BLESSED ENLIGHTENMENT
"L'uomo del Loggione, have you personally seen mics being used at the Met? If so please enlighten us about the precise details otherwise shut up!"
The Loggione has received countless
emails containing variations on this statement and the first thing that
needs to be said is that these demands are completely justified. Why shouldn't
people insist that others provide details regarding the
claims that they make?
I appreciate this and so in this article I
will be giving a first-hand account of covert amplification which I have seen
used at the Met. The important thing to remember when reading my account is
that the things which I am reporting on are very commonly practised. These
practices which take place on a week-to-week basis and have been going on for
decades have been witnessed by hundreds of people. Yet due to the wall of
silence which this series describes they remain unknown to the public. To my knowledge
there has never been an article which has given a first-hand account of covert
amplification at the Met. This is not surprising because in addition to the
author becoming black-listed, other people implicated would also suffer by consequence. Because of this, a test has been applied
with regard to divulging people’s personal identities. Naturally some details
need to be given in order for me to substantiate my claims, but once this
burden of proof has been met, I see no need to reveal the identities of further
people. In light of this consideration, some of the personalities in my
testimony will not be identified. However, all specific details including the
statements which people made have been included as they actually happened.
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 2015
It was a sunny morning and I was knocking
back my second Recession Special from the famous fast food
institution Gray's Papaya on the corner of Broadway and West 72nd. Having
completed my breakfast of champions, I strolled down Broadway, crossed the
lights at 62nd street and headed for the Met’s backstage door. Flashing my pass
to the security I continued on through to the artist area and into the dressing
room of mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung. Today was a technical rehearsal and the
opera was Tannhäuser. It was the last staging of the classic Otto Schenk
production which can be viewed online with a Met Opera on Demand subscription
or as a rental. The cast included Johan Botha, Eva Maria-Westbroek, Michelle DeYoung, Peter Mattei and Günther Groissböck and was performed under the baton of Maestro Levine. Having been there
for some time I had already seen most of the rehearsals including some
of the piano rehearsals. This process was extremely valuable to me,
particularly the opportunity to observe Levine who despite being in a
wheelchair could only be described as masterful.
Reclined on the burgundy sofa inside the
dressing room, I heard a knock on the door which turned out to be a member of
the costume department. This person who I will refer to as "Miss Microvanovich"
came in and said: "Michelle, is it ok if I fit your body mic now?"
Michelle agreed and the device which consisted of a battery pack, wire and
microphone was fitted.
Trying to simultaneously digest what I was
seeing and my Recession Special breakfast, I continued to watch with
intrigue. After a few minutes Miss Microvanovich left the room and there was an extended period of
awkward silence. It was at this stage that the following conversation took
place. I said:
L'uomo: "Darling, you’re wearing a
body mic..."
DeYoung: "Yes."
L'uomo: "Yes............... I didn't know the Met used body mics."
DeYoung: "Sometimes we
do."
L'uomo: "How long has this been
going on for?"
DeYoung: "Ever since I was a young artist. I have worn body mics here many
times. I also wore one
last time I did this role ten years ago."
At that moment, I released what a fool I
had been. For
years I had been educating people about the artform which I loved, and during these impassioned sermons which where
delivered with complete authority I would always stress:
"Opera is a 100% acoustic artform, and
that’s what makes it so special."
Over the course of the next few years that belief was completely shattered. Because all over the world, I witnessed amplification being used, sometimes in the most despicable manner. Often singers would be wearing body mics when their colleagues were not. I have even seen technical crew instructed by management to turn up the gain for one singer and then turn it back down again when his colleagues would sing. In most of these instances the amplification was employed solely to assist singers who did not have the ability to project over an orchestra in the repertoire they were singing. I have witnessed scenes like this involving many well known singers, some of whom are amongst the most famous in the world.
On this particular occasion, the reasons
were less malign. It turned out that amplification was employed due to the fact
that in this production, multiple scrims were employed in the design of the
set. For readers who are not familiar with the jargon a "scrim" is a permeable cloth which is lowered between the singers and the audience.
Because sounds are vibrations, the scrims, dependent on their individual properties, affect to a minimal degree the voices which pass through them.
Therefore, what I was essentially being told was that despite being used for centuries without the need for amplification, the presence of scrims now justifies the use of body microphones within opera. To Michelle DeYoung's credit she only agreed to wear the mic during the final scene, when she was positioned upstage, behind two scrims and on high scaffolding. However it must be stated that the use of her body mic being restricted to this scene alone was only due to her insistence. I say this because on five occasions I witnessed Miss Microvanovich assert that it would be preferable to fit the microphone before the show. On each of these occasions the conversation would go like this:
Microvanovich: "Michelle, why
don't I just fit the microphone before Act One. That way it will be
done."
DeYoung: "No thank you. I don't
want to wear it for all that time when it's only needed at the very end of the
opera, is that alright? "
Microvanovich: “Yes ok, whatever you
like Michelle.“
Even if this offer had been made only once
it would still have been extremely suspect. This is because Tannhäuser is
several hours long with two intermissions. Furthermore, Venus only sings at the
beginning and end of the opera with a hiatus of many hours in between.
Therefore what was being suggested did not make any sense. It would not
have benefitted the singer who would unnecessarily be encumbered by wearing the
microphone for hours. Likewise it would offer no benefit to the costume
staff who would still be required to attend to the singer before her final
entrance in order to make sure everything was in place and working.
