Perhaps because the rather stolidly Victorian character of both its music
and its morality, Gounod’ Faust has been out of fashion in the
UK in recent decades, and owes a debt to David McVicar and his darkly Gothic
production for the Royal Opera in 2004 (now, at last, available on DVD) for the
restoration of its footing in the standard repertoire.
Almost irrespective of the results, it was quite a statement to open the Philharmonia’ London concert season with a performance of Nietzsche’ ‘pus metaphysicum of all true art,’Tristan und Isolde.
Mahler’s well-known revisions of music he conducted include the four symphonies by Robert Schumann, and while these Retuschen have been performed from time to time, a recording of all four of them is now available from Decca.
As good a performance of Rossini’s opera as this disc provides, for some equal entertainment value may potentially arise from the booklet essay by one Bernd-Rüdiger Kern (as translated into English by David Stevens).
Based on performances given on 18 and 21 October 2008 and 16 and 17 January 2009, this recording of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra offers its latest release of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a work associated with the group since the composer’s lifetime.
Haven’ you always secretly felt that singers who reach for high notes
(and make them) ought to levitate and maintain themselves in mid-air
when they do it?
Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles is notoriously hard to stage. Because the plot’s so grandiose, the imagination works overtime, dwarfing the music, making it seem puny in comparison. There’s a lot to be said in favour of concert performances because they shift the balance back to Bizet.
It will be no surprise to me, a year or five from now, when someone falls to
her or his death from the guy-wires that configure so much of Robert
Lepage’ new state-of-the-art (ah! But which art?) production of Der
Ring des Nibelung.
Charles Gounod’ Roméo et Juliette is almost more musical than opera. Everyone knows the story, and it would be hard to compete with Shakespeare. Gounod wisely focused on music, rather than drama.
Dame Joan Sutherland, ‘a Stupenda’ sang her first Gilda at Covent
Garden in 1957 under the baton of Sir Edward Downes, and sang the role many times and to great acclaim on the ROH stage.
The fall opera season in San Francisco has been dealt a wild card — Jerry Springer, The Opera! Not exactly material for SF’s august opera company . . .
The “popular” Handel is firmly entrenched in the collective
culture with a handful of pieces: the Christmas portion of Messiah,
the “Largo” from Serse (in fact, “Larghetto,”
but collective culture is hard to convince), and instrumental suites of the
Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks come
immediately to mind.
On 16 October 2010 in Tucson, Arizona Opera opened it’ 2010-2011
season with an operetta, The Pirates of Penzance, by W. S. Gilbert and
Arthur Sullivan.
Jephtha was Handel’ last work — he went blind while
composing it, noting this on the manuscript, and though he lived another seven
years, did not deign to dictate new music.
Kirsten Flagstad’s voice remains connected to the music of Richard Wagner through the recordings that continue to bring her performances to new audiences.
The opening night of Rossini’ The Barber of Seville, in Rome
in 1816, was violently disrupted by vociferous protests from supporters loyal
to Paisiello, whose own comic interpretation of Beaumarchais’politically-charged play had appeared in 1782.
The last curtain call at the opera usually goes to the title character, the star of the work just performed. At the end of the Met’ new Boris Godunov, the calls begin with a solo call for the title character, René Pape as Boris, and conclude with one for the Metropolitan Opera Chorus all by themselves.
An American opera house premieres a new work by a Mexico-born composer, to his own libretto in Spanish based on a film in Italian by an English director about an unlikely friendship the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda found when in exile on a small Italian island.
A great vintage Mercury album of Antal Dorati conducting Wagner overtures and preludes featured as a cover a close-up of a medieval chalice, undoubtedly meant to reference the Parsifal excerpt on the enclosed disc.
“One of the most beautiful sets I have ever seen,” crows San Francisco Opera general director David Gockley over the airwaves, “directed by Broadway legend Hal Prince.”
