En Assistents Bekendelser. Kapitel 4: Long Leg Sallys

Med mine ca 181 cm er jeg vant til at være højere end de fleste andre kvinder, men efter jeg kom herind i Operakoret, har jeg nærmest følt mig som gennemsnitligt høj, da vi er mange som færdes i dette luftlag.

Da jeg først begyndte at spekulere over det, føltes det som om vi er påfaldende mange høje kvinder i koret. Derfor lavede jeg en uhøjtidelig og ganske uvidenskabelig undersøgelse, hvor jeg spurgte alle i koret om deres højde.

Gennemsnitshøjden for kvinder i Danmark skulle være mellem 166 og 167 cm. Gennemsnitshøjden for kvinderne i Det Kongelige Operakor er 173,4 cm!
Alterne er i gennemsnit 176,2 cm høje, og sopranerne 171,5.
Og jeg kan da lige nævne, at også herrekoret er højere end gennemsnittet af danske mænd: de er nemlig 183,6 cm høje, hvor gennemsnittet for hele Danmark ligger på knap 180 cm.
Basserne er i gennemsnit 187,5 cm, og tenorerne 180,3 cm høje.
Såååå dor!

For sangere kommer det ikke som nogen overraskelse, at dem med de dybeste stemmer er højest. Selvom der naturligvis altid er undtagelser, er det et yderst velkendt billede.

Men jeg spekulerer over, hvorfor vi generelt er så høje herinde i koret?
Vi er aldersmæssigt bredt fordelt - de yngste er i 30´erne og de ældste i 50´erne. Så man kan vist ikke udlede noget mht opvækstbetingelser, da vi jo er fra mange årgange.

- Er det fordi dommerpanelet ubevidst foretrækker de høje ansøgere til konkurrencerne? Jeg har hørt et sted, at amerikanerne har det med at vælge de højeste præsidentkandidater.

- Har vi alle fået meget spinat og tyggevitaminer i vores barndom?

- Er det fordi luftsammensætningen i atmosfæren lige præcis i vores højde er særdeles fordelagtig for stemmebåndenes trivsel?

- Eller er det fordi man simpelthen bare bliver helt høj af at synge? (jaja...)

Anna Julie Brønholt

The Week's not over till the Fat Lady Sings

Well, that's certainly true this week ..... although there is no fat lady. It's the character of Rosalinde who, with the entire company, brings the curtain down on Flagermusen and week 16.

And so how, then, after my expressions of unbridled optimism on Monday, did the week turn out? I boldly stated that in the Opera you know you are going to be further on at the end of the week than you were at the beginning. Well?! I hear, Spill the beans.

I can say with my hand on my heart that it was true - but to differing degrees ....

The "new plan" the chorus had to discuss and vote on was accepted by a sizeable majority. This means I can get down to the fine tuning - if I might use such an audacious phrase - the chorus schedule for next season. With this in mind, I can look forward to seasons up to 4 years ahead.

But on the rehearsal front, things turned out as feared: moving on to stage did create some problems. Delays were had by all, and delays mean a lot of waiting around. It is at times like this one realises there is really only so much coffee one can drink before the caffeine level becomes so high, one finds oneself involuntarily vibrating on to stage. Being inactive is paradoxically one of the biggest energy sappers there is. How many times have you got out of a car or an aeroplane after a long journey and felt lifeless - lifeless from doing nothing? Yet it is so .... Consequently, waiting for 2 hours to go on stage has a negative knock-on effect on the quality of the rehearsal, when it happens. And because the rehearsals started late, the wholesale runthroughs did not quite happen. And until the first runthrough has taken place there is always uncertainty for all concerned as to how the show fits together.

Next week though, a vital element in the operatic puzzle arrives. The orchestra! On Tuesday we rehearse for the first time with the orchestra and THAT is always exciting. Deepdown in the depths of Holmen lies the Orchestral Rehearsal Room, and for one, may be two rehearsal sessions, we can forget the problems that come with the staging - costumes that might need to be altered, technical apparatus which is proving to be stubborn, the steps at the side of the set which inelegantly propelled us on to the stage yesterday - and, as if on a course of Yoga and Relaxation, we can light the imaginary candles, smell the imaginary scents and reconnect with the conductor. I look forward to that.

And finally ..... just to show life goes on for the chorus outside the theatre - one of our troupe became a father this week. A little boy .... aaaaah! Tillykke!!

