through in any environment. Similarly, the great, classic operas aren't about singing for its own sake; they're about those same people and those same environments.

Skills to learn: downtime on the job

Editorial

You're busier during your final years of school than in the first years of your career; without classes and school-produced concerts to keep you motivated (I'll admit, I took much of my school's resources for granted for too long), the early stages of a professional life can feel like you're twiddling your thumbs.

In review: Il trovatore at ROH

Review

First performed in 1853, just after Rigoletto and just before La traviata, Il trovatore gives unfortunate talking points to those who may say that opera plots are silly. There's the "I burned the wrong baby" bit, the "it's too dark to tell who I'm hugging" bit, and there are all the opera-esque moments of oddly-timed shock and rage.

Schmopera is three!

Editorial

It's been three years ago since we started Schmopera from a cozy chalet, on a ski trip near Montréal. At the beginning, there was a distinct feeling of opening a large can of worms inside the small world of opera; now, we're insanely proud of what Schmopera has become, and we're humbled by our readers.

Talking with singers: George Gagnidze

Interview

"The tendency nowadays is for lyrical voices to take on dramatic roles, Wagner, Verdi and Strauss when they should sing Mozart. Just a few days ago a young baritone sang for me and asked me for my advice. A beautiful voice, but he was very young. He sang Amonasro for me and told me his wish is to sing Wagner. I suggested he should study the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Papageno for now. Then the voice will develop..."

In defense of the "day" job

Op-ed

But for real...for some reason, I have found that the "day job" has a negative connotation within the performing arts/musician community. As if accepting the day job is a form of "giving up," a "distraction." That because I am focusing my attentions on this alternative to support myself, (and you know… feed myself,) that somehow I have lost focus and am not giving the dream my all, that I am in a sense... throwing in the towel, or "not working hard enough."

Introducing...the Schmug!

News

If you like to drink a lot of Faching coffee, or if you're a Faching huge tea guru, the Schmug helps you caffeinate your way to Faching perfection. We all secretly want to be the Queen of the Night, so if you're a bass who wants to drink himself all the way up to those high Fs, you'll hear no judgement from us.

Aria guides: O wie ängstlich, o wie feurig!

How-To

Amid captured loved ones and Turkish harems, there's a tenor in love. Belmonte is off to resuce his abducted fiancée, Konstanze, but not without telling us how she makes his heart beat faster. For any tenor, this aria is a mountain of work; there's tricky coloratura, lines which hover through the passaggio, and making it to the end takes planning and stamina.