Brian Dickie

A little bit of fun – final clue

This is easy - go for it!! (Click picture to enlarge)

New readers will have to scroll down a bit to see what this is all about.

A little bit of fun 5

Here is more flavor of the place.  There is still not a lot of sign of crowds – because there aren’t any.  I have not just been selecting them out of the picture.

So remember – answers please to info@chicagooperatheater.org with “Where in the World contest” in the subject line.  Tomorrow it will be clear so look around 7.30 am Central Time and then race to your email.  You may have to do some Googling so on your marks!

A little bit of fun 4 - and entry instructions

So here is what you have to do if you want to compete.

Send an email with “Where in the World contest” in the subject line and include your contact details in the body of the email to info@chicagooperatheater.org as well of course as your answer.

Only one answer will be accepted per person and it will be the first – so make sure you have it right before submitting. 

Reminder - first correct answer wins two subscriptions to COT's 2008 season.  Next four win a pair of tickets to a performance of your choice.

And today’s clues at last give some geographical features that may be recognizable.  We shall see.  There will be one more tomorrow and the final one will reveal all to the observant.

A little bit of fun 3

Well here we have some more hints but nothing really concrete yet.  You wont get that until tomorrow at the earliest.  These pelicans preside over a very quiet place.  Not many people around - I think that there were only around five other human beings in sight when I took this photo.  And we were trying not to look too much like fishes to save being dive bombed by these splendid creatures.

Those of you who are wondering what all this is about should scroll down to episodes 1 and 2.

A little bit of fun 2

I don’t think that this picture will get you much further but, surprise surprise, it seems that we are surrounded by water!  This picture is really a bit of photo trickery, shot straight into the early evening sun and resulting in a dramatic effect little to do with the reality.

There may be more identifiable features in tomorrow’s picture.

A little bit of fun

So we thought it would be amusing to have a competition to guess where I am these ten days, with some occasional pictorial clues to help you along the way.  The prize for the first person who pinpoints my position within five miles will get two subscriptions to our 2008 season at the Harris.  The next four will receive two tickets for the performance of their choice during our season.  Those who already know where I am are naturally excluded from competing and I hope that everyone will play fair.

It is perhaps realistic to assume that contestants will be within easy reach of Chicago.  And I expect that many of them are already COT subscribers.  But here is your opportunity to introduce your friends, who have not yet had the treat of seeing COT, to the unexpected pleasures of "Opera Less Ordinary" - our new tag line!

I will post four or five pictures here during the next six days which will gradually give more clues to the location.  The first clue of course is the clock you see to the right which gives the time zone.  But the first picture gives no additional clue of any precision other than the general latitude.  But check back and there will be little hints.  And for those who know this part of the world well they may even recognize the odd geographical feature.

The last picture will certainly answer the riddle for the observant and curious – but you will have to wait until Friday for that. 

Instructions as to how to enter will appear here on Wednesday.

Pause for thought

Regular readers may remember that there was something of a hiatus in August when a family emergency  mucked up our holiday plans and also resulted in my trip to do Neue Stimmen auditions in Cape Town being abandoned.  Anyway Neue Stimmen is now very much over, Thanksgiving is upon us, so it seems right that we are resuming our postponed vacation tomorrow for ten days.  So the poor blog will be neglected until December 2 - unless I feel inspired to irritate everyone by putting up pictures of our impossibly beautiful vacation place.  We shall see.  So check back occasionally in case there is a surprise!

Good weekend

Yes, I had something of a break over the weekend but we are now going full pace again.  Our bi-monthly Board meeting is this evening - always something to look forward to.  And particularly this time with no less than three new board members up for election.  This should be invigorating. 

Otherwise not a lot of great note.  But I was delighted to see that Andrew Patner and John von Rhein in the Sun-Times and Tribune both gave a hearty and well deserved welcome to Lyric's new Frau ohne Schatten about which I wrote last Monday evening.  And speaking of newspapers - the Sun-Times has also excelled itself with a splendid piece yesterday about our friend Danielle de Niese.

Friday matters

I had a session this morning at the Chicago College of the Performing Arts doing "mock" auditions with a large group of singer post grads who are in the Masters program.  I did not do much in the way of commenting on their performances - this was an opportunity to give a few tips and tricks about choice of repertoire and general presentation.  They were all beautifully dressed so there was no issue there - except that 90% were in boring, but safe, black.  But I dealt with such details as what makes a good "headshot" (it had better be sharp and the right shape and size and have your name on the back);  how to choose an email address (better to use your name rather than something along the lines of merrydiva or bravobaritone);  how to present your resume (no single answer for this - but dates are important); what to sing (it had better show all your strengths and none of your weaknesses if any); and lots of other stuff.....I hope I reassured them on the point that we really enjoy listening to them but that there are things that they choose to do which can make the response even more positive.  On the whole they were terrific and clearly knew a good deal about all this already.  Bravo to Dana Brown at Roosevelt for preparing them so well.  And thanks for asking me again!

It is cold today and the ice rink on Michigan Avenue is open.  Not sure when this happened but it must have been this week.  After the mock session I had a great lunch at the Park Grill with a different purpose - fund raising.  And, since the Park Grill is beside the ice, on the way back to the office I snapped this shot  with my excellent phone which is useful for such opportunities. Click to enlarge - it's really not bad!

Unless something dramatic happens in the opera world over the weekend I will be taking the weekend off blogging.  Back again next week no doubt.

Lots of good stuff in Boston

I had a morning at Boston University where the Opera Institute remains an incredibly fruitful and happy hunting ground for young singers.  The faculty under the leadership of Sharon Daniels and William Lumpkin results in a really strong group.  And today once again I found the men astonishing, as I had at Yale yesterday.  It is immensely encouraging that so many good young tenors, baritones and basses (yes basses too - there is real winner at BU) are still emerging. 

This afternoon I was at the New England Conservatory which has a less vigorous opera program.  They seem to be having greater difficulty in attracting the best talent.  But they do wonderful work too.  Ben Heppner was doing a master class this afternoon as well but we worked around him!

It was a busy public transport day too as I shuttled down to the NEC in the lunch hour from BU, and then out to the airport on the T with my Charlie card in the rush hour squash.  I am now at Logan ready to board.  It will be good to be home - it has been a hard two weeks back and forth.