Radio Lady Discusses: KBPS All Classical 89.9 FM to Broadcast Portland Opera's 2006/07 Performances

[Radio_Lady]

KBPS ALL CLASSICAL 89.9 FM TO BROADCAST PORTLAND (OREGON) OPERA’S 2006/07 PERFORMANCES





Partnership will also feature airing of CD recordings of the upcoming 2006/07 Season offerings

Oregon and Southwest Washington opera lovers and soon-to-be-opera lovers will reap the benefits of a continued partnership between Portland Opera and KBPS All Classical 89.9 FM. Thanks to this partnership the area will enjoy broadcasts of Portland Opera’s 2006/07 performances—Faust, The Return of Ulysses, Norma, The Flying Dutchman and The Magic Flute. Those broadcasts will be followed by broadcasts of CD recordings of Portland Opera’s upcoming 2007/08 Season—“Great Women of the Stage”—Bizet’s Carmen, Rossini’s Cinderella (La Cenerentola), Handel’s Rodelinda, Britten’s Albert Herring and Verdi’s Aida.

This marks the third season that KBPS All Classical 89.9 will air such recordings. Portland Opera General Director Christopher Mattaliano commented that “we are very pleased to continue our partnership with KBPS. Broadcasting last season’s performances will give thousands of patrons the particular pleasure of enjoying the season’s highlights once again and provide many who couldn’t get a ticket the chance to enjoy the performances for the first time. Broadcasting those performances and previewing the upcoming season go a great distance in helping make opera accessible to our entire community. Our huge thanks go to KBPS and its talented team who have become key players in the region’s cultural landscape.”

KBPS All Classical 89.9 Executive Director Sarah Shelley said: “Assisting our arts partners in audience development is one way All Classical 89.9 plays an important role in keeping Portland culturally vibrant. We look forward to our third broadcast project with Portland Opera and hope that presenting their past and future work will intrigue our listeners to attend this year's performances.”

Broadcast Schedule - (All broadcasts will begin at 10:00 am Pacific Time)

Portland Opera (Portland, OR) 2006/07 performances

July 21 Faust (Gounod)
July 28 Norma (Bellini)
August 4 The Return of Ulysses (Monteverdi)
August 11 The Flying Dutchman (Wagner)
August 18 The Magic Flute (Mozart)

Commercial CD recordings of 2007/08

August 25 Carmen (Bizet)
September 1 Cinderella (La Cenerentola) (Rossini)
September 8 Rodelinda (Handel)
September 15 Albert Herring (Britten)
September 22 Aida (Verdi)

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Listen on-line at http://www.allclassical.org

(Crossposted to Oregon and Washington state forum)

[Radio_Lady]

1. If you plan to attend in person, Portland Opera uses super-titles in English on all performances.

This translated captioning appears over the proscenium arch of the stage. I wish they had had this feature in earlier decades. I saw super-titles for the first time a few years ago in Portland. Opera is so much more understandable when supertitles accompany each performance. It's just a wonderful addition to the whole opera scene.

Even if you don't speak French or German and are not familiar with the libretto (book) of each opera, you can now understand it in greater detail. A wonderful adjunct allows you to enjoy each opera presentation!

Even if you have to read "Opera for Dummies," I encourage you to go to the opera!



http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/productCd-0764550101,subcat-ARTS.html

[Manifestor_of_Light]

7. Surtitles totally changed opera for me. Now I love it.

The first time I saw surtitles was in 1990 at Houston grand opera in "Samson and Delilah".

Then I GOT it.

I keep telling people you can read along in english but they are not interested. They still think it's Brunnhilde in horns screaming.

My favorite exchange:
Me: "Have you ever been to the opera?"

Them: "No, I don't like it."

Me: "How do you know you don't like it? They put the words up over the stage in English."

Them: "Eeeyaaaghhhh...shrug".

:banghead: :banghead: :mad: :grr: :grr:

[Radio_Lady]

10. Oh, that's what they call them... SURTITLES, meaning "over" or "above"?

You just taught me something. Thanks so much.

Actually, Richard Wagner doesn't interest me at all. I don't think I would like any of his operas; yet, some people really relish them!

Italian and French sound great, but I can't say I appreciate German, but there is some beautiful German lieder out there. And, although I am born Jewish, I do like "church" music of all kinds.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed on CAS a few nights ago. I do love the sound of their singing.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. i don't like Wagner except if it's live.

And I am not impressed with Richard Strauss. I saw "Elektra" once, which is about a bunch of crazy Greek women, and I couldn't stand it. Only opera I've ever seen that I thought had no redeeming features.


I think Surtitles is a trademark and Supertitles may be generic or may be a trademark.
Apparently at the Met they have the supertitles on a little screen on the back of the seat in front of you which sounds like a terrible idea to me, because of having to change focus from far to near. I'm quite nearsighted and in bifocals.