Philip White

"EXCLUSIVE: "Bonnie Bride's Brutal BloodbathBreakdown!" Live from our Kongelige Operakor correspondents

Views vary widely regarding the ethics and success rate of arranged marriages - a concept which in Western culture, at least, is viewed as alien. Yet, if one looks at opera literature, examples abound if not in arranged marriages precisely, then in "highly encouraged" or, conversely, "highly discouraged" relationships.

Not staged in Copenhagen since 1835, Lucia di Lammermoor, the opera we are currently working on, is ultimately about an arranged marriage which has fatal consequences. Written by the Italian composer, Gaetano Donizetti, it is one of his most famous operas with a fiendishly demanding soprano role for the eponymous heroine. Already in deep depression following the death of her mother, Lucia, whilst in love with one tenor (Edgardo), is forced by her brother (the baritone) to marry the other tenor (Arturo). Her brother (that baritone), down on his luck financially, wants thereby to create a secure economic tie with a wealthier local family. The plan backfires: on the day of her wedding she stabs Arturo to death in an upstairs bedroom and returns to her wedding feast in a state of delirium from which she never recovers. A lot of scope for an evening of operatic hysterics one might think.

Donizetti was composing at the same time as Bellini and Rossini, and Italian operatic choral writing of the period and the role the chorus portrays is at first sight much more straightforward than it was to become in operas further down the century. True, the chorus is not really a protagonist but an element that can be used for subtextual purposes and as a dramatic tool.

It relates plot that is otherwise too lengthy to stage or too complicated. In the first scene the male chorus puts the audience in the picture about Edgardo and Enrico.
It points up events on stage. "Edgardo! Che giunge?" gasps the chorus, meaning "Look, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Audience, that other tenor has just arrived on stage, the one from the Love Scene, keep an eye on him!"
It sets up atmosphere and creates context. Scene 6 opens with a substanial and festive chorus number recreating an upbeat, optimistic setting which contrasts with the murder which is about to occur.

But what the chorus represents here is as prevalent now as it was in 1835. That is to say, it represents you and me - the ordinary mass of people witnessing events over which they have no control. It happens to us all the time - through newspapers, television and the internet, in Virginia, Nørrebro and Iraq. In musical terms, however, it translates into material for the chorus which one might be forgiven for calling formulaic. But is that so wide of the mark? May be our responses in real-life are also formulaic - the coming together of crowds, laying flowers, lighting candles, saying prayers, leaders who are "much saddened" expressing "grief" and "deep sorrow" whilst their "hearts go out" to those involved. Hardly original - and we see the same when we open our opera score. Yet for those people in Virginia, Nørrebro and Iraq the situations were not at all formulaic.

What we need when we rehearse these operas in a first-hand witness who can communicate the drama we have to portray. He has to lift the music as given by the composer on to a level where our reactions are no longer a conditioned, cliché ridden reflex to yet another high octane drama. This witness is embodied in the form of Giancarlo Andretta, our conductor - a native Italian, steeped in the tradition and a specialist in Italian opera of this period. For him there is no choral utterance that is not unoriginal. Every sigh and utterance becomes a genuine emotional response. And when Giancarlo is in the pit, although we might not be the makers and breakers of the piece, Lucia, too, is as genuine for the chorus as any other opera.

Philip White

Monday: looking forward ....

Monday is always an optimistic day for me in the opera. Whatever happens, we know we will be further on at the end of this week than we were at the end of the last week. We have to be - a premiere date is not put on hold. New hopes, new goals to be met and some of the frustrations of the previous week offset by a whole weekend free. Few is the number of whole weekends the chorus has free. Few, too, is the number of occasions where a chorus member gets 2 consecutive days free. I, then, was lucky this weekend - I was totally free and went to my first schoolfriend's wedding back in England. We were 4 years old when we met and curiously he has ended up as a pathologist and I working in an art form where there is usually at least one corpse on stage at the end of the evening!

Today is relatively light. I start with a meeting with a candidate who sang at last week's auditions and who wants feedback about his performance. On to a klaverprøve with Giancarlo Andretta (our conductor for Lucia, about which more anon) to tighten the chorus' musical imprint and to ensure that we are all pulling in the same direction. We start with the Gentlemen's Chorus as they have the most to sing in the piece and the Ladies join us later. Afterwards, a meeting with the Chorus representatives and some members of the administration to discuss the upcoming vacancy of Chorus Master. My colleague, Kaare Hansen, is leaving after 17 years in the position.

