Orlando Philharmonic presents Puccini’s Tosca at the Bob Carr.

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Opera is very much alive in Orlando. I went to a rehearsal of the A fully-staged performance presented by Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra at the Bob Carr Theater. This was the first time the singers got to block their scenes using the set, which was still under construction. Actors walked the stage, getting used to the many steps that hadn’t been present in prior rehearsals.

Mario Cavaradossi, (Adam Diegel) worked on a large portrait of the Madonna that he based on a woman in the churches congregation that he never met. As he paints, he compares the Madonna’s blonde beauty to the beauty of his dark haired lover, Tosca (Keri Alkema). Tosca is a full figured fiery Prima Donna who loves the artist, but she suspects his love of art. She recognizes the face in the painting as the beauty in the congregation and accuses the artist of being unfaithful. He assures her of his love but jealousy still tears at her. Since I was sketching, I seldom had time to look up at the sub titles projected above the stage. I discovered the emotional context of every scene by watching Keri’s facial expressions. Her performance acted as my translator.

The artist gives refuge to a political prisoner essentially making him an enemy of the state. Baron Scarpia, (Todd Thomas) chief of the secret police, is searching for the political prisoner. His investigation leads him to the artist’s studio. There he finds Tosca and he is smitten. He shows her a red fan he found which she realizes as belonging to the beautiful woman in the painting. Her worst fears seem confirmed and she bursts into tears. She becomes trapped between her allegiance
to her rebel artist lover and the scheming of Scarpia, who
will stop at nothing in his unquenchable lust for her. The artist is imprisoned and Scarpia claims he will free him if Tosca surrenders to his sexual advances. The explosive
triangle comes to a hair-raising conclusion in one of opera’s bloodiest,
most intense dramas.

Joel Revzen is the guest conductor for the Philharmonic although at this rehearsal only the piano was on stage. Henry Akida is the stage director. He worked diligently during the rehearsal to keep the staging clear. At one point, the whole chorus came on stage in a processional with candles and one large red banner. Henry realized that the banner blocked some audience members view of Scarpia who stood elevated on the platform. To resolve the issue, the banner holder was moved far to stage right. These are the kind of issues that are only discovered as staging and props come into use. Lisa Buck created the stunning projections that depicted huge domed ceilings. The images lap dissolved between scenes giving the story an added depth. So many elements have to work together to make such a big production a reality. Amazing productions are truly miracles.
 

This is Central Florida’s biggest opera event of the
season. Don’t miss it.

Friday, May 1, 2015 at 8:00 PM
Sunday, May 3, 2015 at 2:00 PM
Bob Carr Theater 401 W Livingston St, Orlando, Florida 3280

Tickets starting at $22

Rimma Bergeron-Langlois rehearsed a stunning Sibelius Violin Concerto.

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As part of the Music Director Candidate search, Leslie B. Dunner, conducted the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. I sketched an open rehearsal on March 20th at the Bob Carr Theatre. The Bob Carr used to be a Theatre but new orange letters were put up announcing it as a theater. Theater is the English spelling while Theatre is used everywhere else. There is no difference in meaning. Some Americans make distinctions, for instance, that a theater is a
venue while theatre is an art form, or that a theater is a movie theater
while a theatre is a drama venue. If that is the case, the Bob Carr had been demoted since the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center opened, from an art form to a venue.

When solo violinist Rimma Bergeron-Langlois walked on stage, she smiled at the Director and took her place standing in front of the violin section. I knew immediately that this would be an amazing rehearsal. She was relaxed and ready. Leslie B. Dunner is the final Music Director Candidate to conduct the Philharmonic. The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra’s international search for a new
Music Director was announced in the spring of 2013. Over 12 months, a
committee comprised of orchestra musicians and community members spent
over 2000+ hours to screen a slate over more than 275 candidates from
around the world to  choose five finalists, who each conducted a
classical program during the 2014-2015 season. The orchestra plans to
announce its new Music Director in Spring 2015. The finalists were, Alondra de la Parra, Steven Jarvi, Eric Jacobsen, Dirk Meyer, and Leslie B. Dunner.

After the first half of the rehearsal was over and the orchestra was taking a break, Michael McLeod came over to say hello. He joked with me that Denise Sudler had noticed that I had sketched her at my art opening at Maxine’s and that she hadn’t granted consent allowing me to sketch her visage. I countered that there was plausible deniabitity. She is just 1/2 inch high in the sketch, it could very well be Wendy Wallenberg who had posed several times to try and get in the sketch. I first met Wendy when I sat on stage in the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre and sketched the audience. She was in the front row. I’m surprised she didn’t get up and stand on stage in front of me to block my view of the audience. She missed that opportunity.

