Geoff

33 minutes ago, Timmie said:

Thanks Geoff, I'll probably get a ticket then. I do appreciate the responses I get here 🙂.

Great! Let us know here what you think.

I love your questions Timmie! As I know from being born into an opera performer family and spending much of the last fifty years with opera fans of all kinds, you ask out loud what heavy duty opera lovers whisper to themselves privately. 
 

So, is Handel boring? Long certainly, with plenty of da capo arias (you hear the aria once, then they sing it again). But the level of excitement provided by the virtuoso decoration added by the singers (including but not limited to the soprano) has kept audiences coming back for hundreds of years. That’s the key feature of the da capo aria: the first time is as the composer wrote, on the repeat the performers show (and show off) what they can do with it. 
 

My tip? Get a cheaper seat so you won’t mind leaving early if you find it’s not for you. When it works - and you’re right, I’ll be there for Oropesa - the live experience is a whole big thing more than any recording. 

For those who missed this announcement (lucky for some):

https://www.metopera.org/about/press-releases/the-met-announces-launch-of-new-streaming-platform-making-live-simulcasts-available-for-home-audiences/

Just wondering if anyone else has had the *new* issue I had with the website this morning. ROH Friends can top up their rehearsal ticket allowance from today, so I logged on, found the performance and the ticket I wanted, and clicked on the little seat circle.

All that came up was the seat view; there was no way of buying the ticket. I tried on two different browsers (eventually discovering that what has actually been happening is that the "buy ticket" window flashes for a fraction of a second, rapidly replaced by the "seat view" window, with no possibility to go back a step - the only option is to go back in from the start and try and select the seat again).

Having read on this thread that people have success with booking via IPhone I tried that, same problem. Only when I moved to my IPad was I able to book.

In the course of the fifteen minutes this took, I repeated the procedure numerous times and noticed that the "journey" through the website changed. So perhaps they are trying to fix this as I type (although having just tried again through my computer's browser, it doesn't seem to be sorted yet). 

Never had this problem before. 

On 27/09/2022 at 20:45, Angela said:

Vienna has a new Principal Dancer:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjBMJtSowcW/

 

And I‘m lucky enough to be in Vienna watching her in Onegin tonight.

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Thank you Geoff. Am very pleased you have a different Albrecht to Tuesday to make it more interesting. Please  let us know what you think afterwards. 

Words fail me. The best yet. A tremendous last performance. I am still recovering.

By the way, there is a (to me slightly forbidding) small demonstration as one approaches the theatre from Trafalgar Square. Unusual demo: two firm-faced men in dark suits and a slightly less fierce-looking blonde woman. From the look of their literature it seems this might be connected to the show. Anyone gifted in foreign languages who can explain?

32 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

if you already know the casting from the display boards please let us know! 

23 hours ago, Sim said:

Yes, it is opposite her own grave and looks like one that hasn't been occupied yet.  I am not sure what the significance is of laying her on this one instead of her own...she does disappear into it

A slight exaggeration Sim: disappearing is clearly the intention but that hasn't always worked. On the first night the prop got stuck so very little happened. Later in the week Alina was about halfway down when it all jammed again. I vaguely remember seeing this piece of staging before and it didn't work great then either. Lovely idea though.

Might I anyway add my small voice to the loud chorus of approval for this wonderful and moving - and "softer" - production. Bought an extra ticket for tonight and so much looking forward. 

3 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

Christina Shevchenko and Oleksii Tiutiunnyk. Myrtha will be Elizaveta Gogidze

So the scheduled cast for Saturday evening

Evening all. I missed the announcement but it’s clear the two principal dancers are not those scheduled for the first night tonight. So who’s dancing instead?

4 minutes ago, PeterS said:

any idea what we might expect to see if we book?  i'm wondering if is it suitable for non-academics or if it will be very technical and highbrow?

At a guess it feels like we have a better idea about this evening than we do about the free Friends event at the ROH. I have no special information but based my ticket purchase on:

- It's a "gala", which is appealing

- They say "The programme will celebrate the range and beauty of the Cecchetti work" (sounds good to me)

- and "feature performances" (reassuring)

- "from vocational students through to professional dancers" - good news!

I see no mention of academics, but perhaps someone connected to the Society could say a bit more?

The ROH is once again wonderful in all it does. A careful examination of the marketing email sent to me this afternoon shows they have now abandoned the use of the word “purchase”. They have even put in bold that this event is free. Nothing to do with our objections of course.
 

Still no more information but coming “soon”. 

On 26/08/2022 at 19:50, Bluebird said:

 

Thanks for drawing our attention to this, Lizbie. Here's a bit more detail, pasted in from the Cecchetti Society Trust website:

 

Cecchetti Society Centenary Gala

24th October 2022 - Save the Date!

