Monday, August 29, 2005

How nice!

I went up to Avery Fisher Hall this morning to purchase my ticket for the New York Philharmonic's New Year's Eve Gala with Angela Gheorghiu. This is the first day that tickets for the season went on sale so the line was pretty long, rather to my horror as I had to be at work at 11:00 AM and I pretty much had to be out of there by 10:15 if I wanted to be sure I'd be at work on time. To my delight, Philharmonic employees were passing out pieces of pound cake and water or soda to the people on line! I suppose this was being done because it was the first day, but it was an extraordinarily thoughtful gesture, and the cake was superb, really rich and buttery. It reminds me of stories about how in the days of Rudolf Bing's rulership of the Met he used to order coffee to be served to the people on the Standing Room line in the wintertime. Not a gesture I would have expected from him, and I can't remotely imagine Joseph Volpe doing something like that! Admittedly, I think the standee line is inside on the concourse in the winter.

This almost makes up for having to drink the dreadful water that comes out of Avery Fisher Hall's fountains. I had considered writing a protest letter to the Phiharmonic demanding that they get a water filtering system or a water cooler, but, as I should have realized, they're trying to force the patrons to buy the bottled water from the refreshment stands.

There were other tickets I would have liked to buy for the Philharmonic, such as concerts conducted by Marin Alsop and Xian Zhang, but I only had so much money, and Angela, of course, was the priority!

(I did get to work about 5 minutes late. No big whoop. They're pretty relaxed on Sunday.)

Thursday, August 25, 2005

I AM EMPLOYED!

I FINALLY A GOT A NEW, REAL JOB!!!!!

Nope, not a temp job, not a temp-to-perm job, but a real, full-time, permanent job working as a Claims Service Representative for the New York State Insurance Fund. Even better, it's a civil service position, which means if you basically come to work on time and do a decent job, they can't fire you. There is a two year probation period, but I still think I'd have to have a pretty major screwup before they'd get rid of me - apparently only 2 or 3 people have been let go before the end of the probation in the past 10 years. I've probably got a job for life! And fabulous benefits! And a PENSION!

Yes, this was the interview I mentioned in my August 1st post - there was also another interview for a Resource and Reimbursement Specialist with the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. This actually looked a little more interesting considering I did briefly work in the development office of a non-profit that provided services to the developmentally disabled, and the office was within reasonable walking distance of my house. But they never got back to me. I got a call about a week and half ago from NYSIF asking me if I was interested in the job and of course I said yes, but the manager said he had to send a bunch of paperwork up to Albany to confirm it. Since (I suppose) there was always the possibility that the high muckety-mucks in Albany might have said no to my appointment, I decided not to count my chickens until they were hatched. Well, the manager called today and formally offered the job, and I start on September 8. Basically, I'll be a case manager for worker's compensation cases, making sure the injured claimant gets benefits and medical care if warranted. There are a lot of complicated legal and medical issues involved, not to mention tons of forms and procedures, and there will be about 3 months of classroom and on-the-job training before they start giving me a caseload.

For fifteen years since leaving college, due to my wanting to have an acting career, the bad economy, my own immaturity and the occasional stupid decision, my work experience has been mainly low-paying market research jobs and temporary secretarial work. I have spent a lot of time unemployed and even two months on welfare. I've never made more than $27,000 a year and often much less. Well, that's all over. Let's just say that my starting pay, as a trainee, is about $34,000 - and that's going to go up to $46,000 when the traineeship ends in two years! Plenty of money to go to opera in cities besides New York and maybe even follow certain talented singers around within reason. And maybe do such unimportant things as paying off my debts and getting my own apartment.

The only downside is, as I said when I went for the interviews, that I'm actually not getting my first paycheck until October (they hold the pay for the first few weeks until you retire or otherwise leave - no idea why, some union rule), so no "luxuries", really, except for standing room for the Met's Opening Night. It'll be a while before I can buy tickets to Rigoletto with Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrebko (and Carlo Guelfi) and La Traviata with Angela Gheorghiu, the two operas that I consider worth sitting in the Balcony for as opposed to my usual Family Circle Standing Room. As it is I've been working lots of overtime at my current job and will still work nights for a few weeks - quite to my shock, the management there loves me and is begging me to stay! It's nice to feel needed.

