As I see it, the web provides the perfect "virtual opera house" for those who want a taste of opera but aren't quite ready to buy a ticket. Opera is becoming "cool", and there is no "cooler" place to embrace this renaissance than on the Internet. For the fans, it provides an opportunity to research and sample recordings and to get a glimpse of productions they were unable to attend. And, finally, there is a way to find out about upcoming events without having to survey every opera publication in the world.
Opera fans, those of tenors in particular, have a voracious appetite for all manner of information and insight into a singer's life and career. There is no other single resource where they can find such treasures as are available on the web. For me this web site is simply a way to say "thank you" to these wonderfully enthusiastic fans, and "welcome" to all those who are just wandering through.
So have look, have a listen, have a taste opera...and do come back again. After all.....it's cool!
THE INTERNET AND ME
It seemed a natural progression for me to utilize the web to distribute information about my career. Ever since the first PowerBook came out, I have been using the Internet to keep in touch with my friends and colleagues. One thing a singer sacrifices is the feeling of being tied to a community. In fact, he may only see his home for less than a month a year. Through e-mail and the web we are able to create a new kind of community. It is no substitute for home sweet home, but it does allow us to stay connected with our friends back home and throughout the world, many of which are singers with the same dilemma. I can e-mail my buddy, bass Jan-Hendrik Rootering, this morning, having no idea where he is in the world, and voila, we are sharing anecdotes, commiserating, or just planning our next opportunity to have ribs together. In an odd way, I see it as a throw-back to a time before phones, jets, faxes and modems, when one would eagerly see to his daily correspondence. It was truly his only link to the outside world. The difference, of course, is that now your letter arrives in a nano-second, instead of a month.
In addition to friends and relatives, I find that I have regular correspondence with managers, producers, conductors, etc. that I would not likely be able to maintain otherwise. The casual format of e-mail creates a very comfortable environment in which to mix business with pleasure, and is therefore productive and enjoyable. Of course, the practical side of being able to e-mail my agent from Japan, or Italy saves me countless headaches, not to mention yen and lire.
Midnight "surfing" is, of course, a common "on-the-road" activity. There was a time in France when I became ecstatic having finally found a newspaper in English, and now I literally have the world at my fingertips. This World-Wide-Web, however, does not always need to be the all-powerful, high-tech answer to the problems of the universe. Sometimes, after returning to my hotel after a performance at 2:00 AM, I just want get the latest news from home or Sunday's NFL scores....or maybe get a glimpse of the leaves changing in the northeast since I missed it this year. And sometimes...that's enough.
As you wander the diverse landscape that you have discovered in the web, I will be wandering along with you. For many of you, I know the Internet is a doorway to something new and different. For others, like myself, it is more often a doorway to something familiar. How wonderful that it can be so much to so many.
Virtually yours,
Richard Leech
