Helene

I think the Met does the opposite and that's why it's always "Met in HD" in the cinema, and Great Performances for the TV versions. "Met in HD" is the brand, and, if anything, I think they're trying to sell a season, not specific operas.

I pay for the HD in the movie house knowing that there's a great chance I'll see it again on PBS because in the movie theater, it's on a big screen with a much better sound system than I have. That's what I always thought I was paying for. It's like the difference between seeing "Star Wars" in the theater vs. on TV: it's just not the same. I'm not someone who happily gets up before 8am on a weekend,but I've found the Met in HD worth it, apart from the communal feeling of watching something live at the same time as people halfway across the globe. I would think if PBS was willing to air Met in HD operas because they were ready-made and they didn't have to have a producer, there's little reason why British TV wouldn't come to the same conclusion.

They and the Bolshoi, which does the same, haven't invited everyone who's been at the school into the company, though. From what I've read so far, it's also a situation like when women were first introduced into men-only colleges in the early '70's: the first women were transfers and only spent part of their degree studies there. At the Bolshoi school, at least, the MacKay brothers joined quite young, and most of their ballet training has been/will be there.

Why should the Mariinsky care so much about an English-language documentary from foreign-born producers? Even if they did, they didn't need to give her anything: it's a rare documentary in which everything goes off swimmingly for the hero.

Either Mariinsky management believes she has what it takes -- and it's definition of "It" might differ from yours, mine, different Mariinsky dancers and coaches, etc. -- just as we differ on Somova's and Skorik's virtues, and as I differ from most people's on Lopatkina's -- or it has a reason for setting Kampa up. Occam's Razor suggests the former.

How is she so obviously unprepared? She went to the school for a few years, she danced with Boston for a few years, and she was made an offer. As far as I know, she has a Mariinsky coach. How many people would turn down a dream offer? Should Somova have said, "No, I'm sorry, I know you want to give me Odette as a teenager, but, no thanks, I'll stay in third row of the corps"? It's not like Kampa was given a Principal contract and the first HD broadcast after she joined. It's the AD's and administration who are responsible for approaching her, making her an acceptable offer, and casting her.

I think the Kampa shot is rather benign. I think that there's lots that Fadeev could and should have done differently.

The documentary description is rather tame as these things go, and I think the shot of Sodoleva is pretty glamourous. It's not as if Sodoleva were given a grainy 2x1 black and white photo, while Kampa was given a full page spread.

Direct link to Filin photo:

The PC thing would be to ban YouTube videos, but it's not going to happen. As far as Kampa, Skorik, Somova, etc. are concerned, they are dancers who are poison to some and ambrosia to others. We exist to have discussion about classical ballet, and these dancers are cast and ranked by an institution that puts them forth for public discussion. The value of the discussion is diminished when the same bludgeons are used repeatedly, because, it's not as if everyone didn't hear it the first, second, or third time, and opinions differ. The Russian audience might think Kampa is representative of dancing in the US, and if that makes them feel better, there's no law against being insular. It might be comforting and provide a distraction from what is happening with the vast majority of the company. From an insular Western perspective, what I find interesting is how the second companies are getting respect and prominence for what they're doing on their own terms, partly from the perception that the Mariinsky isn't what it used to be. As far as Kampa having a special contract, legally, all foreign dancers have to, and it's a given. The Mariinsky had every right and opportunity to Just Say No.

If it were about the rest of it, there would be no need to post a doctored video of the fall to YouTube. The rest of the performance on its own would suffice to show her virtues or lack of them. If the point of posting the fall on the fouettes was to say, "In case you were blind and couldn't see how bad she is from the whole video, here's what was cut to make her look good," there would have been this comment on the video, and the undoctored version of the fall would have been enough. A response to that comment could be similar to Mme. Hermine's: the fall was edited out of respect, and there's a whole performance to judge. Instead, the video is a crude attempt to reduce a dancer to the lowest common denominator, but that's what desperation will bring. As it turns out, comment is necessary.

Pacific Northwest Ballet, live from their tour to London, with a Trust-approved re-design by Martin Pakledinaz. I believe it was broadcast on TV in Great Britain, too.

I don't know why they'd have to replace broadcasts on TV: Public Broadcasting (PBS) in the US airs the Met HD's. There's usually a lag between the Encore performances and the free TV dates, although I'm not sure if they are a season behind and after the handful of re-runs we get at the beginning of every summer here in Vancouver (where Seattle Public TV is one of the basic cable stations). The Met even produces DVDs of many of the offerings. I go to the Met in HD's as often as I can, for the big screen and the big sound system, and then I watch them at home. For some, I buy the DVD's. Ballet's DVD inventory could change drastically if POB, the Mariinsky, the Royal Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, etc. made transmit more often or at least as often as the Bolshoi and released the transmissions to DVD and digital downloads, which would make them readily available worldwide, without having physical inventory.