*Click for more photos!

I know, too, that the Chorus has a very important General Meeting this afternoon where they will discuss a quite revolutionary type of rehearsal plan that I, the Chorus Administrator and the Chorus representatives have been working on since the beginning of the season. Any change in working conditions has to be approved of by the chorus and this new plan is to meet both the increased workload occasioned by the expansion of the opera in the last two years and the Chorus' own desire to improve the manner in which it works. Although I am not directly involved in this General Meeting I am eager to hear the result of the debate as it will alter quite radically our modus operandi next year.

The rest of the week could be hairy. Lucia rehearsals move into a new phase - out of the rehearsal room and on to the stage within the real set: new environment and with it, new problems (usually). For conductor and chorusmaster alike it is usually a week of torment as both chorus and singers have to acclimatize themselves to the new space and the quality of the musical offerings temporarily slides. Towards the end of the week, costumes and make-up are tried out for the first time and we will start running the whole show from the beginning to end. It is really only here that the director's vision crystallizes for those who have been striving to enact it for the past 3 weeks or so. Spændende!

Philip White

Noises off!

*Click for more photos!

Imagine if you will, standing in your living room in the dark with a group of your friends - you are all going to sing along to your favourite CD which you are playing in the kitchen, right at the other end of your flat, BUT you have to be precisely half a second ahead of it. Not only that, there are no lights on in your living room - it is night - and you can't actually hear the CD because, between you and the kitchen, all the doors are closed.

Round about you, various other people are moving pieces of furniture and a couple run by adjusting their hastily thrown on clothing. You move down the flat closer to the CD, you sing along again, but you all have to sing so loudly you still can't hear the CD - bravo anyway, you completed your task all the same - exactly half a second ahead of the CD, BUT because you couldn't hear the CD, you may have gone a little flat, almost ending up in a different key altogether! Hey ho, the show goes on, and you all have three minutes to get out of the 1950s outfit and get into the little cocktail number for the next scene, run down to the kitchen, catch the CD on track 15 and sing along infront of 1400 people......

Yesterday evening we had a performance of Simon Boccanegra and whilst the chorus master is responsible for how the chorus sound onstage, he is also responsible for the chorus when they sing offstage, and also for any other "offstage" sounds - sounds that come from the wings of the stage and not from the orchestra pit. In Simon B I have 10 different cues, the first about 10 minutes after the start and the last in the closing bars almost three hours later. Whether it is the singers singing (the People are happy), bells tolling (we're in church), drums rolling (battle is about to commence), trumpets fanfaring (the battle has been won), the gong chimes (somebody died) , or even, as in Lohengrin, a small orchestra - it all has to be conducted to work in sync with the conductor and orchestra out front.

Armed with a small luminous baton (in my case, a rear bicycle light), a box to stand on (so I can be seen), a monitor (so I can see the conductor), an illuminated music stand, and, sometimes, a pair of headphones (so that I CAN hear the orchestra, no matter what), I await the moment. The tricky bit of offstage conducting is the time delay - because of the distance between us and the orchestra out front there can sometimes be a delay of up to a second which means that we backstage have to be singing or playing well ahead of the beat. It is a very strange and often strangely unsettling experience. As musicians we are trained to sing with each other not aginst each other. Hearing the orchestra can also be difficult: may be it's a quiet bit anyway, more usually the set gets in the way and blocks out the sound, or may be technicians are busy getting another bit of the set ready on the sidestage.

Sometimes there are "added sounds" - in our production of Elektra, there are gunshots which the director required to be fired at precise points in the score. Cued by the chorusmaster. Sometimes, the chorusmaster must stand offstage to conduct the chorus while it is onstage, because, for some reason, they are unable to see the conductor "live" or see his beat on a monitor. At the end of Aida I was perched high up on the lighting gallery to relay the final choral entries, as the chorus, by that time, had been raised meters in to the air and our conductor had all but disappeared from view.

Last night, at about 22 43, it was time once again for the 10th cue and the offstage gong and bells solemnly announced the death of the Doge of Genoa, Simon Boccanegra .....

*Click for more photos!

Philip White

En Assistents Bekendelser. Kapitel 3: Pige, træd varsomt...

