Brian Dickie

Great auditions!

I think we have a good one, maybe two.  Now its up to us to get them contracted having persuaded them to do it for poor old COT's almost invisible fees.  But we have other things to offer..........surprise of the day?  Its NOT all about money.  Its about making it worthwhile in every respect.  We are not good with the money but we are darned good with the rest!  If you now feel sorry for us buy your subscriptions and make a donation.  See the button on the left.  We make it really easy!

And I went to the audition on a Vespa.  I donned the legally required helmet, somehow managed to crank a leg over the saddle of this thing, and then buzzed through the streets of Bologna holding on tight and got there safely.  And back as well!  This was with our dear old friend Valerio Tura.  He hates cars - and these scooters?  They are part of Italian culture.....what would the country be without them?  When in Bologna do as the Bolognesi..........I thought I was in one of those old movies.  Only Sophia Loren was missing.

This place is full of charming little quarters.  I am going to sleep now and have to be out of the hotel at 5.30 tomorrow to get my flight to London and then on to London Gatwick.  But I leave you with a nice image of one of the delightful little colonnades that one finds on all the shopping streets here.

Its a long day tomorrow - 24 plus 7 hours time change, and then back to a very full, and probably tense, week, on Monday.

Bella Italia!

So here I am just for a day in beautiful and beloved Italy.  I arrived at my simple Hotel University mid morning and went for a nice walk before going out later for the auditions arranged for 4 pm.  And of course the first thing I see is this mouth watering place.  But I resisted going in.

Our People's Opera (the one our public pays to vote for!) next year you may remember is Mose in Egitto - and it is for this that I am getting some final casting done.  Since I was in London anyway the short hop to Bologna in these days of ridiculously low air fares in Europe was a no-brainer.  There are a couple of interesting prospects here - and a little Italian content in a Rossini opera is always a good thing. 

I will probably grab a genuine Panini before the audition.  Yum yum!  There are lots of nice places in this bustling city of course............

Late finish, early start

It is 11pm and I am just back from the Royal Opera House.  I have to leave at 5.45 am tomorrow to get to London's Gatwick Airport to fly to Bologna.  So I will report in part and briefly!

I was at the ROH production of the Beggar's Opera, in the Benjamin Britten version, directed by Justin Way and designed by Kimm Kovac and Andy Hays.  And lit by Aaron Black.....this was the team responsible for our Orlando last May.  This hybrid work is a tricky one to bring off - lots of dialogue.  Anyway they had a splendid cast, sold out houses and an enthusiastic audience.  All good.  No time for an elaborate description.  Just enjoy the image above - says it all!

Good night !

Classy music making

I was at a super concert this evening at the Wigmore Hall in London.  The English Concert, directed by Harry Bicket, produced an extraordinary program of music by Castello, Marini, Barbara Strozzi, Farina, and Monteverdi.  Well you know Monteverdi I assume, but you can be forgiven for saying "who?" about the others.  Well they were all deceased by 1677 or thereabouts - so before even the births of Handel and Bach.  And the music was as refreshing as you could dream of.  Just educate yourselves by going to the links above.  And those who know all this already forgive me.  Anyway I learned something.

The major star of the evening however was the extraordinary Anna Caterina Antonacci.  She held us spellbound.  Here is an artist of the highest seriousness - we do not see this level so often alas.

Nor do we hear such rigorous attention to purpose from the other musicians either.  But Chicago has the treat of hearing the English Concert with Harry Bicket at the Harris Theater on March 29.  It will be a crime to miss it.  And while you will not get Miss Antonacci you will get David Daniels.  That surely is a huge bonus.  Show us you care - be there!

A new Dean!

As my regular readers know I am on the Advisory board of the Chicago College of the Performing Arts.  We have been going through a process to recruit a new Dean of the college during these last months.  As an advisory board we have had no power over this but some of us have taken part in interviews with the final short list.  And yesterday the name was announced - it is Henry Fogel.  He is seen here in his famed CD library. It is so huge that he will never be able to move from his home in River Forest!

Of course Henry is known in the music business worldwide having been President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 18 years.  It is a tremendous appointment for the CCPA and we are so looking forward to working with him.  COT's relationship with the college has been very close since James Gandre became Dean in 2000.  And I have no doubt that it will continue to grow with Henry at the helm.  He is a passionate opera lover and he and his wife Fran are COT Sunday matinee subscribers.

I am in the office this morning, out to O'Hare this afternoon and on an early evening flight to London.  More in due course......

