By the Numbers: 2nd birthday edition

Meta

Meet Andrej, our co-founder and brain behind all things technical here at Schmopera. Since we're kicking off our third year in operation, and Schmopera has grown from a blog into a brand, we figured it was a good time for Andrej to fill you in on the technical happenings from behind-the-scenes.

Chiaro vs. scuro: what does it all mean?

Editorial

Some of these descriptors are everywhere in operatic circles, yet it can often be hard to imagine what a "bright" colour sounds like in the voice, or what the word "warm" means when it comes to sound. We thought it would be handy to point out a few major categories under which voices fall, and let you easily hear the differences.

A tale of two audiences

Op-ed

This isn't a post about how singers need to become better actors. The problem of dual-audience opera is almost a microcosm of an issue that's becoming more in the foreground of what's demanded of opera singers today. Many of these same singers - who have all the right stuff for the world's largest stages, yet lack the refined acting skills that are required of the camera - would be equally out of their comfort zones in much of the so-called "indie opera" happening in small venues.

T-shirts and tender artists

Op-ed

The trope is that when kids are trailblazers of sorts, the kind to think outside the box, they rebel and turn their attention to something slightly verboten, perhaps exasperating to their parents. Often, that's the arts. It's not difficult to find a tale from a musician or one of his friends about their unsupportive parents, and their stubborn pursuit of their artistic career in spite of their family's disapproval.

How it's made: stage combat

Interview

Like much of rehearsing live theatre and opera, stage combat direction is one of those elements that goes unnoticed until done poorly. Enter the fight director, who specializes in staging duels, tussles, and brawls that looks like the real thing. Choreographing onstage combat can be a long and difficult task, resulting in a sequence that lasts minutes at most.

Drown out your hangover with Wagner

Humour

However you spent your last hours of 2015, it's an unwritten rule that the first day of the new year should be spent on a couch, either recovering from the past or preparing for the future. What better way to get swept up and distracted than with Wagner's Ring Cycle? You can get started with this video playlist of the complete Der Ring des Nibelungen, directed by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Pierre Boulez at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 1980.

10 student opera productions to catch this winter

News

We've already set you up with 2016's big-gun opera picks across Canada, but the New Year brings even more opportunities to hear today's emerging artists onstage. We've compiled 10 student opera productions to catch in Canada and the United States, and the variety of opera, traditional and contemporary, is pretty exciting.

Spotlight on: Jeremy Bowes

Interview

"The singing world is rich with possibility, and it needs every part of the machine to fire in order to succeed. That said, do not blend in, for heaven’s sake. Ruffle some feathers! If I hear tisking from one end of a panel, and see ear to ear smiles from another, I know I am on the right track."

9 ways to fend off a Canadian winter

News

After all the food is cleared away, the bottles recycled, and once the days of the week start to mean something again, it's time to get back to real life. For us, real life means going to see lots and lots of shows. It's hard to bundle up in the dead of winter and brave the cold for a few hours of music, but we hope to convince you of some of our cold weather picks across Canada to kick off 2016.

Good ideas: rehearsal-as-performance

Op-ed

For those involved in the creation of opera, we know that there's a less-glamourous method of reaching that finished product; so, we're able to experience the joy of watching a singer achieve something we watched her struggle to do, or admire how things like set, costume, and lighting design can turn a regular old opera scene into utter magic.