Talk to me about opera blogging

On most Fridays, I post interviews with folks far more knowledgeable than myself on specific marketing and publicity subjects. This week, that damned, elusive Opera Chic (!) on the future of the blog, why the New York Times isn't sweatin' it, and which opera writers to read across international lines.


Opera Chic, a young New Yorker, is privy to some of Italy's most exciting and exclusive opera events. Based in Milan, Opera Chic unlocks the fabulous -- but sometimes insular -- world of Italian opera & symphony through firsthand accounts in her piquant voice, thrusting opera into the 21st century.


What spurred you to start writing a blog in 2006, and what did you originally intend the blog to be?

After I moved from New York City to Milan, I quickly realized that I had access to stuff -- operas & symphonies & places -- that not many other people outside of Italy knew about. But I never wanted it to be a personal blog. The focus had to be on the performances, places, and performers. The blog-as-personal-diary format is fine for some, but it's not my thang.


How has it changed since then? Where would you like it to go?

It's gotten out of hand! Almost two thousand posts in two years, trips all over Italy to catch new productions and opening nights; then Salzburg and Vienna; and my time back home in New York catching opera at the Metropolitan, NYCO, and Glimmerglass, with trips to Santa Fe and Miami. It definitely became a much bigger project with time. I'd like it to stay the way it is because if it gets any bigger, I'd need to hire people to do more stuff than I already can handle; but I do have a new project that I'd like to launch in early 2009, so we'll see.

 
Do you consider yourself a critic? A tastemaker? A society columnist for the 21st century?

I consider myself Opera Chic. Warship me. :-)


What do you think The Opera Journalist ("  ") is going to look like in, say, 2015? The Christian Science Monitor just went online-only, and most major newspapers have blogs in addition to print content....

News about the death of print journalism has been greatly exaggerated! Seriously, how well can you actually read the New York Times on your iPhone or Blackberry? Also, not everybody has spanking new cell phones and AirBooks and Kindles. And in 2015, after several years of deep recession, I doubt everybody will have similar gadgets either. Newsstands and paper-based magazines and newspapers make sense. Maybe not in 2115, but in 2015, heck yeah.

 
Who are your favorite opera writers (bloggers, critics, singers...whomever) and why?

In the English language? So many: Philip Gossett reigns supreme, Martin Bernheimer is a maestro, and Tim Page too. Tim Mangan wrote great stuff about Bowles as a composer (and his blog in the OC Register is a good read). Norman Lebrecht is always entertaining...and he rants like nobody else. We also dig Jessica Duchen. Tim Smith is a good critic and a good man. And we all read Alex Ross's book, haven't we. In Italian, Paolo Isotta and Enrico Girardi from Corriere della Sera are mandatory reading. In German, we <3 the Austrian critic, Stephan Burianek.


I strongly, strongly believe that the gossipy side of the industry actually helps people realize that opera and classical music aren't these untouchable, unapproachable things, however, as we all know, people are lame and over-sensitive: do you ever get criticized for being "mean" or like, "inappropriate"?

If you don't have haters, it means nobody reads you. It goes with the turf.

 
Do you have any nemeses in the blog-o-sphere? Fellow bloggers you love to hate?

I'm in favor of peace for all operakind.


You're an international woman of mystery!! Why the choice to be incognito? Do any artists know your true identity?

Because it helps whenever lawyers want to shut you down! Yes, obviously some artists do. But Opera Chic reveals herself only to a very deserving few.


Generally, who are your sources? Do you have men/women on the proverbial ground, or do you rely on reader tips in addition to your own experiences?

As Joe Mankiewicz said, People will talk.


Let's say I've never seen an opera before, and miraculously have the money/time to travel anywhere in the world for My First Time, which house should I go to and what production should I see?

Juan Diego Flórez in anything at la Scala, the best out there in the most beautiful and most historic -- if badly run -- venue. Or, a Mozart/Da Ponte opera (doesn't matter which) conducted by Muti in Vienna or Salzburg.


Worst thing to happen to the opera industry in the past year?

Rolando Villazon's hiatus, and his shaky return.


Best thing to happen to the opera industry in the past year?

Hans Werner Henze's Phaedra, by all means.