{"id":447,"date":"2010-04-07T10:21:27","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T10:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=447"},"modified":"2010-04-07T10:21:27","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T10:21:27","slug":"gollum_steals_the_ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2010\/04\/gollum_steals_the_ring\/","title":{"rendered":"So like, Gollum steals the ring from Siegfried and Br\u00fcnnhilde marries Aragorn?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Summer, nearly three years ago, I had an introduction lunch with Eric Owens and his manager, Matthew Horner<\/a>. After we freebased some feta at Molyvos, Matthew went back to work around the corner, and Eric and I walked a bit and scheduled a time to sign a publicity contract. Hilarity ensued at the actual contract signing, but I’ll tell you about that another time. I was working for Hilary Hahn, Gabriel Kahane, and The Wordless Music Series, and was completely terrified by the prospect of working with an opera singer. I had no idea who had sung this role and that one, who was The Tosca of Our Time, how exactly that aria was pronounced. If only everything I knew about musicals could be Google Translated into opera.  “Where are you walking,” Eric asked. “Uhhh….Columbus Circle.” By “Columbus Circle” I actually meant the Borders at the Time Warner Center, where I laid down my Visa for Anthony Tommassini’s Essential Library – Opera<\/a>, <\/i>Fred Plotkin’s Opera 101<\/a>, <\/i>Renee Fleming’s The Inner Voice<\/a>, <\/i>and Joseph Volpe’s The Toughest Show on Earth<\/a>. <\/i>I think I finished the Tommassini book that weekend, and then moved on to the rest. I also got standing room tickets for as many operas at The Met as I could, and now that I’m working with Sondra Radvanovsky, too, I think I’ve got a fairly good handle on things. <\/p>\n

But then–oh God–the RING CYCLE. <\/div>\n

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Eric is playing Alberich in The Met’s new production<\/a> this fall, and the terror has set in again. His terror? No no – my <\/i>terror. It was suggested at drinks after Eric’s Carnegie recital last April that, rather than me actually learning about The Ring<\/i>, we film me trying to explain the bits and pieces I know like this:<\/p>\n

Imagine my surprise and delight, then, when I got an e mail from OPERA America<\/a> yesterday:<\/object><\/p>\n

Welcome to the first week of OPERA America’s Online Learning Course on Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle <\/p>\n

You have received this e-mail because you are a registrant of Opera Conference 2010, a patron of Los Angeles Opera, an OPERA America member or work for a member company, or have purchased the course as a member of the general public.<\/p>\n

Week One<\/b>
The first lecture — “Entering the Ring” — will provide an overview of Wagner himself and the story of how he came to devise his unlikely epic. Also, you’ll hear Otto Schenk, legendary stage director, describe his experiences bringing the Ring to the stage at the Metropolitan Opera.<\/object><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am saved! And I love school! Click here<\/a> to listen to the introduction from Opera America president Marc Scorca. Here are the rest of the lectures:<\/p>\n

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