What are your guy's thoughts on straw phonation and does it work?

Hey everyone,

I'm a big fan of classical music but until yesterday had never delved into opera. My favourite style is baroque music, especially vocal- Bach and Buxtehude are my two favourites, though I also love the Mozart masses, Vivaldi's sacred music, etc. Living in Berlin, I have so many great concert opportunities, so I do 1-3 concerts a week which is great!

I had the opportunity for a cheap ticket to La Traviata at Deutsche Oper yesterday, which was fantastic! I really enjoyed my first opera and would like to go again, but I'm on the hunt for some recommendations as this side of classical music is totally new to me.

Basically my question is in two parts:

• Does anyone have a recommendation for a good first baroque opera? I'm a bit at a loss when it comes to the sheer quantity that's there, but I think I would enjoy opera even more if it's a more baroque style.

• I would also like to step out of my baroque comfort zone and maybe attend a Wagner opera. Which one would you start with?

As a last info, cause I guess that's important, I'm more into tragic than comedic, generally, but again- open to all suggestions!

Thanks everyone!

I want to get one, but i didnt get a idea yet. Im a singer and it s my favorite thing in the world to sing.

I’m usually chill about the conceits being used to modernize operas. Move the the rose ceremony to the early 20th century? Have Despina run a cafe? Ok. All good fun. But this production in Rome is infuriating. The story is silly to begin with but to make it literally all just a dream? At a surreal trade show? (At least I think it was a trade show…) With so much going on onstage, they have to add video screens showing Amina dressed as various paintings and statues from the Palazzo Barberini?

The staging is so busy that it literally gets in the way of the singing. Anyone else see this?

Orchestra, Row F. I am selling it for $25. Please DM me if you are interested!

I just now found out about auditions for the opera Acias and Galatea and I was told to just pick a piece I was already comfortable with to sing. My two options are Adieu by Gabriel Faure and So in Love from Kiss me Kate. I know both pieces really well but I don’t know which fits best. Any feedback is much appreciated!!!

Super dumb question, I know. For movies like The Untouchables, Quantum of Solace, Pretty Woman, and any others that do not feature the opera singers outside of their stage performance, what do movie productions typically do? Note: Not specifically just these individual films, but rather what is most common when featuring operatic scenes in films.

1. Production hires a few opera singers, rents a theatre, builds a set, stages the opera scene, and then perform it with the principal cast as audience members.

2. Production partners with an opera company near to the filming locations with a show that fits the film’s vibes, and utilizes their singers, staging, set, and orchestra.

3. A secret third thing?

I'm listening to Puccini's Turandot for the first time and I can't help but find a connection between the song at minute 11 and the traditional Chinese song 茉莉花 (Mòlìhuā). Any thoughts?

This piece of music inspired me to try to learn sheet music/notes, but when looking at the score I am at a loss and realize I have a long, long way to go. I am not looking to play it from the score, just be able to punch the notes into my tablature program (Guitar Pro 5). I am a guitarist and would like to play around with guitar, bass and vocal arrangements for this music.

What do you think would be involved in getting the music (doesn't have to be all the instruments, just the main "voices" in the music) into tablature. Enlisting some savvy person through something like Fiverr? Or could this be a thousands of dollars thing?

I don't know if there are places/databases to search if this has already been done in the past. My googlings have not turned up anything.

I’m thinking of taking a girl I really like to the opera for a date. I’ve got options of either Carmen or Madame Butterfly. I really have no clue about operas. What would be the better option for a date?

Edit* this would be at the Royal Opera House in London. ALSO could I put in Lucia di Lammermoor into the mix?

So: Carmen vs Madame Butterfly vs Lucia di Lammermoor! :-)

Do any of you know the story on the 1809 fire that destroyed a half of Christoph W. Gluck's work? I can only find endless mentions of this happening but no details at all but the date 1809. Che faro senza?

I'm a vocal student and for an exam I'm trying to find pieces to sing wherein I'm some kind of god. I've got an aria from Haydn's Schopfung where I'm an angel, a Bach cantata duet where I'm Jesus, a Handel opera/cantata aria where I'm Apollo, a Purcell aria where I'm some kind of pagan god. But I'm really looking for one or two more. I've considered doing Gounod's Faust as Mephistopheles, but the piece isn't quite right for my voice.

I'd be terribly grateful for any suggestions of pieces to sing. Best if they're a bit of a different style (maybe 18th century and later). Is there any lied repertoire wherein an angel or god sings? I'm a bass/bass-baritone by the way, but suggestions for higher voices are also welcome if I can transpose them.

I would show him Einstein on the Beach just to show him what the art form has become

A few months ago I attented for the first time at the Turandot, which was also one of the first operas for me.

Reading a bit about it, many stress the fact that the finale was not written by Puccini (who died in the meantime), but rather by Franco Alfano. On the other end, the libretto was written by Giuseppe Adami e Renato Simoni.

My understanding to this day was that the libretto is written before the music, and then the music is composed on top of the libretto. So, in this case, the "story" would be written by Adami and Simoni, an the music composed by Puccini.

