THIS SATURDAY, April 27, 2013, 12pm. (NOTE EARLY STARTING TIME!)
Find a theater near you: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/unitedstates.aspx
The Met-HD production of
GIULIO CESARE
Review from the New Yorker:
GOINGS ON ABOUT
TOWN: CLASSICAL MUSIC
THE MET: “GIULIO CESARE” (REVIEW)
April 27 at noon and April 30 at 7: The Scottish
director David McVicar finally shows us what he’s made of in his staging of
“GIULIO CESARE,” which débuted at Glyndebourne in 2005. Its mixture of
frivolity and depth—part Oxbridge panto, part imperial epic—mirrors the
character of Handel’s music, which veers from arias of sublime pathos to
orchestral episodes of glancing triviality. The veteran countertenor of David
Daniels, who takes the title role, remains an instrument of indomitable
elegance; as Cleopatra, Natalie Dessay, whose days as Zerbinetta and Violetta
are presumably behind her, performs with lyrical impact and captivating
personal charm. The rest of the excellent cast includes Patricia Bardon, Alice
Coote, and Christophe Dumaux; thanks to a regular collaborator, Harry Bicket,
the Met orchestra can Baroque with the best.
The Metropolitan Opera Wows With Giulio Cesare
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ayanohodouchi/2013/04/19/the-metropolitan-opera-wows-with-giulio-cesare/
This week on Rhode Island Public television,
WSBE: (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478)
*All links below are live
Great Performances at the Met
|
Saturday, April 27 -- 8:00pm; Sunday, April 28 -- 3:00am; Monday, April 29 -- 12:00am
Don Carlo
Verdi's "Don Carlo," about a Spanish prince (Roberto Alagna) who falls for the French princess (Marina Poplavskaya) he's supposed to marry as part of a Spanish-French peace treaty, only to have his father (Ferruccio Furlanetto) decide to wed her himself.
DURATION: 240 MIN
DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]
GENRE: PARENTS PICKS
Legendary Rhode Island College
Conductor Edward Markward
to Retire
Monday, April 22, 2013
GoLocalProv Features Team
His passion for perfection inspired legions of
musicians--beloved RI College conductor Edward Markward.
After 40 years of bringing great classical music of the past
and present to Rhode Island and training scores of Rhode Island College
students, Professor Edward Markward is retiring. He will lead his final concert
as conductor of the Rhode Island College Symphony Orchestra on April 29 at 8
p.m. in Sapinsley Hall.
On the program is Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E Minor
from the “New World,” which Markward is dedicating to his father, who he said
was the greatest influence in his life.
“It was the first classical music recording my father ever
bought me as a boy,” he said.
A father's influence
Markward’s father has been one of the biggest supporters of
his music career, from his early days in an elementary school band through his
tenure as professor of music at Rhode Island College, which began in 1973.
“After my father retired as a salesman, he and my mother
would make the fall drive from Dubuque, Iowa, where I grew up, to Rhode Island
to make the first concert of the season,” Markward said. He noted that this is
one of many reasons why he has chosen to dedicate Dvořák’s work to his father.
“Of all the pieces I’ve conducted since I came to Rhode Island,
Dvořák’s is not necessarily my favorite, but it brings closure to all the trips
my parents made out here and what they meant to me in my formative years and
later,” he said.
It was his father who bought Markward his first trumpet in
fourth grade. Markward would go on to play in the school band from elementary
school through high school and college at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
From baritone to baton
He earned a bachelor’s degree in trumpet music education
from Drake. By graduate school, his aspiration had gone from being a trumpet
player and teacher to becoming a professional singer of classical music. He was
a promising baritone. He earned a master’s degree in performance and voice at
Drake, then went on to earn his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the
University of Michigan.
It was while he was a student in Ann Arbor, Mich., that he
took up the baton, becoming the sabbatical replacement for the conductor of the
Ann Arbor Cantata Singers and Chamber Orchestra and serving as director of the
Ann Arbor Civic Theater.
