Reports of my death...wait, déjà vu!

Well, once again strange rumors seem to be flying around. I heard from a little bird that there is talk that AOT is canceling its Spring offerings! Nothing could be further from the truth. This Spring AOT present three shows. The first is the Washington, DC premier of Philip Glass' "Hydrogen Jukebox", in collaboration with Georgetown University. Then will be our runout performance of "Venus and Adonis" and "Dido and Aeneas" in Blacksburg, VA (made possible by the Virginia Arts Administration), and finally a double-bill of songs by John Dowland and Kurtag's "Kafka Fragments". Plus, there is a special surprise coming in the summer months.

This is all to gear up for our fifth anniversary season next year, featuring 5 different fully staged productions in Baltimore and Washington. The season will include one revival, a baroque collaboration, and most exciting, the possible participation of one of America's most acclaimed Grammy award winning sopranos. AOT was also just recommended for a large grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a project in 2010. So, AOT is in great shape to continue producing its one-of-a-kind work.

I was out of the loop for the last couple days getting work done on other things. I remain completely amazed by Brian Dickie who seems to be able to run a tip-top company and blog atleast once a day! Amazing.

The big news has been the AOT was a awarded an NEA grant to produce John Adam's "The Death of Klinghoffer". We are lucky enough to have a partner orchestra and incredible venue for this performance, but it remains to be seen if we can make it happen just yet. "Klinghoffer" is a tremendous piece, that needs to be done desperately. Unfortunately, it is also an expensive piece and deciding if we can do that, and produce our home season (which is now looking to be 5-6 productions) has taken much time. Nothing is off the table, but I hope to know something in the next couple weeks.

Beyond that it has been detail work - the Heather Lockard, are wonderfully talented costume designer for Hydrogen Jukebox, has been sending me some really exciting renderings. Hannah Crowell and Robbie Hayes who are the set designers for the project have been doing the same. I for my part have been going deeper and deeper into Ginsberg's poetry and Glass' score. It is a great piece and this will be an exciting performance. I'm eager, and I should post more about this, to be working with the students at Georgetown on this. They will bring a unique energy to the production and make it something completely new, not like its premier with "big opera voices" at all.

A Sad Day

As announced in the NY Times Mortier has stepped down from City Opera. I knew from his people that this might be happening, but I had held out hope the City Opera would be able, or at least try, to raise the money needed to bring him. As happy as I'm sure Peter Gelb is, this is a sad day for opera in America. Perhaps the message is that we have to save ourselves. Lets hope that it is not back to the dark ages. Saddest is that New York will not see "Einstein on the Beach" or the Messian "St Francis of Assisi".

Paris

This post will be too short...it deserves to be long, but I'm tired. I just returned from a wonderful, but fast, trip to Paris. On Sunday I saw the "Cunning Little Vixen". This is a favorite opera of mine and one that deserves to be done more often (you in Baltimore will get to see it soon at Peabody directed by my friend and mentor Roger Brunyate). Unfortunately I had mixed feelings about this production directed by André Engel at Bastille). The singing was quite lovely, but Bastille was accoustically the wrong house. I would have liked to have heard it at Garnier. The voices were not small, but got lost. For me the scenography needed something more intimate as well. I would have liked to have seen it at Garnier too. It was a beautiful production, very nice to look at and quite charming (perfect for children and that, perhaps, validates it by itself). But, for me, this is an adult work, and I felt Engel, who is a tremendous theater director (everyone should see his "Le Roi Lear"), didn't quite get opera.

Monday was a wonderful day of taking a long walk with counter-tenor Brian Cummings in the gardens of Versailles. He has an "El Nino" approaching in St. Louis that you should all see if able. I also had a lovely coffee with Jan Vandenhouwe. Jan is a friend and the assistant to Gerard Mortier (as well as a wonderful dramaturg). He will not be going with Mortier to City Opera, but instead will be taking over as programming director for the Concertgebouwe Brugge. Jan is going to be a big name some day, quite on the cutting edge of the field.

The real reason to go to Paris, and the highlight, was last evening's final dress rehearsal of Peter Sellars and Bill Viola's "Tristan und Isolde". It was stunning, truly transformational. Unfortunately it is too much to comprehend in an evening. Peter's work was a clear departure from his previous work, but it was tremendously beautiful. Bill's video was captivating. I trust this men, both geniuses in their own way, but I wish I could see it several more times to really dig into it. This is true of any production of "Tristan", such is the power of Wagner's score, but with all these geniuses dancing and fighting and struggling and reconciling in one evening, it was too much to understand. Still, it was the sort of experiences which define why we are alive.

The highlight, however, was German mezzo-soprano Waltrud Meier. For me she IS Isolde. No one else is like her in this role. Physically she defines the character and the voice is as effortless as a small breath and as powerful as a wave. She was amazing. I hear that this may be her last Isolde. Let us hope it is not so, but if it is, I consider myself fortunate beyond words.

I think I will write more about "Tristan", the production, and why this work is a piece that captures the essence of what we are. But now, for a little sleep.

Richard Taruskin is a fool.

There, I've said it...thats all I wanted to say.

Introducing AOT's new General Director

It is my great pleasure to announce that AOT has a new General Director of the company. Sophie-Louise Roland takes on this role following her acclaimed portrayal these past two weeks of the title role in “Le Cabaret de Carmen”.

This is a tremendously exciting move for the company as we seek to increase our season offerings and touring schedule in the coming seasons. Sophie brings with her a great deal of talent and experience and I am thrilled to be sharing the directorship of AOT with a person of her potential and caliber. We are close to announcing next year's season which will include at least five productions in the Baltimore/Washington area.

Light from the Sun

A great review for AOT from Sun theater critic Mary Carole McCauley. If "Le Cabaret de Carmen" is a performance you haven't been sure about, perhaps you think too outside the baroque tradition of AOT or too far from the opera mainstream, I can't stress enough how much you should come and check it out. It really is not to be missed!

Read the review here