Geoff

Good questions and (some) good analysis JNC, welcome to the Forum. I am sure the Forum will be quick to tell you that many (most?) rarely if ever sit in the stalls, so you will find like-minded folk here. You make a lot of specific points, which I am sure others will go through with you in detail in due course. I’ll just make one observation: over the years I have been reading this Forum there have regularly been posts saying, in effect, not enough left over on General Booking day. So at just over a quid a week (which you can cancel after a year if it turns out not to work for you) I would try being a Friend for the next seasons and then reassess. Imho.

Anyone see this 20th anniversary show? MacMillan’s Playground + Communion + Between and Within + Imprint.

The key sentences, at least from the perspective of another long thread here, are: (Apologies for poor snapshot editing)

Quite why Stonewall (whose document this is) gets such priority is beyond me. One might just as well attach similar agenda-driven texts from, I dunno, VoteLeave, the Catholic Church or my local greengrocer. But then I am not up to date with modern-day HR law - or indeed the forms the ROH is obliged to complete - so maybe clients of the Arts Council have no choice in the matter.

Quite right! Silly me, I'm going on Saturday afternoon. Sorry for the muddle.

Hm. Based on Kosky's recent pointless Carmen at ROH, I assume there won't be any nuns but instead a group of male strippers living together in a Berlin-y Weimar-y nightclub. However, I am much looking forward to this Live from the Met tomorrow: I know the Met's production to be true to the work.

From downloading the (rather instructive) pdf attachments at the bottom of this ad one sees the person will report to "Head of Digital Products", whoever that is and whatever they do (make the website worse and then making it a little bit better but not as good as it was before, perhaps?) Not entirely clear but perhaps these people and their associated jargon fall into the realm of the notorious Lucy Sinclair, the ROH's "Director of Media & Audiences". As others have pointed out, before joining the ROH Lucy spent the bulk of her career at the BBC, home of W1A and the best funded generator of jargon in the UK.

Closing date May 13: http://recruitment.roh.org.uk/vacancyView.php?requirementId=3502

Anyone at the CBSO Mahler concert in Birmingham in April? See the comments after the review for a discussion on anticipated but involuntary audience noise (broadcast on Radio 3 this Friday): https://theartsdesk.com/classical-music/cbso-volkov-symphony-hall-birmingham-review-mahler-goes-bauhaus

Apologies John, too many tabs open on my PC. Maybe this one works (alternatively just paste into Google and see what comes up):- www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/dancing-pinhead-pricing

John, it is still online here: www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/dancing-pinhead-pricing What I was asking about was the Lucy Sinclair powerpoint, which Yaffa found and which was online for a while until the link was locked. So perhaps I might shift your question to the moderators to being about the powerpoint document. Now that it has been passed to me I would be happy to post it here if allowed (and someone explains how to do this technically).

It will no doubt be some kind of tick box system. The Arts Council already includes a multitude of tests as part of the paperwork issued to those who want its support, so if anyone on the Forum has copies to hand, posting examples might be useful to this discussion.

...and just an hour later, a kind (and punctilious) member of the Forum has dropped a copy of the document into my inbox. So all the information is safe, even if slightly harder to access. Maybe someone will post it on one of those file sharing sites like Scribd?

Just wanted to refer back to this document...only to discover that it has since been "locked" behind a password etc. If anyone was sensible enough to download it at the time and keep a copy, might they contact me by PM?

Perhaps as it’s not an opera? Interesting thought, though. Anyone know of any opera or music theatre set during the Troubles?

For those who have not already seen the story here is a report from The Stage: https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2019/arts-council-relevance-not-excellence-will-be-new-litmus-test-for-funding/ Perhaps this provides a new context for comments about the “modernising” of the ROH, the body which continues to represent the Art Council’s largest single commitment.

No comments after the Guardian piece but the MailOnline version currently has a single (moderated) comment, saying this is how things always are in ballet: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6908915/Vienna-State-Opera-ballet-academy-launches-bullying-probe.html

I remain appalled by this shoddy work by ROH. How many weeks has it been since many of us complained and were reassured with a tale of ongoing improvement?

NoGoat, by way of perhaps underpinning your comments about (duff) music, (clumsy) playing and (limp) conducting last night, might I quote a certain Geoff who at the beginning of the run posted: >>This conductor is I suspect not the easiest to work with (he gives the impression of being understandably interested in pointing up aspects of the “new version” of the score, which is however perhaps not really a priority)

Ha! Well done RuthE, after a bit of checking on the Picturehouse websites this turns out to be true. You might be interested to know that what I assume is the official website for MetHD in the UK does *not* show these Encore screenings:- https://www.metliveinhd.co.uk/ This web site does announce one such on Tuesday in East Dulwich - which however is not happening, according to the cinema website. This is a mess.

Does anyone know of any Encore screenings in the London area during next week (the weekend is full of ballet)?

And a special shout out to Fumi Kaneko for her variation (Queen of the Dryads, for those who weren’t there)

Indeed. Netrebko has come in for criticism on occasion but generally from those who are relying on recordings/cinema transmissions. I have been following her since her first Violetta in Salzburg (2005? I was sadly away for her earlier Donna Anna at ROH) and have never once been less than overwhelmed by her live performances. At the rehearsal for Forza I overheard someone ask their friend, how does she make the sound go all around you? That is indeed one of several special qualities which have rightly placed Netrebko into the very top of the international league. Only a few singers in any generation achieve that position and at the moment she just seems to be getting better and better. Kaufmann is in a similar position in terms of fame but for me, if one is being really honest, he didn’t appear entirely comfortable in the part and generally didn’t quite make the sound one hopes for in a Verdi tenor. But then the opera was commissioned by a tenor best known for singing Arnold (William Tell) and Manrico (Trovatore), which suggests a rather different quality to Kaufmann’s Germanic sound. But the crowd cheered him so perhaps I am being too picky. He wasn't anything less than really good. There was some great singing from Tezier - also cheered - and Furlanetto, whose scene with Netrebko was a dramatic high point, in part as the director left it alone. The production is unnecessarily distracting in several places (I am going back a couple of times and now know to keep my eyes shut during, for example, the overture). And I wonder if the original staging by Loy had quite so many black stage curtains delaying the action and clumsily slowing down the performance.

I spoke to the usher who had tried - but failed - to tackle him. She, perhaps also intimidated, clearly felt there was nothing more she could do.

Thanks SheilaC. I suspect the Swan Lake is actually 23 February. Does anyone know which screenings are actually live and which are repeats?