A night at the opera... with blogging

White hair, stiff ball gowns and stuffy suits dominate Vancouver Opera audiences no more--if they ever did.

Instead, a parade of pink hair, tattoos and saucy styles can be viewed on the opera's Flickr site, illustrating the diversity of operagoers drawn to January's production of Carmen.

"I saw one guy who was like a total goth dude," said Rebecca Bollwitt, who's better known as blogger Miss604. Bollwitt first blogged about the opera after attending Vancouver Opera's production of Eugene Onegin in November. The organization was so keen on her review it organized its first Blogger Night @ The Opera in January, giving three local bloggers free tickets, a backstage tour and visibility in the lobby of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, where they reported on the experience before and after the show and during intermission.

"Someone would come up and be like, 'Are you on Facebook? Are you Facebooking?'" the 29-year-old said.

In fact, Vancouver Opera is on Facebook. And Twitter. And it has its own blog with guest posts and video diaries, and a micro site with audio clips and the world's first manga opera comic book series.

The organization, which turns 50 in 2010, is determined to demystify the opera experience for younger audiences through social media. And it's working, according to Ling Chan, assistant to Vancouver Opera's managing director.

Almost every performance of Carmen sold out with keeners milling around outside hoping for freed-up tickets, she said.

Those inside posed for photos for the opera's Flickr site. "We had a huge spike in people that are viewing our pictures just because everyone wanted to see themselves all dressed up and glammed up at the opera."

The second Blogger Night @ The Opera happens this Saturday at the opening night of Rigoletto, Giuseppe Verdi's tale of treachery and vengeance. This time five prominent local bloggers in their 20s and 30s will comment on the show.

Bollwitt, who hadn't attended any opera since high school before she attended Eugene Onegin, said the event was less stuffy than she expected with a "lovely atmosphere," "amazing" costumes and performances.

Some of those who commented online on her opera reviews told her they'd never previously considered attending an opera, and others thanked her for highlighting the medium.

Vancouver Opera provides the bloggers with free tickets and advertises their sites, so does Bollwitt feel free to write what she really feels?

"If I don't like a performance, I probably won't flat out say it absolutely sucked, I focus on the more positive things," she said. "You can still tell if I don't like something [by] the way that I write it."

Rigoletto runs until March 17. Bloggers will report on the opening at: miss604.com, netchick.net, trishussey.com, blog.deliciousjuice.com and somisguided.com.

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Paintings, photographs, pottery, sketches and multimedia works created by 20 artists from Downtown South will be sold at the Gathering Place Community Centre March 6 to 8, 14 and 15. Low-income residents, who may be homeless and struggling with drug addictions and mental health problems, visit the centre for low-cost meals, showers, laundry, volunteer skills training and recreation. The opening is March 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. at 609 Helmcken St. On Saturday and Sunday, the show runs from noon to 6 p.m.

Local artist Earl Kaminsky is selling his abstract, landscape and print works at discounted prices all month to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of B.C. and Yukon. With no government funding, Make-A-Wish fulfills wishes of critically ill children and their families. Kaminsky's works are at the Cambie Bakery and Caf? at 320 Cambie St. All of the proceeds will go to the foundation.

crossi@vancourier.com


Source: www2.canada.com