Opera Links

I don’t usually do link posts but I am starting to think that some of the more interesting sites and stories that I enjoy or make me think are things others may enjoy.

The first two  in this series have to do with Opera, at least one is an opera and the other is opera related.  On CBC’s Q this morning Jian was chatting with the creator of the BariHunks blog.  This blog was built on the premise that there are quite a few handsome baritones on opera stages around the world, some of whom take off their shirts while on stage. Well I decided to check it out and while I am not really a fan or inclined to pour through their archives, it might be interesting for some who think that all opera singers are great of girth.

I was thinking about what the creator, Michael Rice, was saying about the path that opera is starting to follow.  If we are looking more for looks than beautiful voices I think that opera will lose much of what it is supposed to be. On the other hand I have no problem with marrying the right look for a part as long as the singer has a good voice.  I remember how odd it was to be in the cast of  Don Giovanni in my undergrad days with the new singing professor as the lead. It was actually uncomfortable for a lot of the cast.  He was playing a cheating cad and womanizer and was going after the lead which was a girl in her second year of the program, a 19 year old.  So should the roles of Romeo and Juliet be played by older men and women? Should the young roles be played by younger people? Should the best voices get the parts if they don’t have the physical characteristics that we imagine these charatcers to have?  I don’t know, but it is something I may explore more in another post.

The next opera related link is for the Vancouver Opera Blog and for their new show The Marriage of Figaro. I have been reading the blog for since last spring and I am hoping at one point to be one of the bloggers they invite to live blog their performances.  Oddly enough, or not as the case may be, Daniel Okulitch, who plays Figaro in this production, is one of the  very featured BariHunks.

The Vancouver Opera has been really using social media over the last year to bring their operas to a wider audience.  I think they have been very sucessful. I really like the backstage tweets on select performances. You can follow them on twitter @VancouverOpera.

If you haven’t been before check out The Marriage of Figaro April 24, 27, 29, May 1, 4, 2010 at 7:30 pm at Queen Elizabeth Theatre.