A successful production of Verdi’ Macbeth relies not only on
incisive vocal characterization as projected by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth but
also on the interaction of these lead figures in order to vivify their descent
into a world of destruction.
The 50th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera at the Lincoln Center is just a few years away, so, with something less than dispatch, a DVD of the 25th anniversary Gala appears.
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 30falseRightfalseBoo What are your favorite spooky classical pieces? We broadcast several of my favorites on Thursday and Friday, and several requests mean that we’ll be finding a few lingering ghosts, including that of the Flying Dutchman, during
Voting for the 2011/12 “Made in the USA” opera closed on Friday, October 15th. We are happy to announce that The Ballad of Baby Doe won by a wide margin, and will appear on Opera Idaho’s 2011/12 season! Thank you to all who voted!
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 28falseCenterfalseLeonard Slatkin was recently in West Virginia to conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Morgantown. Slatkin has been the Principal Guest Conductor of the PSO since . We spoke about Dvorak, Rachmaninoff, and Joan Tower’s music, also
Opera Idaho is continuing is Resident Company continuing education opportunities by offering a series of Master Classes this year. Please click here to see the full schedule of dates and presenters for this year’s master classes!
Happy birthday to that celebrated rock star of the violin world, Niccolò Paganini, who was born today in 1782.
Paganini started playing the violin at age 7 (that seems late by today's child prodigy standards, doesn't it?), and by the time he was 18, his income came from his violin playing.
Eventually ...
more images
NEW YORK (GaeaTimes.com) — The Grammy award winning singer Taylor Swift’s latest album ‘Speak Now’ is stealing all the attention of music industry these days. The new album contains list of singles that also depict some personal experiences of the renowned singer.
Rumor suggests that the album describes singer’s relationship with John Mayer.
The audio release .... Original article on Gaea Times at Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now’ Album Songs List Unveiled.
: The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera SF Opera's Cyrano Media Round-Up Main Il Trovatore at the Met October 25, 2010 Daniel Harding conducts the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra Notes Daniel Harding conducted the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden in a program of Schumann , Beethoven , and Brahms in San Francisco on Sunday evening . The performance started with the Manfred Overture . Harding gave many cues , all far in advance of when they were acted upon . The playing was focused , the brass lucid , and the flute sweet . Rudolf Buchbinder joined the orchestra as soloist for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No . 4 in G Major . The Allegro moderato was began gently , but still
The scenery shop is hard at work, but they aren't getting ready for the next opera, yet. They're creating some beautiful drops for a production of The Nutcracker! Check these out:
And this beautiful Christmas tree:
: The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera SF Opera's Cyrano Media Round-Up Main October 25, 2010 SF Opera's Cyrano de Bergerac Notes Sunday's matinée of San Francisco Opera's Cyrano de Bergerac opened a run of seven performances . Petrika Ionesco's production , from Théâtre du Châtelet , is attractive , but does not make for the most elegant set changes . There was much delightful spectacle , and the staging was not entirely old-fashioned either , despite looking fairly . traditional The orchestra sounded lushly chaotic under Patrick Fournillier , it was unclear if this was because of Alfano's music or because of the playing . In fact , I had a fairly difficult time getting
: The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera Leah Crocetto's Salon at the Rex Main October 22, 2010 James Conlon Joshua Bell at SFS Notes James Conlon Los Angeles Opera s music director , is conducting San Francisco Symphony a program of Wagner , Bruch , and Dvořák this week . Yesterday's performance began with the Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg which was lovely . The trumpet and trombone were particularly strong , and the orchestra sounded cohesive . This was followed by Bruch's Violin Concerto No . 1 in G minor , played by the gifted soloist Joshua Bell pictured left , photograph by Timothy White The Allegro moderato was rather moderate , and was not
“Five minutes ‘till curtain; Fünf Minuten zum Vorhang.” These exhilarating words were part of the familiar sounds of a childhood spent growing up in the theatre.
