Welcome to Opera Lively. Here you can enjoy complimentary access to great exclusive journalistic content, educational material, and an active discussion forum, all in a safe browsing environment (we are monitored by Sucuri and certified to be malware and virus free).
Since our software features only permit 20 articles to be represented on our front page, we have noticed that many members and visitors are unaware of part of our content. This is a descriptive index with clickable links (those 20 main articles in rotating bases are still available if you scroll down from this index as long as you are on our main page - if you are not, click on the Articles tab above, and you'll be).
Opera Lively does include a discussion forum, but is much more than that: we are providers of original and exclusive journalism, in-depth essays, news, and announcements related to opera and some other artistic genres. We divide our content in four main areas:
READ, LEARN, DISCUSS, and
SEE. We also have a Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/operalively and a Twitter feed at @Alma_viva_
Scrolling down from this Index (as long as you're on our Home page; if not, click first on the Articles tab up on the top left side of this page) you find 19 of our most relevant journalistic interviews.
Around this index, you also find widgets for more navigation, most recent articles, most recent threads and posts, polls, etc. But here are our four areas:
READ – Opera Lively’s journalism
- Exclusive Interviews – by now, more than 70 artists, including the biggest contemporary opera stars, other established singers, beginning singers, scholars, educators, conductors, stage directors, composers, opera house managers. Our interviews are intellectually challenging and engaging, with a conversational style. Click [here] for a list of names. Don't just read the singers: interviews with scholars like Phillip Gossett or stage directors like Thaddeus Strassberger are extremely educational, as well as contemporary composers like Robert Ward. And do notice that some less known singers also have good insights to share!
- Opera Lively Press is our young publishing house arm, and has already released three books which are on sale from this site (click on our e-store tabs above - secure credit card orders and worldwide shipping are available) and from other venues. First, "Opera Lively - The Interviews" on paperback and Kindle edition. It's available from our e-Store by clicking on the appropriate tab above, and on Amazon sites around the world. Click [here] for full announcement and links to sales points. Second, a guide to Berlioz's opera Les Troyens - click [here], containing among many other pieces of information, our own new translation of the libretto into English, also on paperback and Kindle. Third is Jay Hunter Morris' memoirs "Diary of a Redneck Opera Zinger" (yes, with a Z), click [here]. Next will be our guide to Eugene Onegin, and planned for later, a novel continuing the story of Tosca (the author is publishing it here chapter by chapter but we'll have a print edition once it is ready), and a History of Russian Opera. Volume 2 of the Interviews series is also forthcoming. Prospective authors should inquire about how to send manuscripts for consideration, by using the Contact Us link on the bottom of our pages.
- Opera News – we summarize and digest the best in the print press for you, and generate our own news
- In Print – contains detailed summaries of recent issues of magazines such as Opernwelt, Opera, Opera Now, and Opera News. Click [here]
- Other news – Miscellaneous, under development [here] but we also have a more informal News thread in our discussion forum, click [here]
- Series of articles and novels – Some fun reads for you
- Once or Twice a Fortnight – short essays and playlists on various opera and classical music themes. Click [here]. Observe that there is a page two for this series, [here], and a page three [here]. Authored by the Canadian member who goes by “itywltmt”
- The Opera Lively Serial Novel Project “Opera Deadly” – it’s a murder mystery with an operatic theme, collectively written. It’s been stalled lately but can be revived anytime – any member can contribute to it by writing a chapter [here]. The existing chapters can be read [here]; it’s quite funny.
- An Opera Novel – Outstanding novel by staff member who goes by “Amfortas” that is being published chapter by chapter on Opera Lively, with the imaginative fictional story of Floria Tosca of Puccini’s opera, speculating that she survived the fall from Castel Sant’Angelo and lived on. A fascinating read, click [here]
- Other Articles - miscellaneous articles such as Opera Terms (addressing fachs, singing techniques), Legendary Italian Baritones, others. [here]
- Reviews of Opera DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and CDs – these can be found [here], divided by composers. Any general member can contribute.
- Reviews of live performances in the opera house or cinema broadcasts – click [here]. Any general member can contribute.
LEARN – Opera Lively’s educational content – it’s high quality and scattered throughout the site, overlapping with different areas, but here is a way to have access to all of it.
