Monday, January 21, 2013

Awesome Behind the Scenes Opera Video (or Why I Follow Other Blogs)


It pays to keep up with what other bloggers are writing about. I follow many other bloggers who, in turn, follow other bloggers. One blogger simply cannot keep up with all the neat shtuff going on all over the opera world. Why do I mention this?

To cut to the chase, there is an awesome video over at The Spaceof the backstage tech activity during Act 3 of Die Walkyrie at the Royal Opera House in London. You can also see the stage action or the conductor cam. For opera/theater nerds like me, this is heaven. I love the backstage stuff, seeing what happens, how it’s put together, etc. In fact, I enjoy watching rehearsals almost as much (more, in a certain way) as actual performances.

So, how did I find out about this? If your answer is, “Who cares?" stop reading and click the link to The Space to see the videos. If you are curious, here’s how I found out about this by reading other blogs:

Over at SmorgZone, I read this: 
Last week a favorite classical music/opera oriented blogger friend of mine posted a link to this fascinating webpage with a really cool behind-the-scene video of what goes on behind the stage during a live performance of one of the most complicated opera on the repertoire, Wagner's The Valkyries, at the Royal Opera House.  
Smorgy referred us to Eyesometric, who wrote: 
As reported by THIS observant blogger, there is a live streaming from ROH not of a staged opera but of that mysterious space … Behind The Scenes.
Update -If you click on The Space you can see a video of Act 3 of The Valkyrie.  You can view the backstage action, view from the audience or admire Pappano for 1.5 hours!
And blogger to whom Eyes referred was Un'alma lacerata più della mia non v'è.  (which, despite the title, is in English, thank goodness) who wrote:
Royal Opera Live: an exclusive behind-the-scenes live stream...For the full day on Monday 7 January, you can watch – live and for free – life backstage at the Royal Opera House in London…

...and referred us to a post at the Guardian Music Blog
And that's how I found out about this way cool video. 

Here's a teaser/trailer for those of you who kept reading this far, to give you an idea of what to expect:


Thanks to SmorgZoneEyesometricUn'alma lacerata più della mia non v'è, and the Guardian (and many others – see list below) for keeping us opera lovers up to date. 



*Actually, there are a lot of awesome videos over at The Space. Take some time to check them out!

8 comments:

  1. I love finding out about things through chains of communication like that! (And the way different writers describe the same thing in different ways: individual music blogs have such distinct personalities.)

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    1. Agreed. II learn a lot, since other see things I miss, overlook, or saw, but didn't think about at the time..

      I just realized I didn't say much about the video content in this post. I was really enjoying it until it (or my ISP - or possibly the WiFi) froze up. I was about half-way through the act. I got bored waiting for it to continue, so I switched to listening to my new (old) Lohengrin recording from Bayreuth - 1952 I think..It wasn't exactly the dark ages, but I am always impressed by the quality of those old Bayreuth recordings!

      But I digress..Are we surprised?

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    2. Not very :)

      I don't think I've ever heard anything recorded in Bayreuth - I have several Wagner operas on my mental list, but this week and next are going to be slightly weird schedule-wise; I hope I have a chance to listen to them.

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    3. I know what you mean with weird schedules. I hope you get your listening time in. This is the Lohengrin, actually from 53. It's only 3 bucks (1 track per act): http://tinyurl.com/RnRLohengrin

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    4. Ooh, that is very tempting - three hours for only $3!

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    5. It's really worth it. Even if you only listen to it once!

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    6. I suspect that Bayreuth has always had its pick of mic technologies and the sound engineers who love them, over and above the design of the hall itself, so everything that comes out of there sounds brilliant, even compressed.

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    7. I believe you are right about that. And it seems for a long time Germany was in the forefront of "audiophile" sound reproduction - especially in the 40s, 50s, and 60s..

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