Songbirds Who Tweet

Step into the wayback machine and imagine if social media had
been around in the 1950s, when Lyric had its illustrious start.
20something Carol Fox is a Latin School grad with no
time for college – she’s obsessed with opera and following her passion.
“Chicago deserves its own opera company, with high standards and low
prices. Let’s make it go! Who’s in? #LaunchLyric” she tweets. Fox’s
cheeky retake on the famous Oscar Wilde quote is a recurring meme on
her Facebook page: “I am a woman of simple tastes. I only want the best.”
Fox & Co. go the crowdfunding route with Kickstarter (a website
that channels donations to a wide range of creative endeavors), getting
thousands of strangers to help support their audacious dream of operating Lyric “on a self-sustaining basis…for we have proved that Chicago
will support opera at the ticket-window.” They post video clips of their
calling-card production, Don Giovanni (with an international rockstar
cast), to confirm their cred and pump up interest in the coming season.
Chicago Tribune critic Claudia Cassidy posts links to her review on
Facebook and Twitter, praising the “delectable, beautiful Mozart, vividly
staged and gleamingly sung.”
Days later, Fox scores a major coup: “Hellooo, Rudolf Bing: Guess
who’s making her American debut at the Lyric Theatre of Chicago instead
of the Metropolitan Opera? #GotCallas!” she tweets triumphantly. Fox
offers Maria Callas twice the Met’s fee and contracts La Scala’s prima
donna for Norma, La traviata, and Lucia di Lammermoor: “Going big for
Lyric’s first season! #LaScalaWest”
Songbirds
Who Tweet
How social media
have changed life for
globetrotting opera singers
By Magda Krance
Illustrations and Tweets by Carrie Krol and Emily Lange
Get in on the fun!
Create your own #CallasMeme at
memegenerator.net/raging-diva
Danny Newman, Lyric’s founding press agent, ditches his old-school
tools and generates impressive buzz for the new company with a torrent of
promotional tweets that all end with the hashtag #SubscribeNow! He rallies
the paparazzi when Renata Tebaldi arrives in town with 25 pieces of luggage (#NewDivaInTown) and later rocks the opera house as Aida in 1955.
OMG, #LyricOpera is a trending topic! “Chicago has jumped from
having no opera company at all to having the most exciting opera company in the land,” Irving Sablosky posts on the Daily News blog. Callas
returns for Il trovatore and her only staged performances as Cio-CioSan; when a third Madama Butterfly is added it sells out in 98 minutes.
Everyone lined up around the block for tickets is texting up a STORM.
When the triumphant Callas leaves the stage after delirious ovations and
is served papers by a federal marshal, photos of her furious outburst turn
into raging-diva memes beamed ’round the world.
That’s the way it was...or might have been. And now, back to the
future of the actual present and very recent past.
The explosive innovations and growth of social media have profoundly transformed communication and social interaction for the general
public and for countless special-interest groups – including the peripatetic
practitioners of opera.
A Glossary for the Uninitiated
@ calls out usernames in Tweets, e.g. Hello @
LyricOpera. Adding @ to a username creates a
link to a Twitter profile.
Meme – a concept or image spread online as
an image, hyperlink, video, picture, website, or
hashtag.
Crowdfunding describes the collective effort to
network and pool individual resources online to
support others’ projects, e.g. funding a startup
by selling small amounts of equity to many
investors.
Trending topics – subjects being tagged at a
high rate on Twitter, e.g. #LyricOpera
The Hashtag (#) marks keywords or topics in a
Tweet, e.g. #LyricOpera.
Twitter – communication network made up of
140-character messages.
(and inconveniently timed) overseas calls, airmail letters, and occasional urgent telegrams.
Faxes, FedEx, and emails were the Next Big
Things…for awhile. Now? Opera singers, directors, designers, and others in this globally moveable clan check homework, sing their kids
DAN REST
DAN REST
DECCA/ANDREW ECCLES
Despite glorious moments of artistic triumph, adulation, and glamour, a life in opera
can often be lonely. Countless weeks away from
home and family. Long hours of solitary confinement learning and memorizing complex scores
in many musical styles and languages. Recovery
from physically and mentally grueling rehearsals and performances. Getting stuck in far-flung
airports with missed connections. Hi-ho, the
glamorous life? Not so much, sometimes.
Back in the day, travelers on the international opera circuit made do with expensive
Tweet (verb) – the act of posting a message on
Twitter; (noun) a message posted via Twitter
containing 140 characters or fewer.
@Hermia: So...my dad hates #loveofmylife
@Lysander – we’re camped out the forest
#DontTell #LetsElope. // Shawn Mathey as
Lysander and Elizabeth DeShong as Hermia
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lyric Opera,
2010-11 season.
@Marguerite: OMG! Mystery box filled
w/ some beautiful bling in my backyard!
#icanhazjewels #whodunnit // Ana María
Martínez as Marguerite in Faust, Lyric Opera,
2009-10 season.
to sleep, and commune with loved ones (and
pets) using Skype. Words of encouragement
flow freely from all corners of the planet via
Facebook. Recipes and diet tips are swapped,
accommodation and restaurant recommendations shared, political views proclaimed, sports
teams cheered, pictures posted, performances
applauded, birthday greetings and condolences
exchanged – all the prosaic and profound stuff of
what passes for normal life among the operatic.
