#Operaplot 2011 -- The plots thicken

Last week I posted info about the #OperaPlot competition on Twitter. Basically, the idea is to recount in a humorous fashion, the plot of any opera in 140 characters or less. And there are extra points for making a pop culture reference.

There are some pretty serious prizes at stake in this international competition, including two tickets to a performance at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as (a little closer to home for me) the Washington Opera.

If you're on Twitter, why not give it a shot? You still have Thursday and Friday (as of this posting) to enter. Just include the hashtage #operaplot in your tweet. To give you an idea of how easy this is, below are my entries. In brackets are the opera and composer in question -- just in case it's not clear.

Oh Susanna, don't you cry for me, I'm a man of God who loves your bod, in New Hope Tennessee.
[Susanna - Carlisle Floyd]

 Ah, yes, "Die Liebe der Danae." Set back in the day when a golden shower was a *good* thing, by Jupiter!
[Die Liebe der Danae - Richard Strauss]

His daughter's in love with a boy whose actually a girl married to the prisoner he's watching. Ah, that's Rocco's Modern Life.
[Fidelio - Ludwig van Beethoven]

A mason jars Tamino into action, and it's curtains for the Queen of the Night
[Der Zauberflote - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]

What happened at the end of Semele's Extreme Makeover? She got burned at the Reveal.
[Semele - Georg Fredrick Handel]

Lady Harriett is tired of being admired. Looks for a change and doesn't realize she has it made when she has it maid.
[Martha - Friedrich von Flowtow]

Senta, don't throw yourself at every sailor who comes into port. You'll get yourself in Dutch.
[Die Fliegende Hollander - Richard Wagner]

Susanna, say yes to the dress, but no to the Count.
[Le Nozze Di Figaro - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]

The question was: What is like ice, but burns like fire? You answered C) Turandot. Is that your final answer?
[Turandot - Giacomo Puccini]

Don Giovanni learns there is a statue of limitations.
[Don Giovanni - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]

Seneca to Poppea: You want to be queen? Ha! Over my dead body.
[L'incoronazione di Poppea - Claudio Monteverdi]

Some "dialogue." Sister Blanche always seems to get the last word.
[Dialogues des carmelites - Francis Poulenc]

Ramades and Aida get in on the ground floor of a pyramid scheme.
[Aida - Giuseppe Verdi]

OK, Judith, you've seen what's behind doors 1 through 6. Do you want to stop, or will you trade it all for what's behind door #7!
[Bluebeard's Castle - Bela Bartok]

Jeez, Dalila, I just asked for a little off the top.

Your mother and her lover murdered your father? Don't get mad, go mad
[Electra - Richard Strauss]

Opera diva hits a high C before hitting the ground.
[Tosca - Giacomo Puiccini]

Archer shoots at the apple of his eye. Hits apple, misses eye.
[William Tell- Giocomo Rossini]

The Governor/King of Boston/Sweden goes to a masked ball and is stabbed/stilettoed.
[Un ballo in maschere - Giusseppi Verdi]

And there are plenty more where those came from! 

#Operaplot 2011 -- the contest begins!

If you're an opera lover -- and have a Twitter account -- you can do something constructive with your time and enter the #Operaplot contest. If you're an opera lover, and don't have a Twitter account, then you open a Twitter account (it's free) and then enter the #Operaplot contest.

What is it?
#Operaplot is a yearly contest where the challenge is to sum up the plot of an opera in 140 characters (actually, 131 because you must include the hashtag #operaplot in the tweet). The goal is to create the wittiest summation possible. The contest is run by classical music blogger "the Omniscient Mussel," (in reality renowned music writer and photographer Marcia Adair), and kudos to you if you know from what opera Miss Mussel gets her online name.

Why bother?
Two reasons:

1. #Operaplot has a pretty impressive prize pool. Several major and regional opera companies have donated tickets, and EMI will be offering up some suitable CDs and DVDs as well. Your wit might get you into a performance of Iphigenie en Tauride at the Washington National Opera with Placido Domingo, for example.
2. #Operaplot is great fun. The reason the hashtag is required is that using the pound sign with a letter combination makes it a link. So if you receive a tweet with #operaplot in it, you can click on it and see what everyone else has contributed. 

When does it start?
The contest runs between April 11 and April 15, 2011, so you have (as of this writing) until Monday to think up your entries. I already have my first two ready to go.

 Last year I was one of the runners-up -- and won a complete set of Mozart operas for my trouble. You can bet I'll be entering this year as well. Come join the fun!

Review Engaging music from Jennifer Higdon and Michael Gandolfi

More and more I'm convinced that the people who don't like contemporary classical music are those that haven't heard it. Atonality and serialism are often cited as the reason for their rejection of current classical fare, but those objections are about a half-century out of date. Contemporary -- and especially younger contemporary -- composers use the musical language of today to create works that aren't intellectual exercises, but actually connect emotionally with an audience.

A good example is the latest release by the conductor Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on their own label. Joined by the eighth blackbird sextet, they perform brand new works by two fairly young, yet established composers.

The orchestra's had a fruitful association with Jennifer Higdon, and On a Wire continues that trend. The work is a concerto for the members of eighth blackbird and orchestra. It's an exciting piece, and one that puts the virtuosity of the sextet to the test. And it's engaging. Sometimes the music is quite lyrical, at other times it's bustling with rhythmic complexity -- but it's always tonal in some fashion. If you can handle the outre sound of the "Twilight Zone" closing credits theme, you'll have no problem with On a Wire. Higdon's created an entertaining and good-natured work that I suspect is as entertaining to watch in performance as it is to hear in recording.

The longer work on the disc is  Michael Gandolfi's QED: Engaging Richard Feynman. This one's for the orchestra alone, although it uses a greatly expanded percussion section.  The work uses two anecdotes of physicist Richard Feynman as its inspiration. Gandolfi's music is much more tonal than Higdon's -- my impression was that of a post-Hovhaness/Copland composition.  Choral settings of Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Walt Whitman,  Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Joseph Campbell are both effective and moving. Gandolfi knows how to write a vocal-friendly melody!

 If you're looking for new music, this CD is a great choice. And if you think there's no new good classical music to be found, this disc is even a better choice. It just might change your mind.

Highly recommended.