Helene

That's what they said about the almost identical opera house Jack Diamond designed in Toronto, and I assure you, for ballet it is NOT TRUE. In fact, very few seats have a good view. Maybe I've been lucky, but this hasn't been true in my limited experience.

I looked at it three or four times before I believed it.

Many thanks for the info and links, volcanohunter!

NYCB just posted an announcement on Facebook for a new show on AOL called "city.ballet" which will be (executive) produced by Sarah Jessica Parker and premiere in September 2013: There's a link in the post to a short trailer.

Pre-NEXUS, I used to be asked about kidnapping children each time I crossed the Canadian border by car. That and firearms. Sometimes I was asked about diseases and DUI felonies. Coming back into the US, they only asked asked about fruits and vegetables. I thought this was a telling sense of priorities.

I just saw this posted to PNB's Facebook Page: Until 5pm PDT -- 5 minutes from now -- the Mariners are offering really good discounts on tickets purchased online to tomorrow night's game where PNB's Karel Cruz will throw out the first pitch. For anyone who sees this right away and can pounce, here's the link: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/sea/ticketing/special_group.jsp?group=arts

They reflect the standard border questions that look for people who may not be qualified to cross the border, based on health, prior records, and the problem of child kidnapping, particularly in custody suits. I would rather answer the questions up front than be asked them at the border and be turned away. Americans often don't realize that things like DUI convictions that are misdemeanors in the US can get them turned away at the Canadian border, because they are felonies as far as Canadian immigration is concerned. What I thought was discretion about paying the fee looks to me as if the people who pay at the border crossing window are the ones without credit cards. I'm assuming the credit card info on the visa is to process the payment.

Raked stages are very difficult for opera singers because of the way they breathe. I'm sure the Mariinsky Opera singers are relieved to have a stage without a rake.

The Universal Ballet Foundation is the recipient of the funds for this project. I've never read anywhere that the school's affiliation has changed. Here is the partial list of alumni from the Kirov Academy's website: https://kirovacademy...port-us/alumni/

We allow ballet-related projects on Kickstarter and Indigogo to be posted in this sub-forum. We allow other arts- and dance-related projects to be posted to the "Modern and Other Dance" and "Other Arts" forum. There's no pressure or expectation that anyone will pledge to fund these projects or even click through to see what the project is. If anyone has a question about whether a subject is valid or a post is acceptable, please use the "Report" button rather than discussing it on the board. If we feel the topic/post is inappropriate, we will address the issue. There are many professional dancers who have graduated from the Kirov Academy. It is one of a handful of pre-professional schools, like Harid, Rock School, and CPYB, that are not associated with major companies but whose performances are valid for discussion on Ballet Alert!

There is a cost to enter the US on the green form (countries in the visa waiver program). It might be ~ $6.00, and, I've noticed that they don't always both to charge it. It takes time to process, and sometimes they have higher priorities. I had more difficulty with India customs and immigration trying to leave the country than entering any other country. (India checks on the way in and out.) I had traveled there a half dozen times for work over three years under a multiple-entry business visa; each entry was limited to a certain number of days. Once I changed my outbound flight, and the itinerary didn't have my incoming flight info. The inbound stamp was incorrectly partially stamped over another stamp, and it was hard to find among the many stamps and extra pages. The immigration officer insisted that I had entered the country seven months earlier on this visit, even though I had found the outbound stamp from the same airport six months earlier. After 10-minutes of grilling, where I was about to be sent to an office, I finally found the inbound stamp, he glared at me, and finally let me through.

The last time I flew to Australia, the visa was included in the airline ticket price, and without looking at the fine print, I wouldn't have known it existed.