“The first time I conducted a major work, I walked out onto
the stage and stood at the podium,” he said. “On the cover of the score were
the words G.F. Handel. It was a two-hour piece.”
“I thought to myself, ‘What are you doing? You don’t belong
here.’ But I opened the score and began to conduct and immediately forgot
everything else. It all came together in one big privileged experience,” he
said.
Rhode Island College
In 1973 Markward was hired by the Rhode Island College music
department. He would teach voice and medieval and Renaissance music literature,
as well as direct the Rhode Island College Chorus, found the Rhode Island
College Chamber Singers and conduct the Rhode Island College Symphony
Orchestra.
As a conductor, there was no time to practice voice, which
meant the end of a classical singing career, he said. But Markward has no
regrets. “Being a conductor is who I am,” he said. “It’s what I love. I could
never see myself doing anything else.”
When he arrived at RIC, the symphony orchestra was small –
between 40 and 55 members, depending on the piece being performed. It had
always been a college and community orchestra, with members of the ensemble
ranging in age from 18 to 60. "The orchestra has come a long way, and it’s
been a long, long journey,” he said.
The orchestra now has 75 members. Sixty percent of the
musicians are RIC students; the rest are community musicians, as well as a
small number of professional musicians, many of whom were once Markward’s
students. “When I first came to RIC, I didn’t think it was possible for the
orchestra to perform the large works that they’re playing now, yet in the last
decade, they haven’t shied away from anything.”
“This year we played ‘The Rite of Spring,’ and I’ll quote a
retired colleague: he said, ‘Ed, are you crazy? You’re not Juilliard (a premier
conservatory).’” Yet inspired by their maestro, they played as if they were.
Relentless pursuit of musical perfection
Markward has been described by his students as a professor
with “a relentless pursuit of musical perfection,” a conductor with “impeccable
technique” and “an inspirer of youthful musicians to heights few would have
believed possible.”
“We were the lucky ones,” said Christine Noel ’12, who
studied conducting under him.
“Inspiration is one of the most important qualities a
conductor can have,” said John Di Costanzo ’84, another of Markward’s former
students.
Today Di Costanzo is music director and associate artistic
director of Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton, N.Y. He recalled that after one
conducting class and a one-hour lesson with Markward, he knew that he was
learning from one of the greats.
Even though Markward had been conducting since he was in
graduate school, he has never stopped learning. Five years after his arrival at
RIC, he began studying conducting under Maestro Gustav Meier. “Meier was the
second greatest influence in my life,” he said. “I learned most of the
technical aspects of conducting from him.”
He learned by observing Meier and the other great conductors
of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. Meier also allowed him to
attend master classes at Tanglewood given by conductors Leonard Bernstein,
André Previn, Erich Leinsdorf and Seiji Ozawa.
Conducting and teaching
Markward views conducting and teaching as synonymous,
whether in a classroom or on a stage. “I was once asked, ‘Do you just conduct
here or do you teach as well?’ Every time I’m up there on stage waving my arms,
I’m teaching,” he said.
Though he’s been called a perfectionist, Markward doesn’t
see himself that way. He said, “I believe a performer should get as close as
possible to the composer’s intent and that anything shy of that lacks
integrity.”
His wife, Diana McVey, began singing with the RIC chorus,
chamber singers, opera workshop and orchestra in 1988. Today she is a highly
successful operatic soprano with the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee, Wis.
“From my own experience as his student,” she said, “I can
say without a doubt that he is initially intimidating as a teacher because his
standards and expectations are high and he sees no reason to settle for
mediocrity. But the high standards he has for his students are surpassed only
by the high standards he has for himself.”
An enormous impact--near and far
Markward has made a point of showcasing his students on
stages outside of RIC. In the 1970s his chamber singers performed three free
concerts a day in schools and churches throughout New England and in Canada.
