641 posts
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Post by AddisonMizner on Mar 20, 2018 20:35:44 GMT
The Royal Opera House 2018/19 Season was announced today: www.roh.org.uk/seasons/2018-19Have to say, it isn’t the most exciting season for me, though there are some things worth seeing. Obviously LA FORZA DEL DESTINO with Kaufmann and Netrebko is the big draw, but it is going to be a nightmare to get a ticket. I’m also interested in seeing Alagna in ANDREA CHENIER and Domingo in LA TRAVIATA. Say what you want about Domingo, but he is one hell of a performer - a real stage animal, and to say that he is in his seventies, the voice is in incredible shape. Yes, he does not have the colour of a real baritone, but then why would he? He has spent most of his career as a tenor. However, he is more than capable of singing his current baritone rep. Other than that, nothing really jumps out at me. |
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Post by Mr Snow on Mar 20, 2018 21:17:11 GMT
Autumn
Das Rheingold
Die Walküre
Siegfried
Götterdämmerung
Verdi's Requiem
Simon Boccanegra
Carmen
Hansel and Gretel
Winter
The Queen of Spades
La traviata
Katya Kabanova
Così fan tutte
Spring
La forza del destino
Faust
Billy Budd
Andrea Chénier
Tosca
Summer
Boris Godunov
Carmen
The Marriage of Figaro
La Fille du régiment
I see I was correct (once again you add?) predicting the new Carmen would be a scarcely seen thing!
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1,089 posts
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Post by tonyloco on Mar 20, 2018 21:51:15 GMT
Wot! No Bohème?
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1,347 posts
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Post by tmesis on Mar 20, 2018 22:45:47 GMT
bit underwhelming innit?
... unbelievable that Carmen's returning (twice!) - and the poor production of Cosi. I've got my fingers crossed that the new productions won't be quite as god-awful as in the Holten regime.
Also, apart from the Kaufman/Netrebko La Forza there is a dearth of star names.
These days I enjoy the ballets more than the operas; the Royal Ballet is on sensational form at present. - and they are presenting three Ashton classics: Les Patineurs, A Month in the Country and Two Pigeons; the latter is exquisite and is my current RB all-time favourite.
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2,760 posts
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Post by n1david on Mar 20, 2018 23:17:12 GMT
I'm quite looking forward to the new production of Billy Budd, directed by Deborah Warner, as I've never seen it.
Otherwise, La Forza like everyone else, and maybe Queen of Spades.
But after paying for the Ring I'm quite glad that there isn't much over the rest of the year.
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1,347 posts
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Post by tmesis on Mar 20, 2018 23:44:34 GMT
I'm quite looking forward to the new production of Billy Budd, directed by Deborah Warner, as I've never seen it. Otherwise, La Forza like everyone else, and maybe Queen of Spades. But after paying for the Ring I'm quite glad that there isn't much over the rest of the year. Yes I'm looking forward to Billy Budd. It's a very good opera and years ago there was a top notch ENO production with a young Thomas Allen in the title role. |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 21, 2018 10:09:51 GMT
Eugh. More Richard Jones
Billy Budd and some ballets for me
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4,983 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 21, 2018 11:50:05 GMT
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379 posts
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Post by ctas on Mar 21, 2018 20:04:01 GMT
Here for the ballet and there's so much Ashton!!!! And Romeo and Juliet is always a highlight, not to mention revivals of Firebird and Bayadère!! I'm really happy with the ballet offerings, better get the bank account ready.
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1,089 posts
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Post by tonyloco on Jun 30, 2018 12:07:34 GMT
The Royal Opera has got its begging bowl out again. I have just had a letter from Oliver Mears, Director of the Royal Opera, asking me to make a donation towards the cost of staging Wagner productions, with particular reference to the forthcoming revival of the Ring.
I am told that £50 could pay for the green dye for Sieglinde's dress in Die Walküre, £150 could sponsor the covers for the 55 scores needed for the chorus when they rehearse Götterdämmerung, £300 could sponsor the specialist light bulbs required for the dramatic illumination of the dragon's head in Siegfried and £500 could sponsor the repair work on the Tarnhelm in Das Rheingold, a particularly silly and inappropriate prop that bore no relationship with that Wagner specified as the Tarnhelm, IMO.
I assume this letter has been sent to hundreds if not thousands of potential donors and if we all gave £50 to buy green dye for Sieglinde's dress, the Royal Opera would end up with a heck of a lot of green dye!
