…of course he was down on the stage with the soloists and I was back up in the choir stalls with the other first tenors. But what a glorious voice he has! So rich and expressive. One could listen all night.
We’re in Melbourne preparing for two performances of La Damnation de Faust by Berlioz.
And such a nice bloke too.
Indeed. A few of us were chatting with him in the green room and he seemed very down-to-earth.
Wow! That sounds like a great gig to have.
Yes, it’s a great piece of music. And I get a few days in Melbourne, which is always nice, although it’s unpleasantly warm today (30C).
We nailed it in final rehearsal tonight. I can’t wait for the performances.
Has Bryn made fun of your amusing first tenor voice yet? If I was there, we would laugh together in our manly baritones.
(Joke! Joke! I admire guys who can handle those scary high notes)
Tangent: if I remember correctly, you sing with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs? And you guys sing with the Sydney Symphony? Have you worked with David Robertson yet? I sing with the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, Robertson’s other full-time gig. The man is busy.
I saw him sing Wotan in Das Rheingold through the New York Metropolitan Opera’s program where they send the performance to movie theaters. He had a wonderful voice, but I did learn that I didn’t need to see any more of the Ring Cycle. Also, the costuming had him with bangs over his eye instead of some sort of eye patch, and as a former bangs-wearer, I really wanted to brush them out of his face. For almost five hours, as I recall.
Still, he has a masterful baritone.
If it was five hours, it wasn’t Rheingold. They don’t get truly long until Siegfried.
Anyway, you shouldn’t give up on the Ring until after Walküre at least. And the LePage production was pretty wretched in general.
It was definitely Rheingold, so the eternity that I spent wishing for a pair of scissors to fix up his bangs must have messed with my internal clock. That multi-million dollar machine that they used didn’t impress me much, either.
I considered going to see Walküre so I could hear the original melody that Elmer Fudd stole (“Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit, kill da WAH-bit”). Maybe after some more time has passed, and I can guarantee a bangs-free Wotan.
The 1988 Schenk production (also at the Met) was pretty good. No “machine”. No bangs. Available on DVD.
Thanks! I will check it out!
Correction: the production premiered in 1988, but the commercially available recordings were done during the 1990 revival.
Yes, we’ve done several performances with David. A couple of weeks ago we did the SSO’s season opener with him: Bruckner’s Christus Factus est, Act III of Wozzeck and Beethoven 9. The B9 was one of the best we’ve done in years. Robertson really knows how to inspire his players/singers. Coming up later in the year we have concert performances of Tristan und Isolde and Missa Solemnis.
And last year we did concert performances of Dutchman.
Saturday night’s Faust performance is being broadcast live. I’ll put a link up to it, although it’s at a very inconvenient time for you.
Cool. Random connections from across the world.
I like Robertson a lot (I know he’s a really nice, down-to-Earth guy, but I can’t bring myself to call him David until I’ve actually met and talked to the guy and he’s given me permission). I’m considering not singing next season for a variety of reasons, one of which is that he’s only doing one concert (also the rep is kinda blah and I’m trying to be a soloist anyway. The only problem is the paycheck is nice, relative to the amount of time put in.).
Well, it was pretty good, although there were a couple of hairy moments. It’s funny how bits that have never caused a problem in rehearsal suddenly come under pressure in performance.
You get paid? Luxury!
And I sing with the BBC Symphony Chorus (we should start a club). Robertson was Principal Guest Conductor of the BBCSO from 2005 to 2012 so we’ve had him directing us several times. He really does get around. Also, didn’t he just win a Grammy with the SLSO? [Checking: yes he did] I’ve chatted with him briefly during a tea break. A surprisingly mellow guy for a conductor; usually they’re much more highly-strung [no pun intended].
Also: another voice of surprise that choristers are getting paid anywhere. We get a free cup of tea/coffee during rehearsal breaks but no money at all.
We have about 30 paid singers in a chorus of about 120. I don’t know just how uncommon that is. I wouldn’t be singing otherwise. It’s sort of a mantra of the professional singer; don’t sing for free.
To be sure, it’s not anywhere close to a living (I made $3000 last year) but it’s a nice bonus every couple of months,
Link to details of this evening’s live broadcast.