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Topic:
Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
4/21/06 8:02pm
Subject:
Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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Hello, there! I am DarthIshtar, your resident opera nut and thread host. This thread will be for all things opera, whether it be recommended recordings or upcoming performances, history of opera or just plain discussion of what makes it a wonderful medium of music. Also, I am a huge fan of operettas, such as the ones done by Gilbert and Sullivan.
If you have any suggestions, please feel free to give me a PM.
Here's a brief questionnaire to start things off:
Username:
Country:
Favorite Opera:
Favorite Aria:
Favorite opera experience:
How you got into the opera experience:
1 Fun Fact about yourself:
-----signature-----
"You are some self-important encyclopedia with too much time on his hands. I will see to it personally that you are used for spare parts every time my speeder needs an overhaul. You and that overpriced forklift out there." ~Dr. Bel Maden
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Rogue1-and-a-half
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
4/21/06 8:06pm
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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Username: Rogue1-and-a-half
Country: USA
Favorite Opera: Don Giovanni . . . morality without flinching . . . once you hear Thomas Allen as Giovanni get his comeuppance you'll never forget it.
Favorite Aria: Queen of the Night from Magic Flute
Favorite opera experience: I nominate the first time I heard Don Giovanni. Nothing prepares you for that ending.
How you got into the opera experience: Just started listening. Cavalleria Rusticana, still one of my favorites, was the one that hooked me.
1 Fun Fact about yourself: I have taken Bizet's Carmen out of the CD player and loaded in Husker Du's New Day Rising. That's how eclectic I am. 
I also love The Pearlfishers, The Marriage of Figaro and . . .
Wait, are you counting modern, translated operas . . . Les Miserables for instance.
-----signature-----
All they found of the Duchesse d'Alencon was her head.
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
4/21/06 8:07pm
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
- Date Edited:
4/21/06 8:10pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
DarthIshtar
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Username: Darthishtar
Country: United States
Favorite Opera: La Traviata or (in operetta) the Mikado
Favorite Aria: Votre Toast from Carmen or "A Wandering Minstrel I"
Favorite opera experience: When I was 6 years old, my mother took me to see The Mikado at the Metropolitan Opera. I'd been listening to the music for a year and at intermission, we were standing in line for the bathroom when I asked my mom if this was the one with the sun song. She asked which one I meant and I started singing "The Sun Whose Rays," the opening aria from act 2. It's pretty indicative of the way I grew up.
How you got into the opera experience: That was my first operetta, my first opera was Die Zauberflote in Portland later that year and then when I was 12, I was in the chorus of Rigoletto.
1 Fun Fact about yourself: I love writing Star Wars parodies of comic opera songs.
Edit: Rogue, The Pearlfishers is the one opera that both I and my dad love--he's a rock musician who doesn't like this sort of thing. I want my husband and my dad to sing "Au fond du temple saint" at my wedding reception if I ever get married again!
-----signature-----
"You are some self-important encyclopedia with too much time on his hands. I will see to it personally that you are used for spare parts every time my speeder needs an overhaul. You and that overpriced forklift out there." ~Dr. Bel Maden
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TheBoogieMan
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '01
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Date Posted:
4/21/06 8:11pm
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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Country: Australia
Favorite Opera: Pucchini's La Boheme
Favorite Aria: -
Favorite opera experience: Seeing Aida in Verona
How you got into the opera experience: I saw some opera while travelling Europe, mid last year.
1 Fun Fact about yourself: My year 10 teacher declared me "The world's greatest procrastinator" on my report card
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Rogue1-and-a-half
Title: Manager: Amphitheatre
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
4/21/06 8:13pm
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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I guess I should mention the grandfather of theater, Wagner. I've only heard Die Walkure which I loved . . . I've read some of his theory though. The 'complete work' is one of the greatest ideas of art theory ever.
-----signature-----
All they found of the Duchesse d'Alencon was her head.
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
4/21/06 8:18pm
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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I love Wagner. Against my better judgment, I got the whole 9-hour cycle last year and just listened and listened for hours.
Does anyone know the Flower Duet from Lakme by Delibes? I think it's my favorite of alto/soprano duets.
-----signature-----
"You are some self-important encyclopedia with too much time on his hands. I will see to it personally that you are used for spare parts every time my speeder needs an overhaul. You and that overpriced forklift out there." ~Dr. Bel Maden
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
4/22/06 7:29am
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
- Date Edited:
4/22/06 7:46am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Zaz
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I think I can participate in this thread, even though I know very little about the subject and frankly have never heard a full opera.
Username: Zaz
Country: Canada
Favorite Opera: Couldn't say, but I like random opera/operetta music, "The Mikado" (wonderful movie about it: "Topsy-Turvey"), Wagner, "Die Fleidermaus"; "The Magic Flute", etc.)
Favorite Aria: ? I wouldn't know an aria if it hit me in the eye.
Favorite opera experience: Never seen one, unfortunately
How you got into the opera experience: See above
1 Fun Fact about yourself: My user name is a palindrome.
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
4/22/06 8:08am
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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So, what type of opera does everyone prefer most? The historical, the 'dying diva as an art form,' etc. etc.