But to be more serious, I have checked in the past on the huge administrative staff now employed at the Royal Opera House, some exclusively on opera, other exclusively on ballet and others for both opera and ballet. I have just tried to recheck the ROH website but at the moment I can find only a vast number of people on boards and at the highest levels of administration and I can't immediately get down to the kind of lower levels I am talking about. But I have squirrelled them out at various times in the recent past and there are a lot of them! I suggest a careful pruning of just a few of the several levels of bureaucratic administration would free up many thousands of pounds to buy gallons of green dye, loads of special light bulbs and whatever else they need to revive an existing production of the Ring. Just imagine the beating of breasts and wringing of hands when they come to finance a new production!
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 30, 2018 14:53:20 GMT
Tony is absolutely right in this. There is massive bloat in terms of permanent staff in major state-funded arts organisations. You only need look at any RSC programme to see the two pages of names in very small print that lists the staff. Even at my local theatre - Oxford Playhouse - you have people who are employed to do jobs that seem far beyond the remit of that necessary to deliver a good range of productions for what is - essentially - a receiving house.
And then you look at the choices these companies make. Why do the chorus need covers for their scores for any opera? The scores come with covers in the first place. There is no need for additional covers at all.
It is very frustrating to see public money being wasted on things that don't drive forward the core activity of the organisation in question. And even more frustrating when they go begging (at considerable expense) for things that really don't need to be bought.
It is time for these companies to work out what they really need to do to deliver the work they want to present - and focus on that. If you want to do something else, you have to go out and raise those funds in other ways. Public money should not be there to pay to indulge or to support administrative bloat.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2018 1:18:43 GMT
Tony is absolutely right in this. There is massive bloat in terms of permanent staff in major state-funded arts organisations. You only need look at any RSC programme to see the two pages of names in very small print that lists the staff. Even at my local theatre - Oxford Playhouse - you have people who are employed to do jobs that seem far beyond the remit of that necessary to deliver a good range of productions for what is - essentially - a receiving house. And then you look at the choices these companies make. Why do the chorus need covers for their scores for any opera? The scores come with covers in the first place. There is no need for additional covers at all. It is very frustrating to see public money being wasted on things that don't drive forward the core activity of the organisation in question. And even more frustrating when they go begging (at considerable expense) for things that really don't need to be bought. It is time for these companies to work out what they really need to do to deliver the work they want to present - and focus on that. If you want to do something else, you have to go out and raise those funds in other ways. Public money should not be there to pay to indulge or to support administrative bloat. This is the same in ANY public sector service To keep useless people in employment Which is why they have so much more management Than a private counterpart To justify their existence |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jul 1, 2018 11:40:49 GMT
What are score covers?
Aren’t scores normally bound in books? I guess not Wagnerian ones! Don’t they have any score covers hanging around from Boheme iand Carmen ?
I detest Wagner and don’t really like Keith Warner direction so my heart bleeds for them ...
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Post by tonyloco on Jul 1, 2018 12:59:11 GMT
What are score covers? Aren’t scores normally bound in books? I guess not Wagnerian ones! Don’t they have any score covers hanging around from Boheme iand Carmen ? Scores of operas, musicals, symphonies, etc., usually come with paper covers but they can be bought with hard covers: the score of Götterdämmerung is available in both formats at appropriate prices (£20 and £33). From the photo in the begging letter, it looks as if the Royal Opera has its paperback scores rebound with hard covers, so these covers are not transferrable from one opera to another. This whole subject seems bizarre. Are they saying they can get 55 paperback scores rebound with hard covers for £150? Why can't the chorus use the scores in their original paper binding? There might just be a sensible practical reason for needing the hard-back rebinding, but what did the chorus use when the opera was last revived in 2012? In any case, what is the Royal Opera doing with its money if it has to launch a public appeal to cover one-off items costing £50, £150, £300 and £500 which are routine expenses involved in reviving an existing opera production? I suspect we are all wasting our time discussing this matter. I have no intention of donating to this silly appeal and would hope that the Royal Opera can revive an existing production of a Wagner opera from its own resources and, if not then as other members agree, they should trim down their bloated over-staffed administration and they will have lots of cash to pay for their opera revivals. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jul 1, 2018 20:26:05 GMT
No doubt they will claim that they are using a new critical edition of the opera which means that a whole new set needs to be provided even though there is only a change to a dotted quaver on page 214...
