Opera Lovers unite against the ROH and the BBC in unholy alliance

[Richard Tarleton]

I'm glad they didn't decide to do this during my Ring cycle in October. Damn, perhaps they will now. Siegfried, Act 2.....

[ahinton]

Years ago, I once said to someone that one of my ambitions as a composer was not to write for the stage; I had no idea at that time that so massive a disincentive to do any such thing might ever be presented...

[secret squirrel]

So give your patronage to ENO!

At least they win awards (hosted at ROH!)....!!

Seriously, though, an utter disgrace.

SS

[MrGongGong]

"Access"? Give me a break.

Both legs ?
Then try to get in .................

[Flosshilde]

I've always thought that Act 2 of Boheme was the more tedious part of a rather tedious opera . Perhaps this might make it more interesting - waiting for the novice conductor to make a massive balls-up of it

[Mr Pee]

So give your patronage to ENO!

At least they win awards (hosted at ROH!)....!!

And at the Sky South Bank Awards, hosted at the Dorchester.

[LHC]

The first interval follows Act II. I presume that there will be a short break after the end of the real Act II to allow the chorus et al to get back into position and for an announcement to be made from the stage about what is about to happen. Anyone who doesn't want to watch the amateur conductor should be able to leave the auditorium during that break and simply enjoy a longer interval before the start of Avt III. I doubt the ROH will be chaining people into their seats.

Booing or disrupting the performance might be tempting, but it would be very unfair on the young artists and other performers who have no choice but to perform.

While Act II is the shortest Act, I have seen professional conductors come to grief trying to manage the large forces involved. The ensemble scenes could end in a car crash.

[MrGongGong]

I share many peoples views that this whole "celebfest" style presentation is more than a little naff
BUT
who exactly is it harming ?

Not the musicians as some suggest as they are not the pampered elite who will be offended by having an novice conductor.
Not the singers who will get to sing onstage at the ROH
Not really the audience apart from those who regard all performances as a religious ritual and are offended by the sight of someone wearing clothes with zips in a performance of Bach (not HIPP enough)

[Stanfordian]

I share many peoples views that this whole "celebfest" style presentation is more than a little naff
BUT
who exactly is it harming ?

Not the musicians as some suggest as they are not the pampered elite who will be offended by having an novice conductor.
Not the singers who will get to sing onstage at the ROH
Not really the audience apart from those who regard all performances as a religious ritual and are offended by the sight of someone wearing clothes with zips in a performance of Bach (not HIPP enough)

We are talking here about devaluing one of the greatest art forms. People in the audience will have gone to see a top level professional production not the culmination of a celebrity television talent show. I suggest that if you have no objections to it then go along to the ROH and report back.

[MrGongGong]

I do think it's very naff
but don't really think that it is "devaluing one of the greatest art forms"
Puccini's Operas are popularist works ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, it's not as if the Rheinemaidens have become pole dancers in a seedy club ooops hang on a minute !
I have several friends in the OROH i'll dig a bit to see what they think

[french frank]

Not really the audience apart from those who regard all performances as a religious ritual and are offended by the sight of someone wearing clothes with zips in a performance of Bach (not HIPP enough)

Whatever the audience's thoughts might be on seeing people with zips on their clothes, they were given to believe that the celebrity performance would be after the professional one. Either the scene shifting is a quick job, in which case, why didn't they stick to the original plan - and put a bit of extra money the stagehands' way; or it's a long job, in which case the audience will have to be kicking its collective heels for an extended interval and a later ending than they'd planned for. It's another example of the serious opera/classical music lover being given a kick up the backside in favour of the 'pampered' (in this context) popular audiences - because there are more of them and they mean £££££££££££££££. Look forward to complete operas being abandoned everywhere in favour of an evening's worth of famous arias, opera karaoke and have-a-go at conducting.

There isn't much evidence that I can see that the majority of the audience for opera at the ROH would be much interested in Maestro at the Opera.

[gurnemanz]

Let us not forget to consider the possibility that the whole Maestro concept is utterly stupid, putting forward celebrities yet again, and at the expense of promising young (and old) conductors who would really benefit form the publicity.

Truth rather than possibility. Although I have spoken to some people who enjoyed the last Maestro I did not watch it myself and since I do not have tickets for the performance in question I should be able to avoid this one.

[aeolium]

Puccini's Operas are popularist works

Is that really the point? Even if it were, say, a Sondheim musical the audience would hardly want a bunch of pretty clueless amateurs coming in after one of the acts and messing around for 20 minutes just to gratify their vanity and the demands of a cr*p BBC 'talent' competition. The audience surely wants to see the work, whatever it is, performed to a high standard.

If the BBC really want to do this then they should set aside a separate event with its own audience that knows what they are getting.

[LHC]

Whatever the audience's thoughts might be on seeing people with zips on their clothes, they were given to believe that the celebrity performance would be after the professional one. Either the scene shifting is a quick job, in which case, why didn't they stick to the original plan - and put a bit of extra money the stagehands' way; or it's a long job, in which case the audience will have to be kicking its collective heels for an extended interval and a later ending than they'd planned for. It's another example of the serious opera/classical music lover being given a kick up the backside in favour of the 'pampered' (in this context) popular audiences - because there are more of them and they mean £££££££££££££££. Look forward to complete operas being abandoned everywhere in favour of an evening's worth of famous arias, opera karaoke and have-a-go at conducting.

There isn't much evidence that I can see that the majority of the audience for opera at the ROH would be much interested in Maestro at the Opera.

The scene shifting will take no longer than usual. Indeed, one of the reasons for this change is to avoid having to shift any more scenes.

The original plan would have required the opera house to remove the Act IV and replace it with the Act II set before they could restart Act II with the celeb conductor, which would have resulted in a considerable delay and a much later end to proceedings.

What will now happen is that the Act II will be run twice and there will be no need to change the scenery. The shift from Act II to III will happen during the interval, as it would on any other night. The opera will, at most, end 30 minutes later than normal.

[MrGongGong]

Indeed
I never said I thought it was a good idea and personally I can't stand any of the whole celebfest nonsense
but it's important NOT to throw out the good practice of expanding access, which the ROH is usually brilliant at IMV.

In some ways this seems to be very much in the spirit of Italian Opera