How Facebook Versus Drag Queens Will Affect Opera Singers

UPDATE (10/02/14): Chris Cox of Facebook has responded to the controversy and says that drag queens will be allowed to use their stage names on their accounts. No word on sopranos. Read more about it here.

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If this Facebook debate were happening 40 years ago, this
 opera singer wouldn't even be able to go by Bubbles on
 her personal page, but rather Belle Silverman.

"Years ago, Lil Miss Hot Mess created a Facebook profile. 'The way that I move through the world as a drag queen is different than how I move through the world every day,' she says. With her stage name, she has a different social circle, a different way of being online. Her page was shut down early last week, and she wasn't the only one whose account was deactivated. Facebook also closed the pages of other queens after they were reported for not using their 'real' names on Facebook. Now, drag queens around the U.S. are gaining allies in a fight against Facebook's real name policy. Activists argue that 'real' is a complicated term, and that for some, using birth names on profiles can actually put them at risk instead of keep them safe. But Facebook contends this protocol prevents anonymous bullying. In an emailed statement, a Facebook spokesperson said: 'Having people use their real names on Facebook makes them more accountable, and also helps us root out accounts created for malicious purposes, like harassment, fraud, impersonation and hate speech. While real names help keep Facebook safe, we also recognize that a person's real identity is not necessarily the

Bianca Del Rio is one of the drag queens in danger of
 having to change her profile name to Roy Haylock.
(Photo: Santiago Felipe)

name that appears on their legal documentation, and that is why we accept other forms of identification that verifies the name a person uses in everyday life.' The policy isn't new, so why is it getting attention now? Within the last couple weeks, dozens of drag queens' Facebook profiles were reported as not having 'real' names (Facebook says it does not seek out fake profiles). Those flagged accounts were deactivated. Drag queens started organizing and, along with San Francisco City Supervisor David Campos, met with Facebook on Sept. 17. Facebook said it would reactivate approximately 200 accounts and that at the end of two weeks, queens would have to either change their names or lose their profiles. Next week, there's another meeting scheduled at Facebook — and a protest planned in San Francisco. In the midst of the back-and-forth, a number of questions about identity and safety online have come up. Here are a few of them. Facebook has said that drag queens can use their stage names if they switch over to pages in place of profiles. The way people engage is similar — except we're talking about 'fans' rather than 'friends.' Facebook also says it offered to help anyone who was interested in turning a friend list into fans. Here comes the issue: Pages are intended for 'businesses, brands and organizations.' As Lil Miss Hot Mess puts it, 'We're not Lady Gaga; we're not Coca-Cola.' For her, inviting people to a show is 'much closer to inviting people to a dinner party.' She adds, 'These names are not just marketing tools.' She says her name is another part of her identity — not a separate persona." [Source] What does this mean in terms of the opera world? If you log onto Facebook and try searching for one of your favorite singers, chances are you will get a fan page or Wikipedia produced page. Many opera singers don't want to deal with people they are not truly connected with in the offstage world sending friend requests to their private accounts. The solution? Make a variation on your name or truncate it so that no one searching actually could find it. But once they become friends with another singer,

Citizen Leah Joanne may have to become
 public figure Leah Crocetto if Facebook
 has their way. (Photo: Facebook)

for example, their identity becomes pretty obvious. For example, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton goes by the moniker Jam Barto; soprano Sondra Radvanovsky goes by her married name Sondra Lear; soprano Alyson Cambridge goes by Aly Cam (which might soon change, since she is recently engaged); soprano Leah Crocetto has taken the name Leah Joanne for her personal page (possibly her middle name as the surname?); and Deborah Voigt created two pages using her casual nickname Debbie Voigt. Will Facebook take these singers to task, along with the drag queens, and force them to either change their personal pages to the names reported on government issued IDs? Luckily Facebook wasn't around for the entire last century or we would have to search Facebook for the real names of famous singers like Alice Pons, Roberta Peterman, Mary Price, Belle Silverman, Helen Porter Mitchell, and Sophia Kalos.

David Hockney's "Turandot" Gets Invigorated in San Francisco

Foster as Puccini's Icy Princess

"Making her company debut in the title role, soprano Susan Foster revealed a powerful and intermittently well-controlled instrument, one that carried effortlessly and with steely intensity above the clamor of the orchestra and rang out clearly in more exposed passages. Foster had a harder time locating the lyrical vein in this role, and the potency of her singing often shaded into stridency; her account of the opening 'In questa reggia' sounded blunt and lurid. But she came into her own nicely in Act 3, managing Turandot's improbable emotional turnaround with flair. Tenor Walter Fraccaro's performance as Calaf also improved as the evening progressed, though he had further to go. Throughout Act 1, Fraccaro's singing - a few well-placed, clarion high notes aside - was tonally ragged and beset

Crocetto as Liù

by intonation problems. But the Act 2 Riddle Scene had a sturdy heft to it, and although his 'Nessun dorma' at the start of Act 3 sounded stiff and ill tuned, his performance flourished from there on. Christian Van Horn was a solid, if uninspiring, Timur. The rest of the performances evoke happy memories of opening night. Soprano Leah Crocetto, an Adler Fellow, remains a brilliant Liù, vocally lustrous and dramatically assured, and the Opera Chorus sang superbly throughout." [Source]

San Francisco Opera Gala Opening Night Event One Week Away

Iréne Theorin will portray
Puccini's icy princess.

"It’s not too late to part-take in of the most prominent events in the San Francisco musical and social scene. On September 9th, join Encore!, the San Francisco Opera’s club for opera aficionados, as they host the opening night gala at City Hall. As the second largest opera company in North America, the San Francisco Opera has been host to opera’s jewels like conductor Sir Georg Solti, director Francis Ford Coppola and lirico-spinto soprano Renata Tebali. The 2011/12 season will feature John Adams’ Nixon in China, a long sought after program. This magical evening will begin with cocktails at 5PM, followed by an elegant seated dinner at 6PM in City Hall and then attendees will head to the War Memorial Opera house and enjoy a performance of Puccini’s Turandot. The festivities continue back at City Hall at around 11PM after the performance with dessert and dancing into the wee hours of the night. One must first join Encore! and then purchase tickets for the gala which at this point start at $425 for Dress Circle Rear placement. A table for 10 Patron tickets is $6,000 (call (415) 621-4403 for orders and use this form) and if you can only make the performance, tickets are still available starting at $129." [Source]

Check out an image from the Hockney production and watch a clip of Iréne Theorin singing the "Riddle Scene" from Turandot at Covent Garden after the jump.

Valentina Naforniţă Wins Cardiff Singer of the World Prize

Valentina Naforniţă accepts her grand prize. Watch her performances in the video clips below:

Some exceptional stand-out performances came in the competition for the Song Prize. The first is American soprano Leah Crocetto who manages marvelously to sing Liszt back-to-back with Gershwin. The second is Ukranian baritone Andrei Bondarenko who went on to win first place. Both are outstanding. Two additional singers in the concert rounds also stood out. One especially worth listening to is Russian mezzo-soprano Olesya Petrova. The other is the wonderful coloratura soprano Hye Jung Lee.

Leah Crocetto Will Represent USA at Cardiff Singer of the World

"Tu che di gel sei cinta" Turandot (Puccini)

Leah Crocetto has been chosen as one of 20 singers to compete in the 2011 Cardiff Singer of the World competition to be held in Wales this June. She will represent the USA in hopes of winning the grand prize of £15,000 or even the £5,000 prize for lieder. The complete list of participants is after the jump.

The soprano was born 1980 in Adrian, Michigan. She has three younger sisters and as part of a big extended Italian family she says she has been listening to Luciano Pavarotti sing since she was in the womb. At 4 years old she would walk around the house singing "Non ti scordar di me" and "Nessun dorma" along with the record. Her father introduced her to all genres of music including Bob Dylan, the Rat Pack and even Earth, Wind & Fire. Her mother plays the piano, organ and clarinet. Both parents sang in choir and her father was even in a rock-n-roll band. She has one sister in politics that she says has a great voice. She saw her first operas when she was in fifth grade, Carmen and Tosca.

"Pace non trovo"

Tre sonetti del Petrarca (Liszt)

Growing up she attended private schools that were bible-based and after graduating high school she attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago where she studied with Arnold Rawls. She only stayed at the school for a year and a half, but continued to study with her teacher. At 20 she took part in the Utah Festival Opera program for young artists. By 25 she moved to New York where she starting singing jazz and cabaret, including Sam's Club on 46th Street. To make ends meet she waited tables at the Olive Garden in Times Square. After her father became ill, she moved back to Michigan to care for him and got a degree in acting at Sienna Heights University. Her father passed away in 2009.

Virginia Zeani Honored By Marcello Giordani Foundation

The Marcello Giordani Foundation presented its annual fundraising concert on December 8, 2010, during which a Lifetime Achievement Award was given to soprano Virginia Zeani. Watch the tribute filled with rare photos from her career and her acceptance of the award, as well as performances by Lise Lindstrom ("Ecco l'orrido camp"), Stephen Costello ("Che gelida manina"), Leah Crocetto ("Tu che di gel sei cinta") and Marcello Giordani ("Ah! leve-toi, soleil!") after the jump.