In the "Other Performing Arts" forum we've been discussing reports about how the Met in HD broadcasts have been affecting live performance. Today I read the following tweet by tenor Michael Fabiano, who been performing in Norway. Final Performance of the Verdi Requiem with the Oslo Philharmonic Today. In countless movie theaters in Norway. I'm sure many here share the frustration of National companies, whether they be ballet, opera, or symphony or theaters that get large public and private subsidies, but rarely venture out of their home cities, and when they do, it's to travel abroad, like Paris Opera Ballet, or National Ballet of Toronto Canada which occasionally does very limited tours west. If the Oslo Philharmonic concert is being broadcast throughout Norway, could this be at least some of the answer to sharing the wealth across the country? If I can get up for a 9am "Francesca da Rimini," surely I can go to an 11am showing of most of NBoC's reps. I suspect there would be an audience in France, where time zones aren't an issue, for Paris Opera Ballet HD broadcasts.

Ismene Brown has posted the translation of an Izvetsia article in which the Artistic Council rejected the dancers union's bid to join the Artistic Council to her blog: http://www.ismeneb.com/ismeneb.com/Blog/Entries/2013/3/25_Bolshoi_artistic_council_says_no_to_dancer_participation.html Filin participated through Skype. While having a single leader does not prevent factions, it does mean that one person, to paraphrase Beverly Sills, "doesn't share credit, doesn't share blame, and doesn't share dessert."

