Top 10 Fridays: Modern Opera Houses

Sydney Opera House is one of the most iconic and recognizable buildings in the world. The opera house, completed in 1973, broke the mold and paved the way for modern design principles now being applied to opera houses around the world.

Just because opera is a "traditional" artform, that doesn't mean opera houses have to look Neo-Classical or Baroque. No longer do opera houses have to have all the gilt, frescoed ceilings, chandeliers and other accoutrements.

It's okay to look progressive or futuristic. In fact, it absolutely rocks. Why blend in when you can stand out?

To launch our first weekly Top 10 feature, here's our picks for 10 Modern Opera Houses (in no particular order). We invite you to take our poll located on the right sidebar and tell us your pick for the #1 Modern Opera House. Make your voices heard and we'll post the results next week!


"The Armadillo" aka Wales Millenium Centre
Cardiff, Wales


GöteborgsOperan aka Gothenburg Opera
Gothenburg, Sweden


Kansallisooppera aka The Finnish National Opera
Helsinki, Finland
















Four Seasons Opera House
Toronto, Canada


El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía aka Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts
Valencia, Spain


Palace of Peace and Reconciliation
Astana, Kazakhstan


Oslo Opera House
Oslo, Norway


Esplanade-Theatres by the Bay
Singapore City, Singapore


"The Egg" aka National Centre for the Performing Arts
Beijing, China


Operaen aka Copenhagen Opera House
Copenhagen, Denmark

~ Ling Chan, Assistant to Managing Director

Lillian Alling: Workshop #4 Update

A few weeks ago, during the performance run of Salome, we held the fourth workshop – and second music workshop – for our new, commissioned opera, Lillian Alling.

It was an exciting week, as composer John Estacio brought lots of new music to the rehearsal hall. Librettist John Murrell, stage director and dramaturge Kelly Robinson and music dramaturge Les Dala, worked with a group of singers and a pianist all day everyday probing and refining. Every evening John Estacio returned to his rooms and wrote and re-wrote and refined, bringing yet more new music to the rehearsal hall each morning!

It is an intense and energetic and exciting process!

I am a big fan of Estacio’s music. Another time I’ll go into greater detail as to why. For now, let me say that his lush sound and full bodied vocal writing, which will be amply on display throughout Lillian, is punctuated by some very different music written to give us an exact aural picture of place and time. One example is the “Tin Pan Alley-esque” ensemble for a group of Brooklyn boys circa 1920s, singing John’s “Polly from Poughkeepsie,” as they “take notice of Lillian and begin to catcall and make other bad-boy noises as they circle around… (Murrell’s description of the scene).

Another example of Estacio’s aural postcard from another time and place is the music he has written for a raucous barn dance on the Norwegian farm in North Dakota that Lillian visits on her way from New York to British Columbia. During her brief time there she meets young Kristian who – reluctantly – sends her on toward BC to meet her fiancé.

We’ll put a bit of the music from these two scenes on this site for your enjoyment. Check back soon.

~Jim Wright, General Director

Wagner This Morning

Streaming VO's Music Director

Jonathan Darlington has another gig: he's also the Music Director of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, in Duisburg , Germany (north of Dusseldorf , west of Essen ). This morning, you can hear that orchestra, under his baton, in a live streaming concert direct from their performing venue, the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle. On the program: a world-premiere selection of orchestral pieces from Wagner's Ring des Niebelungen, arranged by the orchestra's second solo cellist, Friedmann Dressler.

Duisburg is 9 hours ahead of Vancouver . The livestream broadcast begins at 9:00 am PDT, with live chat and photos online. The concert itself starts at 11:00 am. It will last about 90 minutes. Here's the link: CLICK HERE Then scroll down to where it says Koelnbeben Live and click on the Play button. Good luck.



Click on the link now, and then click on "Ring Ohne Worte - Quick Words - Jonathan Darlington" for an English-language video introduction with Maestro Darlington.

UPDATE: Here's some more video, this of the orchestra trying to figure out how to make a good sound for the SMITHY

UPDATE: The rehersal yesterday with a live-streaming test went very well - we're excited about the sound quality we were able to achieve! TIP: Connect your computer to your stereo/ hi-fi unit, if possible. Looking forward to welcoming Vancouverians to the live-chat. Don't worry - we all speak English. We'd like to know your thoughts on this very German piece of music. Greetings from Duisburg!
Jelena K. Löckner Press assistant to the music director

~Photo courtesy Duisburger Philharmoniker

Operamania 101: A Three Hour Tour

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...