In light of these considerations an
important question needs to be asked: why was this offer really being made? And once declined, why was it made a
further four times over the course of the following days? There can only be one
answer. The Met prefers the mics to be
worn for the entire performance. The reason for this could only be that if
desired, the feed from the body mic could be added to the sound enhancement
system which amplifies into the house.
Now that I was myself
"enlightened," I began to pay much closer attention. During my time at the Met, I went to a large number of
performances and rehearsals where
I would sit in as many different places within the theatre as possible. These experiences even included me listening to
a performance from Peter Gelb's own private parterre. Sometimes I would change
my seat during a rehearsal in order to better understand the acoustics of the
house and as a result of these experiences it was obvious to me that a sound enhancement system is
in constant use.
I would also spend time in the artist area
where I spoke to many of the stars, all of whom it must be said were very
friendly.
During that time many operas were being
rehearsed and performed, among them: Trovatore with Netrebko,
Hvorostovsky, Zajick and Yonghoon Lee. Rigoletto with Costello,
Gagnidze, Peretyatko and Koćan. Otello with Antonenko, Lučić and
Yoncheva. Turandot with Goerke, Lindstrom, Álvarez, Berti, Morris, Croft and Crocetto
and Tosca with Gheorghiu, Lučić and Aronica. I encountered all of these singers multiple
times in the artist area where on several occasions I spotted other instances
of body mics being worn. When noticing this I paid careful attention to
the staging in order to understand what the possible reasons for this might be.
Sometimes there were obvious reasons
such as a singer who was elevated well above the stage, but in other instances
no obvious reason could be found.
WERE THESE MICS FOR THE RADIO AND HD BROADCASTS?
I can assure readers that the body mics I
saw had nothing to do with broadcasting. I know this because having witnessed
it up close I have a very good understanding of what is involved in HD
broadcasting. What many people do not realise is that many things are different
in an HD broadcast than a regular performance. This includes different kind of
makeup being used which caters to the needs of the camera instead of the back
of the house. Even the hair and makeup staff are different people than those
employed for regular performances. But most importantly the body microphones
used for HD broadcasting look very different from the type which are used to
amplify voices into the house, I know this because for an HD broadcast I
witnessed Michelle DeYoung fitted with not one, but two different body mics. I
also know that the body mics I saw were not broadcast mics because they were
being used for the entire run of performances. The HD body mics by contrast
were only used in an HD technical rehearsal and on the day of the broadcast.
This is why Gelb's statement to Tommasini
was unconscionably misleading. Readers will recall from Part One of this series where he was quoted saying:
“In certain productions during certain
scenes singers are sometimes positioned in a place on the Met’s large stage
where their voices cannot be picked up by the network of microphones used for
radio and HD broadcasts which have become so popular in recent years. In these
instances, the singer will wear a body microphone, which carries the singer’s
voice to the control panel for the broadcast, but not Mr Gelb insisted, into
the house."
Once again it needs to be said that in these statements Gelb was not technically lying. This is because HD body mics do not carry voices into the house. However as you have learned there is a second kind of body mic which does.
When describing the
circumstances where in "rare instances" body mics are used to
amplify voices into the house, Gelb stated:
"In instances, it's required for a
special effect." and "On occasion, a composer
has asked for a voice to be amplified."
I can state with 100% certainty that no such effect was added to Michelle DeYoung’s voice. I also think we can all agree that it would be unlikely that the amplification of her voice was done to comply with Herr Wagner’s request.
In a further attempt to mislead the public
into believing that voices are not amplified into the house, Gelb has made numerous
statements. Among them are the following
which are taken from Tommasini’s New York Times article:
For example, in Bartlett Sher's 2012 production of Donizetti's "L’Elisir d'Amore," which returned this season, when Dr Dulcamara first steps from his wagon to sing about the wonders of his miracle elixir, a large crowd of choristers stand downstage facing him, their backs to the audience. The hubbub from the crowd does not cover Dulcamara's voice in the house.
And in Bizet's "Carmen," in
Richard Eyre's production,
also seen this season, during the Lillas Pastia's tavern scene when the women
start dancing, the stomping and shuffling would drown out Carmen on a
broadcast. So, the mezzo-soprano singing the role must wear a body microphone
during that scene, and only that scene, Mr Gelb said Carmen’s voice comes
through fine on its own in the house.
Gelb is blatantly misleading here. The truth is that singers’ voices are
being amplified into the house with body mics on a regular basis. Body mics are
not only used on broadcast days as Gelb insists, but during all performances.
Furthermore body mics are not only being worn for specific scenes as he states,
but for entire performances. In fact, whenever the Met wants to use a body mic
to amplify a voice any excuse will do. It's as simple as instructing Miss Microvanovich to say:
"Mr Parsifal, I need to wire you with
a body mic for those two lines where your face is buried in Kundry's breasts,
because your voice is being drowned out by the hubbub of her bosoms. I will
just set up the mic before Act One and remove it after the show."
If you think this is not happening you are being very naive. All the technology is in place and due to the opportunities provided by the camouflaging and excuses, the Met can and does do whatever it likes. There are microphones everywhere at the Met and none of us have any idea which ones are being used and which ones aren’t. But don't worry, the lying will eventually come to an end. Before long it will cease to be necessary because audiences will no longer object. Every year the public is becoming increasingly desensitised about this issue. Administrations understand this and know they don't need to keep this a secret forever, they just need to camouflage it for a few more decades until the issue no longer matters. Then people will attend museums to learn about historic opera, where interactive displays with electronic voices will inform children about the past. When humans used to sing without microphones.
Copyright Brett Goulding 2021
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