Spoiled!

Sorry for the delay since my last entry—it’s been a busy few days for Vögelchen (and apparently in the meantime Vögelchen has begun speaking in 3^rd person, a painful inevitability of the 21^st Century).

Back to 1^st person. Sometimes we opera fans here in Winston-Salem need reminding of just how spoiled and lucky we are. Let me give you an example. Last Sunday as my entire family was trying to get out the door, the time just kept slipping away. The big question of the day was, “Should we walk or drive downtown to attend the opera?” This was at 1:30, with the show starting at 2:00. There are not many cities in this country where you can have this conversation 30 minutes before the show starts. And then at 2:00 what did we see? Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor staged by the Fletcher Opera Institute at UNCSA. Now, like all opera fans, I like to name-drop and impress others with all of the operas I’ve seen. That’s part of the sport of opera loving—impressing your opera loving friends with your knowledge of opera and casually letting them know what operas you’ve just seen. However, I have to admit that I couldn’t even fake it with Otto Nicolai. I had never heard of him.  Didn’t even know where he was from. Otto Nicolai? Is that a German name? Or Italian? Yep, couldn’t even fake it.

That’s part of our being opera-spoiled here in Winston-Salem. Every year I get introduced to new operas. And the LaCosse-Albritten team never fails to entertain, and entertain they did with this Merry Wives of Windsor show. The last show is tonight—don’t miss it if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s funny and beautifully staged, but also well sung with some definite future stars on the stage. And the lush orchestral playing in the overture and final act was a powerful contrast to the humor—these orchestral depths seemed nestled somewhere between Die Freischütz and Hänsel und Gretel. Again, don’t miss it.

Some of my favorite opera experiences over the past several years have been Fletcher productions of non-main repertoire operas; Dvorak’s The Devil and Kate and Haydn’s Il mondo della luna come immediately to mind. My family always leaves such productions, including The Merry Wives of Windsor, with the same question: “Why isn't this opera performed more often? It’s better than the Magic Flute.”  (Aside: I know, those might be fightin' words to most opera fans, but I’m still waiting for a production of Magic Flute that I really enjoyed. Just saying.)

Spoiled, I say! We have 2 professional opera companies here in Winston-Salem at a time when opera companies are going under all over the country. Don’t search for the Baltimore Opera Company; it doesn’t exist anymore. Every year I have come to expect 4 high quality operatic productions in this town between Piedmont Opera’s and Fletcher Opera Institute’s shows, and not just of main repertoire operas. Don’t get me wrong, I love classic main repertoire operas, but it’s a real treat to be enlightened year after year with more obscure operas, staged and sung beautifully, all without destroying my checking account.

For the first time, certainly in my memory, both of these companies are pooling their resources to co-produce an opera, Wards' The Crucible, and I can’t wait for this production. The artistic talent in these two companies will guarantee an entertaining, polished, powerful show. Again, it’s good to reminded that we are spoiled in this community! We are having The Crucible staged here, a 20^th Century American opera, just 6 weeks after Nicolai’s 19^th Century German opera. It really is becoming an opera town, and it’s nice to be spoiled.

As a parting shot, back in 3^rd person, Vögelchen would like you to know that he has lined up a couple of guest appearances on this blog in order to ‘raise the bar’ a bit. Look for this in the coming weeks. Also, there will be an occasional quiz, just to make sure everyone is paying attention.