I remember filling out a Russian visa application: it was about 1/3 of the work of a permanent residency application, and they earned every penny processing that tome. They wanted full employment and address info and a list of all charitable donations since adulthood. (I was in such a rush to get my application in with a tour group that I didn't photocopy it, and I may never be let back in again, since I'm sure I've forgotten half of the small ballet companies and chamber music groups I gave $25 to in 1981 or 1992; if they ever compare applications, they'll never line up.) Both the US and Russia charge a lot of money, regardless of whether the visa is approved, and that hasn't stopped people from visiting the US, even if the numbers dipped because of post 9/11 hostility at the borders. The difference in getting a Russian visa is that not only do you have to get certification from where you are staying (if not family) each night you are there, you have to declare exact dates of travel. There's no landing in St. Petersburg and deciding from there. That's different than a US tourist visa, which generally is valid for a maximum number of days or months over a flexible time period and which requires proof of a return ticket out of the US. I think these are the biggest obstacles to travel to Russia. Visas wouldn't be an issue if travel times were flexible: the visa could be applied for in advance for the Festival period, with plans finalized after the rep and casting are announced.

I think calling it charm underestimates what Martins has: alone, it doesn't seal the deal or establish relationships and loyalty after the person leaves the room. Part of successful fundraising is being able to offer something of value to the person writing the check, and that requires being able to read people. Many people who are charming can only read the effect they are having on people in that instant and/or don't use it strategically. What he has has worked for decades, and I've seen no indication in official news or accounts that he ever shunted aside administrative and fundraising responsibilities because he preferred to be in the studio. It was decades before they hired someone so that he could spend more time on the artistic side. What he's done would bore the bejeezus out of most artists.

Daniels has sung Cesare for so long that it hadn't occured to me that he would have started with Sesto. I remember a Horne vs. Ramey vocal slap down in which they both played generals, and I don't remember any issues with that, although there might be/have been if a male played one of the female roles, like a male soprano singing Cleopatra. I know that switching from castrato to bass for the role of Cesare was a 20th century invention, but there are no castrati around, and I find countertenors mostly dull. On the other hand, when a bass can do runs and trill, that puts me at the edge of my seat, and the contrast between the highest and the lowest voices in a romantic relationship is a treat, considering how rare it is in general.

I don't know the Taras version, and I can't compare it to what I saw at NYCB or PNB, which rarely (sadly) performs the ballet. It's posible I saw it at PNB, but didn't note the differences. Russell described them briefly, but I didn't catch the details. Taras died in 2004, just before the final PNB performances under Russell and Stowell, for which they weren't bound by his dictates, and he controlled the rights for a little over a decade. Does anyone know both versions? The rights reverted to the Trust after Taras' death -- I'm not sure if he had lifetime rights or if he willed his rights to the Trust -- and his version is no longer mandatory. I don't know if anyone stages it now.

