Birdsall

I saw Aran Bell dance a variation from Don Quixote and "La Chauve Souris" (Roland Petit) in a Youth America Grand Prix in Tampa this past January. He was amazing. So much stage presence. At such a young age he commands the stage. If he continues along these lines he has a great career ahead of him!!!

bart, I will be at the Friday Kronenberg and hope to get tickets at the door for Catoya. Maybe one of those performances we could meet briefly. Bart Birdsall

ksk04, I read the article on that link, and it made it sound like it enables Russian audiences to view it on Google Russia. Will we still be able to watch it on YouTube in the U.S.?

I agree, Sonora. I hope it is true they will include it in their next season, b/c it will be good to evaluate whether my first impressions will differ from a re-evaluation of the work.

I am visiting Cristian in Miami and having fun! He's a fun host. However, unlike him I loved Ratmansky's Symphonic Dances and can't wait to see it again when they supposedly plan to program it as part of the regular season. It is modern, but it is based on classical ballet. Plenty of "wow" moves but some quite beautiful and lyrical moves also. There doesn't seem to be an exact story but each of the 3 movements seem to have a type of "outsider" character who must find his or her way among the larger group. Standouts were Jeanette Delgado (as always), and the amazing, energetic Nathalia Arja in the final movement. She is a corps member but performed her soloist role wonderfully. She is someone to watch. Almost like an Osipova in the making! I did not know what to expect but I found the new ballet very exciting with some Balanchine type moving of the company at moments (interweaving groups). I think this is a ballet that will have legs (revived in other places)!

Going along with that, I have always liked a certain artifice (ie lack of naturalism) in Les Sylphides stagings. Either woods or castle-ruins are fine, because both are appropriately Romantic settings. However, I think the main thing about the mise-en-scene is that the stagings should NOT be naturalistic. The audience should not be transported to woods or castle ruins, but rather to the 19th century theatre. Just my 2 cents. There does seem to be a certain humor (not comedy but lightness) to some of the music and dancing, so I think you're right. It does sort of say, "Don't take me too seriously, but enjoy....."

Cristian, I have tickets to the Friday at the Kravis, and I am sure that will be with Kronenberg and Guerra (like in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale). If I purchase for a second performance, which cast should I see? Catoya/Reyes or Albertson/Cerdeiro? Manning is Myrtha for both those casts. Please advise, b/c I think I want to see 2 performances altogether.

Dragged myself to Verdi's Ernani (Met HD) at the movies. Mainly went to hear Angela Meade, since she's one of the few young singers that has impressed me in recent times. She's good, but not in the Joan Sutherland league despite what Joyce DiDonato announced (that Meade is being compared to a young Joan Sutherland). Anyway, Peter Gelb announced all the HD transmissions for next season and said that the new production of Rigoletto will take place in a Las Vegas casino. That is part of the reason I have very little enthusiasm about the opera world now. How will a Las Vegas casino setting add anything to this story that is already timeless? I find it ridiculous! These nonsense productions usually mean that all the costumes will look like they were purchased at Macy's and the sets will be modern and sparse and probably not impressive. Bascially cheap for them and we audience members are the big losers. But I guess they have to throw in things to distract the audience from the general lack of technically sound singers on the world's stages today! They do all this claiming it makes opera relevant to today. Opera has been relevant in my life for 20 years without nonsense stagings. Now that nonsense is all the rage and singers who can't sing but look like movie stars are all the rage......well, I guess that is why I have slowly started my exit from my first love.....opera. It is really shocking for me to have so little enthusiasm for the art form anymore.

I suppose there is a niche market for rarities and they will probably release that as a dvd eventually and be able to sell it since Eva Maria Westbroek is someone people like to hear/see, so it could sell. I will definitely see that on HD, but not flying to NY to see Francesca di Rimini! LOL Sarasota Opera does a lot of rare works as well as all of Verdi's early works, and I have seen tons of rarities. I used to love seeing them, but now I tend to see and hear them and feel that they are rare for good reason. Most of them do not come close to moving us like the great works in the standard repertoire. With that said one of the best nights I ever experienced at the opera was Les Arts Florissants at Brooklyn Academy of Music doing "Hippolyte et Aricie"......so it is not cut and dry, and I am not against rarities. Some are truly neglected gems, but a whole lot of them are dogs. I am not familiar with Francesca di Rimini, so I will try to keep an open mind! I swore I would never get like the old timers on the opera sites complaining about everything in the opera world, but despite swearing I would never get that way I find myself like that. There was a time when I wanted to see everything and anything. I waited anxiously for the Opera News issue that listed the new seasons across the nation and world (before the internet enabled you to look for yourself), but shockingly the thrill is gone. It is so sudden too. I don't know what has happened. On a positive note I do love Rene Pape, and his Gurnemanz is very good on the Mariinsky recording of Parsifal. Kaufmann and Pape plus the work itself makes me consider flying up. But as much as I like the work, it is a non-action opera, so if Kaufmann or Pape or both decided to cancel I would want to chew my leg off if the singers end up being lousy! LOL It is pretty shocking Parsifal is the only thing that really interests me. Most of the season doesn't enthuse me at all.

