Opera Box Score

It’s the first episode of Season Six! Thanks to all of you who talked to us, donated to us and listened to us over the past five years... [@ 8 min] The OBS legion kick it off with a tag team interview when Oliver goes ‘Inside the Huddle’ with the founders and editors of OperaWire, brothers David and Francisco Salazar... [@ 46 min] The bracket is set. It’s Joyce DiDonato versus Benjamin Bernheim, and Julius Drake versus… Julius Drake? Find out who was nominated for a 2020 Classical Grammy, plus all your the headlines in the “Two Minute Drill”... www.operaboxscore.com www.facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

The OBS cohort wrap up Season 5 with a 'Best of..." show featuring highlights from the past year, including... [@ 4 min] ...a tribute to Italian soprano Mirella Freni... [@ 19 min] ...an 'Inside the Huddle' segment with last year’s Grammy Award winner for Best Classical Vocal Solo album, Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman... [@ 40 min] ...Camacho and Cummings facing off in a brutal ‘TKO’ match featuring mad scenes, with conductor Anthony Barrese as the judge… www.operaboxscore.com www.facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

[@ 3 min] The OBS side go ‘Inside the Huddle’ with baritone and educator Daniel Belcher to talk about his training program for singers, and they ask him when exactly he last watched sports on TV... [@ 30 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill’, advice on how to show appreciation in the opera house, (IF you’re in an opera house), during the pandemic... www.operaboxscore.com www.facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

[@ 3 min] Oliver and Matt go head to head in an early opera 'TKO'. Who will win out in the battle of the Orfei...? [@ 44 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill,’ don’t believe everything you hear about COVID transmission at the opera... www.operaboxscore.com www.facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

[@ 3 min] The OBS lads go 'Inside the Huddle' with Alyssa Martin and Marcus Shields, two of the co-founders of OSSIA, the online production company that approaches opera with the same savvy as your favorite social media influencers... [@ 38 min] ‘Pop Quiz’ returns, much to Oliver's chagrin. If opera artists were wrestlers, what would their nicknames be...? [@ 57 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill’: good news from Berlin, bad news from St. Petersburg, really bad news from St. Louis... www.operaboxscore.com www.facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

[@ 2 min] Matt Cummings launches a brand new segment, as he and the OBS dudes debate the merits of an overlooked classic opera… [@ 43 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill’, Salzburg may be a little hotter than expected this year, and are the Met’s pay-to-listen concerts striking a sour note for some in Operaland? www.operaboxscore.com www.facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

[@ 4 min] Oliver goes ‘Inside the Huddle’ with the pioneering Cuban-American composer and conductor Odaline de la Martinez. Find out how Maestra Martinez has been toiling over decades to increase the diversity of those composers whose work gets performed and recorded. Plus, Martinez reveals how Dame Ethel Smyth got into “good trouble” and conducted a chorus from prison… [@ 42 min] The OBS officiating crew dips into the listener mailbag for a double header of ‘Post Game Notes’ on Richard Strauss and Beverly Sills, and gives some questionable advice… [@ 1 h 07 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill,’ Lisette Oropesa gets an encore and Andrea Bocelli has a bad take on coronavirus lockdowns… www.operaboxscore.com www.facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

[@ 5 min] Major League Baseball is back, sorta. The OBS Bloopers talk through the struggles baseball has faced, past and present, and what signs opera and classical music might steal from America’s pastime... [@ 30 min] American soprano Amanda Woodbury goes 'Inside the Huddle' to discuss singing Konstanze, balancing motherhood with an international career, and being a 9th inning replacement for a Met radio broadcast... [@ 60 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill’, Lincoln Center stops paying above market interest rates. Your OBSers have no idea what that means, but'll give hot takes on it, anyway... www.operaboxscore.com www.facebook.com/obschi1 @operaboxscore IG operaboxscore

[@ 5 min] This week in 'Chalk Talk', the reckoning begins. A-list artists called on the Richard Tucker Foundation to remove one of its board members after he made a series of racist comments on social media. This, after a week full of articles and editorials addressing Classical Music’s race problem and middleclassartist.com’s data-driven spotlight on racial inequality in opera... [@ 19 min] Oliver goes ‘Inside the Huddle’ with one of the most exciting and talented American baritones of his generation. That baritone would be Theo Hoffman… [@ 51 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill’: if you had to pick between Basketball and Opera, what would you choose...? www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

[@ 3 min] Team OBS goes ‘Inside the Huddle’ with Joel Puckett, composer of Minnesota Opera’s production of “The Fix” (with a libretto by Eric Simonson) about the fraudulent 1919 Chicago White Sox team. A guest who can shoot the breeze about sports…?! [@ 37 min] Apparently there are still places that want to hire James Levine. In ‘Chalk Talk’, find out where in the world presenting an alleged sexual predator and cult-leader will still sell tickets... [@ 46 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill’, women take the reins of New Orleans Opera and Charlottesville Opera, while the Metropolitan Opera stops giving away free online content… www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

