Brian Dickie

And the results in Boston?

I heard two dozen young singers from the New England Conservatory and Boston University today.  And had 20 minutes to grab a quick Pizza (a $2 price and a $5 value - that was good) after commuting from A to B on the T (subway). Thanks to a medical emergency on the train in front it was something of a trip.

During the morning I was moved to tears - not a daily occurrence I assure you.  Not even an annual one. This was the magical effect of a quite marvelous young tenor singing Handel with a ravishing beauty of sound, a flawless technique, and an innocent natural sensibility which was completely winning.  Wow!  If only that happened more often.

And then after Pizza (I can hardly call it lunch) there was a thrilling knock your socks off soprano who sailed through two mightily difficult pieces with a controlled abandon (yes I guess its possible) and a fearless risk taking attack which was actually totally justified because she did it.  She is a winner.

I love these experiences.  I gives me back my faith - one can go through days and days of excellent singing, performances which are admirable and professional.  And I think - maybe I am getting bored of all this - maybe I am over the hill and can't be excited anymore.  Then suddenly - BANG!!

It has been a good week actually all round.  I am not done yet though.  We have a full day in Chicago on Tuesday, and then after Thanksgiving I am in Philadelphia for Curtis and the AVA.  I am also on the jury for the Met Philadelphia district auditions.  So I guess I will be hearing some those people more than once.

Looking over my coded lists and comparing them with last year's similar tables, it seems that there have been more excellent young people this year.  So I think that we can look forward to some really interesting new blood during the next two COT seasons.  Of course we have to get on with hiring them.  The best ones will be in huge demand - so we have some interesting weeks of decision taking coming up.

I am now at Boston's Logan Airport where there is completely free WiFi service donated by Google for the holiday period.  I take that this is a business rather than philanthropic decision.  But thank you Google whatever your motives!  In return I will give you a little plug.  I am using your Chrome browser on my PC in the office.  I am looking forward to trying it at home when it comes to Mac next month.  I love it on the PC.  It works and it is very pretty.  What more can one ask for?

I will be home around 10pm this evening.  Lovely weekend ahead!

Soaking Boston morning

Christian Science Church, Massachusetts Avenue, Boston 9.30 am November 20 2009

I got pretty well drenched on my way to the New England Conservatory, took shelter at Symphony Hall and waited for a break in the clouds.  But look at the Christian Science Church on Massachusetts Avenue in grey wet garb.

I am now drying out in the audition room ready to begin at 10.20! 

Another long day; but worth every minute!

I hiked the eighteen blocks from my hotel to the audition space this morning.  One thing better than taking the subway in New York (my usual mode of transport) is walking.  Then you get the full picture of New York in all its energy and ruthlessness.  So I had thirty minutes of reminder of how gentle life is in the Mid West.

My morning session was perhaps not quite as stellar as Tuesday and Wednesday but there were some highlights and zero low lights.  So that is ok isn’t it?

Then there was then the trip from 59^th and Lexington to Penn Station.  That is an obstacle course, and given the complete absence of a sanitation service for the NY subway a gross as well as grotesque experience.  Hey there Mayor Blumberg, try it out yourself.  You would be embarrassed. 

And so to New Haven and to Yale.  This grand old university has a fine music school and, as beneficiaries of  munificence on an astronomical level a few years ago, have the advantage of being able to offer generous terms to students.  So they can get the best, and the level was high.  Very high I would say, with scarcely a weak link.  It will be interesting to compare the results here with the situation at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia where I will be in early December.  They are similarly luxuriously endowed – so these two schools are playing on a level field!

I am writing this on the train from New Haven to Boston where I have a full day tomorrow, Friday.  There is a good train service up and down the east coast between Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington.  And New Haven benefits from that.  You see here their splendid Union Station.

I finish this leg with auditions at the Boston University Opera Institute and the New England Conservatory, starting at the NEC at 10 am on Friday.

And so tomorrow evening home to Chicago.

More on National Opera Week!

COT Popping up all over Chicago!  Two great stories on Chicago's ABC Channel 7

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7123862

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7122424

A sweet day

Dylan's Candy Bar 6pm November 18 2009

Another long day but one of some pleasure since I heard some stunning young singers.  And the overall level was terrific.  So this is what these Fall auditions are all about.

The morning was spent in the List Hall at the Metropolitan Opera with a mixture of Juilliard School and Lindemann program singers.  Both have been rich sources of talent for COT over the years.  And we have two Lindemann graduates with the company in 2011.  I think that there may be more the following year plus some more Juilliard alums.

And this afternoon I was thrilled to see and hear some more good people, old and new friends alike.  I was like that fabled kid in the candy store – and then got to go to a real life candy store when I was done, to satisfy the appetite of my family for all things sweet and colorful.  This was the famous Dylan’s Candy Bar on 60^th street and 3^rd Avenue, just a block or so from my audition location and adjacent to the subway that was to take me downtown to the Opera America offices for my evening gig.