His orchestra and choral singers also performed a free concert each year at the
Ocean State Performing Arts Center, now known as the Providence Performing Arts
Center, for years. The event was called the Annual Gift to the Community
Concert, it regularly attracted audiences of more than 3,000 people.
He has served as music director for the Bel Canto Opera
Company, music director/conductor for Opera Rhode Island, associate conductor
of the Providence Opera Theater, principal guest conductor for the Brooklyn
Heights Symphony and founding conductor of the Festival Chamber Orchestra of
Rhode Island. He is currently conductor of the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and
Orchestra.
“It will be difficult to imagine what the Rhode Island
College music department will be like after Ed retires,” said Rob Franzblau,
assistant chair of the music department, where he also serves as a professor of
music and conductor of the RIC Wind Ensemble.
“He’s had such a huge influence on our students and on our
programs,” Franzblau said. “I will miss him very much, but I have no doubt that
his musical presence will continue to be felt in the community for many years.
He’s simply one of the most talented and hardworking conductors I have ever
known. He has also earned the highest respect from the students at RIC.”
Markward will continue to conduct the Rhode Island Civic
Chorale and Orchestra, offer private lessons in voice and conducting, and serve
as music consultant on various projects, such as digitizing the unpublished
music of composer Paul Nelson. Markward said there are also a lot of musical
works that he would like to learn.
“His appetite for knowledge and improving himself never
wanes,” said McVey. “He’s conducted Handel’s ‘Messiah’ upwards of 20 times –
perhaps more – and each time it is on the program, he opens the well-worn score
and studies it with great care to discover anything exciting and new he may
have missed along the way.”
“Many nights I have found him in front of the computer,
headphones on, listening to the Berlin Philharmonic via its virtual concert
hall,” she said. “He has an insatiable desire to learn and better himself.”
Admission to Markward’s final concert with the RIC symphony at 8pm on April 29 is $10; $7 seniors, non-RIC students, at the Lila and John Sapinsley Hall, Nazarian Center. Tickets may be purchased Nazarian Center Box Office
(401) 456-8144, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., as well as two hours
before the performance. (Please see poster at the bottom on this page.)
Sesame Street: People in Your Neighborhood
~ Opera Singer Isabel Leonard
 |
| CLICK ON: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Xrab76v5zU |
Published on Apr 23, 2013
Murray Monster and Ovejita travel to Lincoln
Center to join Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. While dancers
tell stories with their bodies, Isabel will show how stories are sung by opera
singers and give a demonstration of a funny vocal exercise. Murray gets to sing
his own vocal line when he joins Isabel in Rosina's aria from Rossini's Barber
of Seville.
Subscribe to the Sesame Street Channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c...
For more fun games and videos for your
preschooler in a safe, child-friendly environment, visit us at
http://www.sesamestreet.org
Sesame Street is a production of Sesame Workshop, a
nonprofit educational organization. The Workshop produces Sesame Street
programs, seen in over 150 countries, and other acclaimed shows, including The
Electric Company. Beyond television, the Workshop produces content for multiple
media platforms on a wide range of issues including literacy and numeracy,
emotional wellbeing, health and wellness, and respect and understanding. Learn
more at http://www.sesamestreet.org.
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OPERA ON THE INTERNET
WITH
DAVE D' AGUANNO
This coming Saturday (April 27), the final HD-transmission
of LIVE operas from the Met will take place in area movie theaters, at which
time Handel's "Giulio Cesare" will be presented. Soprano Natalie
Dessay will be singing the role of Cleopatre in a production that has been
receiving rave reviews. As usual, you can hear the audio on many internet radio
stations.
While Handel's opera is NOT based on Shakespeare's play
(despite the title, translated as "Julius Caesar"), Reimann's opera
"Lear" is, as expected, based on "King Lear" and can be
heard on Swedish Radio in a LIVE performance, courtesy of the Malmo Opera.
