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Eugene Onegin – Sitzprobe
One of my fellow chorus members kindly explained what sitzprobe actually means. I assumed it was some kind of abbreviation that was lost in the mists of time, but it turns out it’s German and means ‘sitting rehearsal’ not terribly accurate, but at any rate standing still rehearsal. Back in the Halls (hurrah) and I’m…
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The Blackheath Onegin: Backstage at a Community Opera
Coming Soon (Late August probably) The Blackheath Onegin Backstage at a Community Opera By Cherry Potts 80 pages of comment and photographs £15 All profits will go to next year’s Blackheath Halls Opera If you pre-order, we hope to have enough orders to get a bulk discount, which means that, provided you are prepared to…
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Rinaldo – but no sea-serpents
Straight from Opera rehearsal, to watching Opera, at Blackheath Halls, this time a production from Trinity Laban. Home from home you’d think, (and we are considering getting camp beds put up in the recital room we are there so much) but nonetheless it required a gear change. I’m not familiar with Rinaldo, and we were in…
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Eugene Onegin – 5th Production Rehearsal
The second of our back to back rehearsals. Saturday afternoon, and we have added Andrew Greenan as Gremin, to our principals. We at last get a proper go at Act III and Stella and the dancers from Laban Youth Dance are back to present a divertissement at Gremin’s society party. Harry explains that this is a very cold, brittle, affair;…
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Eugene Onegin – Fourth Production Rehearsal
Well! The marketing of the Opera is in full swing, I’ve been handing out fliers and putting up posters and getting it listed on referral sites like Bachtrack, and the Halls team have been putting up interviews on Youtube with Harry & Nick so if you still need convincing you should be inviting ALL your friends to come…
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Eugene Onegin – third production rehearsal – arrival of the principals!
A swelteringly hot Sunday and I’m very glad that the rehearsal has been moved to the morning, and to Brooklands school, where the doors of the hall are flung wide onto a very pleasant square shaded by a vast tree – Thank you Brooklands! The Principals have arrived, and so has the poster. We’ve worked with Nick…
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Open Door Opera – Iphigenia
A hot summer saturday evening by the river, the ideal moment for a bit of opera. I’d spent the day at a workshop on writing for young adults, and A, slogging over her book, so we were glad to be going out, and even more glad to be in the open air. We planned to come…
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Rats in the Shadows
Our second night out in a row. I recall saying about a month ago that we would have no social life while rehearsing Onegin, it has turned out not to be true – tired, yes; frantically busy, yes; but going all sorts of places. This is where being part of the community opera pays off,…
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Eugene Onegin 2nd Production Rehearsal
So we are upstairs and don’t have enough doors for our entrances and exits, and have to crunch against walls and pretend we aren’t there. It’s hot and it’s raining, and there isn’t enough light for photographs; good job I took loads last time. This is one of those rehearsals where there is a lot…
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Eugene Onegin – 1st Production Rehearsal
Our first production rehearsal is six hours long. Nick is stuck on a delayed Eurostar, so Duncan is conducting from the piano, Bryony is poised with measuring tape to review costumes, Tom has collected flower pots, (which he later walks into and sends in all directions) baskets, cushions and a watering can, and the floor is marked…
Cherry Potts, Writer 