Resources

Former Head of Music Staff at the Metropolitan Opera, Craig Rutenberg explains what a prompter does, what preparation prompters undergo in a particular production, and how a good prompter can rescue performers from disaster. He will also discuss the various responsibilities of the music staff at the Met — from rehearsal pianist to diction coach to assistant conductor to prompter.

Mr. Rutenberg, in this informal conversation with conductor Tyson Deaton, discusses how prompting Wagner is different from, say, Mozart or Puccini; the differences between prompting solo singers as opposed to difficult ensembles such as Die Meistersinger; developing sensitivity to the individual needs of artists; the function of a prompter in the rehearsal room vs. the stage, and physical/technical aspects of positioning; memorable moments while prompting and in rehearsals, and of course what happens when things go wrong – or surprisingly right!

In his decades-long career as a musician, Doug Adams has remained in-demand as a performer, a composer/arranger, an author, and a lecturer. He was selected by Howard Shore to observe and document his work on The Lord of the Rings films – a score performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, eventually exceeding 13 hours, and consistently cited as one of the best film scores ever written. Adams subsequently spent just under ten years writing the book, The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films. He joins the Wagner Society to analyze and compare the use of motives as a structural component in Wagner and in Shore.

A special U.S. Book Release: Wagner and the Creation of the Ring’, with its author, Michael Downes, in conversation with WSNY President F. Peter Phillips.

Part cultural history, part biography, this is the fascinating story of Richard Wagner’s life, influences, gift for storytelling, and artistic revolution, culminating in his dramatic journey to write The Ring Cycle. Downes states that “the Ring is a story not only from the nineteenth century, but also about it.”

Met Cast Roundtable: Tannhäuser soloists in conversation at the Tannhäuser Seminar, Wagner Society of New York, Dec. 10, 2023: Elza van den Heever (Elisabeth), Ekaterina Gubanova (Venus), Georg Zeppenfeld (Landgraf Hermann), Christian Gerhaher (Wolfram von Eschenbach), David Shengold (moderator).

Met Orchestra Musicians in conversation at the Tannhäuser Seminar, Wagner Society of New York, Dec. 10, 2023: Wen Qian (violin), Hannah Cope Johnson (principal harp), Anton Rist (principal clarinet), Anne Scharer (French horn), David Shengold (moderator).

This talk by Marian Burleigh-Motley, PhD and Metropolitan Museum of Art lecturer (retired), featured extensive illustrations, plus songs by Debussy and Wagner performed by Amy Shoremount-Obra (WSNY awardee and recitalist), was streamed via YouTube on Friday June 25, 2021.

Maestro Queler, founder and director of Opera Orchestra of New York, conducted Rienzi in New York and Washington, DC from 1980 to 2012. With photos and clips, including Jeremy Brauner (tenor soloist from Stephen Gould’s Masterclass) performing “Allmächt’ger Vater” and Mary Ann Stewart (soprano, and 2012 cover for Adriano) performing “Gerechter Gott.” Produced and hosted by Scott Carlton, WSNY’s Artistic Director of Singers’ Programs.

Rimsky-Korsakov and The Invisible City of Kitezh, a lecture presented by Professor Harlow Robinson, premiered by WSNY of February 28, 2021, is now available on WSNY’s YouTube Channel.