When I was in grade school, I used to run home after school to watch re-runs of the ultimate trifecta in comedies: Happy Days, Three's Company and Gilligan's Island.

I especially enjoyed the absurd antics of the seven castaways who had packed way too much for a 3 hour pleasure cruise, who seemed to enjoy a never-ending supply of coconut or banana cream pies and of how the professor can build anything yet didn't come up with a way to construct a raft to get off the island.

The episode, The Producer, was selected by TV Guide as one of the 100 greatest tv episodes of all time. In the episode, the castaways try to impress a Hollywood producer by performing Hamlet, set to Bizet's Habanera and Toreador from Carmen, as well as Offenbach's Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffman.



Below, the real mccoy. A triple whammy treat for your Wednesday's Operamania 101.







Although watching Gilligan's Island required you to check your brain at the door, it was a show enjoyed by millions and as it's found a place in syndication, future generations can learn of Shakespeare, Bizet and Offenbach as children.

Now that it's all coming back to you, I dare you not to sing Hamlet's "soliliquy" to Habanera. Ear worm, much?

~ Ling Chan, Assistant to Managing Director

Tuesday Trivia: No Holds Bard

This week, we take a look at the William Shakespeare and his (and other's) contributions to the world of opera.

Name the composer of each Shakespeare-based opera. Post your guesses as comments. The first poster with the most correct answers wins!


Who composed the following Shakespeare-based operas?

1. Otello
2. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
3. King Lear
4. Hamlet
5. Beatrice et Benedict
6. I Capuleti e i Montecchi
7. Sir John in Love
8. Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor
9. Romeo et Juliette
10. Antony and Cleopatra

This week's prize: Two tickets to any of the Bard on the Beach productions this summer!

And in any case, join Bard for their 20th Anniversary, opening for previews this week with Othello!


~ Michael Blake as Otello, Photo by David Cooper


Congratulations to Jeffrey Jung, last week's winner of Tuesday Triva! Shoot Ling an email at lchan@vancouveropera.ca and we'll set you up!

Wagner In The Morning, Anyone?

Streaming VO's Music Director

Jonathan Darlington has another gig: he's also the Music Director of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra, in Duisburg , Germany (north of Dusseldorf , west of Essen ). This week, you can hear that orchestra, under his baton, in a live streaming concert direct from their performing venue, the Philharmonie Mercatorhalle. On the program: a world-premiere selection of orchestral pieces from Wagner's Ring des Niebelungen, arranged by the orchestra's second solo cellist, Friedmann Dressler.

Duisburg is 9 hours ahead of Vancouver . The livestream broadcast begins at 9:00 am PDT, with live chat and photos online. The concert itself starts at 11:00 am. It will last about 90 minutes. Here's the link: http://www.dacapo-dp.de/index.php

But don't wait for the 28th. Click on the link now, and then click on "Ring Ohne Worte - Quick Words - Jonathan Darlington"for an English-language video introduction with Maestro Darlington.

UPDATE: Here's some more video, this of the orchestra trying to figure out how to make a good sound for the SMITHY

~Photo courtesy Duisburger Philharmoniker

BOV: Star Trek Does Opera

For all you Trekkies, er Trekkers out there, Robert Picardo sings a little opera, with unexpected results.



For Trek fans, this is considered hilarious....


Want to see more of our favorite videos? Join us on Youtube!

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

Blogger Night at the Opera - Portland Style.

Our Blogger Nights were tremendously successful and we are very glad to see that others are trying it out. It seems that Portland had an equally successful time.

We will be back next year with more Blogger Nights, as well as some new twists on the idea! Stay tuned and thanks to all who blogged along with us this year!

Check them out on our sidebar, Bloggers We Love.

VO Founder Irving Guttman honoured by UBC

Vancouver Opera Founder Irving Guttman will be honoured May 21, 2009 by the University of British Columbia with an honorary Degree to recognize his accomplishments in the arts.

