ARIA SERIOUS?

...and also makes for some interesting journalism. A few months back we posted a story on why the ABCs are so important . The story looked at the rock music critic of London's The Guardian first experiences with live opera. Now the table has been turned, and the classical music critic for The Guardian is making her way to live rock concerts. It is an interesting read filled with some acute observations that you can see for yourself here . -- Edward

While we've touched on it before , we just love the news that heavy metal is receiving scholarly attention in Salzburg . I'll confess, I always had a soft spot for metal. Perhaps it prepared me for the jump into opera which occured at about the same time I discovered Slayer and the power of turning my knobs up to eleven. Rock on. -- Edward

Some new information about pop singer Rufus Wainwright's opera has emerged. We touched on this a bit back when it was announced the opera would no longer be performed at the Met due to Rufus insisting the opera be sung in French. Seems now the work will be seen at the Manchester International Festival next year. Reading more about what Rufus has to say about the composing experience is quite fascinating and he seems to know his stuff. Still no word if it will make its way to the States but let us hope a succcessful premiere will proper it somewhere across the pond. - Edward

London's The Guardian recently ran a story called "I'm A Rock Chick, Get Me Out of Here" . The article touches on opera houses trying to attract new audiences and sends Guardian rock critic Laura Barton to a variety of operas to see if she can be won over. She cannot. The article, which is linked above, is quite good and worth a read even if you don't personally agree with her. I do not personally agree with her. But my disagreement stems from some glaring flaws with her article. First, she picks some of the worst operas an opera newbie could pick: The Rakes Progress , Dido and Aeneas , Handel's Samson and The Marriage of Figaro . These are operas you graduate to, not begin with (I still have on my training wheels myself when it comes to these). What happened to the ABCs of opera? Aida , Boheme and Carmen ? These are the most popular and enduring operas for good reason. Stunning stories, great music, memorable melodies and some of the most fascinating chara...

Over the weekend word got out that pop singer Rufus Wainwright has decided to drop plans to compose an opera for the Met . This is sad news. Now, truth be told, I've never listened to much Rufus, preferring his sister's musical output to his own, but the idea of pop music stars writing for the opera stage excites me. First off, as someone who loves new music, it is always exciting when a new opera is being developed. I'm also interested in seeing how pop music sensibilities carry over into opera because I think many people forget that opera was indeed the popular music of its time. I also think having pop musicians compose an opera (provided it is good) helps earn my favorite art form some much needed "street cred" with younger audiences. When complete (the opera will premiere next year at the Manchester International Festival regardless of the Met), Rufus will join the ranks of other pop musicians who have composed operas including The Police's drummer Stewar...