CommentOct04 - Page: 1 of 1

It's hard to believe that a year ago, OperaOnline.us was just an idea. Today, with visits in the thousands each week, the reality -- and hard work -- has set in and paid off. Our web site is visited over 21,000 times a month by opera fans and opera companies from around the northeast and the United States. That figure is just the beginning. There's a bigger opera audience out there, and we're working to attract it. Indeed, if the response we get to our web site is an accurate reflection of who is reading us, we seem to have made a dent in the college-age audience, including their music professors -- and that's just great.
The poopularity of OperaOnline.us, I think, is directly attributable to three facts:
First, we provide good reviews and accurate writing about a wide range of subjects that interest our readers. And we are anything but stuffy;
Second, we are the only publication that covers opera the way we do way. What way? We have become a source for opera companies in the northeast -- a place where they can read about one another and what each is doing. I am not aware of any other online or print publication that reviews as many operas as we do regionally. Moreover, in our first year we have given just about every company that has opened its doors to us regular coverage -- and we will be continuing this in the future.
Plus, we fill a genuine need. One of the most often stated laments we have heard from opera companies is that they are active and busy, but rarely get more than a review from the local press -- and rarely get any press beyond their city. Every month we invite companies from as far north as Camden Maine to as far south as Washington D.C. to participate in our monthly articles on the issues. We do reviews and we do feature pieces about the people who make up the opera world both in the northeast and occasionally elsewhere; and
Third, we can thank a lot of our success to the popularity of the Internet. Everyone is connected -- from singers to general, stage and artistic directors, to board members, to the audience and everybody in between. You don' t have to searh for us in a store or subscribe -- something which we will never require -- you simply type in our name and up we come. OperaOnline.us is the future of Internet publishing.
We have experienced steady growth over the year, and over the past few months experienced huge increases in readership.
We are the place opera companies look to when they want to read about themselves.
We are the place singers look to when they want to see what is being planned and performed in the northeast.
We are the place the opera audience comes when it wants to read about issues of opera, read interesting reviews and find out who's who in the opera world outside New York -- not that there's anything wrong with New York. We love New York!
But there's more. By providing a lively forum for opera companies and singers and everyone else doing busness in the northeast, we open a line of communication and information that the major press just can't take the time to cover. And because we specialize, and take the time to write about your successes and ventures , OperaOnline.us, as a source, can be as complete as you want it -- or not complete at all. It's your choice. "There's no press coverage" is no longer a valid complaint, because there is now. You're reading it. You deserve credit for what you do, and we give that credit and invite others to share in the excitement by writing about it here. In time we'll secure advertising, take on a couple more writers and do even more.
In the above regard we are working on adding new information, as we did last month, with a new fade-in/fade-out alert on the front page announcing cast calls and calls for extras. If you have something that needs to be out there quickly, think of using us for that special announcement. The possibilities are endless.
And so, here we are, 1-year old and already walking and talking and chewing gum, eager to repeat and add to our growth of the first year, and inviting readers to join in.
Our purpose when we set out a year ago was to try to give opera companies in the northest a single source where they could get regular coverage and attention paid to the fine work they have done -- and know that their good news was shared with other opera fans in the northeast. I think when you review our archives and see what we are doing, you will agree that in that regard we have delivered and acomplished our mission.
It is, indeed, a Happy Birthhday.

My sincere thanks,

Somebody said it couldn't be done.
But he with a chuckle replied,
That maybe it couldn't, but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so 'till he'd tried.

So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face, if he worried, he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done. And he did it.

Somebody scoffed, "Oh, you'll never do that
At least no one ever has done it."
But he took off his coat, and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we know, he'd begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or "quit-it".
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't done. And he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done.
There are thousands to prophesy failure.
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you
But just buckle in, with a bit of a grin;
Just take off your coat and go to it.
Just start in to sing as yout tackle the thing
That cannot be done--and you'll do it