And I just hope that the actual job is interesting, and that I'm not condemning myself to 30 years of slavery.

(By the way, one of my colleagues at the proxy solicitation firm is a manager at NYSIF during the day, and he's been giving me a few pointers - apparently even a manager's salary can't cover the cost of raising five kids in New York City, so he needs a second job!)

For those of you who are old friends but new to this blog, I know a lot of you have followed my job woes for a long time, and so I say: thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for your support!. YAHOOO! Baruch Hashem!

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Kenneth Branagh to direct "The Magic Flute"!



Well, this looks like something to look forward to!

Since Kenneth Branagh burst on the scene in 1989 with his adaption of Henry V, probably the greatest adaptation of a Shakespeare play on film (and oy, how I regret that I never got a chance to see it on the big screen!), I've been a big fan of his. I doubt that this will be a "traditional" production set in ancient Egypt or some generalized "mystical" setting or even, like many productions, set roughly in the time of the opera's composition. After all, neither Branagh's version of Much Ado About Nothing or Hamlet take place in the 16th Century, and he updated Love's Labour Lost (which I haven't seen) to make it a 1930's musical. Since the first two films were brilliant - in fact, I would say Much Ado About Nothing is one of the most beautiful, joyous, life-affirming films of the 1990s, even a time-transplanted Flute shouldn't be a problem. Interestingly, one report referred to Pamina's mother as "Queen Elizabeth of the Night", so Branagh might be putting this in an Elizabethan setting. This might actually work - remember that the Queen of the Night is a critical allegory of the Empress Maria Theresa, and Elizabeth was just as much a tyrant (albeit a somewhat more benevolent one) as she was. As long as this film has the sense of fantasy, wonder and mystery which is essential in this opera, we shouldn't have a problem.

And remember how I said that Stephen Fry would be a wonderful librettist for a Harry Potter opera? Well, now he'll have the experience, as he is adapting the libretto here. As I said in that post, he is a big classical music fan and one of the classiest, wittiest people in the business. I only hope even he can do something with lines like "Great Sarastro, we admire your wise discourse" (I don't remember the German here - that's the Ruth and Thomas Martin translation.

The starriest names in the cast are likely René Pape (the real "divine René") as Sarastro and Lyubov Petrova, whose Met roles include Zerbinetta, Oscar and Sophie in Werther, as the Queen of the Night. Joseph Kaiser, a member of the Lyric Opera (of Chicago) Center for American Artists and a winner of this year's Met Auditions, will sing Tamino. He sang "Dies bildnis ist bezaubernschön" at the Auditions Concert, and while the voice is a little nasal for my taste, he's a superb actor. Russian opera, such as Lensky's aria "Kuda, kuda", seems to suit him a bit better vocally. He also sang Rodolfo in Baz Luhrmann's Broadway version of La Boheme.

The others are perhaps a little more cause for concern. Ben Davis, who sings Papageno, is like Kaiser a former member of Baz Luhrmann's Boheme, but his only other credits are in Broadway musicals (Les Miserables and Thoroughly Modern Millie) and I'm not sure this is necessarily the right voice for an opera, especially considering the extensive miking that goes on on Broadway today. Amy Carson, who is described only as a "newcomer" will be singing Pamina.

No word on remainder of cast, conductor, orchestra, or release date as of yet. Stay tuned.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Domingo and Villazon together: is this a good idea?


I just heard that the Los Angeles Opera has commissioned a new opera based on the film Il Postino, to premiere in 2009. It will be written by Mexican composer Daniel Catán (best known for Florencia en Amazonas, a recent operatic composition that has had wonderful reviews, good audience response, a complete recording, and probably most importantly, multiple revivals) and star Placido Domingo, who will create the role of Pablo Neruda, and Rolando Villazon, who will create the title role of Mario, Neruda's personal postman.

