Opera today

Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballe, Beverly Sills, Giuseppe di Stefano, Luciano Pavarotti, Mario del Monaco... this list of grandissimo names will go on and on, and they will be praised and admired forever for their singing. The post war era of opera is often, as I myself would refer it like this, referred as Golden, if the era of Isabella Colbran is Platinum. They are often the inspiration of many opera singers today, which is supposed to be a good news, but I don't feel the same excitement.

Let me be very clear, most famous singers today have a good voice, I think they are unique. That is not the problem. The major problem today is, that the voices are not singing the right repertoire. For example, Verismo voices singing bel canto, or voices that are not strong enough singing super heavy roles (like Turandot, Elektra etc.). Every role, was composed a specific voice, all the vocal abilities of the role are supposed to be displayed in order to bring out the largest musical and vocal effect, and usually only similar voices to that of the creator could do the role the best justice. People go to listen to opera for a spectacular musical experience, they expect to see something that would make them stand up and shout "BRAVA" and applaud. Thus, as singers, and performers, they should be responsible to provide the best musical moment to the audience, especially those big houses like The Met or Royal Opera House.

However, the opera world today seems to be focusing more on physical appearance than real vocal ability, and singers seem to be able to get any roles as long as they want it. For example, I was really shocked when I see Anna Netrebko was signed to sing Norma. Anna has a very lovely warm voice, which I like so much, but I really doubt the ability of her lower register, because Norma is notoriously famous for her low tessitura. Her Anna Bolena a few years ago was just ok, because of the same reason - her lower register is not strong enough to sing the role. I am actually glad she later cancelled that performance (though Sondra, who substitutes, is neither a top class Norma, she sings too verismo-ly). I believe that singers should concentrate on singing their major repertoires; Bel Canto voices should remain singing the Bel Canto repertoire, Verismo voices should sing the Verismo repetoire. If your voice is made for this, keep singing it and amaze the audience. Of course, singers can sing some roles outside of their major repertoire. HOWEVER, they must assure that they can sing the roles and their voices fit the vocal requirements. (Like, you won't imagine Birgit Nilsson singing Semiramide, right?)

The Met recently has made a lot of marketing in their productions, some of them is successful and should be supported - such as giving out free tickets or gifts via Snapchat. However, making new productions every year does not necessarily help. No matter how much the costumes or the set change (I would only accept a new production unless the new one is better, if not the same, than the old one), the singing should be what that matters. I don't care of you are wearing a glamorous ball gown or a sexy little black dress, if you can't sing the role, you cent sing the role, and it will be a poor performance. This is opera, not film or stage drama, the singing is always the key. Costumes and settings are just a back up, they should not be put too much focus on where the singing is overlooked.

Another problem is, though this has nothing to do with current singers, that there seems to be a shortage of really talented voices. There are more people in this world than before, but why there is not more talented voices? Or are great voices really that rare that they only appear in a few decades? I don't believe so, there must be a great voice in this world that is just overlooked and undiscovered. But why it has not been found? That is a question we need to think about. Why the artistic industry is facing a decline? I personally think that it is because of money. I have seen some of my friends, who are very well-trained musicians, opted to study Engineering and Business in university because it can provide them a secure income, forgoing living music as a choice. I am not saying that their decision is wrong, but what happened to this world that made two musicians leave the music industry? Is success really determined by the amount of wealth so that everyone has chosen a path that could bring them the most of it and give up their passion for music? They are far more than qualified to be an violinist in an orchestra and they could live a life on it. This actually makes me very sad. What is your thought? Leave your comments below :)

So far, this is my comments of the opera world today. Wrong decisions, too much rely on marketing and packaging and a natural recession on vocal talents. This world is so much more than just money, we need art to live. If money can feed out body, art can feed out minds.

2016-2017 Junior Grand Prix Week 1 - St. Gervais

Hello everyone! Summer is (sadly) over but that implies the beginning of the skating season! We have the JGPF going first! Let's see what's going on!

Week 1 - St. Gervais

First, and biggest surprise - Alisa Zagitova. Reason? Well you don't need me to tell if you watched her performance. First all-jumps-backloaded FS I have ever seen (what can Eteri not think of in order to get point, right? lol) And the effect was...it worked out here, but not in a few weeks at Ljubljana. To be honest, this program layout is too risky, she starts the jumps after the halfway where her legs are already getting tired, it will definitely not work well for a long time with that layout. That's not how you get point girl~.

Kaori has one of the best skating skills and speed among the junior field, which is the phenomenon of all junior Japanese ladies. They all have such flow in their skatings, which is very pleasing to watch. Kaori gave a nice performance, nice choreography and overall well-executed jumps, except the 2A+3T and the loop though, but the quality of the successful jumps is unquestionable.

Rin has such graceful choreography and maturity which is admirable, her jumps are also completed with ease and flow (except the error but she recovered well in her next jumping pass). Her skating is so easy to watch that you barely feel any stress, I hope she will keep skating for a longer time.


On the other side, it seems that we have a "comeback prince" who is about to grow into a "comeback king" - Ilia Skirda. Despite the disappointing SP, he came back strong in the FS. Though it is still not enough to overcome the deficit in the short, I am sure that is enough to earn him a place in the final. However, in order to win the final, he must practice more on his SP, because every single point in the final counts. I look forward to seeing him after he matures.

Roman has overall consistent performance despite some minor errors on his jumps. His spins need improvement.

Koshiro has improved generally, his jumps are steadier, his spins are better, and the choreography is also a bit more. However, he can do a lot better, I am sure he will upgrade his technical content once the harder jumps have become solid. He will shine in the future.

(I am sorry I did not finish watching Ice Dance because the Blues are really killing me. However, if you would like to see my reviews, please comment so that I will watch and make a review :) )