How to make misery interesting
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
I´ve just been down in the rehearsal room where Massenet´s hero Werther has been dying since 10:00 this morning. The atmosphere is brisk and deeply practical. Tenor Edgaras Montvidas is worried about his neck – all that last-gasp craning upwards to kiss Charlotte before his final breath expires on a D natural. Charlotte, our mezzo-soprano, Catriona Morison, Scottish and no-nonsense, is concerned that her corset may get stuck while she is trying to support his head. Have no doubt, when Bergen National Opera´s new production of Werther opens on March 16th, we will all be in tears at the extraord ..read more
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Tilgang er ikke nok. Mangfold krever bevissthet – helt i toppen av den nasjonale kulturledelsen.
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
Diversity, quality and leadership – Click here for English version Jeg foreslår at vi tar et dypdykk i det norske oljefondet. «Vi former våre bygninger, deretter former de oss», skal Winston Churchill ha sagt. Hvem bygningene finnes til for og hvordan de skal administreres, er en aktuell og viktig diskusjon over hele Europa. Her i Norge, hvor vi forsøker å fordøye kulturministerens nylige kulturmelding, må diskusjonen om mangfold og kvalitet få like stor plass. Nylig publiserte tidsskriftet The Stage sin liste over Storbritannias 100 beste teaterensembler og deres ledelse. På bunnen av listen ..read more
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Pandas, politics and performance
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
Some years back, when Stavanger2008, European Capital of Culture was still glowing from its appraisal as ‘best artistic programme ever’ I gave a speech at one of Edinburgh´s universities, where a bunch of exceedingly sparky students bombarded me with alarmingly smart questions. Some days later, a very fine certificate arrived, a masterpiece of exotic fonts and enthusiasm, rewarding my ability to survive the experience. I never forgot it, and suitably framed, this art work still rests splendidly in the Edinburgh family home. The original invitation had come from an American academic, Professor ..read more
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Smart with a Heart
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
I was asked to speak at NORDIC EDGE : ‘The largest smart city arena in the Nordics’. The 2018 theme was Smart with a Heart. Here’s what I said…. I´d like really like to talk about eventful cities – and how you build one, where city ‘smart’ development and cultural events grow together to shape the city, its spaces and its image. And I´d like to talk particularly about smaller cities – and how they use culture to put themselves on the map. The smart eventful city – what does that mean? It´s not just a city full of events, but a city that understands its past, its present and where it wants to ..read more
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Knit your own opera
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
Downstairs in the basement rehearsal room, sumptuous Wagnerian sounds are drifting into the hallway. Bergen National Opera is rehearsing a new The Flying Dutchman production. Senta is staring enraptured at the Dutchman´s portrait. Daland is greedily fingering a sack of jewels. Director John Ramster, glasses deep in his spiky hair, is brooding over the score. And almost everyone has a cold. One floor up, tubas and trombones crowd the corridors, shiny-buttoned uniforms abound and band-masters are talking importantly into mobile phones about flugelhorn solos and how the band from Odda had just r ..read more
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Future sounds from Bergen
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
Oslo, minus several degrees, the landscape monochrome with luminous streaky skies. Bergen National Opera is in the capital at Operaen with a fine mix of nationalities and three Nordic composers to develop new operas for premiere in March. This morning we slither over hard-packed ice to the rehearsal room to work on Øyvind Mæland´s new opera – one of three short works which Bergen National Opera has commissioned for Borealis Festival. The violinist is missing, the bass player is deep in discussion with conductor Steffen Kammler, and the singers are practising small swooping sounds and spitting ..read more
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Otello the Outsider
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
Downstairs in Grieghallen, we have just started rehearsing Verdi´s Otello for later this month. We´ve celebrated with cake and coffee, sympathised with singers who have just stepped off red-eye ‘planes. Now director Peter Mumford is delicately picking at Shakespeare´s characters: the tortured Moor general, the growling, prowling adjutant passed over for promotion, the newly elevated Cassio. If Otello´s agonies begin some pages into the opera, Iago is wracked with fury from the very opening chords. Iago, the soldier, the opportunist, the man with the bleak heart, has emerged from the ultimate ..read more
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Witches and Wonderland
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
In Os´s spectacular fjord-side culture house, a witch with a long silver tail is dancing with a bloody saw and cackling horribly. Hansel is trapped on top of a hospital trolley and Gretel is hiding behind lurid pink boxes. Welcome to the opera! Bergen National Opera is rehearsing Humperdinck´s wonderful work for all ages, a new production with a singular lack of sugar and gingerbread but with all kinds of spookery and gruesome effects guaranteed to delight fiendish young minds and thoroughly unnerve their parents. Right now we´re watching video of skeletal hands flickering on the front of a pa ..read more
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Händel and Humanity
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
  In Grieghallen´s basement rehearsal room, figures in tattered grey sing Händel as they shuffle towards a table where soup is ladled from a vast battered pot. The scene is bleak. We are in Ireland – or it could be Norway – in some kind of timeless misery with freezing weather and famine, where the country´s distant officials have long ceased to care, and where the church is struggling between old-school hell-fire authority and its need to offer succour. So, here at Bergen National Opera we are creating a staged version of The Messiah for Festspillene i Bergen in a special edition by Malc ..read more
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Il turco in Norwegia
MARY MILLER'S OPERA BLOG
by Mary Miller - Bergen National Opera
3y ago
“Wow” says Pietro Spagnoli, great Rossinian buffo baritone “we´re talking Rossini to Broadway!” At Bergen National Opera, everyone is breathless from high kicks, razzle-dazzle, fancy moves and footwork. The dancers are sweating lightly, stretching their lycra-clad legs and fiddling with their feet. The chorus is gasping quietly and practising jerky movements as though searching for a wasp lost in their clothing – dance director Sean Curran´s routines are not, for sure, in their usual repertoire. The soloists are beaming and chattering in Italian by the coffee machine. Welcome to Il Turco in I ..read more
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