“I’ve often thought that Facebook was
invented for the gypsy lifestyle!” says soprano
Ana María Martínez, Mimì in Lyric’s Bohème
Renée Fleming, Lyric Opera’s creative consultant, has nearly 15,000 followers on Twitter
(@reneesmusings). Her Facebook page has
more than 20,000 likes. In addition to sharing
personal photos and updates on social media,
Renée also issues a bimonthly e-newsletter to
friends and fans around the world.
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DAN REST
performances, January-February. (She “speaks”
via Facebook from abroad, not surprisingly.)
“It’s one of the tools that enable those of us
who primarily live on the road to have a sense
of connection with friends, loved ones, and
colleagues in a way that we didn’t have before.
There are school friends and lovely acquaintances with whom I had not kept in touch until
Facebook! Now, there is a constant rapport
nurtured through sweet messages, updates, comments, enthusiasm, and rendezvous made possible through this phenomenal outlet. Having
the opportunity to also host a public FB page
Joyce DiDonato
After a sing through with a divine cast
of Capuleti & Montecchi and
then far too short a listen to the amaz
ing Moby Dick afterwards, have
never felt this to be more true: “Mus
ic is the movement of sound to
reach the soul for the education of
its virtue.” ~ Plato
Not only do I LOVE the role of Romeo
(hard though it may be!), but as
if getting to sing him with such a WON
DERFUL cast (powerhouse Eric
Owens and the divine Nicole Cabell)
in a lovely production by Vincent
Boussard weren’t enough, I get to wear
CHRISTIAN LACROIX’s rocking
costumes. Yes ... please don’t hate me!
;-))
MAGDA KRANCE
@Rosina: Crazy day - 1st my crush pulls a ‘Say Anything,’ then pretends 2 be a drunken soldier
#howiknowhelovesme #swoon. // Joyce DiDonato as Rosina and John Osborn as Count Almaviva
in The Barber of Seville, Lyric Opera, 2007-08 season.
Quinn Kelsey checks text messages backstage after Simon Boccanegra, in which he sang
the role of Paolo.
20
on which to showcase some career highlights
is a different aspect of connectedness with
those who wish to keep up to date with those
details. Whether for personal or professional use,
Facebook has most certainly enhanced the fabric
of the traveling opera singer’s life!”
Elizabeth DeShong (this season’s spunky
Hänsel at Lyric and a Ryan Opera Center alumna)
describes herself as an “American mezzosoprano most often found with a camera in her
hand, a score in her purse, a petition in her inbox,
and a vegetable on her plate” on her Twitterfeed.
She posts artistic and whimsical photos daily on
her online journal, asingerssuitcase.com
Fellow mezzo Joyce DiDonato posts inspiring quotes on her official Facebook fan page,
plus production and recital photos, promotions
for recordings, and shout-outs to see her and
her friends and colleagues perform. The accomplished and enthusiastic photographer also writes
thoughtful essays on her “Yankee Diva” blog
(now part of her official website), warmly connecting with fans and friends alike.
Baritone Quinn Kelsey (Paolo in this season’s Simon Boccanegra) and soprano Marjorie
Owens, both Ryan Opera Center alums with busy
international careers, are happily married but rarely in the same place. “We video chat as much as
possible,” Kelsey notes, and they often namecheck
each other in Facebook posts. Like many of his
colleagues, Kelsey also makes occasional droll
dietary confessions: “Beef jerky and Mountain
Dew. Breakfast of…lazy…Verdi baritones..:P”
The baritone has mixed feelings about the
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DAN REST
What if everybody wants to be your friend
on Facebook? Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham,
who graces Lyric’s stage in recital with soprano
Renée Fleming in late January, has a simple
screening rule: “If I’d recognize you from
across the street, and come over to give you
a hug, I’ll accept your friend request.” Some
denizens of the opera world, to limit their
personal Facebook circle to actual friends, use
pseudonyms, married names, or maiden names.
Baritone Thomas Hampson, Lyric’s
Boccanegra, celebrates the continuing evolution of the digital revolution and how it “flips
the paradigm of availability and accessibility
– you choose what you want to know about,
what you want to listen to, watch, buy, consume
– and that’s happened in our world. Until about
five or six years ago I just didn’t realize that so
many people were so intimidated by either the
art form or what it takes to be an artist in this
art form. That people had actual misgivings
about entering into the ‘sacred place’ of the
opera house – that astounded me! I love the
hallowedness of it – it’s not that I don’t think
it’s a special place; it is different than a cinema.
But in some ways it’s not. I didn’t realize some
people don’t go to concerts because they’re put
off or terrified that they’d do or say something
wrong or just not get it. The ‘not get it’ part has
interested me the most.”