- Opera In-Depth Project – the jewels in our crown; a project that aims at publishing deep essays about the 100 most important operas in the repertoire, beyond anything that can be easily found in online encyclopedias. Each opera has at least six articles addressing sources, circumstances of composition, detailed musical structure, trivia, discography, past and present singers with audio and video examples, stagings, etcetera. Click [here]. It’s authored by our senior editors. It grows once a month or once every other month, and the following operas have been addressed already:
- La Traviata (Verdi) – click [here]
- Die Tote Stadt (Korngold) – click [here]
- Il Trovatore (Verdi) – click [here]
- Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) – click [here]
- Les Troyens (Berlioz) – click [here] - now with our own full translation into English of the French libretto; as far as we know, this, to date, cannot be found for free anywhere else in the Internet.
- Lulu (Berg) – click [here]
- Tosca (Puccini) – click [here]
- Carmen (Bizet) – click [here]
- The Pearl Fishers - click [here]
- Upcoming:
Così fan Tutte - August / September
- Singer In-Depth Project – a project that aims at exploring 50 great singers. It’s authored by senior editors and staff. Click [here]. It’s growing slowly but we already have:
- Claudia Muzio – click [here]
- Rosa Ponselle – click [here]
- Fritz Wunderlich – click [here]
- Natalie Dessay – click [here]
- Sena Jurinac – click [here]
- Anita Cerquetti - click [here]
- Beyond the Standard Repertoire – in addition to the In-Depth projects for the 100 main operas, this project addresses those that are a bit off the beaten path. Other than senior editors and staff, contributions by general members are possible (you can place an entry [here] (and then you click on Post New Thread) and if judged of sufficient quality it will be promoted to this area. Click [here] to read the existent entries, which are:
- Le Roi Malgré Lui (Chabrier) – click [here]
- The Crucible (Ward) – click [here]
- Padmâvatî (Roussel) – click [here]
- Schwanda the Bagpiper (Weinberger) – click [here]
- Orlando (Handel) – click [here]
- Les Pêcheurs de Perles (Bizet) – click [here]
- Un Giorno di Regno (Verdi) – click [here]
- Der Ferne Klang (Schreker) – click [here]
- Loge’s Hidden Operatic Gems – the outstanding operatic scholar, Spanish member who goes by “Loge” publishes here a series of in-depth analyses of his favorite operas. Click [here] for the series translated into English by our senior editor “Schigolch” and [here] for the original articles in Spanish (browse the forum, they're scattered around). Ready, are:
- Mireille (Gounod) – click [here]
- La Juive (Halévy) – click [here]
- Robert Le Diable (Meyerbeer) – click [here]
- Around the World in Twelve Zarzuelas and One Prologue (analysis of thirteen Zarzuelas, the Spanish style of operetta) – click [here]
- Der Mond (Orff) – click [here]
- Edgar (Puccini) – click [here]
- Fedra (Pizzetti) – click [here]
"Esclarmonde" (Massenet), scheduled for July.
- Opera Terms – This is a thread in our discussion forum that contains posts with detailed explanations of not only some common opera terms (such as definitions of the various voice types and ranges) but also of some vocal techniques like vibrato, passagio, portamento, squillo, trill, appogiature; musical structures like 12-tone system, serialism, minimalism; operatic devices like cabaletta, da capo aria, etcetera. This is arguably our most educational thread for those who want to better understand the artistry of the human voice. It’s slow to load due to the numerous video clips but worth the wait. Click [here], or, it also exists as an article under the Other Articles header: click [here]
- Operatic books – Brief review of several publications on the topic of opera. Click [here]
- Opera Lively's Virtual Opera Book Club - in-depth discussions of a Book of the Month selected by our members; all registered members should feel free to join, by clicking [here]
- Opera Directors – A thread about the different styles of famous stage directors. Click [here]
- Opera Lively Inventory of Opera Today – a list of several opera resources – singers, opera houses, conductors, recording companies, vendors, media, podcasts, blogs with clickable links, etc. Click [here]
- What is Opera? A funny article with cartoons, clips, but also some serious history of opera. Click [here]
- Other educational threads – This forum area contains threads with posts that are drafts of some of the educational articles, before they’ve been promoted to article, and some other scattered educational topics. Click [here]
DISCUSS – our very active discussion forum with literally thousands of threads and posts covering the gamut of the operatic experience. Click [
here] for the full forum list and index, but do notice these interesting areas (in addition to some that have been already addressed above due to overlapping, such as the educational and review threads):
- General Operatic Discussion – The largest forum with very varied topics, including Opera Small Talk, Index of Complete Operas on YouTube, Contemporary Opera, Verdi’s Bicentennial, Wagner’s Bicentennial, sources for librettos, etcetera, etcetera – just about anything you want to talk about that is opera related – click [here].
