The mouth of the wolf

In bocca al lupo!

Recently I dreamed I hosted a TV show about contemporary opera called "In Bocca al Lupo!" where the announcer repeatedly introduced me as "the Ryan Seacrest of Opera" and every time he did, the camera would cut to a shot of Mr. Seacrest who smiled from a special seat in the front row of the studio audience. Others in the front row included the guy who posted the "@pluckbro" video to YouTube and the man who played the matchstick game in Last Year at Marienbad.

The show opened with me in a tuxedo inside of a wolf costume, embodying the old Italian saying for "break a leg" —into the mouth of the wolf.

The rest of the dream was a discussion of Ligeti, John Adams, Nico Muhly, Berio, and the future of chamber opera in the digital age. The final half hour of the show closed with a mini-opera composed for TV. I did not catch the title, but the opera made heavy use of animation. The music was gloriously obtuse while delivering the promise of tunefulness just around the corner. The meter was 7 against 3. The key (as much as there was one) was F# minor.