Brian Dickie

That was the year that was

Enough has been said about the various dramas that hit the world during the last twelve months, and have been written about more eloquently and authoritatively elsewhere.  So I will not go there - apart from to say how proud I am to be a Chicagoan, albeit only a resident alien one, during this year when Barack Obama was elected to the highest office.  

Chicago Opera Theater's season is the subject of this retrospective.  And we were pretty proud too of what we achieved.  We completed the splendid cycle of Mozart da Ponte operas conducted by Jane Glover and directed by Diane Paulus.  It had begun with Cosi in 2002, continued with Figaro in 2005, and was rounded out with a controversial production of Don Giovanni. 

 This divided our audience between those experienced opera goers who found it the most fascinating and well sung performance they had ever seen, and those more conservative brethren who were shocked by the uncompromising depiction of Don Giovanni as a vicious sexual predator (which he is) rather than a glamorous charming man about town (which he isn't).  I must admit that the violence of the objections by some vocal critics amongst our subscribers took me by surprise.  But there we are - this is theater and good theater has from time to time to live dangerously.  Anyway we also had some glorious singing, notably from a remarkable young mezzo who is going to the very top - Isabel Leonard (Zerlina), and from the gloriously voiced Iain Paterson in the title role. 

Next up was John Adams' ravishing Flowering Tree which had been given its first performances in Vienna in November of 2006 and came to Chicago in our new production, beautifully directed by Nicola Raab and choreographed by Renato Zanella - with distinguished designs from George Souglides.  John Adams conducted the first two performances and what a joy and inspiration it was to have the composer with us for this production.  And I think we did him proud - a splendid chorus and orchestra, immaculately prepared, and a delectable pair of lovers in Natasha Jouhl and Noah Stewart, anchored by the benign and moving performance of the Storyteller by Sanford Sylvan, together with a splendid troupe of dancers, made for a fine evening of music making and lyric theater.

And the season ended with one Handel's greatest hits - Orlando. My old friend Raymond Leppard conducted, and my much younger friend Justin Way, directed.  And a wonderful partnership they made.  This marvelous piece gave great pleasure to the many Handel starved opera lovers of Chicago.  And gave an opportunity to Lyric opera aficionados to see one of the very best young members of the Lyric's Ryan Center, Andriana Chuchman, take on a leading role.  And she was indeed stunning as Dorinda.(seen above with Tim Mead in the title role)

We ended our year with a tiny surplus but, as always, short of cash.  And we face the future with apprehension in this changing world but with confidence that what we have planned for 2009 will once again prove to be distinctive and distinguished, adding luster to the Chicago opera scene.  And now we are in the midst of final budgeting for a 2010 season to be announced in March.  There is no denying the challenges ahead - but we will hold firm to the values that we have developed over the last ten years.  We will continue to be extraordinarily economical in the way we operate - our expenditure budget is no higher now than when we moved into the Harris Theater in 2004.  Now THAT is an achievement!

It was good to have this achievement acknowledged in the Sun-Times 2008 year end review of Chicago's musical organizations.  Scroll down to #4.

And completely off topic but something to enjoy on this New Year's Eve, and throughout the year if you like cheese and those things that best accompany it - go to this delightful website.

Happy New Year everyone - and hold on tight!

Keeping up - or not

A week in London and back to work immediately on return is something I probably should not do - and on top of that an ill advised visit to a Chinese restaurant at lunch time has done me in!  I had hoped to begin my review of the year this evening - but you will have to wait for that.  I am really not up to it.

Christmas in London

So here I am, back again and getting ready for the new year.  We were in London for Christmas as it turned out - not entirely planned that way but yet another welcome opportunity to see family and friends - as well as get a bit of sightseeing as well as work accomplished!  For many Westminster is something of a symbol of the best of London, indeed of England.  So it was good to go up in the London Eye on Boxing Day.  And so you have above a nice bird's eye view of Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Bridge, and the Thames.  Taking photographs through a plastic windowed cage is not ideal of course - but this came out OK under the circumstances.

It was a particular treat on Saturday to have lunch with Kimm Kovac and Andrew Hays - the Australian designer couple who were responsible for our Abduction in 2006 and Orlando this past May.  They have moved to London, as happens with many talented Australians, and are currently designing The Beggar's Opera for the Royal Opera, with Justin Way directing as he did with both their productions here at COT.
We are looking forward to having this team back - we will be announcing our 2010 season in March......

So now for two days in the office before the celebrations to see the end of this Annus Horribilis of 2008.  Let us pray for better things and enjoy looking back again at Westminster below, this time from ground level.  Feet on the ground is what will be needed just now.

Happy Christmas everybody

Hallelujah indeed!