Mr. Guttman’s prolific career has spanned five decades. He has served as Founding Artistic Director of Vancouver Opera and the Artistic Director of both Edmonton Opera and Winnipeg Opera. He is also an internationally acclaimed stage director, with engagements at leading opera companies throughout the world.

Mr Guttman began with Vancouver Opera’s first production of Carmen in 1960, and served until 1974. During his tenure the season was expanded to three productions of between four and six performances each. During this time he secured a number of important debuts for Vancouver audiences, including Placido Domingo in Tosca (1968), Richard Bonynge’s conducting of Faust (1963), Sutherland and Horne in Norma (1963). Mr. Guttman, after a seven year hiatus, was invited to return for the 1982/83 and 1983/84 seasons. He is currently the Artistic Director for both the Edmonton and Manitoba operas, and keeps a busy freelance schedule.

Mr Guttman was awarded The Order of Canada on July 14, 1988 and has been the recipient of countless awards and accolades during his long career. In 2008 Mr. Guttman and VO established the Irving Guttman Legacy Fund, a permanent endowment, the proceeds of which will be used by VO’s General Directors to encourage the most promising young Canadian singers to achieve their potential.

We salute Irving Guttman on his latest recognition, as well as others who will be similiarly recognized by UBC.

Other 2009 distinguished recipients, in alphabetical order, are:

* Thomas Michael Apsey, one of Canada’s most influential and decorated forestry professionals
* Alan Bernstein, first President of the Canadian Institute of Health Research
* Iona Campagnolo, former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, Member of Parliament, and a founder of the Fraser Basin Council
* Stanley Falkow, international microbiologist and leader in the study of how infectious microbes and host cells interact
* Daniel Gelbart, a highly respected B.C. inventor and entrepreneur
* Judy Graves, Coordinator for Vancouver’s Tenant Assistance Program, is a long-time, passionate advocate for the homeless.
* Kenneth Stephen Julien, UBC alumnus and now President of the National University of Trinidad and Tobago
* Bill Millerd, UBC alumnus and long-time Artistic Director of the Vancouver Arts Club Theatre Company
* Susan Point, Coast Salish artist
* Sir John Sulston, Currently the Chair of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester

Operamania 101: Power to the Fifth

What do you get when you mix Bruce Willis in his usual malcontent hero role, Milla Jovovich as "the perfect being" and Madonna's Blond Ambition tour costume designer Jean Paul Gaultier?

You get the outrageous intergalactic action-comedy extravaganza called The Fifth Element by French director Luc Besson. And did I mention the cotton ball hair style of Chris Tucker too? This cult classic movie is definitely a guilty pleasure.

But amidst the fighting for the survival of man storyline and the 900+ out-of-this-world costumes comes one of the most memorable scenes of the movie. And it involves opera.



Diva Plavalaguna, a blue skinned alien with 2 tentacular appendages on her head, performed for the transfixed audience on the luxury space liner at Fhloston Paradise or if you've been there already, you'll recognize it to be the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.

She sang Il Dolce Suono from Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, first classically then more up-tempo until she's out and out rocking the house.

Soprano Inva Mula Tchako provided the actual vocals for actress Maïwenn Le Besco.

The song is originally from Act III, Scene 1 of Lucia di Lammermoor and often referred to as "the mad scene", an enactment of going off the deep end in an opera.



A visual and aural assault on the senses, The Fifth Element is definitely a space opera. Who would've thought you'd learn opera from a sci-fi movie?

~ Ling Chan, Assistant to Managing Director

Tuesday Trivia: Peter, Peter, now with Prizes!

(Haven't you always wanted a pony?)

You guess in the comments section, we post answers next week! This week's winner (she who posts the most right answers first) gets two tickets to our opening production of 2009-2010: Norma


(Or a Monkey? Haven't you always wanted a monkey?)

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater….the name Peter is featured in each answer – but not always the English spelling!

1. Bass opera singer who sang the role of Prince Gremin in Vancouver Opera’s 2008-2009 Eugene Onegin
2. Orchestra conductor 1875 – 1964 born in Paris, became an American citizen, he conducted the American premiere of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel at the Metropolitan Opera
3. American coloratura soprano born 1930 who enjoyed a long and distinguished career at the Metropolitan Opera
4. City which is home to the Mariinsky II opera house
5. 3 act opera by Benjamin Britten
6. British opera singer 1928 – 2008 who specialized in great Verdi baritone roles
7. Russian composer 1840 - 1893
8. Playwright whose works inspired The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville
9. German tenor and conductor born 1935
10. Tenor role in Prokofiev’s War and Peace

OK, so we're working up to a pony or a monkey, but we can dream, right?