THE LINBURY THEATRE, ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN

The Cecchetti Society Trust Centenary Gala will take place at the Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on Monday 24th October. The programme will celebrate the range and beauty of the Cecchetti work and feature performances from vocational students through to professional dancers. Funds raised from the Gala will go to support the work of The Cecchetti Society Trust in providing Scholarships and bursaries for young dancers and teachers training in the Cecchetti Method. Booking information and programme details to follow soon.

 

https://www.cecchettisocietytrust.org/centenary-gala-2022

Bumping this up as although booking has opened there are still happily tickets at all prices available. Bluebird has done us a great service by helping us find out how to book (although in the Linbury the event has not been showing on the ROH calendar). 
 

Here is an attempt to publicise a direct link (if this doesn’t work, many apologies, just use the one Bluebird publicised and follow the instructions):-

https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?emailsource=59966&performanceId=53156

Courtesy of another thread, here is a clip which was new to me (lots of fun from Laurencia):

This is how pas de six was danced at Mikhailovsky Theatre with young Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghsadwIwp0U

4 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

I have noticed that if you book tickets for something using Eventbrite you "buy tickets" even if they are free.  I suppose it is easier to use the generic word "buy" rather than work out whether an event is paid or free.

Indeed Jan. But Eventbrite has to use the same basic form for all events, paid for or not. Whereas this is a piece of copywriting for a specific event: they could easily have done it right. 

5 hours ago, MJW said:

they now have a little more information on their website:

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/friends-60th-anniversary-details

On 31/08/2022 at 11:14, MJW said:

From the ROH:

 

Tickets for this event will be free

Yet now the website says

>>You must be a member of ROH to purchase tickets for this event.

It isn’t grammatically possible to “purchase” free tickets (but maybe I expect too much from whoever writes this stuff). In any case this is a bit of a muddle, as well as a mystery.
 

The events will apparently be “exciting”. Any chance they are going to reinstate the showings of rare footage from their archive (which had to be cancelled because of lockdown)? That would indeed be exciting. 

On 31/08/2022 at 11:14, MJW said:

From the ROH:

 

Thank you so much for your email and for your interest in our Friends' Open Day. Tickets for this event will be free and you can book up to 4 tickets.

 

Please do let us know if you have any further queries and thank you for your support of the ROH.

Many thanks MJW. They didn’t happen to mention what, er, we will be able to see?

PS Admins please delete if Friends-only discussions are unwelcome here. Or if the post belongs in News, maybe you could be so kind as to move it. 

Here below is the relatively uninformative announcement I - as a Friend of ROH - got at the end of last week. Anybody know where one can find out what is going to be on offer (surely at least as important as the big news of when to book)? I suppose this paragraph counts, technically speaking, as “further details” but I found the text annoying rather than delightful. Maybe it’s my fault? 

We are thrilled to announce further details of our Friends’ 60th Anniversary Open Day, celebrating 60 years since the Friends of Covent Garden were founded. Join us on 16 October to get closer to the music and dance you love, with behind-the-scenes access, tours and activities, exclusively for Friends. This is a daytime event, with two available slots to book (morning and afternoon). Booking will open from 12pm on 6 September*, when you’ll be able to book up to 4 tickets online or by calling the Box Office on 020 7304 4000. We would absolutely love to see you and your family or friends for what promises to be a truly special occasion in honour of your invaluable support. Tickets are limited, so don't miss out.

It’s a disgrace. In a rational world there would be subsidies available from the Arts Council. Why should sich a fine service to an entire artistic community have be self-sustaining and commercial? 

Just seen that the Hackney Empire is concluding its Ring cycle this weekend:

https://hackneyempire.co.uk/whats-on/arcola-theatre-gotterdammerung/

If I was able to get to London, I would give this a try. Perhaps of interest. 

5 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Almost forgot- NEWSFLASH for those concerned by the ticket prices/range of budget options aside from the £10 tickets.....

 

The balcony sections for this Giselle have opened for public booking 👏👍 for two of the performances: the first night (Tues) and the Thursday matinee on the 15th!!! Over 440 seats available per show from £10 to £40 to choose from in the balcony (sounds like bargains compared to the £100 amphitheatre seats for the same season at the Royal Opera House!) 

Many thanks Emeralds. Just to add, some of these new £10 tickets are in the second row of the Balcony. For those thinking that these seats might be a great bargain, they are, but only in a way. There was a recent discussion on the Forum: members pointed out they are some of the worst seats in the house, because of the bar blocking your view, 

54 minutes ago, FionaE said:

I’ve managed to book today.  I’m not an ENO member, but I have booked online with Coliseum before so I have a login.  And that worked.  

What a wonderful thing the Forum is. I think I must count as a "supporter" (having been to the Coliseum a lot, though not a member): when I logged in I was able to buy seats at £10. Thank you everyone!

A few days ago the critic Mark Ronan published this short review in The Article, which makes an interesting comparison with the work of Ashton:

https://www.thearticle.com/magic-matriarchy-and-mexico

The same critic then went back for another performance: