Opera Box Score

[@4 min] Alright, this week...friend of the show Andrew Jorgensen returns to take a Free Throw on the upcoming Opera Theatre of St Louis festival season. You’ll be shocked to find out which of the four productions he is looking forward to the most...

[@16 min] And then…we exercise our opera snob muscles and discuss what makes an opera high art, like Wagner’s Ring Cycle, or pop garbage, like Charpentier’s Louise.

[@32 min] Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’…Jacksonville University decides that the arts aren’t important, Carolina Opera gets sued, but at least Kennedy Center believes in the red, white, and blue…

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[@1 min] Alright, this week...we go Inside the Huddle with Timothy Murray. The American baritone is having a breakout season which includes his debut at the Met and singing a title role at Opera Omaha this spring! Later this month, he brings his celebrated Don Giovanni to Opera Philadelphia...

[@25 min] Then, we review the recording career of an artist who holds the record for Classical Grammy wins…and if you’re thinking of The Crossing, not yet…Keep listening to find out who.

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[@4 min] Alright, this week...we go Inside the Huddle with Timothy Murray. The American baritone is having a breakout season which includes his debut at the Met and singing a title role at Opera Omaha this spring! Later this month, he brings his celebrated Don Giovanni to Opera Philadelphia...

[@29 min] And then…as classically trained church singers head into the busiest week of the year, a galvanizing essay makes us all wonder if our acceptance of the status quo makes us are part of the problem.

[@41 min] Plus, in the "Two Minute Drill"…bouncing back from his loss at the Oscars, Ralph Fiennes goes after an International Opera Award, and Anita Rachvelishvili takes Peter Gelb to court, and we’re not talking tennis here.

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[@4 min] Alright, this week...it’s the Final Four of our March Madness Summer Festival bracket! Who wins when England, France, and Germany dare to go against the US?

[@33 min] Plus, in the "Two Minute Drill"…Breaking news as we record, season announcements, and the Kennedy Center…is still there.

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[@2 min] Alright, this week...we narrow our March Madness of Summer Festivals down to the Final Four! Who can challenge Glyndebourne in the UK quarter?

[@21 min] Plus, in the "Two Minute Drill"…Opera Theater St Louis is getting an extreme makeover, opera edition, and Brooklyn Academy of Music may be broke, but they’ve got Barrie Kosky!

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[@3 min] Alright, this week...we go Inside the Huddle with Yuval Sharon! The stage director, author, and administrator, who is famous for the parking lot Gotterdammerung and Backwards Boheme(™), is currently exploring artificial intelligence in his new concept for Cosi fan tutte. Sharon joins us to preview that upcoming production for Detroit Opera AND to answer the age-old question: Is there any opera in the standard canon that is fine just the way it is?

[@25 min] And then…it’s our annual March Madness bracket. Find out which summer opera festivals made it to the Sweet Sixteen, and we put the call out to you to help pick the Elite Eight.

[@33 min] Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’…the Laffont competition crowns five singers, and JD Vance gets booed at the Kennedy Center - that’s good news for most of us.

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[@3 min] Alright, this week...we go Inside the Huddle with Nathan Granner! The American tenor is set to star in a revised version of Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s "The Shining" at Portland Opera, but we had to ask him about the opera "Balls."

[@33 min] And then…In Home Team, Lyric Opera of Chicago announces their next season, which includes performances by former creative consultant Renee Fleming and…the Smashing Pumpkins?….but, sadly, not on the same concert.

[@46 min] Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’…In 2025, conductor Marin Alsop says she is not looking forward to the 30’s, and by that, she means the return of the 1930s.

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[@3 min] Alright, this week...we go Inside the Huddle with Dr. Lucy Caplan, author of a recently published history of a Golden Age in American classical music called "Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed America Opera." In addition to tantalizing us with all the operas by American composers that have never been heard in modern times, Lucy Caplan also has ideas about what we should do instead of performing Aida in blackface.

[@31 min] And then…soprano Joelle Harvey takes a Free Throw on the female voice and how experiences only women have affect the instrument. Thank goodness we have Ashlee on hand for that one...

[@52 min] Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’…Portland Opera is moving out of its mother’s basement and into its own loft downtown, and, breaking news, no one likes America anymore!

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[@2 min] Alright, this week...THE Iestyn Davies takes a Free Throw on one of his signature role, Didymus in Handel’s Theodora. A role, incidentally, which will mark his debut with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque this weekend. And since Oliver loves Iestyn so much, we’ll revisit a favorite Inside the Huddle with the British countertenor from the OBS archives.

[@44 min] And then, in the 'Two Minute Drill'…America will FINALLY celebrate Christ at Christmas. And it’s supposed to be BARBER of Seville, not CHEESEMONGER of Seville...

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[@3 min] Alright, this week...Pene Pati takes a Free Throw on Rodolfo, the role which marks the star Samoan tenor’s debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago next month. As Rodolfo and Mimi are top two on the call sheet for La Boheme, we’ll handicap some of the commercial recordings of Puccini’s perennial people pleasing masterpiece.

[@39 min] And then…Meridian Prall goes Inside the Huddle. Named an OBS artist to watch in 2025, so we are going to check in with the American mezzo-soprano in advance of her debut in Washington Concert Opera’s La clemenza di Tito.

[@65 min] Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’…speaking of Washington..well, we’d rather not, but at least we can talk about the new Met season if America is still a thing in the fall.

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