![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Marriage of Figaro
May. 17th, 2009 08:17 am
Not just one, but two of her teachers told Brandes - who appears as Susanna in Seattle Opera's The Marriage of Figaro - she'd never succeed in opera. Back in high school, her voice teacher told Brandes' parents, "I can't in good conscience take your money and continue to teach her. She wants to sing opera, and I don't think she has the voice for it." And during her college years at Ohio State University, the head of the voice department told her, "You're a wonderful musician, but you'll never be an opera singer."
That's a really unfortunate article to print in your program, when anybody with an ounce of musical knowledge or appreciation will be deciding that her teachers were absolutely correct within five minutes of Susanna opening her mouth. Every time Susanna had a high note coming up, I had to mentally brace myself for the shriek like a half-strangled cat that clawed its way past her vocal chords. In Act Two, in her trio with the Count and Countess, she literally made me wince.
She was far from the only poor note in last night's cast, half of whom were in the range from weak to appalling. And still the ignorants who attend the Seattle Opera gave this thing a standing ovation, because they seem to think that's what you have to do when you go to the opera.
That's a really unfortunate article to print in your program, when anybody with an ounce of musical knowledge or appreciation will be deciding that her teachers were absolutely correct within five minutes of Susanna opening her mouth. Every time Susanna had a high note coming up, I had to mentally brace myself for the shriek like a half-strangled cat that clawed its way past her vocal chords. In Act Two, in her trio with the Count and Countess, she literally made me wince.
She was far from the only poor note in last night's cast, half of whom were in the range from weak to appalling. And still the ignorants who attend the Seattle Opera gave this thing a standing ovation, because they seem to think that's what you have to do when you go to the opera.
