Operaland

By: Ian Strasfogel

Narrated by: Ian Strasfogel

Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Operaland, winner of the 2021 North Street Book Prize, follows Richie Verdun, a funny, fearless little dynamo, as he enters the glamorous and treacherous world of opera facing almost impossible odds. He's in his early 40s, unusually old for a beginner, and without the benefit of either musical or theatrical training. To make matters worse, this irrepressible fireplug of a man is overly fond of inappropriate, almost infantile jokes that are wildly out of place in his sophisticated new surroundings.

We first meet him as a hustling car salesman in upper Michigan, deeply devoted to his literate and caring wife Kit and their three young children. When his family urges him to try his luck as an operatic tenor, he enters a world that is utterly foreign to him. The struggle is intense and rejections proliferate, but Richie's energy and ambition never desert him. A seemingly ordinary man unleashes his inner artist and discovers a new way of life.

©2020 Ian Strasfogel (P)2022 Ian Strasfogel

Fresh and Funny

This is a wonderful book, so fresh and funny, an inside view of an unusual world.

An adventure story unlike any you’ve heard

Like a cunning anthropologist, author Ian Strasfogel digs into the rarefied world of international Grand Opera and finds actual human specimens! Therein, he observes, people exist with common human foibles and challenges, and they just happen to sing like angels. He shows how these angels bargain for success by making significant personal sacrifices, which unintentionally cause personal tension and regret. We see how weeks and months of separation strain marriages and alter family dynamics…. Mr. Strasfogel’s Everyman protagonist, Richie Verdun, is a dad-joking Midwestern car salesman with angelic tenor and an affection for wrestling the kids. Richie stumbles into discovery, mentorship, and some first professional gigs, all seemingly in spite of himself. Richie’s non-musical family are supportive though also naive about where his talent might take them. Indeed it takes Richie far, far away…. I especially enjoyed the chapters of Operaland which tell of Richie’s first adventures in Europe. The author’s experienced observations about European opera companies ring startlingly true, as does his intimate examination of budding careers in Opera in particular, and all Arts generally. Courage, perseverance, and even some fortuitous naïveté are contributing factors that propel Richie forward. Loneliness and alone-ness - that is, the necessity of making important decisions with little help from others - are the main obstacles in Richie’s path…. Mr. Strasfogel’s reading of his own work is as delightful as it is erudite. His pronunciations of titles in German, French, and Italian have lovely musical vibrancy. As well, he renders his characters’ dialogue objectively with just the perfect amount of theatrical flair. Operaland is very much an adventure story. And it is compelling entertainment!

Would make a fantastic film!

I found this book so descriptively alive and engaging, I was sad when it was over. Besides, laughing a lot, I routed for the protagonist, hoping he would succeed in his crazy endeavors. This would make a great film.

Fun for Operalovers

If you love opera, you'll get a big kick out of this book. Ian Strasfogel clearly knows a great deal about the opera world and loves it. His unlikely protagonist is sure to engage your interest, maybe even your affection, as he struggles to make a late life (for an opera singer) dream come true.

An opera career like no other

A rollicking story following the unlikely opera career of Richie Verdun, a hometown choral singer who rises to international opera stardom as a tenor through a series of adventures which we follow from backstage and across continents. Along the way we meet famous directors, voice coaches, producers, and agents, and a host of others who populate Operaland. Full of wonderfully drawn characters and often comic situations which attend Richie’s rise, Operaland is a fast-moving and delightful read, but even nicer to hear it read by the author in this audio book.