I know you guys don't do follow-ups. I can understand. Who wants to find out how an outrage ends? Just for the record, this one has had the best possible ending it could -- the Met operas have been broadcast, in their entirety -- even the 'non-biblical' ones -- as per usual on WCPE and theclassicalstation.org.
The story is actually quite dramatic -- right around October 6, 2023, the volunteers and staff of the little station sat down with the manageress in a stuffy conference room and vowed not to leave until there was a reconsideration. The station was, otherwise, a total good and had to be saved. It was more than mentioned that if WCPE'd lost the support of Rhiannon Giddens (and Wonkette) it had lost America. It had.
Faced with earnest people of good will who were willing to put their shoes in the direction of their principles (and the possibility of running the place by herself) the station manager (who in addition to holding 100 percent of the management authority and at least 50 percent of the voting power on the nonprofit's two-person board of directors) at last relented. Station staff immediately posted the news to its Xitter account and its veteran broadcaster of a drive-time host announced it over the air, Bob Trout-style, with an old-school "repeating this bulleting ..." thrown in for good measure.
Anywho, like all outrages, there's always more to the story. Missing from this one is the crowd of good people who pushed, just to get back to a kind of status quo. They risked their jobs. But they're too nice to complain, or run off the social medias to blab the whole internal story. But I'll troubadour their story of courage unseen.
Her fig leaf to censor these works is VIOLENCE?? In OPERA?? JFC. The test of whether an opera is a tragedy or comedy is literally whether or not the female lead is breathing when the curtain falls. No sexual violence or suicidal ideation? You just wiped out two thirds of the canon.
JFC, what an idiot. At least come up with a GOOD lie. Put some effort into it.
The Queen of the Night, spirits, demons, planned murder, a black man (horrors!) - no wonder I'm now a liberal. I've seen at least 20 more operas since and don't remember being anything but entertained - except for that one time where the Peter Sellars staging was so atrocious that I just closed my eyes and listened to the opera.
They're censoring operas for sex, murder, violence, and adult themes. (Whoops, there goes Tosca, Carmen, the Ring Cycle, La Boheme, Madame Butterfly.... need I go on?) But how many families are
sitting with their kids happily munching popcorn to Halloween, Friday the 13th, action movies with death and guns? Not to mention porn.
I admit I've been feeling cranky about this all day. First, because people are happily shitting all over WCPE and North Carolina, which is completely unnecessary. DP is not all of the station or NC. So THANKS ya'll. And two, because Deborah Proctor... sigh... is bringing in jaysus to justify a decision. For g's sake, why. Also completely unnecessary. Keep it in your pew, Deborah.
For myself, I can tolerate some opera because I mostly can't understand the lyrics and can just enjoy the music. I might actually seek out some of these productions on my own time for the story's sake. The Malcom X opera sounds intriguing. I don't agree with censoring by theme. However, if I had to listen to torture and rape and swearing in English, that would be a hell NO. I would rather not be surprised by something like that on a familiar station. I get that. I don't care for the religious justification, though.
A whole bunch of the operas they approve of seem to contain some good old-timey abuse of women.
Also, too: does she really think these kids will be able to understand the lyrics? The way opera is sung, even if it is in English, it's virtually impossible to figure out what anyone is saying unless you've read up ahead of time.
Marriage of Figaro has drag in it. So does Rosenkavalier. So does Fidelio. The Hours has gay people in it, and even two women kissing! Carmen has cartomancy (plus way too much sexual agency for a decent woman). Tannhauser has orgies, and so does Samson and Delilah, and Salome does a naughty dance right there on stage. Norma has a pagan heroine worshipping the moon.
I know you guys don't do follow-ups. I can understand. Who wants to find out how an outrage ends? Just for the record, this one has had the best possible ending it could -- the Met operas have been broadcast, in their entirety -- even the 'non-biblical' ones -- as per usual on WCPE and theclassicalstation.org.
The story is actually quite dramatic -- right around October 6, 2023, the volunteers and staff of the little station sat down with the manageress in a stuffy conference room and vowed not to leave until there was a reconsideration. The station was, otherwise, a total good and had to be saved. It was more than mentioned that if WCPE'd lost the support of Rhiannon Giddens (and Wonkette) it had lost America. It had.