- Singer-Oriented Forum – Talk about your favorite singers – click [here]
- Non-Operatic Classical Music – To discuss other classical genres – click [here]
- Off-Topic Discussions – To talk about films, literature, general chit-chat, light banter, humor – click [here] (politics and religion are banned topics)
- New members – Introductions – To talk about yourself when you join – click [here]
- Announcements from Staff to Members – We direct your attention to new interviews, general housekeeping matters, etc. – click [here]
- Classifieds – ads, exclusively for opera-related or classical music-related items that are legitimate and don’t infringe copyrights – click [here]
- International Area – for posts in languages other than English, including the languages below. International members, please help with the growth of this area!
- Spanish – click [here] - sizable, active area
- Portuguese – click [here] - still small but with some threads
- Italian – click [here] - very small
- French – click [here] - still small but with some threads
- German – click [here] - very small
SEE – Here is where we encourage you to see your local performances, broadcasts, online streaming, and we announce local events.
- The Local Area – this area is in constant growth and contains all sorts of announcements and events of geographically local interest. North Carolina, USA, which is where Opera Lively headquarters are located, has a more complete such area, but any general member can develop a new one by sending news by PM (private message) to staff member “Almaviva” – if deemed noteworthy, it will be included. We have already announcements and local articles for:
- United States
- North Carolina – click [here]
- Ohio – click [here]
- Washington State – click [here]
- California – click [here]
- New Mexico – click [here]
- New York – click [here]
- Colorado – click [here]
- Washington D.C. - click [here]
- Spain – click [here]
- United Kingdom – click [here]
- Brazil – click [here]
- Canada – click [here]
- The Netherlands – click [here]
- New Seasons – schedules for many opera companies around the world. Click [here]
- Summer Festivals and Concerts. Click [here]
- Broadcasts and Streaming. Click [here]
- Complete operas on YouTube. Click [here] for a partial index, and [here] for the thread with the videos of the operas.
HOUSEKEEPING – Here are some other useful areas that don’t fall under the above:
- Links to sites of our partners and other worthy venues are [here] but many other links can be found [here]
- Our About Us containing our foundation Manifesto can be found [here]
- The Activity Stream provides the first line of the most recent posts and can be found [here]
- The list of New Posts since your last visit can be found [here]
- Our FAQ with navigation help, how to post, how to use our software features, etc., can be found [here]
- Our Terms of Services with general rules for member behavior are [here] and legal disclosures and rules are [here]
- Registration for new members are free and can be done by clicking [here]
- Contact Us resource can be found [here]
- Opera Lively’s Portal – this is a beautiful presentation of our mission statement and general areas, with striking pictures. Click [here] to see it (a screenshot with one of its pictures is below), and from it you can navigate to any of the four main areas. While you see the little slide show, you can listen to a beautiful aria by clicking on the small loudspeaker icon on the bottom of the page. The portal is accessible also by directing your browser to www.operalively.net - you can bookmark it if you prefer this visually beautiful door to access our site.
- Also notice that we have a Search button on the top right corner, a Google Search button inside the forum, and various social media buttons to share or "like" content with Facebook, to tweet about us, to email content to friends, and so forth.
- Once you become a member, a Notification tab will appear on the top right, showing you private messages you have received, and "likes" and "thanks" your posts have received. You'll also have a profile with various functions.
Enjoy Opera Lively! Bookmark it, tell your friends, Facebook about it, Tweet about it! You can read our content at will (it’s free) even if you are not a member, but you can also register as a member (it’s free as well) in order to be able to post your own comments.
Sustaining such a high quality and varied opera website is very expensive. Even though we sell advertising to survive, we are still facing a huge deficit. If you like all that we do (again, for free; we are not in this for profit but rather because of our love for the art form) consider a donation (any amount is a generous gesture) to keep the site alive by clicking on the appropriate button, down at the bottom of our pages. Thank you for visiting Opera Lively.
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Das Opernglas – June, 2013, Issue Summary
In his commentary for this issue, Ralf Tiedemann, editor-in-chief of Das Opernglas, takes on the issues that his Opernwelt counterpart apparently preferred to ignore. They are, of course, related to the notorious Düsseldorf... read more