-----signature-----
"You are some self-important encyclopedia with too much time on his hands. I will see to it personally that you are used for spare parts every time my speeder needs an overhaul. You and that overpriced forklift out there." ~Dr. Bel Maden
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MatRags
Registered:
Feb '01
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Date Posted:
4/22/06 10:12am
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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Country: The United States of America
Favorite Opera: Don Giovanni
Favorite Aria: -
Favorite opera experience: Watching the movie Amadeus on the big screen.
How you got into the opera experience: Amadeus
Fun Fact about yourself: I don't know much about opera, but the stuff in Amadeus intrigued me. Plus I've liked what I've heard of Wagner.
-----signature-----
Gaius Baltar is my President.
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Thrawn1786
Registered:
Feb '04
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Date Posted:
4/22/06 5:24pm
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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An opera thread, at last!   I thought of starting one once.
Username: Thrawn1786
Country: USA
Favorite Opera:I have so many, but if I had to pick one, Faust.
Favorite Aria: 'Nessun dorma' from Turandot
Favorite opera experience: seeing/hearing Placido Domingo in concert last year in Biloxi, Mississippi. Hearing him in person was a dream I never thought possible.
How you got into the opera experience: my piano teacher introduced me to opera by telling me about it. One day I heard the beginning of a Met broadcast of Carmen. I sat down and listened straight through, and since then I've been hooked.
1 Fun Fact about yourself: I have taken ballet lessons for fifteen years. My current plan is to minor in dance when I transfer to another college after next year.
-----signature-----
e-sibs: Rabe, padawanlissa, Elfie, CW, DG, Kahn, Trimaj, MGA, prj1, SWF444, Swan, Allegra Proud Master of Mister_Master  Minister of Internal Affairs, EUC Senate Sith Apprentice to darth_nemisis, AoD Dubbed Butterskoch by DarthCemeroX
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
4/24/06 9:24am
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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So, has anyone ever heard the CD "Stand-up Opera?" She does these random facts about certain operas and performers as well as singing arias. It's absolutely hilarious.
-----signature-----
"You are some self-important encyclopedia with too much time on his hands. I will see to it personally that you are used for spare parts every time my speeder needs an overhaul. You and that overpriced forklift out there." ~Dr. Bel Maden
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/3/06 12:45pm
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
- Date Edited:
5/3/06 12:53pm (2 edits total)
Edited By:
Zaz
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Sounds like a good CD. I'm reading a book called "The American Opera Singer" which is like a very sudsy but entertaining soap opera. What a lot of hugely eccentric people--!
Sample: An opera diva's assistant comes back from vacation and brings her a potted ivy plant as a gift. Diva takes same and immediately (without looking for people outside) heaves the plant out the open window (they are several floors up), screeching: "Don't you know ivy means death!" (CRASH!!!)
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Thrawn1786
Registered:
Feb '04
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Date Posted:
5/5/06 8:45pm
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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DarthIshtar posted:
So, has anyone ever heard the CD "Stand-up Opera?" She does these random facts about certain operas and performers as well as singing arias. It's absolutely hilarious.
Would the artist of this CD be Anna Russell? I love her synopsis of 'The Ring Cycle'.
-----signature-----
e-sibs: Rabe, padawanlissa, Elfie, CW, DG, Kahn, Trimaj, MGA, prj1, SWF444, Swan, Allegra Proud Master of Mister_Master Minister of Internal Affairs, EUC Senate Sith Apprentice to darth_nemisis, AoD Dubbed Butterskoch by DarthCemeroX
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DarthIshtar
Title: Former CR
Star Wars Trivia Hostess
Registered:
Mar '01
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Date Posted:
5/6/06 8:46am
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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It's B.J. Ward. She sings all these arias and tells anecdotes about them. My favorite part is about a Mozart aria written for a specific soprano who broke his heart and how sopranos ever since have been suffering for her infidelity. It's this one that jumps every which way.
-----signature-----
"You are some self-important encyclopedia with too much time on his hands. I will see to it personally that you are used for spare parts every time my speeder needs an overhaul. You and that overpriced forklift out there." ~Dr. Bel Maden
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/6/06 9:28pm
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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Is this CD recent? I can't find it...
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Obi Anne
Title: FanForce RSA
Europe
Registered:
Nov '98
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Date Posted:
5/7/06 9:35am
Subject:
RE: Screeching Vikings--The Amphitheater Opera Appreciation Thread
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Username: Obi Anne
Country: Sweden
Favorite Opera: The Magic Flute
Favorite Aria: Tough one, definetly depends on my mood, but I've always liked Siegmund's spring song from Die Walküre
Favorite opera experience: Seeing the end scene of the Ring at Dalhalla. Dalhalla is a quarry placed in the middle of the woods not far from where I live and the season when they opened it up as a concert stage they made the short version of the Ring, and in the end scene when the world is set on fire they lit up the trees around all around the quarry and you really felt like sitting in the middle of a giant fire. (except for the fact that the temperature was nearly freezing)
How you got into the opera experience: I watched Ingmar Bergman's version of the Magic Flute on tv when I was about 4 and loved it.
1 Fun Fact about yourself: In 1996 I managed to see the Magic Flute twice within a week, not so strange maybe, unless you think about the fact I saw it first in Sydney, and the evening when I got home from Australia I saw it at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, Sweden.
-----signature-----
Tea one, proud member of the Tea Squad, FanForce Meeting 2006, Berlin  GSADMINCOACHEMPERORRULERPRESIDENTTSARMINISTERQUEEN liuba 
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