En ikke uvæsentlig del af arbejdet i Operakoret, er fodarbejdet. Jeg har ikke tidligere prøvet at bevæge mig rundt på en scene sammen med så mange andre mennesker på en gang. Men jeg gør, hvad jeg kan for at opsnappe tips og tricks.
F.eks. kommer man let til at dække for nogle af de andre, især når man som jeg rager lidt op i landskabet. Man skal tilsyneladende på en sindrig måde stille sig lidt forskudt for de andre - sådan lidt diagonalt, når man står der og er medlevende folkemængde, eller hvad vi nu spiller.

Når man bevæger sig rundt, skal man være virkelig opmærksom på, hvor man sætter fødderne. Jeg har to gange trådt en kollega over hans stakkels højre fod (for ikke at sige hoppet på den), der var iklædt en blød gymnastiksko, et sted undervejs i Lohengrin, hvor vi skulle være glade og forventningsfulde.
Sommetider skal vi også gå/løbe baglæns i flok - disse situationer indebærer virkelig god mulighed for at få hugget en hæl og klippet en tå.

Hvis man er uopmærksom, kan man også sagtens forårsage ulykker på andres kostumer - eller i det mindste få generet folk en del:
Kjolerne i Tosca havde slæb - eller var i hvert fald meget lange - og jeg (vist ikke som den eneste) har forsinket flere kollegers entréer ved at stå på deres slæb, idet de var på vej ind ad døren ind på scenen, så de måtte foretage en brat standsning på dørtrinnet.

Guldmaskerne, damerne var iført i Don Giovanni, begrænsede udsynet en del, samtidig med at de ovedimensionerede guldkjoler besværliggjorde al færden. Til en af forestillingerne blev jeg på et tidspunkt ført afsted i en lidt vild tangoagtig dans, og pludselig syntes jeg, noget føltes lidt underligt. Jeg kiggede ned, og kunne se, at jeg slæbte noget af en anden dames guldkjole med under min hæl. Jeg fik den vist befriet, inden der skete ulykker med kjolen.


Man skal have alle sanser med, når man bevæger sig rundt på scenen - prøve at fornemme hvor de andre står. Og når man spiller, skal man ikke glemme sig selv mere, end man ved hvad ben og arme foretager sig imens.
Thi scenen er skrå!

Anna Julie Brønholt

Welcome Philip

(foto: Henrik Engelbrecht)

Hi Philip, WELCOME to the blog.

Looking forward to new blogs - from yet another point of view!

This has been a great week! No less than two new bloggers have signed up and started writing. Hopefully this will inspire even more new bloggers to contribute!

Ole Jegindø Norup
on behalf of ALL the New Kids On The Blog

Hej fra mig!

The rumour was true. So greetings from a chorus master's music stand. Og paa engelsk. Well, I am English and have been working in Copenhagen for two and a half years now and although I have been learning Danish and try my best to rehearse in Danish, when it comes to writing, English is best - for all concerned.

When I look back over the blogs since November, one might ask what does a chorus master do during the day time. Or more precisely, what does he do, question mark?

Does he teach the chorus to sing? In short, no. As you can see from Ole's and Anne Julie's last entries, all that is sorted out well before any job is offered.

What does he do that the conductor doesn't do? Again, the job just isn't the same. And so in the next few weeks, I will endeavour to explain what the chorus master's role is within the Opera and with the 60-strong professional singers that make up the Kongelige Operakor. From korskoler to sceniske prøver, from korkonkurrence to sang- og orkesterprøver, from the weekly planning meetings to seasons way in the future, vikarer, future directors, current conductors, and lastly my colleague, for there are two chorus masters at Det Kongelige Teater.

All this AND more .... watch this space! Philip White

En Assistents Bekendelser, kapitel 2: Hvordan bliver man assistent?

Find (mindst) fem assistenter...

Hvordan bliver man så assistent? Ja - det skal man også konkurrere sig til. Flere af sangerne, som går til konkurrence om faste stillinger i disse dage, vil ikke blive tilbudt en stilling - der er jo et meget begrænset antal faste stillinger, men vil til gengæld blive tilbudt at komme på korets assistentliste. Desuden er der med års mellemrum deciderede foresyngninger til assistentlisten. Og når man først står der, ja så må man bare vente og håbe på, at der bliver brug for en. Man står på listen indtil der næste gang er foresyngning til listen - så må man melde sig til konkurrence igen, hvis man fortsat vil tages i betragtning.