~"Little White Pony" by Rene Vesco

Brush Up Your Mao

Starting May 20th at 8:00p.m. there is a four-part series on Mao on the Knowledge Network. Check it out!

Days of Our Lives Part Quatre

And we're still being mentioned!

On the May 5 episode, Kate fires Chloe as the host of her tv show just as Lucas walks in on them. Chloe lies to Lucas about not wanting the job in the first place, to which Lucas assumes it's because of Vancouver Opera's offer. Kate backs up Chloe's lie saying that Chloe made it clear that she has other "priorities", such as her singing career.

But that's not the REAL reason...



Fast foward to 5:40 for the confrontation. You can cut that tension with a knife!

~Ling Chan, Assistant to Managing Director

**All rights belong to NBC and Ken Corday. No copy infringement intended**

Operamania 101: Flying the Friendly Skies

Think this graph sums up your knowledge of opera?

Well then, class is now in session.

Actually, you, me and everyone we know knows more about opera than we may originally thought. If you've grown up watching cartoons, movies, commercials or are a pop culture addict, you've been exposed to opera and may not even realized it.

So to prep you for a BIG surprise we have planned for next season, we'll ease you into some (P)OPera Culture 101 and turn you from an Operaphobe into an Operaphile.

In 1989 British Airways became "The World's Favourite Airline" with their Saatchi & Saatchi produced commercial, featuring "Aria", based on "Flower Duet" from French opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes. What was doubly cool was this re-worked version was produced by Malcolm McClaren of the Sex Pistols fame and Yanni. Yes, Yanni, who picked up the Grammy that year for this cover version.



Course Yanni would not have won ANY Grammy had there not been the original song.



Crank it to 11.

~ Ling Chan, Assistant to Managing Director

Operaplot Winners Announced

The second #operaplot contest has announced its winners!

The contest was to summarize an opera plot in 140 characters or less on Twitter. Winners are given tickets to opera companies around the world, including Vancouver Opera. We'll learn soon who won our tickets. Here's one of the winners:

@voxdixit - Do a little dance (for Herod), make a little love (with the severed head of John the Baptist), get killed tonight! [Salome]

Which was also one of our favorites!

Special thanks to Danielle De Niese, who was the judge.

BTW if you want to follow us on Twitter, we're @vancouveropera

Happy B-day VO Blog!

Now we are one. We hope you have been educated, enlightened, and amused by our postings during our first year. Let us know with comments.

We've posted over 300 posts in our first year, or about 1 every 20 hours.





We've had about 15,000 visitors from 93 countries. (We're big in Japan)





Top content for shows is our blockbuster, Carmen.





Top content for stories is Blogger Night At The Opera, our new online initiative to bring you closer to the action with live blogging comments from your favorite Vancouver bloggers.






Top content for people is our own Simone Osbourne, who won the Marilyn Horne contest this past year.






Top author is, of course, General Director Jim Wright, who's posts score more hits than any other. That makes sense -- he's the boss.

Stay tuned for exciting new announcements and features over the sumemr as we gear up for our Golden Anniversary!












Will there be cake? I was told there'd be cake...

~cute kid photo by Studio32 Photography
~Carmen photo by Tim Matheson
~Jim Wright photo by Dina Goldstein

Tuesday Trivia: Last Gasp Opera

You know, the body count was kind of high this season at the opera. It was a tough gig having a leading role at Vancouver Opera. To wit:

Salome - beheaded
John the Baptist - beheaded
Carmen - shanked

And as for Gilda and Lensky, well, that's the subject of today's quiz. Match the character to their unfortunate manner of demise, and hope for better results next season.