Faced with earnest people of good will who were willing to put their shoes in the direction of their principles (and the possibility of running the place by herself) the station manager (who in addition to holding 100 percent of the management authority and at least 50 percent of the voting power on the nonprofit's two-person board of directors) at last relented. Station staff immediately posted the news to its Xitter account and its veteran broadcaster of a drive-time host announced it over the air, Bob Trout-style, with an old-school "repeating this bulleting ..." thrown in for good measure.
Anywho, like all outrages, there's always more to the story. Missing from this one is the crowd of good people who pushed, just to get back to a kind of status quo. They risked their jobs. But they're too nice to complain, or run off the social medias to blab the whole internal story. But I'll troubadour their story of courage unseen.
Her fig leaf to censor these works is VIOLENCE?? In OPERA?? JFC. The test of whether an opera is a tragedy or comedy is literally whether or not the female lead is breathing when the curtain falls. No sexual violence or suicidal ideation? You just wiped out two thirds of the canon.
JFC, what an idiot. At least come up with a GOOD lie. Put some effort into it.
"So … Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas (she keeps getting these names wrong) is in Spanish, so I can’t imagine it’s a “naughty language” issue'
There's a large Spanish speaking minority in the Triangle area. First Spanish radio station I heard, when I lived in Raleigh, was in the mid-1990's.
I think some native Spanish speakers might like classical music and opera.
I feel I’m in a swirling “Twilight Zone”-like tunnel falling towards a “Handmaid’s Tale” world! 😵💫💫😵
Make It Stop! 😢😭
I saw my first opera at 8, "The Magic Flute".
The Queen of the Night, spirits, demons, planned murder, a black man (horrors!) - no wonder I'm now a liberal. I've seen at least 20 more operas since and don't remember being anything but entertained - except for that one time where the Peter Sellars staging was so atrocious that I just closed my eyes and listened to the opera.
They're censoring operas for sex, murder, violence, and adult themes. (Whoops, there goes Tosca, Carmen, the Ring Cycle, La Boheme, Madame Butterfly.... need I go on?) But how many families are
sitting with their kids happily munching popcorn to Halloween, Friday the 13th, action movies with death and guns? Not to mention porn.
Because kids and teens are such an important segment of the market for Opera. /s. Jeez.
Live in NC? Write to Proctor (yes, she has the perfect name for a censor) and tell her you WANT to hear her banned operas, and your reasons.
Solid plan. Tell the youths these opera productions are off-limits due to their scandalous nature. There is no way this will backfire.
I admit I've been feeling cranky about this all day. First, because people are happily shitting all over WCPE and North Carolina, which is completely unnecessary. DP is not all of the station or NC. So THANKS ya'll. And two, because Deborah Proctor... sigh... is bringing in jaysus to justify a decision. For g's sake, why. Also completely unnecessary. Keep it in your pew, Deborah.
For myself, I can tolerate some opera because I mostly can't understand the lyrics and can just enjoy the music. I might actually seek out some of these productions on my own time for the story's sake. The Malcom X opera sounds intriguing. I don't agree with censoring by theme. However, if I had to listen to torture and rape and swearing in English, that would be a hell NO. I would rather not be surprised by something like that on a familiar station. I get that. I don't care for the religious justification, though.
Hell, I'm afraid for myself, my friends, and family. Thanks for your concern, though.
A whole bunch of the operas they approve of seem to contain some good old-timey abuse of women.
Also, too: does she really think these kids will be able to understand the lyrics? The way opera is sung, even if it is in English, it's virtually impossible to figure out what anyone is saying unless you've read up ahead of time.
Marriage of Figaro has drag in it. So does Rosenkavalier. So does Fidelio. The Hours has gay people in it, and even two women kissing! Carmen has cartomancy (plus way too much sexual agency for a decent woman). Tannhauser has orgies, and so does Samson and Delilah, and Salome does a naughty dance right there on stage. Norma has a pagan heroine worshipping the moon.
Opera is almost as objectionable as the Bible.
They should just play Chinese Opera.
I've raised three kids. I don't recall having the urge to ban them from listening to Opera.
Kids listening to dirty operas. I'll take "problems that never happened, Alex!"
All the Met broadcasts can be heard on Saturday afternoons at wqxr.org/streams. North Carolinians may want to support it instead of WCPE.
Gonna guess the problem with “Florencia en el Amazonas” was that a liberal liked it.