Når der er konkurrence om en fast stilling, vil flere af ansøgerne være assistenter, som i nogle tilfælde måske allerede har haft arbejde i Operakoret i årevis i kortere eller længere perioder. Og her hjælper det ikke at "have foden indenfor" - den ansøger, som dommerne finder bedst kvalificeret, vinder stillingen. Og i nogle tilfælde bliver den faste stilling måske slet ikke besat, hvis dommerne ikke finder nogen af ansøgerne kvalificerede nok.

Jeg har venner og bekendte som nu nærmer sig afslutningen af deres konservatorieuddannelse - og som selvfølgelig griber chancen og går til denne konkurrence. Man kan ikke undgå at blive revet med af den nervøse, lidt eksamensagtige stemning, og jeg mindes, hvordan jeg for et år siden stod i præcis samme situation og skulle til konkurrence om et årsvikariat i Operakoret og/eller at komme på assistentlisten.

Virkelig nervepirrende er det at følge de assistenter, som søger de faste stillinger. Hvem er her mon næste år også?

Man lever en forholdsvis ubeskyttet tilværelse som assistent, især som timelønnet. Mange prøver ligger midt på dagen, så selvom de måske kun varer to-tre timer, kan det være svært at passe andet arbejde ordentligt, mens man medvirker på en produktion. Så kan man som så mange andre kunstnere leve et liv på supplerende dagpenge, mens man jo forsøger at arbejde så meget man kan inden for sit fag. Men i disse tider med lav arbejdsløshed kan det være svært at holde "SYSTEMET" fra livet.

Jeg har selv fået helle fra A-kasser og jobcentre herude på Holmen et års tid endnu, og mens jeg nu i en periode arbejder i koret, benytter jeg lejligheden til at suge til mig af teater- og operaverdenen, som er helt ny for mig - i hvert fald med mig selv som professionel deltager.

Der er mange ting som virker meget mærkelige og uvante når man er ny, og der er især mange spændende oplevelser og givtige erfaringer at få. Mere herom i næste kapitel af En Assistents Bekendelser.

Efter en sølvglitrende og skumdryppende Flagermus i aften går vi på påskeferie, men bloggerne vender frygteligt tilbage i uge 15. Rigtig god påske!

Anna Julie Brønholt

En Assistents Bekendelser. Kapitel 1: Hvad er en assistent?

Jeg takker for den fornemme velkomst! Jeg glæder mig meget til at fyre den af på bloggen :-)
Og her kommer så kapitel et:

Som Ole allerede har skrevet, er der for tiden konkurrence om et antal faste stillinger i Operakoret. Og hvem kan søge stillingerne? Tjah, man behøver ikke at være uddannet på et konservatorium eller en operaskole for at få arbejde som sanger. Det er nu nok de færreste klassiske sangere som bare er selvlærte naturstemmer, men det er ikke ualmindeligt at dygtige sangere har uddannet sig privat. Men når man stiller op til en konkurrence eller en foresyngning, er det præstationen HER OG NU der tæller. Den, som dommerne synes synger bedst, får stillingen! Og så er det lige meget, hvordan man har lært at synge.

Jeg er selv ansat i Operakoret for tiden - men ikke i en fast stilling. Korets grundstamme - og langt den største del af koret - består naturligvis af fastansatte operasangere. Men dertil kommer en lille hær af assistenter, som på forskellig vis supplerer koret. Man kan fx være vikar for en fastansat sanger, som har orlov.

I Lohengrin blev der indkaldt flere assistenter i alle stemmegrupper, fordi koret simpelthen skulle udvides.

Så nogle assistenter er måske fuldtidsansat i en periode på en hel eller halv sæson og medvirker i alle forestillinger sammen med det faste kor, mens andre kommer ind og medvirker på udvalgte produktioner.

Anna Julie Brønholt

Et nyt hoved på bloggen

(Foto: Henrik Engelbrecht)

På et oprindeligt initiativ fra korsyngemester Philip White, kom Operakorets blog for første gang på vingerne tilbage i november 2006, og den allerførste, spæde blog-tekst (Hvad laver en (kor)sanger om dagen?) så dagens lys!

Her - adskillige blog-indlæg senere (63 i alt for at være helt præcis), står vi imidlertid overfor et vagtskifte blandt os af blog-skribenter. Nye stærke kræfter står klar i kulissen med nyspidsede blyanter eller nyopladede labtops - klar til at puste nyt liv i vort lille fristed på nettet.