This press release describes the selection process for "Ballet's Greatest Hits" and the program and performers for the film that will broadcast on 31 March and 2 April at these cinemas: YOUTH AMERICA GRAND PRIX’S “BALLET’S GREATEST HITS” TO HIT MOVIE THEATERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY ON MARCH 31 AND APRIL 2, 2013 Following the tremendous international success of ballet documentary, FIRST POSITION, Youth America Grand Prix is proud to present its latest and its most ambitious project to date. “Ballet’s Greatest Hits” is a filmed Gala evening showcasing six of the most beloved classical ballets of all time: Don Quixote, Flames of Paris, Giselle, La Bayadere, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake. “Ballet’s Greatest Hits” arrives to movie theaters across the United States on March 31 and April 2, 2013 for a limited-run engagement. For showtimes in your area, visit http://bit.ly/ZL5mx5 Hosted by “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance” Executive Producer, Nigel Lythgoe, “Ballet’s Greatest Hits” presents an all-star cast from the world’s leading dance companies in a live performance filmed by five-time Emmy Award winner, Clemente D’Alessio. For added insight into the history and meaning of classical ballet, the film offers exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, rare archival materials, and intimate interviews with choreographers, film producers, critics and luminaries of the dance world – such as Alexei Ratmansky, Benjamin Millepied, Susan Jaffe, and many others. Artistic Director of YAGP, Larissa Saveliev, said, “We have worked hard in the two months since we filmed the live performance at the Straz Center in Tampa, Florida. And we are confident that the final version will take its viewers on an extraordinary journey into the art form of ballet. Quite frankly, you will see ballet like you’ve never seen it before.” Vice-chair of YAGP, Sergey Gordeev, added: “We sat down with the artists to talk about what each ballet means to them, what the process is like, and what challenges they face in creating their roles. Artists like Ashley Bouder and Daniel Ulbricht discuss their partnership and unique approach to their performance. Marcelo Gomes talks about what ballet means to him. And Joseph Phillips lets us in backstage and shares with us his experience of preparing for two hours – just for a minute and a half on stage.” “Ballet’s Greatest Hits” will be shown in movie theaters on March 31 and April 2, 2013 only. For showtimes in your area, visit http://bit.ly/ZL5mx5 . CAST: Stella Abrera (American Ballet Theatre) Ashley Bouder (New York City Ballet) Isabella Boylston (American Ballet Theatre) Skylar Brandt (American Ballet Theatre) Taras Domitro (San Francisco Ballet) Matthew Golding (Dutch National Ballet) Marcelo Gomes (American Ballet Theatre) Greta Hodgkinson (National Ballet of Canada) Maria Kochetkova (San Francisco Ballet) Veronika Part (American Ballet Theatre) Joseph Phillips (American Ballet Theatre) Hee Seo (American Ballet Theatre) Daniel Ulbricht (New York City Ballet) Alejandro Virelles (Boston Ballet) THE FILM INCLUDES INTERVIEWS WITH: Lawrence Bender Film Producer Matthew Bourne Artistic Director, New Adventures Leslie Browne International Master Teacher and former Oscar nominee Jose Manuel Carreño Artistic Director, The Carreño Dance Festival Misty Copeland Soloist, American Ballet Theatre Angel Corella Artistic Director, Barcelona Ballet Alessandra Ferri Director of Dance, Spoleto Festival (Italy) Susan Jaffe Dean, School of Dance at North Carolina School of the Arts Denys Ganio Former Etoile, Paris Opera Ballet Mathieu Ganio Etoile, Paris Opera Ballet Benjamin Millepied Artistic Director, L.A. Dance Project Wendy Perron Editor-in-Chief, Dance Magazine Alexei Ratmansky Artist-in-Residence, American Ballet Theatre Edward Villella Founder and former Artistic Director, Miami City Ballet LIVE PERFORMANCE ARTISTIC CREDITS: Swan Lake White Swan Pas de Deux Choreography: Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov Music: P.I. Tchaikovsky Performed by: Veronika Part (American Ballet Theatre) Marcelo Gomes (American Ballet Theatre) Nutcracker Grand Pas de Deux Choreography: Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov Music: P.I. Tchaikovsky Performed by: SUGAR PLUM FAIRY: Hee Seo (American Ballet Theatre) NUTCRACKER PRINCE: Alejandro Virelles (Boston Ballet) La Bayadere Pas D’Action and Bronze Idol Choreography: Marius Petipa Music: Ludwig Minkus/John Lanchbery Performed by: GAMZATTI: Isabella Boylston (American Ballet Theatre) SOLOR: Matthew Golding (Dutch National Ballet) BRONZE IDOL: Joseph Phillips (American Ballet Theatre) Flames of Paris Choreography: Vasilly Vianonen Music: Boris Asafiev Performed by: Ashley Bouder (New York City Ballet) Daniel Ulbricht (New York City Ballet) Giselle Pas de Deux Choreography: Marius Petipa Music: Adolphe Adam Performed by: GISELLE: Greta Hodgkinson (National Ballet of Canada) ALBRECHT: Matthew Golding (Dutch National Ballet) MYRTA: Stella Abrera (American Ballet Theatre) Don Quixote Grand Pas de Deux Act III, with one bridesmaid Choreography: Marius Petipa Music: Ludwig Minkus Performed by: Maria Kochetkova (San Francisco Ballet) Taras Domitro (San Francisco Ballet) Skylar Brandt (American Ballet Theatre) The live performance of “Ballet’s Greatest Hits” took place at the David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts on January 5, 2013. The film is distributed by Emerging Pictures - the company that has brought The Royal Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theatre to movie screens across America.

I meant that if someone who had seen the Met in HD visited NYC, instead of being on a list of things to do during the visit, the Met would have been a destination. They have some of the stats about ticket sales from non NY-Metro visitors in their system, just as they, Paris Opera, Royal Danish Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Arizona Opera, San Francisco Opera and Ballet, and the Royal Opera and Ballet among others have stats on me from my online or phone ticket-buying history. I suspect the Met could track the spikes in ticket sales after HD broadcasts vs. after other Saturdays and with online sales, they know where people come from. That's the data I'd try to mine if I were they, even if I had other goals in having HD's.

Exactly, Drew. Dancers of all ranks and abilities fall. Pacific Northwest Ballet has a season-end party for the dancers in which one of the highlights is the "blooper" video, although this weekend's entry was the opening of Tharp's "In the Upper Room', when, with the two Principal female Stompers downstage center waiting to start, the music from the afternoon's "Hansel and Gretel" started to play for a few seconds instead of the Glass.

In Vancouver, the Met in HD was initially shown in Cineplex Theatres, but later added a second theater, the Park Theatre, which was part of the arthouse Festival Cinemas small chain. The Festival Cinemas owners sold to Cineplex just recently. Cineplex here also shows Ballet in Cinema from Emerging Pictures, as well as different stage plays, and at least the ballet is shown on tape delay and theater from England must as well, but I don't think they show Opera in Cinema, which is a real shame. I don't know if the opera's contract is for live only -- hard to imagine it would be -- if Cineplex doesn't want to take on the opera package and slot it into more prime slots or to open the theater at 10am on Saturday, or if they're doing it to protect the Met. Here, for Gelb, it's Cineplex or nothing, but that's not the case elsewhere in Canada, and here it's a small market.

