This was a tough day just back from that quick London trip. But after an extended meeting with my Board president, now a weekly event, I did some tidying up in the office (but not enough by a big margin) and dealt with some 2009 casting matters.
We are looking pretty good for 2009 and I think that we may be able to announce the full cast lists when the season announcement is made in February. Or we may keep some surprises up our sleeves.....but there are some stunning things on the horizon and even better things beyond as we plan three plus years ahead. Its the only way of course even for small companies - these days new talent is booked more quickly and completely than years ago and we rely so much on fresh new blood to give our work its unique character. And that means keeping on the lookout on a continuous basis. This I enjoy of course!
The Dr Atomic dress rehearsal was at Lyric this afternoon, dominated by the extraordinary charismatic performance of Oppenheimer by Gerald Finley (left). He was a new talent once - and so joined the Glyndebourne Chorus and served his time with Glyndebourne's touring arm in the 80s. His is a performance not to be missed - wonderful!
I received a copy of the Canadian Opera Company General Director position description this afternoon - this is not of interest to me of course - been there, done that! But the search firm thought I might be able to provide some interesting names. Thats what search firms do all the time - no surprise there. Very sensible of them. Well there have been a good many changes in the North American scene recently. The field is not very large and these top jobs in a huge operation like the COC are very difficult to fill. I will give them a couple - but I probably have rather old fashioned (aka sound) views on the topic. Its tough out there in a fast changing world. I am rather glad all that is behind me.
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