Balanchine also approved multiple versions of his ballets, knowing they'd be performed simultaneously with his own and not just after his death. Tallchief described having the conversation explicitly with Balanchine, in which she said that she was teaching the version she knew and danced, and he agreed. Francia Russell, one of his earliest stagers, only stages the ballets she knew and studied under him in the versions she knows. The Trust has continued Balanchine's approach by having multiple stagers stage different versions and has given them flexibility, with an understanding that the energy, tempi, and quality of movement are as important as the steps. The only rights holder I know who insisted on a single version was John Taras, who, during his lifetime after Balanchine's death, controlled "Symphony in C.". For a gala performance -- the opening of McCaw Hall? -- Russell and Kent Stowell had to receive permission to do an alternate version of the excerpted movement, and she described in a Q&A how Peter Martins was ready to pull the ballet from NYCB's rep until after Taras' death before Taras agreed that NYCB could do the version they knew. It's a tricky business walking the tightrope between maintaining a legacy and and institution. sandik is right that Martins' responsibility is to the institution, and there are many institutions that fail to live up to their mission statements to various degrees. NYCB's is two-fold, and most of the criticism has been during the stretches of time where its listed "1." mission, to preserve the ballets and aesthetic of its founders, has been questionable. "Standards of excellence" is tougher since NYCB had higher and lower periods under Balanchine, but when Balanchine was alive, he could set the course right. The listed "2." mission is to develop new works by contemporary choreographers and composers. I think these appear to be ranked to be comforting, and while, psychologically, the first half of an "and" statement is given more weight, technically, they are equal. Martins chose to freeze out many of the original interpreters, and they flourish(ed) elsewhere, for their own companies, other companies, and for the Foundation's staging series. That's an institutional choice that Martins made. NYCB was a churning place after Balanchine's death. Peter Boal described how he needed to shift course after a few years and establish himself as Boss at PNB; Martins, a veteran of one of the oldest and most political ballet institutions, Royal Danish Ballet, didn't make a similar mistake. If it's true, for example, that Suzanne Farrell insisted on self-appointed joint management when she was never drafted, then he was correct, from an institutional standpoint, to say "no" and mitigate the risk of internal factions, regardless of the insights she might have brought to the ballets. The flip side of the lessons that Martins learned, such as the legacy of nepotism in the old ballet institions, specifically keeping his wife and son on the highest rungs of dancer payrolls years after they produced quality performances while the company struggled financially and did major layoffs, was as natural as brushing one's teeth in the old systems, and he has been roundly and rightly criticized for this. On the other hand, Balanchine was given a complete pass on keeping Allegra Kent on the payroll and roster as long as she did the minimal contractual performance(s) and was lauded for his loyalty and allowing her to support her chidren. Martins has pretty much played by the institutional handbook: get rid of obstacles, create relationships with sponsors, both on the Board and with major donors who are loyal to him, at least long enough to count, and to fill the Board with allies. As Stephen Manes' book on PNB shows, there are a lot more moving parts to a ballet company than the ballets and the dancers, and the power almost always lies elsewhere.

I've looked at the indigogo proposal. The goal is to produce "La Sylphide" Act II and "Allegro Brilliante" by the students at the Kirov Academy on 23-25 May. The campaign runs until 4 June. Since it's Indigogo, there's a choice of getting funding for a lower cost only if the campaign reaches its goal or to pay a higher percentage but keep whatever is pledged (less costs) if the project doesn't meet its goal. This project has chosen the latter. An incentive to pledge is that the perk for $25 (or more) is a DVD of the performance.

NYCB just tweeted and posted to Facebook the company's congratulations to Christopher Wheeldon for winning the Oliver Award for Best New Dance Production for his "Aeternum" for the Royal Ballet. Congratulations to Wheeldon

Even though Treigle was weak in the performance I saw, he's still my favorite live Giulio Cesare. I only had the Sills/Treigle recording: it's an opera I never collected.

That's an interesting point, because the NY ballet audience was split then between the dancing stars at ABT and the choreographic stars at NYCB, Balanchine and Robbins. (During the dance boom, the majority of Tudor's works were already made: only "The Leaves Are Fading" and "Tiller in the Fields" were choreographed in the '70's, although ABT was still programming many of the ballets that were part of its artistic legacy during their main season.) I remember major efforts to convince that Bujones, for example, was the next one in line after Baryshnikov, and people loved Kirkland, although her own problems undermined her career. After the fall of the Soviet Union Russian dancers again helped stoke the interest at ABT; at NYCB, there are more premieres than under Balanchine's time at Lincoln Center, except during a few festivals under his tenure, but quantity and quality are different, and the desperation with which talented neoclassical choreographers are branded "the next Balanchine" shows how little of it has stuck. Ratmansky at ABT creating one-act ballets is a bit of ABT coming full circle. As far as super-titles are concerned, I've always found them easy to ignore when I don't need them, and you can turn off Met Titles. Ismene Brown posted commentary and a translation of a recent interview with Daria Pavlenko concerning pay for the Mariinsky corps: http://www.ismeneb.c..._structure.html She expressed concern about declining standards, some of which she attributes to financial dis-incentives and how young dancers out of the school are not all choosing the Mariinsky as their company upon graduation. If the Mariinsky can't count on institutional memory and the generosity of one generation towards the next, I agree with Pavlenko that they are in trouble.