And that was a lovely hour in their series called Making Connections – in this case all about social networking on the internet and all that – I was there because of this blog, now going strong for four months short of five years.

The Internet connection in the hotel has been playing up so maybe you wont see this tonight.  In any event it is already later than intended. 

Tomorrow I am on parade again at 10 am and then am off to New Haven to see and hear the bright young things from Yale, and on to Boston for a full day on Friday.

New York

Times Square 6.45 pm November 17 2009

I had a really long day - out at Chicago's O'Hare Airport before 5 am and finishing up at the New York City Opera for an 8 pm performance of Hugo Weisgall's Esther.  Tough indeed!

But in fact I had a rather good day of auditions with some fine singing from some more experienced singers I was glad to catch up with and some really interesting fresh new talent.  So this was a satisfying day.  But 40 singers between 10 am and 6pm was perhaps a little too much.  One's patience and concentration tends to thin out a bit by the end which is not really fair on the later ones in theory although actually I was invigorated by some refreshing quality late in the afternoon.  One just never can tell!

I found my way at 6 to my hotel, Club Quarters on 45th street at 6th Avenue or thereabouts.  A quick check in was followed by as dash up on the 1 train from Times Square to Lincoln Center to discover that the performance was at 8 instead of 7.30 - so a visit to PJ Clarke's filled both the time and the empty stomach.

The old New York State Theater has been reborn as the David H Koch Theater - home to the City Ballet and the City Opera.  The auditorium now has comfortable aisles instead of the tiresome old "continental" seating stretching the width of the room.  That is a welcome change.  The acoustics have been tinkered with and are said to be "better".  I could not tell from the Weisgall piece.  Apparently backstage has been refitted - and the orchestra pit appears to be hugely improved.  Time will tell.

I am afraid I did not make it past the first act - but was glad to have had a word with the brave new General and Artistic Director of the NYCO before I left, also with Ed Yim who is director if Artistic Planning - not an enviable job in the current environment!

I have another long one tomorrow.  But at least I can get eight hours sleep tonight - and I am off to do that now.

The David H Koch Theater, Lincoln Center 7 pm November 17 2009

More on NEA Opera Awards

FYI -there was an excellent description and appreciation of Saturday evening's shenanigans from Anne Midgette in yesterday's Washington Post.

I am at O'Hare about to fly to New York.  It is 5.10 am.......

Popping up......

The first pop up of the week was in the Aon Building at lunchtime when there were office workers milling around ready for any kind of entertainment after three hours in their offices.  And they were treated, to their surprise no doubt, to an excerpt from Douglas Moore's Ballad of Baby Doe.  And here you see two of our young company, both members of the Performer's Diploma prorgram at the Chicago College of Performing Arts - Darik Knutsen and Leila Bowie.

That alas is the only pop up I will see.  But keep your eyes open, whether you are at Union Station, Whole Foods, on the EL - either red line or brown line - you can never tell.......

The Best of Chicago!

New City has published its Best of Chicago Guide.  And guess what! Just look here!

So that was very kind of them I thought!  This fine website and weekly free newspaper is one of the gems of Chicago.  It is full of good valuable lively information each week and is not so hefty that you need a large trunk to carry it home.

You can find it in the usual places on Thursdays.

I am stuck in the office preparing for the board meeting this evening.  But I hope to get out later to see one of COT's star turns in National Opera Week.  Our Pop Up Opera has taken the nation by storm.  For the Chairman of the NEA Rocco Landesman it was the headliner in his speech at the NEA awards in Washington on Saturday evening.  

More later maybe!

Five remarkable people

I am afraid that a late night and somewhat oversleeping conspired to prevent me writing about the NEA awards evening until now, on my flight from Washington to Chicago on Sunday afternoon.

It was a grand evening, maybe overlong – it over ran its allotted time by 30 minutes.  But we would have been the poorer without Frank Corsaro’s hilarious stand up comic response.  Also Julius Rudel’s moving description of his gratitude to his adopted country “which welcomed me when my own country threw me out”.  Julius emigrated from Vienna in the 1930s.  He is now an American national treasure – no single person has made such a contribution to American opera in the 20^th century.  It was splendid that his old friend Carlisle Floyd presented him last night.

The evening was started off with an introduction from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  She is a passionate music and opera lover – and a wonderful advocate to have at the seat of power.  And she has a light wit to go with her judicial gravitas.  

There were great contributions fro John Adams, Lotfi Mansouri and Marilyn Horne.  Andre Previn gracefully and charmingly introduced Lotfi, and there were too many other delightful moments to list.

It was all warming and gratifying – and some of you may have heard the proceedings live on Chicago’s WFMT.  The program will no doubt be broadcast more widely and may be available on line from your local Public Radio Station.  Well worth seeking out.

So it was an exhausting weekend overall.  I am back in Chicago just for the day tomorrow for our November board meeting.  And then I have to take a 6 am flight on Tuesday morning to make a full day of auditions in NYC.  As I have said before, this is Hell Month!