As the daughters of one of the “house” tenors (Glade Peterson, Utah Opera founder) of the Zurich Opera House in Switzerland, we had ample opportunity ...
: The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera Plácido Domingo's SF Opera Press Event Main October 21, 2010 Leah Crocetto's Salon at the Rex Notes Soprano Leah Crocetto gave a recital of her favorite songs with pianist Tamara Sanikidze for the Salons at the Rex series yesterday evening . Crocetto began with Ain't it a pretty night from Carlisle Floyd's Susannah She learnt this piece at the age of 18, and it sounded very natural for her . This was followed by 3 Rachmaninoff songs , 2 from the Opus 21 Song Cycle and the Vocalise Op . 34, No . 14 Sanikidze milked Richard Strauss' lovely Morgen , quot Crocetto sounded pure and clear . Her O mio babbino caro was spine-tingling . The
Happy Birthday to American composer, Charles Ives, who was born on this day in 1874.
Ives' father was a band leader, and encouraged him to explore the the possibilities of new modern music styles. He worked as a church organist until his 30's, and had a very lucrative and famous career ...
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 20falseCenterfalseIf you've been listening to the radio, you've probably heard that right now, it is the "Connecting Communities" fund drive. We're asking listeners (and our online reader listeners) to support West Virginia Public Radio with a donation,
We will be holding auditions for our 2011-2012 Young Artist Program in November 2010. Interested singers can find additional information here: http://pbopera.org/about_us_c.asp?mn=3&au=4
La Bohème has many important costume pieces, including Mimì's pink bonnet and Colline's overcoat. One of the more flamboyant costume pieces is usually Musetta's Christmas Eve dress. Have you ever wondered how a dress like this progresses from idea to the stage? Here you go!
Susan Memmott-Allred, Utah Opera's Costume Designer, ...
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 18falseCenterfalseOn Sunday, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will perform in Morgantown, with guest conductor Leonard Slatkin. Pianist Olga Kern will perform Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto with the PSO. Kern spoke with me over the phone about her connections
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 15falseCenterfalseAlas that I can't make it to the West Virginia Symphony concert with pianist Valentina Lisitsa this weekend If you're going, I'm sure it will be wonderful (she's playing Prokofiev ). If not, you can join me
Happy late birthday to Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born October 10th (or possibly 9th), 1813.
Although Verdi composed some beautiful works for symphony and chorus, we know him primarily as an opera composer, having written 28 in his very popular career. Not only are his operas still some ...
: The Opera Tattler About Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera Boris Godunov at the Met Main October 13, 2010 SF Opera's Madama Butterfly Notes Harold Prince's production of Madama Butterfly opened last night at San Francisco Opera The revolving set , designed by Clarke Dunham , is pretty , effective , and sure to delight most . Director José Maria Condemi certainly was presented a challenge of getting people on , off , and around this . set Maestro Luisotti conducted the orchestra with verve , the playing was sweeping and beautiful . The chorus also made strong contributions . Both the Adlers looked and sounded appropriate for Kate Pinkerton Sara Gartland and Prince Yamadori Austin Kness
Well, the costumes made the short, but crowded trip over to the theatre today, so there are no costumes to visit. Now you'll just have to come see them in action on stage!
I do have a couple of pictures of the set, as they were putting it together.
Not a bad ...
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 11falseCenterfalseI was very sad to just read of opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland’s passing. The New York Times reports that she died this morning at the age of 83. I first heard her voice when I
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 08falseCenterfalseOur neighbors in Ironton, Ohio will be welcoming the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin from Moscow to Ohio University Southern for a concert on October 11th.Pat McCoy (a professor at Ohio University Southern and the communications director for the
Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 06falseCenterfalseThe Metropolitan Opera hits movie theaters this weekend with the first of this season's Live in HD broadcasts, Wagner's Das Rheingold. In West Virginia, the Met can be seen in theaters in Barboursville (Huntington Mall) and Granville