I was living in Singapore for a while. While I was there, I felt quite disconnected from western music, they didn't seem to have a very good selection to choose from. Then one day, in the last few weeks I was there, a baritone friend was visiting and I was showing him around. We stumbled upon an evening recital by Angela Gheorgiu at the durians (or formally, the esplanade- Singapore's tribute to the smelliest fruit on earth and their artist answer to the Sydney Opera House).

Durian

Singapore Esplanade

This was my first concert in almost a year, the prior one having been a most excellent production of Bizet's Pearl Fishers at the Sydney Opera House about a year prior. The contrast between the two performance spaces and atmospheres was quite distinct.

The Sydney Opera House is truly an international destination, they could play the most boring opera with the most mediocre stars and still pack the house because of their world famous reputation. The Singapore Durians on the other hand, while they like to believe is world famous, actually hosted one of the few true opera superstars of this age of dying stage opera, and the house was about 1/3 full. For about $20/person (Big high five to state-funded arts) we enjoyed practically a private concert. Angela was fine, the audience was made up almost entirely of white ex-pats, and Angela changed her dress about 6 times, including a specially-tailored Chinese silk. She came out for her 6 planned encores at the end, despite the sadly lackluster audience, and the random Romanian tenor she had with her (as a pet?) was possibly the best tenor I've heard live- certainly leaps and bounds beyond anyone I've ever heard at San Francisco Opera.

The world-class symphony, famous singers, and state-sponsored state of the art performance space filled with about 100 ex-pats was a sad contrast to the more restrictive availability of the arts in the US. If only the state had the money to pay for...education, roads and the deficit, we could maybe start to think about the pleasures of culture available to a wide range of people who would actually take advantage of it in a metropolitan area like San Francisco. Alas, instead, I continue to receive email blasts for SF Opera with details of great "deals" of $200 opera tickets for mediocre performances by formerly great or never-quite-made it singers. Bring in Angela to SF and all the $300 tickets sell out immediately- so how can the finances of the art be doing so poorly in America?

Whatever the reason- poor management, over-payment for mediocre copyrighted material, high rent (those ceilings sure are high with such a great view in the center of the city...would make some great condos...), it is certainly sad that in a city full of people who would wait in line for hours to see Angela Gheorgiu for $20, the arts are so inaccessible, while Singapore sponsors a world-class recital as a gesture to diversity in music.