Hampson sees social media as “an endless number of on ramps” onto the information
superhighway for people to explore whatever
intrigues them, including music and opera in
general and his own practice and performance
in particular. “I’m not trying to sell something
or convince anyone. I’m simply saying, ‘You
want to go on my travels? It a crazy, fun,
enlightening place to be.’ I believe firmly in
artists’ ability to hand their public the way to
connect their dots, to answer their own questions – why that song, why that opera, where
does it come from, why the opera house, who
else is singing here? It’s an endless myriad of
connectabilities that I think enhance public
awareness and acceptance and rejuvenation of
the world of opera. People choosing what they
participate in is good. For an institution like the
opera house, it’s a very lively dialog, and that’s
very important.”
@CarolFox would most assuredly agree.
It’s a brave new world for the grand old opera
– and almost always for the better.
Follow @LyricOpera on Twitter.
Magda Krance, manager of media relations at
Lyric Opera, has also contributed articles to
Time, The New York Times, The Washington
Post, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Magazine,
People, Spy, and Playboy.
broader hyperconnected landscape: “It’s a good
tool, and people can market themselves to a
broader audience, but it’s really surprising
how it’s taught some people to behave badly,”
he notes, referring to the often snarky, unfiltered comments that turn up online. “Some
people feel they’re allowed to offer opinions
they should keep to themselves,” Kelsey adds,
whether critiquing performances or spouting off
on controversial social issues. “I really feel we
all have an obligation to respect the next person. There’s a negative part of the internet that
breeds disrespect.” He does, however, value the
connections and reconnections with colleagues
and old friends that are possible through social
media “without postage and phone charges,
which promotes healthy communication.”
Sometimes it’s as basic as someone in an unfamiliar city asking, “Where do I go for shoes?”
or “I’m going to Florence, where should I stay?
What’s the better airport?” and getting a flood
of helpful suggestions. “All sorts of issues are
addressed with that electronic connectivity.
Even random friends of friends will chime in
with ideas. You amass more information than
you could any other way.”
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MAGDA KRANCE
@Octavian: At @HerrvonFaninal’s - just met
@SophievF & charmed her w/ a silver rose
#besotted #forthewin // Susan Graham in the
title role of Der Rosenkavalier, Lyric Opera,
2005-06 season.
Thomas Hampson tweets backstage during a Lyric Opera rehearsal of Simon Boccanegra
(2012-13 season), in which he sang the title role.
Singer Speaks on (Mostly) Silent Screens
C
onversing onscreen with Skype involves the vocal cords, whereas
Facebook, Twitter, and texting are alternative ways for singers
to “talk” freely without taxing their precious instruments. For Lyric’s
Elektra, Christine Goerke, whose glorious dramatic soprano soared over
enormous orchestral forces virtually nonstop, communicating by keypad
is a godsend. “Facebook has become my lifeline,” she declares. “I can see
what all my friends are doing all over the world. These people are family
– in this business our colleagues are our family.” For instance, after she
posted concerns about how flying to New Zealand would affect her voice
for her first Walküre Brünnhilde, a FB friend shared information about the
Humidiflyer, “a little facemask to recirculate your own moist breath while
flying. Facebook, that’s how I roll!”
Goerke’s posts throughout the rehearsal period reveal how the opera
community connects via social media to support and celebrate each other.
CASE SCAGLIONE
9.12.12 Can someone tell me how to look fresh enough to take pictures
for a newspaper article after five hours of Elektra rehearsal?! I think this is
a job for my fairy godmother... Eek.
9.13.12 First Elektra musical rehearsal this morning. I made sure to have a
good breakfast.
9.17.12 Stood on the stage of the Lyric Opera of Chicago today for the first
time. The set is MASSIVE for Elektra, and it is absolutely astonishing. I am
so excited about this production!
9.21.12 Today, I managed to: cut my toe on the set, get a splinter from
dancing with an axe, and then run into Renee Fleming while I was covered
in peat from digging for said axe. I love my job.
9.24.12 Crashing the orchestra reads for Elektra today at Lyric. Why?
Because I’m a t-shirt wearing, card carrying Strauss geek.
9.27.12 Alright. I officially feel the need to work in some GANGNAM STYLE
for the final dance in Elektra. Keep your eyes peeled, peeps.
It happened. GaNgNaM style Elektra dance.
Folks? I cannot begin to tell you how unbelievably exciting and amazing
this production is going to be. I am truly honored to be a part of this. If
you don’t have tickets to come see this production of Elektra at the Lyric
Opera of Chicago already? Get some now! I suspect they may be hard to
come by very soon! :)
9.27.12 I have to say that I officially have the *best* job in the world.
Getting to sing all of Elektra today with Sir Andrew Davis and the *hot*
orchestra at the Lyric Opera of Chicago? To go straight 80’s on y’all? ....
Totally awesome, dude. — at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
56
For Christine Goerke this is a Tuesday, rehearsing Elektra at Lyric Opera
of Chicago.
And speaking of 80s awesomeness…Goerke did explore Chicago a bit, and
shared the fun on Facebook:
10.4.12 Just bought Dan Aykroyd a bottle of wine. ;) – at Smith & Wollensky
10.4.12 Ah... Indian Summery goodness! I am *rapidly* falling in love with
this city!!.
And….it’s mutual!!