Three Susan Boyles!

I apologize for the late posting of my new blog entry, while I have been busy procrastinating...(pause)...I needed time to finish my paper on the Schmalkaldic War's effect on Lutheran music in the Holy Roman Empire.  That's right, I bet you can't wait to hear my presentation.  It's actually very interesting:  war, an assassination of a Cardinal, anti-popes, King Henry VIII, and all sorts of other juicy stuff.  All you Catholics out there must thank the French for hating Germany or else the Catholic Church could have easily followed Luther's teachings.

Anyway, this is the first week of April, which means this is the first of my World Premiere Rankings for 2012!  Last year, I began this controversial effort to pre-review several World Premiere operas, ranking them from bad (2 Susan Boyles) to good (2 Pavarottis).  I promise that in the past year, I have learned from my mistakes and will not be so quick to judge and will give everyone a fair shot.  So get ready for some mediocre and unenthusiastic prejudices!

And to begin, I could not help myself but pre-review I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Musical.  I know it is not an opera, but it has the possibility to earn my worst score (4 Susan Boyles).  I know the worst possible score is 2 Susan Boyles, but there is a person playing Susan Boyle and the actual Susan Boyle in this premiere.

However, I have to give this a decent rating.  First, I imagine that the reason a musician made this into a musical, other than to make a profit, was that they knew thousands of better singers than Susan Boyle and knew that even the writer herself could play the leading role and sing better than the real Susan Boyle!  Also, it is like a real-life Bialystock and Bloom production in the film "The Producers", only I thought "Springtime for Hitler" was very creative and hilarious (I laughed to the point of pain the first time I saw it) - I doubt I would leave this musical in glorious laughter-induced hiccups, but there's a chance!



Since I cannot quit laughing, I will give it only one Susan Boyle!

One Susan Boyle

But that means this received the lowest possible score of 3 Susan Boyles because two Susan Boyles are in the show itself - this is not likely ever to be achieved again!!  So here are two more:

Flirty Susan Boyle

Mad Susan Boyle

I cannot help but comment on the atrocious National Anthem at the NCAA National Championship Game...I hope that the NAIA National Championship Game National Anthem was slightly better (I sang that a couple weeks ago!)




And on that topic, I will be singing the National Anthem on Friday at the US Olympic Volleyball Club Championships here in Kansas City!

Finally, I have the second of the Three Volga German songs that I debuted in February ready for you to enjoy!  Thank you John Mueter for your wonderful songs!

Mary Magdalene Wars

Life is back to normal, for at least two days.  My Doctoral Recital was a couple of weeks ago, and I will be posting more about that next week, hopefully with recordings.  Now that the opera is finished, I enjoyed a nice evening with some of my family and after they left, my wife and I opened a bottle of wine and watched the Discovery Channel's new show "Frozen Planet".  It's pretty incredible by the way.

Tomorrow, I have the honor of singing the Star Spangled Banner at the National Championship game of the NAIA Men's Division I tournament. If you read this and want to go, let me know. I have an extra guest pass!  The game will be played tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8pm at Municipal Auditorium featuring the winners of Shorter vs. Concordia and Oklahoma Baptist vs. Mountain State.  Those games are played tonight.  As a side note, Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium has hosted more NCAA final fours than any other site - 9.  Second is Madison Square Garden with 7.

Then on Wednesday, I'm off to Chicago.  I will be competing in the NATSAA (National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards) District and Regional Finals.  It is a prestigious competition, but it is incredibly difficult for several reasons.  

1.) All the singers are ridiculously good  

2.) Men must compete against Women

3.) We must submit a horrendously specific conglomeration of songs:

1 Operatic Aria

1 Aria from a mass, oratorio, requiem, or cantata

3 American, Canadian, or British art songs in English

2 songs or arias but no more than 2 arias that were composed before 1800

2 German Lieder or French Melodies

2 National art songs that are not German, French, American, Canadian, or British

AND an additional 3 songs or arias that fit within any of the previous four categories

AND 1 of these must have been written after 1950, and it cannot be an arrangement of a folk song

So, I have a collection of 14 songs - an entire recital of music (memorized of course).  If I were to sing the entirety of it, it would take me about an hour.  But in this competition, we are given 15 minutes, and the judges keep selecting songs that they would like to hear until I run out of time.  Only one person from our region of several states advances to the finals.

In case this is new - art songs are classically sung songs that aren't a part of a larger work (like an opera).  If they are from a larger classical work like an opera or an oratorio, they are generally called arias.  There are exceptions, but musical theater (broadway tunes) aren't a part of this competition.  Needless to say, in the world of "cultivated music", this is one of the biggest competitions.

By far the most annoying part of it all isn't the memorizing, but finding original scores for everything.  Even if it is something 400 years old and it is in public domain, you can't simply print it off.  All this means is that instead of fitting everything in a small black folder, I have to carry around a red Radio Flyer wagon with fifty pounds of music instead.