1. Siegfried in Gotterdammerung
2. Gilda in Rigoletto
3. Desdemona in Otello
4. Violetta in La Traviata
5. Cavaradossi in Tosca
6. Manon Lescaut
7. Leonora in La Forza del Destino
8. Lensky in Eugene Onegin
9. Lulu
10. Andre Chenier

a) Tuberculosis
b) Stabbed in the heart by brother
c) Murdered by Jack the Ripper
d) In a case of mistaken identity, assassinated, thrown into a sack to be tossed into the river
e) Exhaustion and dehydration
f) Stabbed in back with spear
g) Executed by guillotine
h) Shot to death by firing squad
i) Killed by friend in duel
j) Strangled by her jealous husband

Post your guesses as comments and we'll post answers on Thursday!

Goldcorp is Golden Anniversary Sponsor

Goldcorp Inc. (Goldcorp) has made a major gift to VO through a three-year season-sponsorship commitment, beginning with the 2009-2010 Golden Anniversary season. This is VO’s first-ever multi-season sponsorship.


One of the world’s largest gold mining companies, Goldcorp is headquartered in Vancouver and maintains a strong commitment to community involvement. As well as supporting VO’s mainstage productions and renowned education, touring and community programs, Goldcorp’s sponsorship will, during the 2009-2010 Golden Anniversary season, include a unique component: support of VO’s ground-breaking Community Connections program, a commitment by VO to provide 10,000 hours of volunteer service to communities across the province.

“Goldcorp’s generous gift, secured through the hard work of VO’s Board of Directors, will help VO to continue to maintain the highest artistic standards in all that we present, introduce students to the world of opera, engage diverse audiences, and – importantly – give back to the community that has supported us for 50 years,” says James W. Wright, General Director of Vancouver Opera. “We’re thrilled that idea of the Community Connections program resonated with Goldcorp. It’s an extraordinary sponsorship, and fitting for our milestone Golden Anniversary.”


More to come on this exciting new partnership soon!

A Tip Of The Hat From Jim Wright

We passed a couple of milestones this past weekend. We closed our 2008-09 season with the final performance of Salome and celebrated the one year anniversary of our blog!

Both events are notable. | am very proud of the artists and artisans who brought to our audiences an amazing production of Richard Strauss’s musically and emotionally complex piece. The orchestra and all the singers did an extraordinary job with this unique, rich and challenging work. My hat is off to all of them along with, of course, stage director Joe McClain and music director Jonathan Darlington.

I am also proud of our online presence, including our blogs. Members of the VO team are working very hard to convey the richness, excitement and relevance of our wonderful art form to new generations, some of whom have never seen or heard an opera and might be put off by the traditional trappings of opera – or what they may have perceived those trappings to be. It is important to us at VO for everyone to realize they are welcome to join us in exploring the magnificent adventure of opera. Our online activities help us to accomplish that, and will continue to play a large part – I’m sure an ever-larger part – in communicating and connecting with our friends in Metro Vancouver, across BC and around the world!

~ Jim Wright, General Director

New Feature: BOV Bizarre Opera Video of the Week

As our throughts turn to summer, we offer you a weekly pick-me-up.

Bizarre Opera Video of the Week.

Mondays we'll offer a new video of something odd we've found online. Mostly funny, sometimes puzzling, but always safe for work. Feel free to submit your own links to us via comments on any entry. We're always looking for new material to remind us that opera is not all sturm und drang.

When in doubt, we always go with these guys, who had a loving fascination with opera.



Keep an eye out for us on Monday mornings throughout the summer.


Want to see more of our favorite videos? Join us on Youtube!



~ Thanks to JennyB for this one

Salome Opera Blog #12: Signing Off

John MacMaster gives a thank you and sign off as our last video blogger for the season.



Thanks to John for taking a turn as our video blogger for Salome!

So Good We Had to Bring Her Back

Tonight is not only the final performance of Salome but when it wraps, it'll be the 3rd Salome that Vancouver Opera has produced in its 49 year history. Fortunately, each time the same opera is performed, the look and direction are always different, thus ensuring a different experience for opera-going audiences.

Curious to see what the other Salome productions looked like, I scoured VO's old binders with the hundreds of slides of past shows (this was obviously the era before digital cameras)

In 1991, Glynis Leyshon, who most recently directed Rigoletto this season, helmed Vancouver Opera's first Salome. Stephanie Sundine starred as Salome, William Neill as Herod and Victoria Vergara as Herodias. The set as designed by Pam Johnson who envisioned an end of the century desert resort. Sundine's Salome took inspiration from Marilyn Monroe with her billowy pleated white skirt.



