Culture Surfing

If you were to hear opera singer David Daniels’ voice before you saw him perform, you might make a mistaken guess as to his gender. Countertenors such as Daniels sing in a vocal range usually associated with sopranos and other classical female singing styles. Daniels’ renowned approach has redefined the countertenor style for a new generation of opera audiences. The first countertenor to give a solo recital in the main auditorium of Carnegie Hall, Daniels sings the role of Orpheus in Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo & Euridice at the Atlanta Opera, Nov. 14, 17, 20 and 22.

How young were you when you began singing as a boy soprano?
I think I remember singing when I was 3 or 4 years old. It was probably more like screaming and driving my older brother crazy. He plays the cello, so he’s the only one in my family who doesn’t sing. My mother was a soprano, my father a baritone, and they both taught voice at Converse College. My mother taught me to sing in my “head voice.” I sang professionally as a boy soprano probably from age 9 to 16. Even though my voice changed, I kept the ability to sing this way as a teenager. Now I’m 43, and I still sing this way.

Continue Reading “Speakeasy with David Daniels”

(Photo Courtesy the Atlanta Opera)

Bookmark It

CL’s Chanté LaGon and Curt Holman discuss the Atlanta Opera’s production of Richard Wagner’s supernatural nautical romance The Flying Dutchman.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

Download

Subscribe to the Air Loaf RSS feed to download each new episode automatically

Bookmark It

1) Atlanta Opera’s The Flying Dutchman continues at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

2) Fleetwood Mac performs at Philips Arena.

3) Decatur Library hosts Georgia Debut Author Night Part 2.

Continue reading “5 things to do: Tuesday”

Bookmark It

THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA: Mark Delavan as the Dutchman in the Atlanta Opera

The Flying Dutchman can frighten people, and not just because he’s a centuries-old ghostly captain, doomed to sail the seven seas eternally.

Richard Wagner’s supernatural nautical romance The Flying Dutchman, like many heavyweight operas, can intimidate audiences because of its running time and language barrier, not to mention the grandeur of the feelings involved. Opera arguably traffics in greater passions than any of the art forms, and the characters express emotions more deeply than the average person may feel in a lifetime. The Atlanta Opera’s The Flying Dutchman proves that opera, however stylized, can rise above the ironic detachment that ascends so much contemporary art.

The Flying Dutchman’s protagonists tap such soaring feelings that even their fellows in the Wagnerian ensemble seem, by comparison, as grounded as you and me. The Atlanta Opera’s stirring production, directed by Tomer Zvulun and conducted by Arthur Fagen, still touches on themes that hold relevance to contemporary audiences, while creating a deliciously spooky atmosphere.

Continue reading “Atlanta Opera’s Flying Dutchman delivers sturm, drang”

(Photo by Tim Wilkerson)

Bookmark It