Ilya didn't say that Tsiskaridze lost status or his job, but the way I read it, that the media had been diverted to another crime and won't be as interested in Tsiskaridze's opinions or job aspirations.

I don't see how they plainly haven't turned into "must see": there are no statistics about whose attendance is dropping off vs. whose attendance has increased. Obviously if overall attendance is going down, there aren't more people who are motivated by the HD broadcasts to attend live performances than those who are no longer coming, but there are other variables that could have impacted attendance, and, so far, there's no way to know if there hadn't be HD broadcasts, whether attendance would be even lower because of these factors. They either don't have the data, or they haven't released the data. One of the articles stated that donations are a record high, but there was no breakdown of what kinds of donations, size of donations, and the geographic distribution. Is the $125 annual gift that allows people to buy tickets early part of the equation? Again, they haven't released the data.

I think the implication of the latest piece is that people who would have gone to Met are staying local, because it's cheap and convenient, while the another take is there was a drop-off in attendance separate from the fact of the HD's that was countered partly by the increase in attendance for HD's. There are many reasons for an independent drop-off such as an aging population that can't do the physical commute and/or afford the tickets, Gelb's productions and choices of singers being unpopular among different long-time opera-goers, Gelb's honeymoon period having ended. There haven't been any stats released to show who constitutes the drop-off in attendance vs. any offsets by visitors, a critical revenue stream for the Met, and whether the attendance would be a lot worse without the interest generated among those who've seen the HD's and turn Met attendance from "Nice to have" to "Must see."

Were I the Met, I would welcome the elderly who can no longer travel to the Met or afford the tickets. I would welcome the 20- and 30-somethings with younger families who might be able to sneak out for a morning to a cinema -- maybe meet up with their spouse and children in the mall afterwards -- to see opera, when the cost and complexity of arranging babysitters and an evening out after a long day makes it a dead "in-between" demographic. I would also welcome the Met Opera as a worldwide brand with which people are involved, not just a name association or a "maybe" on a trip to NYC jam packed with other things. This Sunday's magazine section will have an article on Gelb that is now available on the NYT website that argues differently: and it includes a link to another NYT article from last year that argues that Met HD is an expansion and an offset. Fundraising setting new records is critical for the Met. In the US, a $125 donation to the Met allows a person to get tickets before the general public, crucial for cinemas that have reserved seating, unless the first few rows are preferred. I wonder how many extra donations and memberships they get for this purpose, and also how many older people are sending small checks because they're still involved through HD's. The HD's keep the Met in sight and in mind. I've mentioned before that think the perfect experience is Operavision, which is offered at three performances of each opera at San Francisco Opera. There are two screens that are dropped from the ceiling in the Balcony that provide a directed, HD-like experience to people at the top of the theater. The acoustics are still there, it's a live experience, and there's always the option of looking at the stage, which I did regularly for Jun Kaneko's brilliant sets. I can only imagine what it would be like at the Met given the extraordinary acoustics of the Family Circle.

The great mezzo-soprano and 1991 Kennedy Center honoree Rise Stevens has died at age 99: http://www.bloomberg...dies-at-99.html Her son, actor Nicolas Surovy, who was on "All My Children" for many years, made the announcement. In addition to her career as an actress, she also had management roles, leading the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, the Metropolitan Opera National Company, and president of Mannes College. From the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.c...dies-at-99.html A paragraph on the Metropolitan Opera website: https://www.metopera...rise&iloc=hptab RIP, Ms. Stevens.

Since the advent of air travel and the speeding up of schedules and careers, the same debate has gone on about reliability and, not unrelated, a rush of offers to take on inappropriate roles and burn the voice out long before they should have. I remember an interview in the Sunday NYT with Richard Tucker in which Tucker described advising a young tenor to wait for some role, and when the young tenor replied, "What, you're worried?" he decided to keep his opinions to himself from then on. I've read lots of interviews with singers lately who described having all kinds of inappropriate roles offered to them in their 20's and 30's and saying no. I hope most of the ones I've heard lately continue to say no. Another factor is the exponential development and use of long-term maintenance drugs for blood pressure medicine -- Ben Heffner became the poster child for having his blood pressure medicine affect the blood flow to his voice -- cholesterol, anxiety, depression, as well as drugs like Viagra, different drug regimens for traveling, etc. that affect equilibrium and the immune system in addition to voice and voice-related systems. I would think that being in better physical shape would be a positive. For that, there's one word: Barihunks They also have tenor crushes who are featured.