Page 6 - Classical Singer magazine Spring Issue 2020

BulletinBoard NEWS, TIDBITS, MUSINGS, AND MORE — BY MARIA NOCKIN
Opera Singer Crashes Car after Police
Chase near Mar-a-Lago
The Palm Beach Post reports that 30-year-old opera singer Hannah Roemhild was charged with assault on a federal officer and deadly assault on sheriff’s deputies near Donald Trump’s Florida resort. According to police, she was driving 70 miles per
hour when she crossed two Mar-a-Lago security checkpoints and drew gunfire from the Secret Service.
Police say she then danced on top of the SUV before attempting to put the vehicle in reverse. When
Opera Carolina Drops Executive Director
Opera Carolina announced that for budgetary reasons, it has laid o Executive Director Beth Hansen. According to the Charlotte Observer, Opera Carolina says the position was cut as a result of an increasingly “harsh economic climate for the arts and a possible reduction in scal year 2021 support from the Arts & Science Council.” Last year voters rejected a referendum that would have
increased the
sales tax to
inject $22.5
million annually
into the local
arts and culture
sector, as well as
parks and other
interests.
A recent
announcement from Charlotte’s Arts & Science Council notes that its annual operating grants will be slashed
in half if it cannot raise $5 million by June. James Meena, the opera’s artistic director, says the expected loss of half of the Arts & Science Council grant was
the “tipping point” that precipitated eliminating the executive director position.
bit.ly/39szPKD
officers tried to get control of the car, she escaped. Later, an attorney said Roemhild, who has made anti-Trump posts on social media, is mentally ill.
bit.ly/2HoV7gh
Opera Birmingham Takes on Racial Themes
According to wbhm.org, librettist Daniel Neer
and composer Sidney Marquez Boquiren use their opera, Independence Eve, to explore complicated conversations about race. They tell about a young, African American’s experience of being stopped and frisked by police. Each scene, performed by Opera Birmingham, is a conversation between a white
person and a person of color.
The show brings back memories
for some performers. Jorell Williams, who is black, remembers being stopped by police
in front of Carnegie Hall as he tried to enter the building for a
rehearsal. He was dressed in a tuxedo and his photo was on promotional posters nearby. Police told him he matched the description of a suspected criminal. “Fortunately, in that particular situation, they were wrong and they accepted it,” Williams says. “But there was no apology, so I couldn’t do anything. I had to go perform.”
bit.ly/31FWgt5
6 Classical Singer | Mar/Apr 2020