We keep the (American) Independence Day weekend party going - physically distanced, of course - with a trip into the archives. Join Matt, Weston and Ashlee (plus a little bit of Toby) for three Yankee Doodle OBS Hall-of-Famers… www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

[@ 5 min] Wonder why all classical composers seem to be dead white men? Wonder where all the women are? Oliver goes ‘Inside the Huddle’ with a champion of gender equality in classical music: Elizabeth de Brito, the producer and host of England’s The Daffodil Perspective… [@ 32 min] We dip into the ‘Listener Mailbag’ to discover Oliver, Matt, and Ashlee’s Fantasy League picks for a dinner party… [@ 54 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill’, experience the mask-wearing, physically-distanced audience at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, and take a trip to Greece with Ashley… www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

[@ 4 min] Stage director Alison Moritz joins George and Oliver ‘Inside the Huddle’ to talk about opera in the Era of Corona and of Uprising... [@ 27 min] A Full House of the OBS team open up the ‘Listener Mailbag’ and find an inquiry about their hopes and dreams for a new opera house... [@ 35 min] In the ‘Two Minute Drill’, Barcelona tests the theory of whether plants appreciate classical music... www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

[@ 5 min] It’s the man of the hour, the courageous and graceful rising star tenor who has thrown the gauntlet down in his call to action for opera companies to start engaging more black artists *now*. Creative consultant Oliver Camacho goes ‘Inside the Huddle’ with Frederick Ballentine... [@ 34 min] Coach Weston Williams and guest assistant coach Harry Rose wrap up ‘Spring Training for Your Ears’ with what Weston describes as the best finale in all of opera... [@ 1 h 15 min] In the Two Minute Drill, we hope Alexander Neef has a nice stockpile of N95 masks. That man is going to be doing a lot of flying... www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

If this is the first episode you're hearing, welcome to the OBS. For everyone else, this episode will sound a little different. We're still the same show. We're going to get to the second part of our 'Spring Training for Your Ears' on Strauss’s "Die Frau ohne Schatten". We're still going to have the 'Two Minute Drill'... But we want to start by acknowledging the cultural moment we're in, one that affects so many of our colleagues and friends, and point to some of the Black artists in our field who are speaking out...

[@ 3 min] The OBS-ers begin a three-part ‘Spring Training for Your Ears’ on Richard Strauss’ “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” with special guest panelist Harry Rose... [@ 51 min] The team goes ‘Inside the Huddle' with Timothy Nelson, the artistic director of Washington, DC’s INSeries organization. Find out how they’re planning to create a digital opera house... [@ 1 h 14 min] In the 'Two Minute Drill', the Arena di Verona celebrates Domingo of all people... www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

[@ 6 min] Alright, tonight… it’s a double-header ‘Inside the Huddle’ all about the end of the “young artist” stage of a singer’s career and the transition to management. We talk to American soprano Emily Pogorelc who joins the ensemble at the Bayerische Staatsoper this fall. [@ 33 min] Then… it’s the founder of Stratagem Artists, Justin Werner. A former singer himself, Werner answers some of the most frequently asked questions about transitioning to a managed career, and when exactly IS a singer ready to have representation… [@ 1 hour 4 min] Plus, in the Two Minute Drill... in her infinite wisdom, Anna Netrebko tells her followers to “hashtag break quarantine”… www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

[@ 5 min] The OBS gents play a 'Chalk Talk' double header with one of the most recognizable voices in opera podcasting. Baritone Michael Mayes joins the panel to discuss the content that companies are sharing with audiences starved for opera and how they’ve pivoted to online strategies in the wake of COVID-19… [@ 57 min] In the Two Minute Drill... Does your shelter-in-place have enough Marian Anderson? Did a panel of renowned scientists speak too soon about choral concerts? www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

[@ 5 min] Oliver goes ‘Inside the Huddle’ with Russell Thomas, one of the most sought-after tenors of his generation who specializes in the hardest-to-cast roles like Pollione in Bellini’s ‘Norma’, Florestan in Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’ and the title role of Verdi's ‘Otello'… [@ 45 min] In ‘Chalk Talk’, the OBS gang wrap up the Opera Bracket Final Four from Michigan Opera Theater. Only a single team can have its one shining moment. Find out who… [@ 1h30min] And in the Two Minute Drill… Bad news from more of America’s summer opera festivals and worse news from the National Association of Teachers of Singing... www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore

[@ 4 min] It’s our Mother’s Day Spectacular! Ashlee Hardgrave talks to seven artists and administrators who navigated partnership at parenting while at the top of their operatic game… [@ 53 min] George and Oliver play through their regions of Michigan Opera Theater’s Greatest Opera bracket. It’s Carmen versus Dalilah and Ann Trulove versus Cunegonde...! [@ 1 hour 42 min] In the Two Minute Drill... La Scala forges ahead with plans to re-open this September. Will that decision end up as one of our future Bad Calls…? www.facebook.com/obschi1 www.operaboxscore.com @operaboxscore