Don’t Forget to Watch Your Valuables!
Violinist Min-Jin Kym was having lunch at a London sandwich bar when two teenage boys caught her attention. What she did not realize at the time was that they had been hired to distract her so that a thief could steal her violin. She had a Stradivarius valued at $1.9 million with her, as well as two very precious bows. Neither the instrument nor the bows have been found although the alleged thief, John Michael Maughan, and his young accomplices have been arrested.
The story has been aired on the BBC Crimewatch program. Detectives hope to find the instrument and bows when they are offered for sale. Meanwhile Maughan is in jail and the boys are out on bail.
www.thestrad.com/Article.asp?ArticleID=1769
Vienna Taxi Driver Refuses to Drive African-American Opera Singer
It seems impossible in this day and age, but a Viennese cab driver asked soprano Angel Blue, an Operalia finalist and current star of The Rape of Lucretia at the Theater an der Wien, to leave a Viennese cab because the driver said he did not drive black women. The incident took place in mid February but did not come to light for more than a week because the singer was too upset to talk about it. She did report it to the police, but since she did not have either a license plate or driver number, it is doubtful that the driver can be identified.
A representative of the Vienna Association of Taxi Drivers insists that each of its 4,500 drivers is obliged to drive all paying customers. Viennese Social Democratic (SPÖ) Integration Issues Councillor Sandra Frauenberger said, “Such incidents must not occur without any consequences.” Since then, the Viennese response has included e-mailed apologies and a bouquet sent to Blue’s dressing room by the local cab drivers’ association.
articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/26/entertainment/la-et-0225-angel-blue-20110226
Opera Can Now Be Seen in 3-D
Now that high-definition transmissions from the Met, La Scala, or Covent Garden have become commonplace, opera film moguls are now experimenting with three-dimensional filmed performances. The latest techniques allow audience members to feel that they are on the stage with the singers because of the depth of field behind them.
Renowned opera director Francesca Zambello, who directed the current 3-D Carmen, says that she wants a set to give the impression of 50 feet in depth. With 3-D you get the bigger picture, but at the same time it allows you a certain intimacy. It gives a sense of scale while being personal.
www.post-gazette.com/pg/11061/1128892-388.stm
George London Foundation Announces Awards
The George London Foundation announced its 2011 awards on February 25. Twenty-four winners were chosen from 95 applicants. Winners Paul Appleby, Jonathan Beyer, Alexander Hajek, Edward Parks III, Ryan McKinny, and Emalie Savoy each received $10,000. Judges included soprano Harolyn Blackwell, mezzo-soprano Nedda Casei, former artist manager Ken Benson, opera stage director Bruce Donnell, former Metropolitan Opera administrator Alfred F. Hubay, performing arts consultant Thurmond Smithgall, and George London Foundation president Nora London. Elu Gausmann, widower of Leonie Rysanek, attended as an honorary judge.
Since 1971, the annual competition of the George London Foundation for Singers has distributed awards totalling more than $2 million to an outstanding roster of young American and Canadian opera singers. One of the oldest vocal competitions in the U.S. and Canada, the London Foundation competition offers substantial awards while charging no fee to the applicants or competitors. A pianist is provided for the competition rounds and prizes are awarded immediately.
www.georgelondon.org/documents/press%20release_Feb%202011%20Competition.pdf
georgelondon.org/
Cologne Opera Performs Mozart in Iraq
The Telary Honer culture centre in Sulaymaniyah, a city in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, hosted performances of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) by the German opera company. Unlike in other parts of the Arab world, theatre in Iraq’s Kurdistan region is not rejected out of hand on religious grounds and is extremely popular.
Although there has been some shooting in the area, almost all the members of Cologne’s Gürzenich Orchestra came to play. The members of the Cologne Opera had to overcome many difficulties as well. Some of the costumes, props, and scenery that had been shipped in containers were ripped by customs inspectors and had to be carefully mended. More importantly, however, the performances were a success and a bond has been forged between Cologne and Sulaymaniyah.
www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1623970.php/Opera-arrives-in-Iraq-with-Mozart-s-Il-Seraglio
China Has New State-of-the-Art Opera House
The city of Guangzhou, 80 miles north of Hong Kong, has a brand new 1,800-seat theater built especially for opera. The $200 million performing arts center—designed by London-based, prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid—dominates the city’s frontage on the Pearl River and can be expected to be in full use in the near future. The British newspaper the Guardian describes the new theater as looking like two enormous pebbles that seem to burst into life as night falls on the city’s slender skyscrapers.
Inside, it’s hard to find any straight lines. Great staircases twist upwards from the black granite floors of the foyer to the theater’s highest tiers, where the views of the auditorium are spectacular both for observing the stage and watching the people at intermissions.
www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/feb/28/guangzhou-opera-house-zaha-hadid
