There are people in this world that are and forever will be more in love with opera than I will ever have the opportunity to be. These folks, like in all other genres of expression, are the aficionados. Let's just call them the extremists. Please don't ass-u-me this is a bad thing. We need extremists in our society. These individuals and groups share a keen one sided, dedicated, even fanatical view on one subject or another. It is extremists that helped in civil rights, Viet Nam, even 1994 republican takeover of the senate...and conversely, the takeover in 2006.
Extremists allow moderately minded people, who do enjoy a particular thing, to move further in a particular direction without having to go all out and decide, in our case, which opera, singer, painter, whatever, is THE absolute best thing in the universe. The extremists lead the centrists to decide (right or wrong is not germane to this post) what may be the best opera, or best singer, or whatever, without the moderate people having to devote their whole lives to a particular genre or form.
I opened this little gem from the AK Democrat newspaper.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Style/172815/
Critical condition?
BY ERIC E. HARRISON
Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006
It talks about the state of classical music as it relates to opera and the Met in particular. The coolest thing about it, is that the Metropolitan Opera's reach and new direction have brought even newspapers back to the philosophy of relevance. I think it's a great thing for our writers and media to know we are, as artists coming back swinging, fighting for the relevance of an art form that is not, in fact, dead, rather it is about life and keeping memories intact and more importantly, is about humanity itself.
Much of the stuff I sing I am a fan of, but there are a few people I have seen with the glassy eyed stare of the aficionado in our audiences, who look like they've seen a ghost. And that is partly it too. Somehow, we can see back in time..and even see the future through our work. After a show they are the ones who can't just simply shake the hand of an artist, say good job and move on... it means more than life sometimes just to be able to share their thoughts...all of them with the artist. Aficionados Unite, form your blog and persevere!
That's all.
NG
Extremists allow moderately minded people, who do enjoy a particular thing, to move further in a particular direction without having to go all out and decide, in our case, which opera, singer, painter, whatever, is THE absolute best thing in the universe. The extremists lead the centrists to decide (right or wrong is not germane to this post) what may be the best opera, or best singer, or whatever, without the moderate people having to devote their whole lives to a particular genre or form.
I opened this little gem from the AK Democrat newspaper.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Style/172815/
Critical condition?
BY ERIC E. HARRISON
Posted on Sunday, November 12, 2006
It talks about the state of classical music as it relates to opera and the Met in particular. The coolest thing about it, is that the Metropolitan Opera's reach and new direction have brought even newspapers back to the philosophy of relevance. I think it's a great thing for our writers and media to know we are, as artists coming back swinging, fighting for the relevance of an art form that is not, in fact, dead, rather it is about life and keeping memories intact and more importantly, is about humanity itself.
Much of the stuff I sing I am a fan of, but there are a few people I have seen with the glassy eyed stare of the aficionado in our audiences, who look like they've seen a ghost. And that is partly it too. Somehow, we can see back in time..and even see the future through our work. After a show they are the ones who can't just simply shake the hand of an artist, say good job and move on... it means more than life sometimes just to be able to share their thoughts...all of them with the artist. Aficionados Unite, form your blog and persevere!
That's all.
NG
No comments:
Post a Comment