Jon Johanning wrote:

>I have just seen the future in the NY Times, and I really doubt that it's
>going to work.
>
>Anthony Tommasini has an article today about Operaworks, a unique opera
>company founded by one David Leighton in 1983.  Leighton has found an
>effective way of bringing down the high cost of producing opera: he has
>singers in his company and a conductor to conduct them, but the orchestra
>is only virtual.

I can attest from first-hand experience -- it doesn't work.  I attended
a performance of Operaworks' *Ariadne auf Naxos* (one of my very favorite
operas and one which I can practically sing in my sleep) last summer, not
realizing that they used a "virtual orchestra".  I knew something was up
when the program was accompanied by a 10 page or so handout explaining the
virtual orchestra and protesting that it was employed for artistic(and by
implication, not financial) reasons.  Right.

The rationale went something like "the singers get to know exactly
how the score will be played and there will be no "surprises" from
the orchestra during performances".  The simulation of real orchestral
instruments wasn't awful, but the canned quality of the orchestral
accompaniment didn't allow the music to breathe.  Often, singers were
out of synch with the accompaniment and in a number of cases, the singers'
playing catch-up bordered on "train wreck".  It's a shame, because the
singers generally had fine voices (particularly the women singing
Zerbinetta and the Composer).  Luckily opera houses such as the Met can
still afford (though admittedly not always without some effort) to produce
productions with real orchestras and will hopefully never stoop to such
cost cutting measures.

Rich Putter
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