Opera Chic

Meet Tim Smith

If you're in Baltimore, the Sun's classical music critic Tim Smith will be at Artscape, at the Sun's tent (NW corner of Charles and Mt. Royal) on Sunday between 4PM and 5PM.

If Opera Chic were there she'd totes go thank him for the wonderful work he's doing at the Sun and on his blog.

"Mahler Grooves" Goes Viral, The Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith Joins The Mahlerian Fun

The Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith has joined the inevitable Mahler quiz -- what are your favorite recordings of the Symphonies? The game was started by our dear Alex Ross, here.

Of course, Opera Chic couldn't resist, and her choices are here.

Mr. Smith, as he always does, gives us an elegant mix -- stirred, not shaken -- of the classic (Bernstein) and the unexpected (Judd).

MTT On Technology, The Media, And Keeping Score

Opera Chic has a weakness for Michael Tilson Thomas, a great American conductor, one of our greatest really, a man who, if anything, is underappreciated -- he is one of our foremost musicians. And the sad thing is that, all things equal, if he were European and more aloof -- or even a bit of a douche -- many Americans would probably appreciate him more.

MTT spake with the Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith about a bunch of things -- music, the media, young orchestras vs the old school, YouTube, and his PBS series Keeping Score.

This is just a little quote -- but the whole interview is really, really good.

There are book clubs. Why not symphony clubs? I think the major performing organizations will have to look at the expansion of their roles in educating people, in leading the process, in creating new partnerships...

...When an audience goes to see a play by Shakespeare, what percentage can follow it line by line? Not many. They can hear the famous lines. A good deal they pick up form the production, the way it is done. Maybe we’re going to see some kind of change in the musical fashion of performing. We’re in a bells and whistles age. We’re in a world of video, and some musicians treat it the way some silent movie stars treated talkies — it’s just a fad. It is important that musicians get inside of this, rather than have it forced on them.

Tim Smith For President

Thus spake the venerable Tim Smith, the Baltimore Sun's unimpeachable critical voice, and we're incredibly flattered, so let us quote him:

...lthe anonymous voice of Opera Chic, one of the most entertaining and trustworthy sites on the Web...

Rawk on!!!111