Six years later, Vancouver Opera would mount Canada's provocative filmmaker Atom Egoyan's vision of Salome. This version was controversial because of Egoyan's use of multimedia techniques in the visually stunning but minimalist set. (although i would say egoyan's vision was ahead for its time). For example, Herod would spy on Salome using video cameras and what the audience would see are images of Salome projected on screens.



The majority of the cast would wear antiseptic white uniforms in a medical-like setting and that combined with the stark lightning, would result in double shadows.



With overtones of voyeurism, this daring production also gave some insight into Salome's childhood, including abuse and gang rape. Filmed projections of a young Salome included her swinging on a swing set and walking through a primordial forest blindfolded. For her dance of the seven veils, it was done behind a thinly veiled scrim.



Egoyan's version has been called part art exhibit, modern dance production and classical concert. And I would've loved to have seen this one.



Mary Jane Johnson starred as 1997's Salome, Gregg Baker as Jokanaan, Jacque Trussel as Herod and Judith Forst as Herodias.

And although each production is different from each other, there are a few small factoids that link them all together:

Benoit Boucher played Narraboth in the first and second Salome.
Judith Forst would play Herodias in 1997 and 2009's Salome.
The 1997 and 2009 production of Salome have raked (slanted) stages, symbolizing the dysfunction of the family.

However the most common thread in every VO production of Salome remains: the opera audiences losing their minds over Strauss' music and also the need to engage in conversation of one of the most disturbing yet compelling operas of all time.

I wonder what the next vision of Salome may look like. It might be years from now but our girl Salome will never really be far away.

Cuz everybody knows, you can't keep a bad girl down.

~ Ling Chan, Assistant to Managing Director

photos by Tim Matheson

editors note: Salome 2009 is the 4th time Vancouver Opera produced Strauss' opera. The very first one was in 1969. Unfortunately, there does not exist any pictures in our archives from that production. Thanks to the Director of Marketing for the correction.

Work It!

Dear Hip Young Things,

Thanks for dressing up to the nines for Salome! You guys make us look GOOD!

I know I couldn't get around to all of you (as there was no intermission at Salome and so many of you fashionistas), but I will definitely snap your pic next season.

We can't wait to see what you PYTs come up with in the fall!

Sincerely yours,

The Operazzi

photos by Ling Chan

Salome Video Blog #11: Backstage Before The Show

The always affable and charming John MacMaster gives us a little tour of what goes on backstage and onstage before our productions of Salome.



Come see John play against type as Herod this Saturday, May 9, 2009!
Call 604-683-0222 or go online at www.vancouveropera.ca for tickets

Lights Out

We are going all out for our final performance of our 49th year!







We've got scandal









We've got treachery







We've got lust








We've got obsession








We've got death








We have the incomparable Salome



Don't miss the final "lights out" performance

SALOME
FINAL PERFORMANCE
May 9th 7:30pm
call 604-683-0222
or online at
www.vancouveropera.ca

Herod Has His Cake

Not only was it the second to last performance of Salome tonight BUT it was also John Mac Master's birthday!



So while the opening scene on stage got underway, little did the audience know but some of us were backstage watching John cut into the 2 very yummy, very creamy cakes.

Although everyone was happy to celebrate with him, I found out that the performers couldn't quite have their slices of cakes JUST yet. After all, they had to sing. And moist creamy cake does not for optimal vocal range and projection make.

Course by the end of Salome, the plates and plates of cake vanished.

Happy birthday John from everyone at the VO!

~ Ling Chan, Assistant to Managing Director

VO Goes Electronic

Eliminates Press Kits, Goes "Greentech" w/Flashdrives

Starting with the opening of Salome on May 2, VO took the leap into the 21st Century and eliminated a century-old tradition of the paper press kit for visiting reviewers and press. Typically 40 pages or more, with photos, background, and bios and wrapped in an unwieldy folder, the press kit has been the mainstay of marketing directors and press agents since the age of the gaslight.

Selina Rajani, Communications Manager, says "Our media kits had become multimedia affairs, with operalive.ca, manga, and podcasts. Much of this couldn't be put into hardcopy. Plus, the folders had gotten pretty unwieldy as we provided more and more info to our reviewers and reporters."