I spent the afternoon at the Lyric's opera house with this Do it Yourself Messiah - see below.  Its 47 years at least since I last sang this so I was sight reading - and I am not proud of my accomplishments from any point of view.  This stuff is hard, and its really high.  I think I must restrict myself to the baritone/bass part from now on.....anyway there were two thousand or more other members of the chorus so I guess I got away with it.  But the soloists spotted me so they at least know that my lip sync was far from precise.  Oh well - once on a lifetime is OK.

The International Music Foundation has been putting this thing on for 33 years now.  So its a Chicago institution without equal.  And a fine way to mark the so called festive season.  There is another performance tomorrow - at 7pm.  Do it, go on, just for fun!

I am giving the blog a Christmas holiday so you will not hear from me for another week or so.  I hope that you all, wherever you may be, have a wonderful few days off to relax with family and friends.  I intend to.

Oh dear!

Well I watched the Pavarotti special.  But on WTTW Chicago at any rate it was, and continues to be as I write this, something of an embarrassment.  Truly awful long winded and mindless interludes of fund raising and special offers.  The worst kind of naive waffle and exploitation completely unworthy of a public broadcasting station.

I do not suppose that anyone is going to be called to account.  There is probably nobody there who would agree with me!

Anyway, in other respects Pavarotti was splendidly dealt with and his genius came across to anyone with the sensibility to appreciate it.  We may never see anyone again to match him. 

I feel fortunate that I was in there with him as early as 1964 when he sang Idamante at Glyndebourne.  I was 23 and he was 29 and we became good friends.  That summer I fiddled with the schedule at Glyndebourne (my job at the time) to enable him to undertake his first test taping with Decca which resulted in his long relationship with that company.  We saw each other infrequently thereafter, but whenever we got together it was just like the old days.  He was a great artist and the most generous hearted of people.  And that came over very well in this excellent program.  And it sometimes brought tears to my eyes - most notably during that snippet from Boheme with Mirella Freni, another young alum of Glyndebourne of the early 1960s.

Luciano Pavarotti

It seems that there is a "Great Performances" feature on Pavarotti this evening.  Check your local PBS stations for more information.  It is on Chicago's channel 11 WTTW  at 8pm.

The Saturday before Christmas

This is normally a frantic last minute shopping day.  But downtown Chicago was no more busy than on a normal Saturday - indeed rather less, but a good deal messier thanks to the snow.  I popped into the pretty little courtyard of the 4th Presbyterian Church, a welcome retreat from Mammon at such a time as this. But I am now home for the evening - very comforting! 

Tomorrow will be The Messiah (see below). You can read all about it here tomorrow evening.

Do it yourself

There is a long established program in Chicago - the DIY Messiah.  And it is this weekend - a fine way to enter into the Christmas spirit.  And, believe it or not, I will be involved in this.  Just as an ordinary member of the crowd I should emphasize.

Anyway the story is this - Iain Paterson, who sang the title role in our Don Giovanni back in May, will be the bass soloist.  The soprano will be Andriana Chuchman who was also with us last season, in Orlando.  And another COT alum, Meredith Arwady (Arnalta 2004) will be the contralto.  Only the excellent Canadian tenor, Ben Butterfield has missed out on COT.  Not his fault - mine!  He is terrific.

This is a performance of Handel's great oratorio with a fine group of soloists - and the chorus is the audience.  And one of those will be me.  Tenor or baritone?  I have not decided yet so have asked to be seated on the edge of each of these two sections.  I will then do what seems best......its Sunday afternoon.  What a treat!

Iain and I had a very jolly evening at Moreton's steakhouse this evening.  There is nothing like steaks from this part of the world.  And we made the most of the opportunity.

Otherwise today was a struggle with the disgusting slushy residue of last night's storm.  And a huge bunch of stuff at the office to deal with prior to leaving on Monday for a Christmas week away from Chicago.  But for this weekend its Handel to look forward to!

Full house for Liszt

Daniel Barenboim played to a full house at the Harris this evening - the advertised Liszt program and three encores - a delicious little Scarlatti Sonata, Chopin's "Minute" waltz, and one of his Nocturnes.  This was an audience of Chicago's finest out to hear their great hero who had presided over the CSO for so many years.  And he received a welcome to match.  And he played as ever with his unique distinction and thoughtfulness, eliciting ravishing sounds from his Steinway brought all the way from Berlin.  Two hours exceedingly well spent.

Earlier in the day we had our office party, complete with "Secret Santa" and our CFO, Dave Wise, on the piano accompanying the usual Christmas songs. 

The much touted storm has not arrived.  We are supposed to have ten inches overnight.  We shall see - but its now 10.25 pm and I am certainly not waiting up for it!