NabaTech

NPR Interview with Carl Tanner, the (Bounty Hunter, Truck Driver) Tenor

One of my cousins in England, Biraj Barkakaty, happens to be a counter-tenor; currently an alto lay clerk at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, so my ears perked up at the recent NPR broadcast about tenor Carl Tanner who hails from nearby Arlington, Virginia. The interesting part of the NPR interview was the story of how Carl Tanner got into singing. He used to play football and sing high school choir, but he wasn't thinking about singing even after he graduated from the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Winchester, Virginia. He said that he thought he wasn't good at it and he lacked the confidence and the drive, so he took a job driving truck, but found that it paid very little. Then, because of his physique, a bounty hunter hired him as a backup and he hunted down suspects for a while. He was quite good at too, having successfully captured 169 out of 178 suspects, but after getting shot at, he decided it was enough and, finally got into singing. And now he's a famous tenor, highly in demand at various opera houses around the world. Amazing story, isn't it!

Currently Carl Tanner is singing the role of Samson in the Washington National Opera's production of Samson et Dalila—they have seven performances during May 14 through June 4, 2005. I mentioned the Carl Tanner story and the Samson et Dalila opera to my violinist daughter Emily. She asked me if we could go see the opera and, guess what, I was able to get tickets to this Sunday's performance. The opera is sung in French with English supertitles; that'll be a chance to brush up on my non-existent French :-)

Tags: classical opera tenor countertenor Carl Tanner Samson et Dalila alto NPR

New Market for Classical Music

My daughter Emily is studying violin performance now and plans to pursue a career as a violinist. Naturally my ears perk up whenever there is any mention of a new market for classical music. After all, I want classical music to thrive so that Emily and her compatriots can have an audience for their music (not to mention a means of making a living at it). That's why I listened with interest when American Public Media's Marketplace Morning Report recently aired a story—Montreal cellist—about a Vermont musician who is bringing classical music to punk, folk and rock clubs. Cellist Matt Haimovitz is a successful classical musician and currently teaches at McGill University, but he likes bringing classical music to smaller audiences in clubs. You have probably also heard of superstar violinist Vanessa Mae whose reinterpretation of classical style as well as fusion of classical and pop music has done much to broaden the appeal of classical music to a wider audience. What's interesting is that these artists don't really give up their classical roots; they simply extend their styles, improvise, and make bridges into other styles and, in that process, make their music accessible to the masses. That seems to be the key to a new and expanding market for classical music.

Note: See more Matt Haimovitz at his web site Oxingale.com and read his story in this Andante article: Redefining Success, Off the Beaten Track - Cellist Matt Haimovitz, Bringing Bach to the Bar Band Stage

Tags: music >classical >violin >violinist >cellist >Vanessa Mae >Matt Haimovitz

La Bohème at University of Maryland College Park

Yesterday my wife and I enjoyed the dress rehearsal of Puccini’s La Bohème at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in the University of Maryland College Park campus. The Center is home to the Theater Department and the School of Music, where our daughter Emily studies violin performance. Emily is in the La Boheme’s orchestra and that’s the reason we went to see the dress rehearsal. The opera’s cast, orchestra, and crew are all students, but the performance was absolutely professional.

Thanks to Emily, we were well prepared to enjoy the opera. Perhaps sensing our ignorance of operas, Emily played a DVD of La Bohème several times at home. I already knew the story, so during the performance, I did not need to look at the English subtitles much. I could follow the story even as they performed in Italian. I could even imagine that I understood Italian—okay, just a word or two here and there like Buona Sera for Good Night :-) The cozy atmosphere of the Kay Theater, the great set design and stage lighting, the various styles of opera singing with gusto, and the perfect orchestral accompaniment, all worked their magic to seduce us into the world of Mimi, Rodolfo, Musetta, Marcello, and their friends in nineteenth century Paris.

I was surprised how quickly the time passed by and I think that’s another good way to judge how enjoyable the opera performance was, “time files when you are having fun”, right? Well, we certainly had fun. The opera opens Saturday April 16 and plays four performances through Sunday April 24, 2005 (tickets are $20; $7 for students) I think the audience is in for a treat!

Read the Washington Post's April 18, 2005 review of the performance: Opera Studio's 'Boheme': Almost as Good as It Gets