I have some skepticism here. I probably won't be able to make any kind of reasonable judgement of the opera until I both hear more of Catán's work and see the movie the opera is based on (and maybe even read some Neruda!), but I wonder if this is a good idea. Vocally, Villazon is so close to Domingo that he might as well be a clone, and I think that this is the main reason (plus the fact that he is Not Roberto Alagna) that he is getting so much gush. More to the point, I don't think there will be enough vocal contrast between the two singers. If the tenors were portraying father and son, that might work. It might have been a better idea to have a baritone sing Mario, or perhaps to have in the role one of Domingo's other Spanish-speaking protegès, such as Aquiles Machado or Tito Beltran, both of whom have lighter and more lyric voices than Domingo or Villazon.

And yes, folks, we all know that Placido Domingo is in fabulous voice for a man his age. He's in pretty darned good voice for a man half his age. As blasphemous as others may deem this, I think that he should retire now while he is still in such good voice and we're all saying "Placido! Why did you leave us? We love you!" rather than "Luciano, go away already!" And frankly, he's in the way of a lot of younger tenors - at the rate he's going, he probably won't retire until Roberto Alagna and Ramon Vargas and Marcello Giordani and Jose Cura and Marcelo Alvarez are close to or even past 50, and poor Ben Heppner nearly 60. I think the reason that Villazon (and possibly Juan Diego Flòrez) might prevail in these artificially created "tenor wars" is that they are the only ones young enough not to be swallowed up by Domingo's shadow.

Nevertheless, there is something to be said for star power - almost certainly this will lead to a sold out house and possibly a recording of the opera. I must admit the concept is intriguing, and I do like both singers. And as always, I'd much rather see a singer, even one I don't always like, have a triumph than fail and have nasty people tittering behind their back. Most importantly, the more new operas get performed, the greater chance that at least one of them will be worthy of becoming a classic of the new century.

Monday, August 01, 2005

Addio, diletta California!







Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna with Placido Domingo, in his capacity as Boss of the Los Angeles Opera, after a performance of La Boheme last December.


It turns out that I will not, after all, be going to Los Angeles in September to see Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu (and fantastic Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecen as Silvio!) in Pagliacci. In the end, I really don't have the money. My long-term temp job (calling up company stockholders and asking them to either vote proxies for annual meetings or to participate in stock tender offers) is going through a slow period, and although I bless my bosses for keeping me and my colleagues working, the only way they can do that is by reducing our hours. I also just went on some interviews for jobs at various state agencies (I took the "Professional Careers" New York State civil service test back in February and got a virtually perfect score), and was told if I get the job, I won't actually get my first paycheck until a month later! That means October minimum. So if I get one of these jobs, I'll have to save up to last from leaving my current job to the first paycheck in the new one, and if not, well, I just hope things at this one pick up quickly.

I will content myself, hopefully, with Angela's Tosca at the Met's Opening Night Gala and her Violetta in February. Assuming, of course, Joseph Volpe doesn't have some scheme to throw her out Kathleen Battle-style in order to make himself a "hero" to the press to coincide with his leaving. And there is the New York Philharmonic's New Year's Eve Gala and possibly the Philadelphia Orchestra's gala in January. Roberto, unfortunately, is going to have to wait for Enzo in La Gioconda in Fall 2006 (although if I really get some kind of monetary windfall, I might consider going to see him in Aida at Orange next July). Unfortunately, he is not doing Tosca with Angela at Covent Garden (Marcelo Alvarez is). I have the feeling this is the fault of his manager, about whom the less said the better.

And Roberto has a new coming out this fall of music associated with French pop-operetta singer Luis Mariano, which looks like a cross between Marcelo Alvarez' Gardel CD and Susan Graham's French operetta CD. And hopefully by Hanukkah I'll have a new TV and a DVD player and can enjoy him and Angela that way...