Protests Rock NYC Metropolitan Opera Over The Death Of Klinghoffer Production

Hundreds of protesters swarmed Lincoln Center on Monday night to rage against the Metropolitan Opera's debut of The Death Of Klinghoffer, which is based on the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and which detractors say is anti-Semitic and glorifies terrorism. Opposition to the show was spurred by right wing sites with Ben Shapiro's Truth Revolt leading the charge. The Death Of Klinghoffer was first performed in Belgium in 1991 and the Met's production is winning rave reviews:

The opening moments establish tribal rivalries between Palestinians, with green flags, and Israelis, with olive trees, in separate scenarios filled with soaring choral work. It sets the stage for simmering tension that is only occasionally interrupted. Performed by a superb cast, the production is anchored by Paulo Szot, who plays the captain. He brings great emotion to the role, in trying unsuccessfully to reason with the terrorists. Sean Panikkar, Aubrey Allicock and Ryan Speedo Green sing the roles of the terrorists with great conviction. Jesse Kovarsky is truly terrifying as the terrorist who pulls the trigger. The roles of Klinghoffer and his wife, Marilyn, are played by Alan Opie, who has a meditative aria following his murder, and Michaela Martens, whose final aria is filled with anguish and loss. She has the last word, and rightly so.

The protest spawned some sharp words between Mayor De Blasio and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who joined the crowd outside Lincoln Center on Monday.

Mayor de Blasio defended the Metropolitan Opera's right to show "The Death of Klinghoffer," and criticized predecessor Rudy Giuliani's protest against the controversial work. "I really think we have to be very careful in a free society to respect that cultural institutions will portray works of art, put on operas, plays, that there will be art exhibits in museum," de Blasio said Monday at an unrelated press conference. "And in a free society we respect that. We don't have to agree with what's in the exhibit but we agree with the right of the artist and the cultural institution to put that forward to the public." De Blasio hit Giuliani's record of cracking down on art he didn't care for. As mayor, Giuliani famously threatened to yank funding for the Brooklyn Museum over its display of an image of the Virgin Mary covered in elephant dung. "The former mayor had a history of challenging cultural institutions when he disagreed with their content. I don't think that's the American way. The American way is to respect freedom of speech. Simple as that," de Blasio said.

The Met posted the below trailer on Sunday.

Martel - The Mercurotti

Clip recap:

Marc Martel. A duet of two of my favorite musical influences, Freddie Mercury and Luciano Pavarotti. This is one continuous performance from start to finish, shot in one take, using two cameras. No audio has been cut or replaced. (I added the “Pavarotti” harmony for "Vincero, Vincero!" afterwards, since I have yet to master singing in both voices simultaneously. Stay tuned, though.)

(Tipped by JMG reader Ray)

Seen In Queens

My buddy Tom came across this sign in Jackson Heights.

Pet Shop Boys Perform World Premier Of Alan Turing Opera With BBC Orchestra

Accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers, last night Pet Shop Boys performed the world premier of their Alan Turing opera, A Man From The Future, at Britain's Proms event at Royal Albert Hall. The Independent has posted a review:

Tennant stands by the choir for A Man From the Future, with fellow Boy Chris Lowe behind him in familiar baseball cap and shades, tweaking a laptop. Juliet Stevenson’s disembodied narration, drawn from Andrew Hodges’ Turing biographies, is almost overpoweringly dominant. But getting the tale of Turing’s singular genius and representative tragedy across seems to outweigh the balance between words and music. “Conform, rebel or withdraw” are the choices the public schoolboy Turing is presented with, as ominous strings close in to cage him.  The remorseless glide of laptop-generated synth washes signal the machine-dreams which led him towards the computer’s invention. The BBC Singers then give the sensation of a dying fall, as the backroom heroism which turned the U-boat tide at Bletchley Park is passed over in a sentence. Tennant and Lowe aren’t interested in what Turing is belatedly honoured for now, but his shadow-life then. Bursts of hot, frantic swing follow him mentioning his homosexuality, and the furious swell of the choir’s baritones greet his downward spiral towards chemical castration by the state. His hot blood and mechanistic visions’ merging is expressed in the orchestral-laptop score. It is always, though, subservient to the verbal tracing of Turing’s fate.

Listen to the full performance below.

TOMORROW: World Premiere Of Pet Shop Boys' Alan Turing Opera In London

Tomorrow night at London's Royal Albert Hall, Pet Shop Boys will perform with the BBC Concert Orchestra in the world premiere of their Alan Turing opera, A Man From The Future. Via the Guardian:

"For one night only, I'm one of the BBC singers!" marvels Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant – he is adding his voice to the 18-strong chamber choir. "I can't imagine he'll blend in," deadpans his colleague Chris Lowe, who is usually found hiding behind a bank of synthesisers at their shows. He is worried about the lack of dry ice and lasers at the Royal Albert Hall. "The lights are always on [at classical concerts], aren't they? I personally am going to feel very exposed." It is not the first time a pop group has featured at the Proms. From Soft Machine's 1970 set (later turned into a live album)to last year's 6 Music and 1Xtra specials, pop and rock acts have often played a part in the two-month series. But Tennant and Lowe are doing something different this year: performing the world premiere of an ambitious new work, A Man From The Future. Based on the life of the extraordinary mathematician and Enigma code-cracker Alan Turing, it's an orchestral pop "biography" in eight parts for electronics, orchestra, choir and narrator.

Late last year Turing was granted a posthumous royal pardon for the 1952 homosexuality conviction that ultimately led to his suicide. The pardon prompted Tennant to change the closing of the opera.