Enter the USB flashdrive. A reusable, branded piece of hardware that contains far more content at a far lower cost. The new drives, easily obtained from our favorite supplier, contain press-ready photos, press releases, the entire full color program, podcasts, our world-famous manga, as well as background material on the current production and next season.

So far the press seems to love them. No more lugging around a bulging folder, no more spilling of slick handouts, and no more worrying about balancing it on your lap as you try to take notes on the show.

Small, light, compact and reusable, the new flashdrives bring a 21st Century solution to an 18th Century problem, and keep VO on the cutting edge of innovation both onstage and behind the scenes.

#operaplot favorites

As we mentioned before blogger and Tweeter the Omniscient Mussel(follow her as missmussel) has been running a contest called #operaplot, where you are challenged to summarize an opera in 140 characters or less.

VO kicked in some tickets to this international competition, and so has been folloiwng the entries. Here're some of our favorites:


Salome
AlexJ:@#$% H:WANT C B00B13S! S:WANT PRESENTS! H:kk, TITS OR GTFO S:(.)(.) H:ZOMG B00B13S!! S:J-Plate pls H:kk S:ZOMG AM BLOODY & DEAD

@talkingparrot - introduction, corruption, seduction, decapitation, salivation, remuneration

@thomas_rhodes - She danced 7veils of blissB/c she wanted John 2kiss/Herod gave her d Head/She woulda had it n bed/But d guard crushed her instead

@voxdixit - Do a little dance (for Herod), make a little love (with the severed head of John the Baptist), get killed tonight!

And For Next Season...
Norma
@talkingparrot - circa 50 bc. police versus hippies. all ends in tears

Nixon In China
@operabladerunnr - mao dick, dick mao. Politics? Riddles. Chou toasts,Pat sees pigs,all see ballet, then to bed. Minimal progress,minimalist music.

Le Nozze di Figaro
@Mmmusing = Count wishes he Susanna had; wife=sad, servant=mad, a mezzo plays a lusty lad. Switcheroo exposes cad, finale he admits he’s bad

@nbrockmann - AlmavivaHasAimsMostImpure/ThatHisWifeCanNoLongerEndure/ SoShePlotsW/HerMaid/HidesDisguisedInAGlade/ JigIsUp-NoMoreDroitDeSeigneur

@Mmmusing - Wedding Day: Boss wants bride. Old bag wants me. Page just wants it. Send letter. Dress up page. Find mom in bag. It works out!

Madama Butterfly
@KueblerWolf - I love you! Let’s get married and have a family! ‘kay bye, I’m an imperialist jerk. “Luv u 2, take the baby why don’t you!”

@catmacaulay - Oh when will he come back? Oh, when will he come back? Oh. He’s back.

@primalamusica - Amatory lepidopterist traps fragile specimen among Nagasaki cherry blossoms. Fumbling to release her, he crushes her instead.

You Know You Wanna

So come on, already.


video by: Bombshelter Productions & Mike McKinlay

There are just 2 more mind-blowing performances left.

If you haven't experienced Salome yet, do we have a wicked deal for you!

2-4-1 offer on Thursday or Saturday's performance. With a deal this irresistible, you can even watch it twice.

Call 604.683.0222 and give 'em Promo #1833.

Come see what's the talk of the town. Come see Salome get hers.

~ Ling Chan, Assistant to Managing Director

Salome: "A Musical Masterpiece"

Beyond Robson's main man on all that's hip and happening in Vancouver had this to say about our season closer:



At the end of the night it was Jonathan Darlington who won my standing ovation for his truly remarkable job conducting the music. While Salome may have a controversial plot, music-lovers have no trouble dubbing it a musical masterpiece. Darlington's pit orchestra skillfully keeps the audience at the edge their seat with a versatile and exciting score.

Read the rest of of Ami Sanyal's Beyond Robson review.

Fred Lee Loses His Mind Over Salome

The incomparable man about town Fred Lee gave us a shout out on CBC Radio 1 Early Edition this week. Click here to heard him lose his mind at about the 2:15:30 mark.

And who can blame him? Don't miss out on this production, which had them on their feet again last night (Tuesday).

Call today for tickets: 604-683-0222 and use code 1833 for a discount.

Photo by Tim Matheson