A shocker

Today was not one of the best.  It started well enough with an excellent delivery of the Owen Wingrave designs, and a delightful conference call including the costume designer Jacqueline Saint Anne who was in Los Angeles, and the set designer Peter Harrison who was with us in Chicago.  Jacqueline was in fine spirits having just opened a production of Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen in Long Beach.  She was over the moon about it!  And then a convivial lunch with Peter and the rest of us.

The day was somewhat ruined (it sometimes happens but rarely thank goodness) by a really disagreeable meeting with some people outside our immediate circle of understanding.  They ruined my week!  I do not often lose my patience on this blog - so it was bad!

I think that everyone involved professionally with COT is deeply committed to excellence in all departments, be it artistic, management, or ordinary human relations.  When from time to time one has to deal with people who are not on the same page it is somewhat disappointing to say the least.  Grrrrrrh!  or is it Arghhhh?!

I think that this is enough for this evening.  Tomorrow is another day.  I am off to London in the afternoon for some important 2010 stuff.  I will be home in Chicago on Sunday evening already.

Gastroworld

There is a long and honorable connection between opera and food.  I am not an expert on restaurants necessarily - but I know pretty well where to go after a performance in all the major operatic cities of the world.   And in a good many of the minor ones as well - I will be in Bologna next Saturday evening for example......I will of course let you know.

And we must remember the tenors.  Carlo Bergonzi retired to his restaurant, I due Foscari (left), in Busseto, home of Verdi, when he finally left the stage.  And we know too that Luciano Pavarotti was very fond of food.

What is this leading to?  Well, a discovery for us of a delightful place here in Chicago called Table 52.  We were there yesterday evening with friends for a real something different  supper.  This is unbelievably delicious but simple food from the Low-Country, that is the South Georgia border with Florida.  If this is "Southern Hospitality" I want to go there!  The only problems are - its not particularly near the opera, either ours or the Lyric.  And it is wildly popular and booked up far in advance.  But its worth taking the trouble!

And apart from that I have had a good day today with a delightful lunch with Andrew Eggert, our director for Carmen as well as for another production in 2010.  And who knows what else later?  He is a young man on the move and we are proud of that fact that he has been with COT now for 8  years or so learning his trade and inspiring the other young people around us.  He is here in Chicago preparing for the Roosevelt University show at the Harris on March 11.  So we are looking forward to more time with him.  I will try to let you know more about that March event in due course.  The Roosevelt website appears for the moment to be asleep at the wheel.

Tomorrow we receive the set designs for the final production of our season, Owen Wingrave.  More about that tomorrow.

Another day in Ganz Hall

I was at the CCPA all day in the lovely Ganz Hall which you see above.  This excellent room, much used by us for auditions as well as for such events as the Master Class on Thursday, is named for Rudolph Ganz, one of the unsung heroes of American music history.  It would be good to recognize the contribution of this now forgotten man.  There is more information, in addition that linked to just above, available here.

We have a Performance Diploma in collaboration with the CCPA, and today we had the auditions for the next crop due to start in the 2009-10 academic year.  It is a two year program of unique character.  The atttachment to COT for up the three months at the end of each academic year sets it apart.  And it also something of an exclusive group given that there are only around 6-8 members at any one time.

We are looking for three to five new recruits for the coming year.  We had some success today and the process continues thrugh the rest of the winter and early spring.  I guess we are somewhat demanding - but that is as it should be.  We have some stunning current members of the program and we aim to keep it that way. 

The other neat thing about this program is that it is compatible with the Santa Fe apprentice program as well as the programs in Glimmerglass and Chautauqua.  So it really can provide a foundation to two fine years of enormously valuable advanced development and training for those who are selected.  But it does of course not guarantee acceptance into any of the other programs!

I hope to take tomorrow off completely - even from the blog.  So have patience please if there is nothing new here tomorrow.

Just a bit of Obamafun!

You too can have your very own poster.  Just go to the Obamicon website and you can do it yourself.

Wonderful Tristan

If you can find a ticket try to get to Tristan at the Lyric.  More than anything else this is to hear Andrew Davis's first performances of this piece.  His extraordinary ability to get refined detail whilst retaining the big picture and the broad sweep is superbly demonstrated here.  A wonderful demonstration also of the virtues of first class musical preparation - the Lyric pays attention to these things and it pays off.  So all round this is a pleasure.  The David Hockney designed production from LA (Act 2 seen here)  is vintage late 1980s.  However the cast is strong with Deborah Voigt and Clifton Forbis is the title roles - hardly to be bettered.  But the heros are Wagner and Davis.  The music is the thing!