"We had to [rewrite the ending to] point out that the convictions of tens of thousands of other men remain, and that hasn't really been discussed," says Tennant. However, the finale has a celebratory feel, and recognises the changes in attitudes towards homosexuality, globally. Tennant lists these happily: a 2013 US poll in which 52% of Americans were shown to approve of same-sex marriage, the moment in 1994 when John Major lowered the age of consent to 18 ("everyone forgets it was him that started things off").

Tomorrow's event will begin with Chrissie Hynde providing vocals on orchestral versions of several Pet Shop Boys classics, including Rent and Love Is A Catastrophe. The Turing opera will follow. The concert begins at 5:15PM New York City time and I'll post a live stream if one is available.

AUSTRALIA: Opera Company Sacks Soprano Over Homophobic Comments

Opera Australia has fired Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri after days of controversy over anti-gay comments she made about a pride parade in her home country.

In a statement released on Monday, the company said Iveri would not be performing in its Sydney production of Otello in July and August. "Opera Australia has agreed with Tamar Iveri, to immediately release her from her contract with the company," the statement says. A statement posted on the Georgian opera singer's Facebook months ago compared gay and lesbian people to fecal matter. The post took the form of a letter to Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili in which she implored him to "stop vigorous attempts to bring West's ‘fecal masses’ in the mentality of the people by means of propaganda". The singer was responding to a gay pride parade that had been organised to pass through the yard of an Orthodox Church in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

On Saturday the singer "unreservedly apologized" for the comments and claimed that her husband had been using her Facebook account. Too late. The opera company had faced calls for a boycott if they allowed Iveri to perform.

NYC Opera Faces Bankruptcy

The New York City Opera's now-running production of Anna Nicole may be its last.

After the curtain falls following the last performance of “Anna Nicole” – an audacious chronicle of tabloid diva Anna Nicole Smith that opened the company’s 2013-14 season – the “People’s Opera” will have only a few days to raise millions of dollars. The 70-year-old company, which has faced financial challenges for a decade, will file for bankruptcy next week if it does not reach its fundraising goals. Earlier this month, the company began a Kickstarter campaign aimed at crowdfunding $1 million of the $7 million needed to carry out the rest of the season. The three remaining productions scheduled for 2013-14 are to be canceled if the goal is not met. To continue to 2014-15, an additional $13 million would be needed. “We have until Monday to raise the rest of the money we need to save our season and save the Company,” general director George Steel wrote in an email to supporters last night, with “Urgent Message” in the subject line. As of yesterday, $1.5 million had been raised, spokesman Risa Heller told the Associated Press.

The company left its longtime home at Lincoln Center two years ago and has since performed at venues around the city.

Renee Fleming On Letterman

Singing the "top ten opera lyrics." Mandatory viewing.

From Queer Nation

Source.

Queer Nation Protests At The Met

Members of Queer Nation protested at yesterday's opening night gala at New York City's Metropolitan Opera. The New York Times reports:

“Putin, end your war on Russian gays!” a man shouted in the vast auditorium, which was packed for the black-tie gala opening of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin,” before turning to two of the evening’s Russian stars: Anna Netrebko, the popular Russian diva, and Valery Gergiev, the artistic director of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. “Anna, your silence is killing Russian gays! Valery, your silence is killing Russian gays!” Some members of the audience tried to shush the protester, as security guards walked into the house. After a pause, the opera began. Four protesters in the Family Circle were asked to leave and did, opera officials said. At issue was a new law banning “propaganda on nontraditional sexual relationships” that Mr. Putin signed into law in June, drawing worldwide attention to the difficulties gay people face in Russia. Both Ms. Netrebko and Mr. Gergiev were vocal supporters of Mr. Putin in his last election.

Netbrebko wrote on Facebook: "As an artist, it is my great joy to collaborate with all of my wonderful colleagues — regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. I have never and will never discriminate against anyone." Peter Gelb, the director of the Met, said, "Although Russia may officially be in denial about Tchaikovsky’s sexuality, we’re not. The Met is proud to present Russia’s great gay composer. That is a message, in itself."

TONIGHT: Protest At The Met

Details.

Opera Supports Harlem's Chipped Cup

Two weeks ago Harlem's Chipped Cup coffee shop was in the news after a customer launched an internet campaign against them for placing a pro-gay message on their menu board during the Supreme Court hearings on marriage. That customer performs in local opera productions and tonight the Chipped Cup will see some love from more equality-minded members of the opera community.

Show support as a member of the opera community by showing up at the Chipped Cup on April 11th! Between 5-8pm there will be a group of us, but swing by anytime that day!! Tell them Opera supports The Chipped Cup. Or you don't have to say anything. Just bring an opera score with you and have it in your hand or place it on your table.

The Chipped Cup is at Broadway & 148th in Harlem's Hamilton Heights neighborhood. (Tipped by JMG reader Suzanna)

Rugby To Beefcake To Opera

(Tipped by JMG reader Piet)

The Palin/Bachmann 2012 Opera

From voiceover artist D.C. Douglas.

Eurovision 2011: France's Amaury Vassili

A 21 year-old French opera star singing in Corsican? Doesn't feel very Eurovision, does it?

Philadelphia Opera Flash Mob

Clip description:

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. This event is one of 1,000 "Random Acts of Culture" to be funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation over the next three years. The initiative transports the classical arts out of the concert halls and opera houses and into our communities to enrich our everyday lives.

On the downside, Macy's is already completely tricked out in Xmas dreck.

A Modern U.S. President

(Tipped by JoeFromSFO)

Opera Legend Joan Sutherland Dies At 83

Disco Pinafore Megamix

Gayest thing ever?

(Tipped by JMG reader Brian)

The Next Susan Boyle?

A ten year-old opera singer blew away the competition on America's Got Talent on Tuesday night. She so scarily good, half of the commenters on YouTube are screaming, "Fake! Lip-sync!"