Vi er endog så heldige, at flere andre kormedlemmer har ladet sig overtale til at give deres besyv med i den kommende tid. Hvis alt går efter planen, vil vi derfor kunne opleve en større udvidelse af skribent-korpset.

Med nye folk ved tasterne følger nye og flere synsvinkler på tingene - og derved står alle muligheder åbne for at bloggen i fremtiden kan blive mere mangfoldig og i sidste ende mere interessant!

Flere nye medlemmer af koret er i gang med at lægge an til nye indlæg, beretninger og strøtanker om livet foran og bagved det store scenetæppe på Det Kgl. Teater. Rygtet vil endda vide, at Philip selv har ladet sig overtale til at skrive nogle blog-indlæg engang efter påske.


Klik på fotoet - og se flere!

I den forbindelse er det mig en stor glæde at kunne byde min gode kollega og dugfriske blog-skribent - Anna Julie Brønholt, der til daglig synger 1. alt i koret - VELKOMMEN! Med nye vinkler på sagerne er hun allerede klar til at søsætte hele to spritnye kapitler af føljetonen En Assistents Bekendelser.

Således er der nu - et nyt hoved på bloggen!.. Yep, nu sker der noget!

En brand new blogger er på banen. Tag godt imod vores nye skribent.

Ole Jegindø Norup

Operakoret - ka' man leve af det?

(Fortsat fra i går) Som nævnt i går, kan man (med lidt god vilje…, red.) lige nøjagtigt leve af at synge i Operakoret, da alle faste medlemmer i ensemblet er ansat i fuldtidsstillinger.

Fastansættelse i koret kræver at man vinder en konkurrence om en ledig stilling. I disse dage er der fuld gang i konkurrencerne ude på Holmen. 1. sopraner, 1. og 2. tenorer samt 2. basser konkurrerer om ledige stillinger.

Og hvad skal man så synge ved sådan en konkurrence? Hvilke discipliner bliver man prøvet i? Hvad skal der til for at slippe gennem nåleøjet?

Man synger mindst én selvvalgt arie. Og desuden vælger man én ud af to tilstillede arier, der er udvalgt af den pågældende stemmegruppe og som er repræsentative for det pågældende stemmefag.

Desuden prøves man i to forskelligartede koropgaver, som man (ligesom den bundne arie) har haft et stykke tid til at indstudere. Endelig kan man blive udsat for en prima viste-opgave, dvs. sang fra bladet. Alle konkurrencens opgaver synges udenad.

Alt i alt kan man således konstatere at man ikke kommer fuldstændig sovende til en fast stilling i ensemblet, og at optagelse kræver en anelse mere end blot at melde sig (se gårsdagens indlæg: Operakoret – ka’ man bare melde sig til det?).

Ole Jegindø Norup

Operakoret - ka' man bare melde sig til det?

I disse dage afholdes der konkurrencer om ledige stillinger i Operakoret. Og i den forbindelse tænkte jeg, at tiden måtte være inde til at løfte sløret for, hvordan man egentlig kan opnå ansættelse i vores ensemble.

"Operakoret – kan man bare melde sig til det?" Dette interessante spørgsmål er til stadighed poppet op her og der gennem årene. Det rangerer forholdsvist højt på listen over typiske spørgsmål angående vores beskæftigelse – også kaldet FAQ – frequently asked questions (hvis man vil forsøge at få det hele til at klinge lidt mere internationalt og kosmopolitisk...).

Øverst på denne FAQ-liste finder man imidlertid udødelige klassikere som: "Synger du i Operakoret - hva’ laver du så om dagen?" samt naturligvis: "Synger du i Operakoret – ka’ man leve af det?"

Mens svaret på det sidste spørgsmål er: Ja (om ikke fedt, så dog med lige nøjagtigt med skindet på næsen, red.), håber jeg ikke jeg tager modet fra nogen ved at svare på det første spørgsmål med et: Ja, alle kan vel i princippet melde sig til om ikke andet så en foresyngning.

For at blive ansat i Det Kgl. Operakor skal man vinde en sangkonkurrence om en stilling. En sådan foresyngning holder man hver gang en sanger bliver pensioneret (eller af anden årsag vælger at forlade koret).

Efter ansættelse i en fast stilling har man desuden en prøvetid på to år. Læs mere om emnet i det følgende blog-indlæg: "Operakoret – ka’ man leve af det?"

(Foto: Henrik Engelbrecht)

Ole Jegindø Norup