Daniels was The Guy for a long time. It's not that I don't appreciate what he did, but it takes something more, like Dumaux's wonderful acting and movement quality, for a countertenor to keep me interested in the voice type. I'm not sure why, but I really liked a male soprano, David Korn -- a true soprano, not a countertenor -- who was in the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program a few years ago and who sang in the program's production of Britten's "The Turn of the Screw." (I remember that well, partly because in the Q&A after the program, someone in the audience asked a question of Dean Williamson, who conducted the performance, and Peter Kazaras, the program director who directed the opera, and Speight Jenkins jumped in an argued with each other (in a friendly manner), with Williamson standing there waiting for them to finish.) In the case of Cesare, it's not even a matter of mezzo vs. countertenor: I prefer a bass in the role. (My hypothetical Marilyn Horne question is about voice quality if a part has to be in that range.) There's only one other major dark voice in the cast, and I really missed having Cesare as a bass. Yes, as someone who didn't grow up with opera and has never quite "gotten" them, that's very interesting to read. I wonder how widespread the feeling is among knowledgeable and longtime opera lovers. As Birdsall wrote, while there were countertenors in the past, Daniels was the first major artist to make countertenors mainstream, and because he was an inspiration, there was finally critical mass. When I was growing up with opera, most of my exposure to countertenors was in oratorios or recitals. Is there anyone here who started going to the opera during the rise of the countertenor, and who grew up on countertenors? That's a shame. I had mixed feelings about the production, but it moved and was full of vitality. It was worth consideration. It should be on PBS eventually, though.

I think Peter Martins was very fortunate to have found a major patron who was dedicated to him, not Balanchine or Kirstein, during his less certain beginning, or the financial future of the company could have been in jeopardy, with the schisms in the Board and competing loyalties all around. He was also lucky that his patron's well-publicized personal circumstances fueled that loyalty, even if there was a parting of ways after the most precarious period was over.

Daniels' voice didn't have much color.

I saw it in the cinema. Dumaux was a fabulous actor, and he even got me past my great dislike of countertenors. (My usual question when hearing one is, "Would I prefer to hear Marilyn Horne sing it?," and the answer is, invariably, "Yes.") I had heard him before at the Dallas Fair Grounds, where pre-Winspear Dallas heard opera through the worst acoustics I've ever heard. (A perfectly audible singer would move five feet to the right, and it was as if he or she was suddenly behind a tall, concrete wall.) He also was in his 20's in that Dallas performance of Unolfo in "Rodelinda," and his voice may have filled out more in the meantime. For people who hear him in the house, was his voice strong? (The miking for HD's distorts the relative volumes of the singers.) He looked like the love child of Kevin Kline in the "Pirates of Penzance" and Mariusz Kwiecien. Bardon I liked very much after her first aria, in which she sounded far off pitch to me. My favorite moment of hers was the duet with Sextus at the end of Act II: she and Alice Coote were so simpatico, voice- and interpretation-wise. My favorite singing was Coote's, apart from the opening aria, which was fine, but Joyce DiDonato recently got a much deeper performance from a Juilliard graduate student, Rachel Wilson, during her master class there earlier this year. (Sadly, it's the only segment of the master class that was un-published from the school's YouTube channel.) Bicket may have taken it at a faster clip. I love Coote's voice: it has brightness and underlying heft. For me Dessay's high point was the lament that ended Act II. Maybe the tessitura was low for her, because towards the end she spun some lovely high notes, but it sounded to me that there wasn't a floor to her voice for most of the fast coloratura singing. In the slower singing, where she has to show sorrow, depth, and maturity, she's amazing. She was a fantastic actress, and I thought she did a wonderful job with the dancing. I also loved Guido Loconsolo's Achillas. I kept wishing he was singing Giulio Cesare. I once heard Norman Treigle sing it on a bad vocal day for him, and it was 100 times preferable than hearing Daniels. Did I mention a great dislike of countertenors?