So here comes my question: wasn't the ending already written in the libretto before the death of Puccini? And if so, why is Alfano's finale criticized? Just for the music? (by Toscanini first, and to this day. For example the fact that someone felt like re-writing it). What am I missing?

how is the rush/lottery going for everyone?

I entered twice, both times for Fire Shut Up in My Bones, both times I won, though I didn't purchase as I didn't end up being free those days. I do wonder what happens when I don't purchase, as it doesn't seem like it says anywhere in the rules that there is any "rolling" basis for lottery wins - where if someone doesn't purchase, they do another lottery for that ticket. I know right now the old rush is still in place so those tickets may be sold there, but if eventually the app fully replaces the old rush, I would want to know if there's a "waitlist" process for tickets won but not purchased.

First time I won, I got a box seat (don't remember exactly, but I remember it said box)

Second time, I got orchestra rear row CC

Feels like both these lottery win seats aren't as good as when I've done the original online rush (though, I've only done it a few times, so my sample size is small). Are you all getting good seats with the app rush/lottery? Does the lottery seem harder with the more well known shows?

I do like that we get to find out if we win the day before, instead of trying to get a ticket several hours before.

What do you all think so far?

I was reading a review of a mediocre production of Parsifal, where the reviewer described Kundry as "No longer a messenger, she is woman, all women!". This is a stupid statement to make, but it reminds me of plays I've seen that try to be clever by not giving the characters names in order to say "They stand for all archetypes". Not unless you can boil 3.5 billion women into one person they don't. I've come to realize watching a lot of "avant garde", "topical", "challenging", and "relevant" operas, at times you're not intelligent or clever. You're a pretentious bore.

I've come to realize that too many modern operas and productions don't interest me, they annoy me. For a genre that is supposed to be innovative and unafraid, we love love love some cliches that come up over and over again.

*Thinly veiled references to the evils of capitalism. This one happens so much I always joke that the opera we're about to watch will include one. These annoy me because one, they're everywhere, and two...theater runs on capitalism. People support a product over another product, that's capitalism. "But Jack, you're a writer! Would you just give your books out for free?" If I hated capitalism, yes I would.

*Abstract sets that look like a mixture of painters scaffold and the void. This I see way to often, a bunch of metal scaffolds or empty sets with abstract light meant to symbolize...something. What is the point? If you don't know, it's not a sign you're clever. It's a sign you have your head up your ass.

*Sexuality for no real reason. I saw a production of Tosca once where Scarpia made out with a statue and his office was an S&M sex dungeon. Yes, he's a horny bastard, we get it. You don't need to pull out whips and chains to show us. I know a lot of people believe opera needs to be shocking, but if it's nothing but shocking, then fatigue sets in. It feels like you have a little man poking you in your shoulder saying "Does it shock you does it shock you does it shock you" over and over.

*All negativity all the time. In truth I could probably make this point about modern theater. Way to often topical works seem to have nothing to say but "everything about how we live is shit and we're all racists". It feels very simplistic, turning complex people into little more than villains in a story without heroes. Of course some of this comes back to the idea dark works are more mature. Because remember, nothing is more mature than sitting in a room without the lights on.

*Topical is a good thing! I read a review of the Headless Soldier, an Irish Opera from 2023, that was full of praise for how critical it was of the modern world, arguing that the problems with society come from the family unit, as well as being "topical". When I hear topical, I don't think "What a great commentary on society!" I think "Wow, this most likely will vanish in three years!". Topical works never seem to have anything to say beyond "This exists, bad!". Most of the time "topical" works vanish under the waves, unless the topic they're discussing is abstract enough to be reinterpreted.

*Not characters but the human condition! This one honestly should be mentioned for the many, many bad writers I've seen who some how get work. Writers who create operas or plays and say things like "My main characters don't have names because they represent all of humanity!/all ideas about humanity!" Aside from being incredibly lazy, what do you have to say? How are you going to boil down every single human experience into something universal? You're not, you're really saying "This is what I see humanity as". If that's your point, fair enough, just don't act like it's clever.

*Religion and gods are bad because...yes! I remember the controversy of a really stupid production of Ideomeno (which I still think is overrated) where the main character pulls out the heads of Jesus, Buddah and Mohamed. First, Muslims don't worship Mohamed. Second, it's supposed to be people freeing themselves from gods in an opera where they do the exact opposite. Third, hostility to religion is so common in theater, opera included, now a days that I'm left to wonder if anyone actually thinks this through. What about people who's faith helps them? Or gives them strength? Of course not, they're slaves who must be freed.

Sorry for the rant, just something that bugs me. Being avant garde or topical doesn't make you clever. It makes you avant garde or topical. To be clever you need to actually have something to say and a unique way to say it. Plus, it feels like a lot of "brilliant" directors and musicians are all saying the same things. Less being clever and more the artistic mutual appreciation circle-jerk hour.

I admit I expect down votes, many down votes, but fuck it, at least I spoke my mind. If everyone disagrees with me, it means I actually did say something that went against the grain, so that's something.

The day your Ladyship planned

For our second and final meeting,

We're here to see how we stand;

For the Queen of the May

Must be appointed by us today!"

From Britten's operetta Albert Herring.

I don’t care how popular it is. I’m just genuinely interested in what you think is the greatest performance ever, and want to watch it to get more into opera.