These people can always find a reason - however spurious - for their self-indulgence.
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1,089 posts
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Post by tonyloco on Jul 1, 2018 22:18:57 GMT
These people can always find a reason - however spurious - for their self-indulgence. Bravo oxfordsimon for "self-indulgence". The best I could think of was "extravagance" but decided against using it. "Self-indulgence" is just what it is! |
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Post by joeinnewyork on Dec 4, 2018 21:48:56 GMT
Will be in London the last week in March and am thinking of trying to get tickets to the Sunday matinee "Forza," which I'm guessing will be (a) difficult (b) expensive.
Any tips about ticket-buying strategies and/or dos and don'ts regarding where to sit?
(I'm used to the Met, which is of course enormous but the seating plan is fairly straightforward and without too many surprises, except for the orchestra under the overhang, where the sound gets a little trapped.)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2018 6:28:32 GMT
Will be in London the last week in March and am thinking of trying to get tickets to the Sunday matinee "Forza," which I'm guessing will be (a) difficult (b) expensive. I think you guess correctly on both points! Best tip is to be online to book when booking opens on 30th January at 9AM UK time. Regarding pricing, the website now has a handy interactive view of the seating plan which lets you see prices for different parts of the auditorium - this is available now for Forza. Prices generally reflect the quality of the view, so where there's the odd seat which is lower than the ones around it there is normally some form of restriction. They do have photographs of the view from every seat but I don't know any way of looking at this for productions that are not on sale yet, so you need to find one that's on sale with a range of seats still available - for instance this one: www.roh.org.uk/events/37136/ticketsMy view on best seats to go for (others may differ!) - the central block the amphitheater has a clear view of the stage but is very distant. Also up there the seats are narrower with no arm rests, and the front row has limited leg room. In the last year or so they have tweaked their pricing so the price differential between the better seats in the amphitheatre (first 10 rows or so) and the cheaper seats in the stalls and stalls circle is much less. One issue I'd flag up for the Sunday matinee is that it is being filmed for cinema screening. This is not a problem from most seats but the cameras are intrusive if you are sitting in the last few seats at the side of the stalls for most of the way back, and also in the first few rows of the stalls. |
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Post by joeinnewyork on Dec 6, 2018 2:14:35 GMT
Thanks, @xanderl - that's very helpful!
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Post by Mr Snow on Dec 6, 2018 6:52:20 GMT
Just to add their are various levels of friends who will have booked before 30th Jan, so on that morning be prepared t make a quick decision.
Alos IMO the sound is fine from the first 5 rows of the Amphitheatre less so further back.
the slips offer the best value full price seats in Theatreland. Great sound but limited visabilty (Not as bad as you might fear though).
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1,287 posts
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Post by theatrefan77 on Dec 6, 2018 10:19:12 GMT
I will definitely try for Forza. It was relatively easy to get tickets for Kaufmann's Otello, hopefully it will be the same for Forza.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2018 19:50:50 GMT
OMG my mother has got us tickets for Tosca in May. I'm excited - BRYN TERFEL!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2019 16:04:30 GMT
A lot of complaints on twitter regarding public booking this morning - the site crashing, plus some shows (particularly some performances of Forza) sold out before public booking opened, but with tickets up on Viagogo at crazy prices for these performances.
Also both opera productions in the Linbury (Berenice and Phaedra) seemed to have sold out before public booking too.
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Post by Dawnstar on Jan 30, 2019 16:59:12 GMT
I'm not surprised there are lots of complaints. I spent about half an hour trying to get the site to do anything & from the discussion going on in the ballet discussion forum I'm a member of lots of other people were having the same issues. After about half an hour it suddenly started working. I didn't even try for Forza tickets as I knew it'd sell out instantly but I was surprised & disappointed to find that Berenice was totally sold out. I wasn't expecting that given there aren't any "star" names in the cast. I couldn't get anything within my budget for Billy Budd either, there were only a handful of stalls circle tickets left for each performance & they were all over £100. The only opera I manage to get a ticket for was Andrea Chenier. Therefore most of my money went on ballet: I couldn't decide which of 4 casts I most wanted to see for Romeo & Juliet so ended up, er, booking for all of them!
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Post by jadnoop on Jan 31, 2019 10:38:05 GMT
If you're still looking for Forza tickets, it's worth checking the production page as returns are going online sporadically already. Still not cheap, but one Kaufmann (but not Netrebko) day has a few seats again for instance.
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