Re:

I can only be me.

I know and appreciate it. I think what I propose will create a new circumstance that addresses your concern. See you this week.

Leon

you definitely have something to say and a point of view. I feel uncomfortable telling you what I really think. I don't like that. I myself prefer brutal honesty. that's how I learn. otherwise I like you can argue myself into believing my own bullshit. I recognize the effort that went into yesterday's performance. and couldn't help smile when you talked about Strauss disdain for views other than the ones he held.

You should not worry about this aspect. Never trust anyone who is not emotionally tied to what they have spent their life working on. It is perhaps different in business, since the object is money or the winning of a competitive sport. Making music is different--it is a deep experience that exposes vulnerability in real space and time--one that involves emotional risks that most people do not take, at least for me. There are artists who have detachment, for whom making music is just a job. It is not that way for me. And I am asking for help on the brink of a great chance to make the kind of difference that would have a fighting chance to solve the problem we both see--so I am anxious. You'll see much greater equanimity if I have a fighting chance.

So the problem is mine, and, all things considered, I take criticism well, as well as anyone can for whom what does is more than a game--and I am dependent on others even on the stage. So hand out the real opinions, even though I cannot promise you lack of comfort. And the hurt passes quickly. My second child was killed when she was 8, so you can't really hurt me, so have no fear. By being brutally honest--using your word--you invoke, in the very use of language an image of harshness and pain. So in some cases expect the worst. Do not trust anyone who takes it lightly in matters of such power. And of course I am in a position in which I need your trust and support. And I am rattled, as well albeit temporarily, because I really like and respect you.

As to Strauss, he just thought he was better than everyone else in the field of music and he needed no one. In secret however, he took every critic seriously and suffered with them, even though he never showed it publicly.

See you this week.

Leon

In the 60s in Hyde Park there was speakers corner, when someone thought they had something important to say and truly believed they were on the right side of history god. the argument, they got on a box, did their thing, and some in the crowd, applauded, slept, walked away, or were inspired to get on a box next weekend. I personally think the performance needs to change the lives, thinking of some in the crowd. new insights, new illumination, forever changed. at least for a week or so. yesterday's performance, had no redeeming quality, none. it was joke telling in a foreign language. where the teller found it hysterical and his audience just stared blankly, even a bakers hat. key on the mayor. a smile on the girlfriends. it was as a rehearsal for a recording, suits and ties. a black man singing german out of the side of his mouth, in mimicking porgy and bess. the triangle was the only alive thing in the hall.

So you are partly wrong. You stayed only for part. And to tell you the truth for many on the stage it did exactly what you say. In the audience it can never be a mass you change in 2000 people with classical music, but a minority of individuals. And there were many who would disagree.

But I do not dispute that the connection to the audience should have been different---and the ideal circumstance would have permitted some props and costumes and super titles. It is an opera after all.

So get the point, but the analogy does not quite fit. You have some point--since that is what you saw and felt and I can't dispute that. But there were others--and not friends--for whom the performance did something important. The difference is that not enough and the audience needs to be different. You know who came up to me in droves afterwards to say that it was the high point of their lives--the girls in the children's chorus--who were blown away by the beauty of the music and the story and the quality of what happened.

understood but they would have been as happy singing a disney movie. I am biased greatly in your favor, though you might not believe it. I pay great attention to things that I disagree with, as I view it as a path to learning. I have sent out inquiries regarding Mahler Youth Orchestra to gauge where it is, has been etc. I did not enjoy the Cage performances but conceded their quality of intellect. and thought a good idea, can't get there on opera.

Try the Chamber Orchestra of Europe as well.
Opera has always attracted a low brow audience, unfairly. But it is indeed an acquired taste.