Opera rehearsal- from rehearsal room to opening night

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Thinking a lot about rehearsals these days and how people slip into other character’s lives and emotions i remembered i saw this amazing documentary:

This gives a little insight into what it takes to create a role for the Royal Opera House stage. Soprano Elizabeth Watts was absolutely gorgeous as Zerlina by the way 🙂

I remember watching this for the first time and crying for most of it because it found it so touching to see how hard and emotionally demanding the process actually is (even for somebody who is an absolutely fabulous singer!)

Enjoy!

15 thoughts on “Opera rehearsal- from rehearsal room to opening night”

    • Me too! it is nice to know how much work goes into performances, i am always grateful for glimpses of the detail. And she is quite amazing, isn’t she? It is surprises how even at that level the doubts and questioning never stop.

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        • Yes especially tenors and sopranos 😉 sometimes with mezzos or baritones one can tell but rarely so. Only basses sound special i guess you can’t be a bass without the natural voice sounding low and resonant as well. But the speaking voice has no relevance to the quality of the singing voice. Speaking is from the throat and the opera singing voice comes more from diafragm, belly, amplified and resonated through the bones of the head as well. It’s much more complex. Theatre projection voice also tends to be different due to similar amplification requirements. Singing in their natural rather than their classical voice opera singers also sound different again much closer to their singing voice. The higher the voice the bigger the diference to the speaking voice.

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    • I love her, she sis so vivacious! Seen her at Wigmore and she is always a joy to hear 🙂 Also nice to see a bit of behind of scenes of ROH productions, we sometimes forget how much detail goes into it. And i am always in awe of how much staff they manage to put behind it, musically but also language coaches and the lot, i appreciate the attention to detail 🙂

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  3. Fantastic video suggestion, Hari. I really enjoyed watching this docu, it was quite insightful, particularly in terms of the performer’s honesty when it comes to her confidence and to dealing with entering a group of people/colleagues whom you do not know yet.

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    • i know, right? you could feel the awkwardness, the uncertainty and then it is nice to see familiarity and confidence build. Loved her little presents for the conductor and team on opening night 🙂 And you can tell that they are more prepared for the musical side, or at least know how to managed that at the level they are when they sing in a house such as this, but the production and detail always concerns at the beginning. And sometimes we also forget how had it is for artists to be constantly away from loved ones and working alone…

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      • The presents were really nice. I wonder whether they were specially printed pencils.
        And yes, it really came through the docu how hard it was for her to be separated from her husband…

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    • I thought she was so courageous for sharing this with the public. And she is lovely, you just want to listen to her sing 🙂 I really like to know at least from time to time what it takes to get to the stage and what brings me such joy as i don’t want to forget about the effort, emotions sacrifices that go into it. Glad you enjoyed watching 🙂

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  5. Faszinierend und sooo beeindruckend. Es erfordert so viel Hingabe von so vielen Menschen, um diese Kunst auf die Bühne zu bringen – wunderbar. Sie scheint eine sehr liebenswürdige Person zu dein und der Stolz und die Freude des Ehemannes haben mich richtig gerührt. Herzergreifend!

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