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. Knowing that classical music and classical performers are getting support makes me happy.

And it also makes me wish for quality live streaming. Thanks!

[Radio_Lady]

3. Hello Peake. Streaming classical music has improved so much in the past few years.

Besides http://www.allclassical.org , are you knowledgeable about other classical music sources?

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. Hello! I lack a decent background in classical music, along with Shakespear, fine wine, etc.

However, I can sense quality when I'm exposed to it. The more classical music, the better. It improves my chances of having an education, and of great joy in doing so. It improves the world by its very presence.

I had subscribed to the Musical Heritage Society for a while, and broadened my view with monthly CDs of lesser-known composers and lesser-known works by major composers. I still have all of those CDs. A while ago, an associate wanted to impress by doing a progressive rock version of something by Albinoni, expecting few to know of him. I chimed right up, having a CD of his work from the MHS...

Some of my favorite classical is performed by Chistopher Hogwood and his Academy of Ancient Music, which utilize period instruments (valveless trumpets, etc.) and the oldest known scores. Their Brandenburgs and Le Quattro Stagioni are lovely.

I have boxes of classical music LPs that I have not even listened to. I need a decent turntable to access them, and the one I have now probably has a worn stylus.

Thanks for your enthusiasm!

[Radio_Lady]

6. They are making turntables again! One of the saddest days of my life was

when I turned over my 33 1/3 record collection to a collector in Boston -- that was 1998, when we moved from Boston to Portland, Oregon. I simply did not have the time and money to move all of the records, but hopefully, someone has put them to good use.

I still have about 500 cassettes of classical music. Eventually, I will donate them to a school or other facility. We have three radios that can still play them, as well as the tape decks in both of our cars (1997 Mercury and 2000 Eclipse).

We've officially switched to compact disks, in time for them to become obsolete, too! Things are moving ahead at a great rate. My husband, ever the wonderous "early adopter" -- now has music and books on his cell phone. I haven't gotten there yet, but am enjoying a tiny MP3 player with a couple of favorites (Dvorak's New World Symphony, the ballet La Boutique Fantasque, etc.) already on.

Christopher Hogwood is amazing... and it was really a trip to get to London and see St. Martins in the Field Church (now being restored) and Neville Mariner (not sure if he's still there), since I have heard their music for years on WCRB in Boston. Prior to that, it was Miami's classical station WVCG ("Voice of Coral Gables") that accompanied me to college in the 1950s and early 1960s -- listening to old timer Burt Graulich's morning show, "Burnt Toast and Coffee."

My husband knew very little about classical music when I married him in 1973. Now, we go to the Portland Symphony and attend a few operas each year, also.

We went to see "Madama Butterfly" on the Hawaiian Island of Maui last winter. It's my favorite opera; his favorite is "Carmen" which is coming to Portland in September. We can't wait!

Nice to meet you on the DU, Peake.

In peace,

Radio Lady

[Radio_Lady]

4. I've discovered the Classic ARTS Showcase TV channel which airs for hours here in Portland, Oregon.

It's on one of the non-commercial cable TV channels. They've resurrected many opera, ballet, and film performances which might have been lost forever. Last night, I saw a man and woman in an ice dance to one section of Holst's "The Planets." They played a portion of an old silent film of "Peter Pan" with titling for dialogue, which I'd never seen before. Fascinating!

I turn the station on at 5 AM or 6 AM and watch until 7 AM. They resume late at night and it's been fun seeing and listening to this non-profit service on Comcast. I also found the channel in Orlando and watched it when we were on vacation.

For more information, check out their link.

http://classicartsshowcase.org/get.html

The website has information on how to see this channel in YOUR area (or how to get your cable provider to subscribe to this FREE service):

Oregon, Beaverton: TUALATIN VALLEY COMMUNITY ACCESS, Channel: 21, Covers: Washington County (Beaverton, Hillsborough, Tualatin, Tigard, parts of West Portland)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. I loved Classical Arts Showcase on cable in Portland

Unfortunately, I haven't found it here in Minneapolis, although the CAS website says that it's available on some of the suburban cable access stations---which we don't get here in the city proper.

The performances ranged from the cheezy (Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians in childish-looking choir robes with big bows at the neck singing "The Holy City") to the off-beat (a cartoon about a lonely cat done to Sibelius' Valse Triste) to the fun (film footage of members of an original Broadway cast from the early 1960s--I couldn't identify the show--recording a song) to the sublime (some of the opera excerpts).

[Radio_Lady]

9. Lydia Leftcoast, so nice to hear from you! I just found CAS by accident one day.

I flip around the cable channels to see what odd stuff they offer. I realized there was this unidentified channel with the logo ARTS in the lower right corner. That's when I began to watch it with more interest.

I hope you find a channel to watch. Nice to hear from you at the DU.

In peace,

Radio Lady in Oregon