Back to the rehearsal. Rimma’s loose sweater flowed and her pony tail bobbed as she performed. The Sibelius concerto was complex crisp and uplifting. It is amazing how so many instruments can blend their sounds to express a universal joy that is greater than any single sound. Yet the violin rejoiced in it’s liberating sound. There is a magic in experiencing a live orchestration like this. There were some fits and stops as Leslie inspired subtleties from different instruments. He was all about precision and purity of performance. Michael felt that Leslie was doing an amazing job conducting. I haven’t seen all the conductors perform so I don’t feel qualified to judge. I did see Alondra de la Parra conduct and I was swept away with her playful vigor. Only the musicians truly know which conductor inspired them to give their all. If you want to see what audiences are saying, you can find #OPOsNewMaestro. Let the voting begin.

The Orlando Philharmonic Series Program 1 Featured Music Director Finalist Alondra de la Parra

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I went to a rehearsal at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Music Director Alondra de la Parra was conducting. I sat a few rows back from the stage and started sketching. As the orchestra warmed up with the usual cacophony of unrelated instrumentation, I blocked in the stage and seating arrangement. Since Conductor Christopher Wilkins left, the orchestra has been looking for a new conductor. Apparently it is a buyers market since so many orchestras have had to fold or cut back after the financial crisis in 2008. Ten people make up the selection panel. Half of the panel are musicians from the Orchestra and half are civilians. There were many applicants for the conductor’s position. If any one person on the selection committee voted no, then that conductor was removed from the list. Five conductors remain after that process.

Alondra is in her 30’s and brought an undeniable energy to the rehearsal. The first piece rehearsed was Symphony Number 1 by Gustav Mahler. The music moved along lyrically and then built in energy and drive. There were moments of absolute magic that could lift you up to defy gravity.  Because it was a rehearsal, there were moments where the music stopped and Allondra asked a single section of the orchestra to perform their part and she helped them become more unified or crisp in their parts. “It’s all about placement and color.” she said. She could have been talking about a sketch.

The next piece was Danzon Number 2 by Arturo Manquez from her native Mexico. At times the music was brash with a high spirited exuberance. My foot was tapping to the off beat and I couldn’t stop my body from moving to the beat. This had to be the first time I felt like I should get up and dance in the isles as the orchestra performed. “Keep it fresh and spirited.” Alondra said. Then suddenly much of the orchestra grew quiet as a core group of players performed with a slow authority. She explained that these were the old timers who knew how to keep a performance simple and real. When the piece was over, Alondra complimented the soloist saying, “Great solo, you may not know it, but you are part Cuban.” She brought an amazing new energy to the orchestra and Orlando would be lucky to have her if she is selected as the new Music Director. She has a few commitments with an orchestra in Mexico and Japan, but hopefully that wouldn’t interfere if she were to be selected as the orchestra’s new Music Director. Each of the four other finalists will be featured conductors in the coming months. I hope to watch to see what each brings to the table.

Tiny Houses are Big Draw in Orlando

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Emily Lindahl and Dorian hosted a Tiny Houses open house at College Park Village RV/Tiny House Community in Orlando. Dorian lives in a custom-built single-level tiny house with an open floorplan (The Dorian, built by Maximus Extreme), while Emily lives in a tinier house, built by Elaine Walker of the Tiny House-Community,  based on the Tumbleweed Lusby plans (now the Elm 18 Equator). Built in 2009  the house has traveled nearly 7,000 miles from New Hampshire to
California to Washington DC to where it resides now in Florida. Emily met Elaine at a meetup in November and she told Elaine that she planned to sell her large house to start living small. About a month later, Elaine moved out of her tiny house to care for a family member in Florida and offered to let Emily move in. Emily accepted, but someday she hopes to save up enough to build a tiny house of her own.

When I arrived at the Tiny House Open House, Emily gave me a quick tour of her place. A huge vine has grown up the back wall of the home and is climbing onto tree limbs. Emily reached up on tip toe to show me a large gourd that will be a loofa sponge when she harvests it and dries it out. The first landscaping feature Emily added was a winding garden path. She definitely has a green thumb because the garden around her tiny house is flourishing. Her tiny house looks out across a gorgeous lake. Though she is living small, she has a million dollar view. Two hundred or so people showed up to the open house. It was a bit surreal to see a long line of giants waiting to tour the tiny house.

Emily Lindahl has been interested in tiny houses since she was in college. She first saw a Jay Shafer YouTube video on tiny houses in 2006. She grew up in a huge house but was always a bit of a minimalist. She attended a tumbleweed Tiny House building workshop in January 2013 and she and a classmate started a Tiny Houses Facebook group shortly after. The group page started with just 20 people but has grown to over 1600 members. The Tiny Houses Community is getting more organized by pooling resources and getting a website and forum. Emily is the Director of Communications for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra so she knows how to bring people together using social media. She hopes to one day see Tiny House communities throughout Florida. A tiny housed video series will be released on YouTube soon. Emily wrote the theme song for it. She uses the hashtag #emilystinyadventure online to share her experiences. You can also follow the adventure on Instagram at @emilystinyadventure plus she is sharing her tiny adventure on her blog.