How is my bet looking? First score a safety.

Yeah! You tell the guy who does this professionally how his chosen field works.

I’ll add Barbier of Seville and Marriage of Figaro to that list. I watched the movie versions with DFD and Prey back to back and it was a good time.

What are your favorite chords?

That's very interesting, is comfort with the language a factor in selecting conductors, do they learn multiple languages like singers often do?

Eighteenth French complaints about opera can tend to focus on the idea of whether the language fits the medium and wanting the words to be understood, and the culture puts a lot of value on clarity and accurate enunciation when speaking so I've tended to see that as an aspect often emphasised in French opera.

(And the Puccini double bill sounds amazing btw, not as common to get to see those two of his!)

I didn't look it up. But thank you!

Come on, mate. The guy doing the AMA was at Tanglewood for two summers in 87 and 88; he studied with Bernstein and Ozawa there.

Google exists.

Haha not sure what to call it, think I picked up "commie flat / block" from an eastern European (or even Russian) Youtuber and it stuck with me. However, I have never seen such run-down places as a true "commie flat / block" in the Nordics. I have lived in rough neighborhoods, which honestly pale in comparison to places I have seen filmed in North America. (I'll have to look up section 8 housing, might be something like that I am picturing thinking about run-down places in the USA / North America.) The flats I have lived in have always been more than decent, once there was even an impromptu forced upgrade to the apartment where I got to choose colors for wallpaper, floor etc. I was not receiving any benefits of any kind, just worked full time and had a normal life. Apparently a kind of fund had accumulated for that specific unit and had to be used. And that was a pretty basic apartment I rented via the local municipality.

But yeah, the location wasn't golden. Still decent enough and for the price I paid - couldn't have asked for more.

I am not siding with any political side here, only describing my experience from this kind of housing.

You might like to have a look at the site Operavision, see if anything appeals to you - free opera, new ones added each month and stay up for a time. I got into it by watching things on there during the pandemic, those suggested are a good place to start, but what people like can be unexpected too - I fell in love with Janacek while still pretty new to it (one up on Operavision now, In the House of the Dead, is def. not the most accessible though) and find it thrilling to see a brand-new opera even if I end up thinking it's awful.

Conducting student here

What was it like getting your start in conducting, and what were some of your first conducting jobs like?

Probably a hard question for you, because I imagine there will be some bias, but how big of a difference do you think having a conductor makes on the quality of a performance? Would a symphony without a conductor sound horrible?

Do you like your job? Would you change it if you could?

ding ding ding. And those of us who were mezzo are now ready to sing Figaro or Germont. ;)

I tried that as well but this was in 1985. The conductor had long since retired.

Hi why does opera not pay its artists more?

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Lol at “commie flat”. The little I’ve seen has been a damn sight better than section 8 housing (welfare housing) in the US. The social housing often seems to be in crummy neighborhoods no matter where you go , though.

My buddies and I bet a bottle of scotch on that every year. I've won twice, once with orange and once with yellow. Seems like mostly lighter colours most of the time, you don't see red or purple very often.

The big M being the discovery you're now a mezzo and no longer a soprano, right? :P

Betting on commercials is wild because I work in the movie trailer business, and when I have a spot in the Super Bowl I definitely know when it will play. 🤷‍♂️

Ah, good old Dun Picker-Puts

A lot of junior high orchestras play pieces specifically written for that level of education. It may be more obscure because of that. The school might still have the sheet music on file though!

Who is going to win, and what will the score be?

Maestro Abel conducted that production of Carmen!

What would you do in this situation? I recently bought a house and after a month realized I HATE it. I overpaid by probably $30,000 and it needs about that much money in repairs (new furnace/water heater, roof, AC unit, and has no exhaust fan or window in the bathroom… laundry machines are janky too, wow I messed up bad)

I’ve deemed it unlivable for myself. I barely even stay there. I want to get rid of it asap and don’t care how much of a loss it takes, I really screwed up bad and I don’t want this financial damage to blow back on my family if I lose my job

Anyway… am I better off paying to get the issues fixed or list the house as-is when spring comes around and it has a better curb appeal

The inspection report looks ugly. But if I pay all the money to get things fixed I won’t have enough for closing costs

If I don’t fix anything well I overpaid like hell so I’ll have to list it way less than I bought it for and make up for the equity with cash

Idk what to do. Advice needed thanks