Business as usual
Philip is away. He will be back on the 12th November.
Meanwhile planning and administration of the chorus carries on. As well as the two chorus masters, the Kongelige Operakor has a full-time Chorus Administrator and an almost full-time chorus manager. And while I am away, via the wonders of the Internet and email, I stay in contact with the engine room of the Chorus on the third floor of the opera house on Holmen, as well as with the production leaders, the operachef, head of music, well, with anybody I talk to on a daily basis when actually present in Copenhagen.
Not having my own laptop I can carry around with me in a business-like fashion, when I am not at home I have to resort to seeking out the local internet cafés. Currently working on a project in Paris, the cafés here can be of varying repute and quality: there are the 8 x 8m boxes in the African districts of the city. Invariably manned by a guy who disconsolately moves his eyes from an unknown Arabic channel on the mini TV they are buzzing with men and women dressed in a bright array of swirling cloths, armed with one of the equally dazzling array of cheap telephone cards availing themselves of the fixed lines to shout away at their loved ones (I presume despite the shouting) in mysterious bubbling languages thousands of miles away. But there are also the chain cafés, or caverns should I say, teeming with people of all types, tapping away manically in a silent conspiracy with the screen infront of them - a 21st century Bedlam. This is where I end up and having managed to get cursory acknowledgement of my presence at the reception desk, I obtain my password and code word to join the faithful further inside. And so caught between a scrawny looking guy on my left tapping away to a moving image on Gay Romeo, a guy on my right I am sure I have seen on footage of the 1968 Parisian riots, a Spanish girl behind me who, forgetting she is wearing headphones, talks in an unnaturally raised voice to her computer (or is it just because she is Spanish) and the rather overweight American couple who have just waddled up to reception and make a deal out of not understanding any of the receptionist's pigeon English, I open up the email and attempt to transport myself to the calm, that in comparison, is Copenhagen.
This week the many issues dealt with included a follow-up on the meeting with Joachim Holbek, the composer of Brodrene Lovehjerte, which is to be given its premiere in 2008, regarding the exact choral requirements in the piece; continued discussion about the chorus' workload in the 09/10 season; an appraisal of each individual chorister's workload in the 08/09 season; the question as to whether a chorister can be given free for the very first staging rehearsals of Den Glade Enke; follow-up on the chorus seminar; continuing uncertainties over the exact use of the chorus in Rusalka; a significant planning problem in the chorus' availability to start rehearsals at the beginning of the 08/09 season (we're meant to be on holiday then!!); another set of cuts in Lucio Silla to look at; unfortunately we still have two choristers on extended sick leave; Jeremy's first rehearsals with the chorus on Don Carlos - how did they go? Still no news on Løvehjerte .............
Time for a croissant!
A bientôt!
Philip White
Meanwhile planning and administration of the chorus carries on. As well as the two chorus masters, the Kongelige Operakor has a full-time Chorus Administrator and an almost full-time chorus manager. And while I am away, via the wonders of the Internet and email, I stay in contact with the engine room of the Chorus on the third floor of the opera house on Holmen, as well as with the production leaders, the operachef, head of music, well, with anybody I talk to on a daily basis when actually present in Copenhagen.
Not having my own laptop I can carry around with me in a business-like fashion, when I am not at home I have to resort to seeking out the local internet cafés. Currently working on a project in Paris, the cafés here can be of varying repute and quality: there are the 8 x 8m boxes in the African districts of the city. Invariably manned by a guy who disconsolately moves his eyes from an unknown Arabic channel on the mini TV they are buzzing with men and women dressed in a bright array of swirling cloths, armed with one of the equally dazzling array of cheap telephone cards availing themselves of the fixed lines to shout away at their loved ones (I presume despite the shouting) in mysterious bubbling languages thousands of miles away. But there are also the chain cafés, or caverns should I say, teeming with people of all types, tapping away manically in a silent conspiracy with the screen infront of them - a 21st century Bedlam. This is where I end up and having managed to get cursory acknowledgement of my presence at the reception desk, I obtain my password and code word to join the faithful further inside. And so caught between a scrawny looking guy on my left tapping away to a moving image on Gay Romeo, a guy on my right I am sure I have seen on footage of the 1968 Parisian riots, a Spanish girl behind me who, forgetting she is wearing headphones, talks in an unnaturally raised voice to her computer (or is it just because she is Spanish) and the rather overweight American couple who have just waddled up to reception and make a deal out of not understanding any of the receptionist's pigeon English, I open up the email and attempt to transport myself to the calm, that in comparison, is Copenhagen.
This week the many issues dealt with included a follow-up on the meeting with Joachim Holbek, the composer of Brodrene Lovehjerte, which is to be given its premiere in 2008, regarding the exact choral requirements in the piece; continued discussion about the chorus' workload in the 09/10 season; an appraisal of each individual chorister's workload in the 08/09 season; the question as to whether a chorister can be given free for the very first staging rehearsals of Den Glade Enke; follow-up on the chorus seminar; continuing uncertainties over the exact use of the chorus in Rusalka; a significant planning problem in the chorus' availability to start rehearsals at the beginning of the 08/09 season (we're meant to be on holiday then!!); another set of cuts in Lucio Silla to look at; unfortunately we still have two choristers on extended sick leave; Jeremy's first rehearsals with the chorus on Don Carlos - how did they go? Still no news on Løvehjerte .............
Time for a croissant!
A bientôt!
Philip White
posted by Det Kongelige Operakor at 20:54
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