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Lizbie1

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  1. Lizbie1
    This is my experience - a little German goes a long way. My German is very ropey these days so I often revert to English after an intial attempt and have never been made to feel bad about it. As long as you're polite about it and don't just assume everyone speaks English you'll be fine.
  2. Lizbie1
    It's probably best to quote their own website: AT ANY TIME FROM PUBLICATION OF THE SCHEDULE You can easily place binding orders in writing as of now using the online form on the online schedule. Three months before the performance date, all orders will be processed and half of all available tickets will be allocated. If demand exceeds the available ticket contingent, tickets will be allocated at random. If we are unable to fulfill your ticket request, we will notify you in writing. Orders can only be cancelled as long as processing has not yet begun. https://www.staatsoper.de/en/ticket-info i.e. they choose the seat for you from the price band(s) you have specified. The remaining half are made available online etc. from two months before. It's been a while since I've been to Munich but some of what I've quoted above feels new: I don't remember their saying before that half of tickets are held back. I could be mistaken, however!
  3. Lizbie1
    Studying music at Southampton University is very different to "training in a performing art", which happens at a conservatoire such as RCM, GSMD, etc. Putting it in probably oversimplified terms, it's similar to the difference between studying history of art and going to art college. She is unlikely to have had any expectations of a performing career on the back of her degree alone. To have one the usual route would be to go on to postgraduate studies at a conservatoire. (I studied music.)
  4. Lizbie1
    I have a lot of conflicting thoughts on this subject but I'm not sure this kind of claim hangs together. In the last few decades there has been a huge expansion of vocational courses in creative subjects in tertiary education but I don't see a corresponding increase in either amateur participants or audience members. This may be at least partly down to primary and secondary schools downgrading performing arts but that is not the subject at hand here. And for the record, cultural development of young minds was not as standard in earlier generations as I sometimes see claimed here: my primary school in the 80s had a nativity play, some occasional movement-to-tape sessions - laughably labelled "drama" - and we were sometimes plonked in front of Music Time, which was enough to put anyone off for life. That was it. There were no school trips to anywhere more culturally enriching than Thorpe Park. If your primary school offered more, you were lucky.
  5. Lizbie1
    I'm not so sure about the view from the circles at Munich - I was once pretty central but a couple of rows back and I had no view of some fairly crucial action going on at the sides in Kameliendame. Depending on degree, further round (with the possible exception of the front row) is, IMO, strictly for opera. The ballot system doesn't help, either.
  6. Lizbie1
    @TSR101 I'm not entirely sure what it is that you want. Is it that casting shouldn't be posted here until published on the website, or that discount codes sent to a subset of Friends should be shared here? (I'm not trying to make a point, I'm just curious.)
  7. Lizbie1
    I suspect the £4 is a fair reflection of the cost of (manually) processing refund requests so I'd be very surprised if this were the case.
  8. Lizbie1
    Except that at Glyndebourne if you want a table and haven't brought your own you pay a charge for one of theirs.
  9. Lizbie1
    Maybe the number of people unaware of what might previously have been considered well-understood etiquette has made them feel a "rule" was needed? There are plenty of unspoken rules when going theatres like ROH, such as keeping coughing and unnecessary noise to a minimum. People here often lament that ROH doesn't work hard enough to promote good behaviour and police bad. I don't think it's such a bad thing that patrons of the bars and café should now stand a better chance of getting a table.
  10. Lizbie1
    I'd suggest that the "rules" haven't changed and their understanding of them was imperfect. It does seem a bit heavy handed but I've always taken it as read that you should only use the tables if you have bought food and drink there. If I'm eating something I bought elsewhere I'll just perch on a chair or bench that doesn't have a table - it's perfectly doable. Tables are in quite short supply at ROH and are clearly positioned so as to be associated with the bars and café - it seems reasonable that people who've bought from them take precedence over those who haven't.
  11. Lizbie1
    This sounds a laugh a minute.
  12. Lizbie1
    I had only the RBS show to book for this morning and was all done and paid by the time 0902 clicked around on my laptop. I think that's a record for me!
  13. Lizbie1
    Flexible rates tend to get significantly more expensive than non-refundable as you get closer to the date, at least in my experience.
  14. Lizbie1
    Comparable stature. I use them for comparison because planning the ROH season should be of roughly similar complexity. I don't know if you're being facetious about Paris etc. announcements affecting London hotel prices, but in case you aren't I meant simply that they go up the longer I have to delay booking.
  15. Lizbie1
    My experience - which is extensive - of booking the cheaper hotel rooms in London is that prices generally only move in one direction. Over a month after other comparable houses (Paris, Munich and the Met have all announced) is not "a little later". It is also later than ROH typically announces.
  16. Lizbie1
    But Eurostar doesn't work that well for people outside the South East (sorry, long running gripe against travel journalists who assume everyone is London based).
  17. Lizbie1
    From my POV, I need to plan early. Not everyone lives within easy reach of London: hotel rooms get more expensive the later you leave it, and people have other companies to fit in. This year I'll be taking out a Paris subscription: booking for that opens soon and the later you leave it the less likely you are to get a decent seat. I have dates in mind but if, say, ROH were to announce some kind of Ashton festival along the lines of "Sarasota week" that would be something I'd have to work around. (Paris subscribers can change dates, but EasyJet won't be issuing me any refunds!) I know people like me are in a minority, but - somewhat strangely - within the last month or so I've fallen into casual conversation with two other people (neither anywhere near an opera house!) who do exactly the same as me but in reverse. Opera and ballet tourism is a real thing. BTW I don't think the Proms' notoriously late announcement date is something anyone should seek to emulate! (And in their defence, they have many visiting orchestras to juggle.)
  18. Lizbie1
    Agreed - very late! And they don't have an ACE funding announcement to blame for it this year.
  19. Lizbie1
    @Timmie - if you like bel canto and are up for a trip to Paris next year, you might like to consider I Puritani at the Paris Opera - the ugly Bastille "conference centre" alas, not the more scenic Garnier. It's a lovely opera and very well cast. I don't know anything about the production but I think there are video clips out there as it's not new. There's been something of a Bellini drought at ROH for some years so I don't know when we'll next see it there. https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-24-25/opera/i-puritani The most famous arias are probably Qui la voce (for the soprano) and A te o cara (quite possibly my favourite aria of all) for the tenor.
  20. Lizbie1
    I'll be trying to get there for Paquita.
  21. Lizbie1
    Since nobody else has posted it yet: https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/programme/season-24-25/shows-ballet
  22. Lizbie1
    Osipova's were really thrilling - more so than any SL fouettés I've seen. A wonderful memory and something I feel privileged to have seen.
  23. Lizbie1
    I've left a gala at the interval before, and a couple of other performances, not many. If it looks like it's going to overrun significantly - as I understand last night did - train anxiety kicks in; sometimes also you might not really be feeling it or you've had a long day, or tomorrow is a working day, etc. Of course I'm not paying anything like stalls prices, but if you're not enjoying something should that really make a difference? You're simply paying more to be unhappy!
  24. Lizbie1
    I was at Magic Flute on Saturday: the hydraulics had failed on the platform which the production uses heavily. The singers managed well and I didn't really mind. What did strike me however was that the on-stage announcement was made by someone who I believe isn't a member of the senior management team. Where were they?
  25. Lizbie1
    ChatGPT is my guess.
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