This brings me to an exciting topic.  It is almost April!  That means that it is almost time to begin one of my most disturbing and most ridiculed parts of my blog.  In April, I start looking at the upcoming opera season, since most companies are winding down for the summer.  I get really excited about World Premieres and rate them from worst (2 Susan Boyles) to best (2 Pavarottis).  I get excited about it just as most get excited about movie trailers.

Of course, there are certain types of movies that you would always love to see, and then there are the chick flicks that are just a waste of time.  So too is the world of opera.  There are some concepts that I flat out love, and then there are some that don't get me excited at all.  That doesn't mean they're not good - chick flicks regularly win at the Golden Globes (not the Oscars though) - it just means that I get to post some funny pictures of Susan Boyle.

But the big story this year is all about Mary Magdalene.  Two of the most famous composers on earth are producing pieces in a war of Marys (Maries?).

John Adams' Oratorio "The Gospel According to the Other Mary" being premiered by Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil 

VS. 

Mark Adamo's "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene" being premiered by San Francisco Opera

I'll be tackling that Goliath in a couple of weeks, but until then, here's a short video on what the Gospel of Mary Magdalene is:

Auction, "Imagine", and Proper Hat Etiquette

Happy New Year to you all!

Yesterday, was the first day of the KCVI Charity Auction.  We just started our silent auction and every two weeks we will have 4 more items up for bid.  This silent auction is a great way to get items for cheaper than what our more public, ebay auction, will run.  Also, it will feature some very unique items.  It is very easy to bid: go to www.kcvocalinstitute.com, click the auction button, click on the item, give your bid and contact info, and you will get an email if someone has outbid you.

Our first four items are:
Lyric Opera of Kansas City Ticket Package - bid starting at $20
Stephen Flaherty Autographed CD "Seussical" - bid starting at $1
Gregory Porter Autographed CD "Water" - bid starting at $1
Eric Whitacre Handwritten & Autographed Score - bid starting at $100

The item from Eric Whitacre is very unique in that the winning bidder can select any of his pieces and he will hand-write the piece or a segment of it, dedicate it to whomever they choose, and autograph it.

CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR AUCTIONS

All of the proceeds will go to the items' respective scholarship fund.  Also, I will always update on this blog with more information about any new items.  Other items will be up for auction on eBay beginning in the middle of the month.

As to the New Year, I can't help myself from commenting on Cee Lo Green's version of John Lennon's immortal song "Imagine" at Times Square on New Year's Eve.  If you missed it, just listen.

I only have two thoughts for everyone on this, (1) he messed up the words and (2) listen to it again with your eyes closed and tell me that he isn't related to Roseanne Barr!  Seriously Cee Lo, it's a simple song. You didn't have to sing the last half up an octave.

Oddly enough, bad performances don't just bother me alone.  Evidently, the State of Indiana has some issues with people singing the National Anthem all crazy-like.  They are introducing a bill making specific performance standards for performing the National Anthem, which will be decided by their State Board of Education.  They will also enforce a $25 fine on any performer who violates the law.  I know I love to critique public National Anthem gaffes, but even I think that laws like this go a little too far.  It's certainly our American culture to have artistic freedom with such things; I don't think a law will change that.

Amazingly, other states have passed similar laws.  Little did I know that Michigan has made it illegal to sing the National Anthem with embellishments - good luck attracting the Super Bowl to Ford Field again!  Igor Stravinsky was warned not to play his arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner while in Massachusetts in 1940 when a police officer told him that he would be arrested for playing an embellished version of it within the state.  Stravinsky didn't perform the piece.  And on a further note, I found out that it is a Federal Law for men who aren't in the military to remove their hats and place it over their left shoulder during the National Anthem.  

Perhaps I'm a nut, but isn't it quite strange that only men are required to do this?  And why do we do it in the first place?  Obviously, anyone would say that it is the right thing to do because of "respect".  In all seriousness, does anyone really know why that is respectful?  "It's respectful because it's respectful" as one internet source so logically put it.  Circular arguments are not good enough for me, so I found a very interesting article on the history of donning and doffing (putting-on and taking-off) one's hat.  Evidently it extends to a Dark Age ritual of Knights lifting their visors to show that they were friendly.  If people have the freedom to scream the National Anthem any way they want, shouldn't men be able to don and doff their hats during the National Anthem with freedom?

EVIL SWEDE'S GUIDE TO PROPER HAT ETIQUETTE

So, if you get angry when people wear their hat during the National Anthem, I fully expect you to take your hat off when speaking about your late great-grandparents, leave your hat on while eating at a diner or cafe, and tip your hat when asking an elderly man for directions as any respectful person would do. As for women, from what I have "researched", they have the freedom to wear a hat in almost any situation!  Good grief!

That's all for now, I'm off to Dallas this week to watch my Alma Mater in the Cotton Bowl.  Go State!!