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How Idomeneo looks from here
The audience are never going to experience an opera the way the chorus does. Even though performance in the round gives them some idea, as they peer through the crowds to catch a glimpse of th action, but actually, the action is what they are peering round. Our chorus experience is sweaty, loud and partial…
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Orchestral Manoeuvres
One of the delights of being involved in the community opera at Blackheath Halls is working with the Blackheath Halls Community Orchestra. We don’t get to hear what they are up to until the sitz probe, when we run through the entire opera and work out the corners. This is one of my favourite sessions,…
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Who are all these people?
We are a reading household (there’s a surprise) and an oft-quoted exclamation, when one of us, uninvited, reads an extract from the current book to the other is ‘Who are all these people?’ I think it’s from a Peter Nichols play but I could be wrong – we are also very poor on attribution. So…
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It’s about to get loud…
If you’ve been thinking I’ve been a bit quiet lately it’s because I’ve been so busy. One of the things I’ve been busy with is the Blackheath Halls Community Opera. We are doing Idomeneo [Mozart] this year and it is tremendously singable – lush baroque music to make you weep with joy at the cleverness…
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Fast and Furious Figaro
Puzzle Piece Opera’s Figaro in 50 minutes, is the latest in a series of 50 minute operas they have performed and my second Figaro in a week, but it was worth the journey, and what a journey! Figaro transported to the office at top speed. How do you get through the Marriage of Figaro in…
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Feverish Figaro
To the ENO for the Marriage of Figaro last night, with around 20 fellow Onegin chorus members, which added to the entertainment value. We went because Kate Valentine, who sang Tatyana in our production of Eugene Onegin, is singing the Countess, and very relieved we were that she was singing the Countess, as she missed…
Cherry Potts, Writer 