Dorothee Gilbert is amazing in most things, especially her balance!!! I like the Australian Ballet's Coppelia and the Covent Garden (Acosta and Benjamin).

The Met site does list Parsifal as an HD. That surprises me too. The cast looks terrific on paper, although not so sure about Dalayman though. Kundry is a crazy role that seems to fit mezzos better except for high notes. Not sure anyone can sing the role right now. But Kaufmann should be wonderful. Too bad Netrebko is not singing Maria Stuarda and then later I would like her to sing Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux, so she would complete the 3 queens. I have heard that Netrebko will be singing Norma at Covent Garden soon. That is good news. Her Anna Bolena was much better than I thought it would be, so I now think she might actually sing Norma well. Don't know why the Met is supposedly planning to put on Norma with Radvanovsky soon in a future season. I think Netrebko and/or Angela Meade would be a MUCH better choice for that role.

Parsifal with Jonas Kaufmann is the only thing I find interesting about the entire season! Maria Stuarda might be interesting too. But Parsifal is the only thing I would actually take a trip for, but I see it is going to be one of the HD transmissions, so I might just watch it that way and save my money for ballet trips.

I have Flames of Paris. I wish more of them would be released. It must be expensive to release performances on dvd. It seems like most of the work for it would have been done already once it is transmitted live to the public, but I guess there is more to it. Too bad!

I wonder if the Bolshoi will release this commercially once it airs! This is a production that is supposed to be the most expensive production of a ballet and is a reconstruction. I am surprised nobody seems to want to videotape these reconstructions and release them commercially (Mariinsky's Sleeping Beauty, Bayadere). After going to so much trouble to recreate them, it seems crazy not to also videotape them and release them. How many of the Bolshoi's live in cinema ballets have actually been released on dvd?

I was impressed with Cerdeiro in Ballet Imperial (Program 2....second show that I saw). He doesn't look like he would pull off roles that are heroic, but his dancing is really good. He just looks too young and lanky, but there is artistry there.

Cristian, thanks for posting this for us to see. That is so beautiful! But now you've ruined all future bourees for me!

I have had trouble playing Royal Opera Ballet videos on my mac (only 1 year old at the most). The Acosta Bayadere and the newest ROB Nutcracker would not play at all on my mac computer. My partner has the television downstairs sets up for video games and all sorts of strange things that I do not understand, so I don't even try to play my dvds on the tv down there. I mainly watch ballet on my mac, and it is very frustrating to get one that won't play on a practically brand new computer. This is my only hesitation in buying anything from the Royal Opera Ballet or maybe it is Opus Arte. I never had any problems with any other videos. Does anyone know why an "All regions" dvd won't play on a mac?

Cristian, I love Delgado the best too, but maybe it was her choosing. Maybe she didn't feel ready to do Giselle. Just trying to find the positive in this. At least we will see her Myrtha and see if she can be stern and imperious! I think Kronenberg is a nice dancer. You will still have fun when you go!!!

