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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000018.txt from 2003/08
From: "James Jeter" <jyjeter@-----.com>
Subj: [DR-L] More on Brooklyn Opera Virtual Orchestra
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 08:36:11 -0400
Hi, List -
This article appears in today's New York Times; hopefully, the publicity
will not backfire on us - sometimes even bad publicity generates much public
interest, and if a lame-brain critic decides to give a rave review to this
virtual effort, then we're in even deeper trouble! It is good to see that
Horne & Voigt are with us. All the best - Jim
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August 4, 2003
Board Members Quit Over Opera Troupe's Virtual Orchestra
By ROBIN POGREBIN
A small opera company in Brooklyn plans to present a production of Mozart's
"Magic Flute" on Saturday with the sole accompaniment of a virtual
orchestra. Protests from the musicians' union have prompted the prominent
opera singers Marilyn Horne and Deborah Voigt to resign from the company's
board.
The one-night-only production is being presented by the Opera Company of
Brooklyn, started just three years ago to help foster the careers of rising
opera talent. The company is using the virtual orchestra because it cannot
afford a live one, said Jay D. Meetze, the artistic director and principal
conductor, who said the troupe had accumulated a deficit over the last two
years.
The musicians' union, Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians,
argues that virtual orchestras threaten the future of live music. It started
a letter-writing campaign last week, urging its members to protest to the
opera company's board of artistic trustees. "The difference between real
musicians and this is substantial," Bill Moriarity, president of Local 802,
said in an interview. "It worries me."
Virtual orchestras — whose computerized electronics simulate musical
accompaniment — are used to flesh out small groups of musicians by several
touring theatrical companies, but thus far their use in New York has been to
augment large complements of live players. The controversy over virtual
orchestras peaked during the Broadway musicians' strike in March. The
producers said they planned to use virtual orchestras if musicians called a
work stoppage, but the point became moot when other theater workers' unions
went out and Broadway went dark. The dispute was eventually settled with
mayoral intervention.
One of the companies enlisted by the Broadway producers was RealTime Music
Solutions, which is providing the accompaniment for "The Magic Flute." David
B. Smith, a partner in RealTime, is also providing the theater for the
production. The musicians' union argues that Mr. Smith is exploiting the
opera company to showcase and promote the virtual orchestra.
"This is a demonstration project for the virtual pit orchestra that is using
the Opera Company of Brooklyn," Mr. Moriarity said. "All I can say is, I
hope it gets reviewed."
The opera company says that Mr. Smith, chairman of the entertainment
technology department at the New York City College of Technology in
Brooklyn, secured the college's Voorhees Theater as a way for students to
participate and made his company's technology available at no cost to
improve on what otherwise would have been the accompaniment of one piano.
"We're a small company," Mr. Meetze said in an interview. "Our hearts are in
the right place. This is something we're getting for free."
"I would prefer live music," he added. "But I wanted something more than a
piano could produce."
Mr. Smith, a classical violinist himself, said he started to research and
develop the technology about 15 years ago at the College Conservatory of
Music in Cincinnati.
The Brooklyn opera performance is not a test case, Mr. Smith added. His
company has been providing orchestral enhancements — electronic music to
supplement live players — for musicals on the road, though the "Magic Flute"
production is RealTime's first stand-alone effort.
"This is just one little performance," Mr. Smith said in an interview. "I'm
all for live music. But I think you have an intriguing new instrument here,
and there's room for all of us."
Mr. Meetze acknowledged that he mistakenly failed to inform his board
members of the decision to use a virtual orchestra. "I should have been in
better communication," he said.
In response to the union's protest campaign, Ms. Horne received 95 e-mail
messages over two days, Mr. Meetze said, prompting Denise A. Pineau, an
associate manager at Sheldon/Connealy, a division of Columbia Artists
Management Inc., to send him with Ms. Horne's resignation via e-mail on
Thursday.
The next day Jesslyn Cleary, an assistant to Ms. Voigt, did the same.
Mr. Meetze said he also received a phone call from a union musician
threatening a violent demonstration at the forthcoming performance. Mr.
Moriarity said he knew nothing of this and would not condone it. "That's not
something that is sanctioned by Local 802," he said.
Mr. Meetze said he had received an expression of support from Marty
Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, and that he received an e-mail
message from a musician offering his services in the future.
The musician, David Nyberg, said in his message that he would send a check
for $150 to be used for the opera's Live Orchestra Fund, and "will also
offer my services as a percussionist, and my wife, Darlene, would like to
offer her service as a French horn player for an upcoming production of
O.C.B., gratis, if our schedules allow."
In the coming months, Mr. Meetze said, the opera company planned to raise
enough money to support two operas each season with live orchestras. For now
Mr. Meetze said he remained undaunted in his decision to perform as
scheduled on Saturday.
"There has been a lot of time put into this project and a lot of hard labor
by these opera singers," Mr. Meetze said. "We're still very committed to our
mission, and at this time the show must go on."
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