A True and Serious Representation of Art

What really takes place in an opera rehearsal? What does contemporary music even sound like?
Here's a short example..

There are as many opinions of contemporary music as there are listeners. What's contemporary and what's music, anyway, you might ask - and you wouldn't be the first. As far as I know anything, I think that our opera is modern, but not in the screeching-banging-farting way that leaves the listener unsure of whether to flee or applaud. Itzam's composition contains all sorts of elements: melodic, singing lines, weird noises, humor, romanticism.. It moves from wonky waltz to smooth jazz to beautifully rich soundscapes. And now we are working our asses off to do it justice.

This excerpt, as you might have already guessed, is not a True and Serious Representation of Art. I'm taking the piss out of you. In a way that's what this blog is trying to do, though - to show that Serious Art, like opera or contemporary music, isn't really that serious. The forms of art are there to be used in any way we like; we can reshape and redefine them. Opera is a thing that includes music, singers and some stage-related stuff, for example. That's not a very narrow concept, is it? It doesn't really sound all that elitist either - all that could happen in a bar, swimming hall or subway.

So stay tuned - there's more piss to be taken out of you. Seriously.

1st Rehearsal: Singing pianists and press releases

The composer tries to look like a serious person.

Have you seen Sibelius Academy's Spring brochure yet? - didn't think so. So why don't you go and find one and see for yourself that our opera is there, picture and all! In case you had doubts about this project ever materializing, this should set your soul to peace. It is happening, and it's happening soon.

The other sign of a performance eventually taking place is the existence of a score. Itzam worked his ass off and last week the biggest and last scene of Jääkausi saw the light of day. Today our courageous team went through the entire thing! Scenes 1-4 were sung by Milla and Ammi and scene 5 was sung by me, since Milla had to leave a tad early. Itzam, Eljas and Juho heroically listened and tried to imagine what the scene would really sound like when done by people who can actually sing.

Lessons learned:

1) Playing from the full score isn't always a walk in the park. Sometimes you turn the page and really get lost trying to find your line. My reaction: play nonsense, swear and repeat the mistake on the next turn. The proper way: play nonsense, skip the swearing and look proud and professional.

2) A piano cannot be flute, clarinet, violin and cello if they play microtones. My reaction: play nonsense, swear and say it's impossible. The proper way: look at the composer knowingly and shake your head.

3) A pianist is not a soprano. Not in any way.

After this very instructive session there was some planning to do, so a select group of marketing professionals went to have lunch and discuss serious matters. Juho drafted a press release, and I tried to sketch a poster-to-be. You try to come up with clever things to say that don't sound like you're over-confident or downright delusional! Struggle we did, but some coffee and half-cooked spaghetti later we had a release and a poster plan ready. The next big step is to get the poster printed and spread it around; maybe in a week's time you'll already see it winking at you somewhere in town. And how exciting is that?

Happy Start-up Year!

This time I don't have a lot to say; like all wise and lucky people, I've been hibernating through Christmas. But now work begins. There's less than two months to our premiere in Musiikkitalo! Have you seen the advert yet? Check it from here and get yourself a ticket (or three):

 

Start-up Opera esittää: Jääkausi

Next week our rehearsals will start in earnest, and I will keep you informed of how they go. Now here are some pictures of how we brainstormed in luxurious conditions before Christmas...

"So here we'll see the sun inside the bowl"

"Try to look like you're reading really intensely"

So stay tuned, there's more coming soon...