In these economic times I think that a lot of arts institutions (like individuals) are having financial difficulties. Yes it is an aging population but there are always new older people coming, it is Florida after all, and a lot of these people have disposable income. He isn't that old, and a succession plan was discussed. I'd like evidence that before Villella there were no budget problems. I wouldn't know, because quite frankly before Villella was the company anything more than one of hundreds of regional companies? I don't think so. I certainly never heard about it. I do think that ballet and opera are more mature tastes. Whether we like to view it this way or not, ballet (and opera) are considered uncool by young kids until they actually see a ballet, for example. Then, they love it. But for some reason it is considered elitist and traditional, everything Americans rebel against. When they get older and realize that "Oops! I Did It Again" by Brittney Spears does not really move you in your 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond, people start to look for artistic music that will move them in a way they never needed before in their lives. I don't think ballet or opera performances will ever be filled with 20somethings at every performance. I think you might appeal to younger people somewhat when you focus on it really hard and get maybe a handful of younger people to subscribe after a 5 year effort, but overall the vast majority of the audiences that keep coming back are an older age group. But like Aurora pointed out, we all keep getting older, so just because old audiences die out, they are immediately and constantly replaced by other older people. I can't get anyone my age (45) interested in ballet or opera. I have taken friends here and there from time to time, and they go ONCE and love it, but it is not something they adore and want to see over and over. They go back to wanting to listen to "Oops! I Did It Again!" or watching Kim Kardashian get married. Ballet and opera are simply not "in" or "cool" to most younger people in the U.S. So instead of the arts companies complaining that the audiences are old and thinking they need to get young audiences, maybe they need to realize that their target audience is the older crowd and thank the gods above for older people instead of always wanting to bring in new people. They need to court the older crowd and make them feel valuable instead of wishing they could find a way to bring in the younger crowd. I don't think ballet and opera are ever going to appeal to the masses in the U.S. They are always going to be fringe or niche markets that appeal to older people (who tend to be educated, already into the arts, etc).

The no state income tax is a draw to people, but the salaries (overall) remain low in the state as a result. The reason we have no state income tax is that we get a lot of money through tourism. But I have known people who decided not to take jobs here in Florida because the pay was so much lower than other places, and people hiring in Florida will flat out tell people, "We pay you in sunshine," meaning you don't get a high salary but you get nice weather and enjoy your life more outdoors. The weather is why we will always get more snowbirds as others die off. I do think it is a renewable resource as Helene called them.

I don't disagree with anything you say. LOVE Lopatkina as Raymonda. But I think I have read on this forum or maybe it was in the Dancer's Dream documentary of the Nureyev Raymonda......apparently, in Russia it is a big no-no to do loud claps on the stage. Nureyev did not agree with that approach and wanted to hear the claps. He wanted it strong and forceful. I tend to think both approaches can work. I think that final variation of Raymonda's is Raymonda acting a role, doing a Hungarian dance. So she is having fun, and she also finally has her man and is happy in life, so she's showing off. But overall, I agree with what you're saying after reading your comments.

Agree totally that her fans have been mourning her vocal loss for a while. Her last recording and tour was really sad from what I saw on tv. She would have the audience sing the famous choruses or rely on back up singers to sing much of the song and do very little actual singing herself during televised performances. It was sad. What's worse is it came off as tricking the audience. I do find it refreshing that ballet talk allows non-ballet topics. On opera sites it seems to be a huge no-no. You get in major trouble with moderators if you post topics that don't pertain to opera.

If Villella's name brings in donations and interest in the company (I don't know if it does but I suspect it does) his salary might seem reasonable, if, for instance, a "nobody" in the dance world who simply has a business degree takes his place and makes much less but also causes donors to walk away......these are just things I hope the board has considered....

Just food for thought. The New Yorkers I have met and spoken to during MCB performances at the Kravis Center looked about my age or a little older (40ish....they may have been 50). I just turned 45 yesterday, by the way! I think South Florida has always had snowbirds and always will. Even though the vast majority of snowbirds are older, some are not. I think younger people from the Northeast are moving to Florida too, because it is no longer considered an old people's place to move. At least Florida seems much different than it used to when I was a child (it used to seem 90% retirees, now it seems totally mixed in age). It remains populated mostly by people originally from the Northeast in all age groups. The Hispanic population has grown and added much to South Florida, but my parents' area is still predominantly populated by Northeastern people. So I can only speak for the Kravis performances. They are filled with mostly Northeastern people, I suspect.

Also, Rhythm and blues singing is not unlike virtuoso opera singing. The RnB singers like Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, etc. ad lib endless melismas when singing a song. They will take something like "Over the Rainbow" and totally rewrite the song!!! The emphasis on the voice in RnB makes the singer the primary important figure and that used to be how opera was during baroque and up to Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini (Bel Canto era). Virtuoso singing where you embellish and command the stage and your voice is more important than the actual composition you are singing.....that lent itself to encores, I believe. When you have extraordinary talents on the stage suddenly they become the star of the show and all else including the composer and his composition take a back seat. With the new popular shows about singing auditions and dancing shows getting popular we might get people more and more interested in the actual soloists of any given work. We might be entering a new time where once again the audiences are less concerned about the actual composer's music and more interested in the soloists, and that would lend itself to more and more encores. However, the composer's work gets neglected somewhat when this happens. But eventually it would swing back around where it will once again be considered a disservice to the composer to show boat, etc. I think it swings back and forth. Neither viewpoint is necessarily wrong, although I personally love the idea of more encores! LOL