Skip to main content

Upcoming Concert - Tosca!

I used to have regular access to opera.  When I was a kid, we saw broadcasts on PBS.  I remember attending live performances in my home town.  When we were starting out freelancing we played several small opera festivals in the summers, and some of our orchestras were able to put together semi-staged productions within our seasons.  But for regional orchestras and small towns now the opera opportunities have gotten pretty sparse.  Universities can sometimes put productions together, and the big opera companies are still doing their thing, but I can't count on any regular pit playing in my life anymore. 

An opera is a huge thing.  There are a lot of moving parts, and my bits - the orchestra bits - are among the smallest.  Sets, costumes, staging, direction, supertitles, star singers, choruses, conductors - I’m surprised anyone still does this!  It’s incredibly expensive and time-consuming to do a real production, and the market for it is small.  EXTREMELY enthusiastic, but small. 

All this to say, when I get an chance these days to dig into some of this fantastic, rich, complex music I do not take it lightly.  The Northwest Indiana Symphony is presenting a concert version of Puccini’s Tosca tomorrow night, and the rehearsals have just been thrilling, and I cannot wait to perform it.  It’s just breathtaking material, beautifully sung by great soloists, and the orchestra will do fine, and I will be on the edge of my seat, loving every minute. 

Details HERE.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Blog has MOVED

 Have you been waiting ... and waiting ... and WAITING for a new Prone Oboe post?  Don't wait here anymore!  The blog has moved to https://jennetingle.com/prone-oboe/  and will not be updated here on Blogger anymore.  Please come and check me out there!  I love you all - stay safe out there!  Jennet
Post a Comment
Read more

Beauty of Sound

In our dress rehearsal Saturday afternoon, the conductor did exactly what I often do to my students - he asked the violins to play more beautifully, and they did.  He didn’t tell them how, or give them a flowery expressive speech, he just asked for more beauty of sound, and they immediately gave it to him.  To a great extent the sound we produce is set, based on our equipment and the shape of our mouths and our bodies - but it can be altered, too.  Adjustments in reeds and instruments can go a long way, but the key change we can make is in our own minds. I don’t know how to explain it physically, but if you determine the sound you want to make you can produce it.  Or at least you can lean in and approach it.  This is something I’ve been paying a lot of attention to lately in my own playing.  As I prepare the Saint-Saëns Sonata to perform on our Oboe Studio Recital (tonight at 7 - details HERE ), my approach is largely about beauty of sound and vibrato....
7 comments
Read more

Breathing and the Brain

I’m working on the Bach E Major Partita, and it’s significantly difficult for me.  Not so much the notes, although E Major is not the most effortless key on the oboe.  Not so much the music-making, although I could work my whole life on solo Bach and never be perfectly satisfied with my choices, because it’s that complex and THAT good.  No, the problem is breathing, and breathing is always a challenging thing for a wind player. Oboists can play long, long phrases with ease. The opening in the reed is so tiny that it really rations the air, so we can play longer lines than any other orchestral wind instrument.  It’s also comparatively easy to circular breathe on the oboe, which means that we can actually take in new air while  playing and maintain an uninterrupted line.  The downside is that an oboist can never fully expel her air through that tiny opening.  We end up with excess carbon dioxide in our lungs, and as we breathe in again the new good air...
4 comments
Read more