Suzanne Calvin Interviews Die Fledermaus’ Ava Pine
An Interview with General Director George Steel
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
One of the funny things about blogs is: There are sites where everyone seems to register their opinions (admittedly, most of these are political in origin) and sites where it’s difficult to get anyone to belly up to the bar and sign their ‘X’ at all.
One assumes, based on verbal comments: phone calls, emails and the like, that the blog posts are being read, pondered in a thoughtful manner and, occasionally, fanning the flames of disagreement.
Nevertheless, we’ve all had moments like this one, expressed by the self-styled Philly Opera Fan.
One key difference: If I gave up blogging, I would most certainly have to resort to actual labor, the Sisyphian rock-pushing sort carried out by the rest of the Marketing Department.
Heaven forbid.
Suzanne Calvin, Assoc. Dir. of Marketing, The Dallas Opera
Just Coffee, thanks
(tourist:) “Just coffee, thanks.”
(waiter:) “Then what do you think you are you doing, sitting at a table with a paper cloth?”
Intrepid travelers, there is a way to avoid this sort of tense cross-cultural exchange and I don’t mean by burning your passport and staying home.
The answer may lie in this month’s Book Club selection: “Literary Cafes of Paris” by Miss Noel Riley Fitch.
Yes, logic would dictate that as we celebrate the world’s most popular opera, “La boheme,” we would recommend Henri Murger’s original novel, “Scenes de la Vie la boheme.” And, in fact, we do recommend it as an alternate choice. However, we rather thought that anybody that interested in the source material for the opera would have sought it out by now—we wanted to present something a bit out of left field (or the Left Bank, as the case may be).
“Literary Cafes of Paris” is a tour of the history laden cafes of this great city, section by section, and a guide to the manners and customs within. It also explains those all-important distinctions between a cafe, a brasserie, a restaurant, a bistro, and a cafe-tabac.
If you are thirsting for more (and who wouldn’t be with all this talk about cafes?), join us Monday, September 15th at Barnes & Noble Prestonwood Center, 5301 Beltline Rd., Dallas, TX at 1:00 pm to hear all about the original Cafe Society and to share your anecdotes.
We’d love to find out about the Parisian Cafes you have known, loved, or detested!
Join us from 1:00 pm until 2:00 pm on Monday, Sept. 15th at Barnes & Noble.
Suzanne Calvin, Assoc. Dir. of Marketing, The Dallas Opera
The DVR for Your Radio
Every month, Suzanne Calvin hosts Inside The Dallas Opera on WRR Classical 101.1 FM. If you’ve missed an episode or want to know what you’re missing, download our podcasts from iTunes!
This month’s Inside the Dallas Opera features Milestone Culinary Arts Center’s Chef Sharon Van Meter, hostess of our Figaro in Flip-Flops Cooking Series. Join us next month in Chef Sharon’s kitchen as we prepare for La boheme with the epitome of fine dining – French cuisine. Go here for more information.