People who shudder at the thought of listening to "modern opera"
might want to approach this one with a good deal of caution.
Moving into the 21st century, Thierry Escaich's new opera
"Claude" (based on a work of Victor Hugo) can be heard on German
Radio, as performed on March 27 of this year in Lyons (France). Although the
opera is in only a single act, it runs well over an hour. In fact, if you feel
so inclined, you can watch it for FREE (today, even) at this site:
Only French subtitles are provided with the video. The link
for the actual radio broadcast this Saturday is here:
Last, but definitely not least, ORF is bringing us a
performance that took place in Vienna earlier this month. The opera:
Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin." The leading man: Dmitri Hvorostovsky.
The leading lady: Anna Netrebko who will be singing this same role (Tatyana)
next season at the Met, which will also be providing us with an HD-transmission
in October.
Enjoy!
DAVE
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2013-14 Live in HD
Season Preview
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The Met radio broadcast
April 27, 2013 @ 12:00 pm
April 27, 2013 @ 12:00 pm
Georg Friedrich Handel's
Giulio Cesare
Listen to the Met Opera Saturday afternoon
broadcasts on Harvard Radio, 95.3 in the Boston area or live-streaming online at http://www.whrb.org
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The International Opera Awards
Promoting excellence in opera and providing
funding through
The Opera Foundation for the operatic community
The 2013 winners
We are delighted to
announce the 2013 Opera Awards winners.
Accessibility
·
Metropolitan Opera
CD (Complete Opera)
·
Alessandro (Handel), c. George
Petrou (Decca)
CD (Operatic Recital)
·
Christian Gerhaher:Romantic Arias (Sony)
Chorus
·
Cape Town Opera
Conductor
·
Antonio Pappano
Costume Designer
·
Buki Shiff
Director
·
Dmitri Tcherniakov
DVD
·
Il trittico, Royal Opera, p. Richard
Jones, c. Antonio Pappano (Opus Arte)
Female Singer
Sponsored by: Luxury Brands
·
Nina Stemme
Festival Opera
·
Salzburg
Lifetime Achievement
·
Sir George Christie
Lighting Designer
·
Paule Constable
|
Male Singer
Sponsored
by: Vineyard
·
Jonas Kaufmann
Newcomer (conductor or director)
·
Daniele Rustioni
New Production
·
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, Netherlands
Opera, p. and d. Dmitri Tcherniakov
Opera Company
·
Oper Frankfurt
Opera Orchestra
·
Metropolitan Opera
Philanthropist/Sponsor
·
Sir Peter Moores
Readers’ Award
·
Jonas Kaufmann
Rediscovered Work
·
David et Jonathas (M.-A. Charpentier), Les Arts
Florissants
Set Designer
·
Antony McDonald
World Premiere
·
Written on Skin(Benjamin), Aix-en-Provence
Young Singer
·
Sophie Bevan
|
For more about the Opera Awards or the Foundation,
including videos of the awards dinner, go to
http://www.operaawards.org/winners2013.aspx
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Some interesting articles
The Last Night of the Proms will feature a celebratory new
work by Anna Clyne and includes a rare performance of Britten’s 1967 overture
for chorus and orchestra The Building of the House, a touch of Broadway magic
and the sound of a glass ceiling being broken as Marin Alsop takes charge of
her first Last Night.Nigel Kennedy and Joyce DiDonato are the star soloists in
a programme that picks up sea-faring themes from Bantock and George Lloyd and
includes a translatlantic flavour.
A Day Away From the Stage: How does Brünnhilde unwind on her
days off? The New York Times caught up with Deborah Voigt to find out.
Soprano Deborah Voigt visit Boston twice during the season.
In November, she'll bring her one-woman show, Voigt Lessons, developed with
playwright Terrence McNally and director Francesca Zambello to the Calderwood
Pavilion. Then, in April, she'll return for a recital at Symphony Hall.
Also, baritione Gerald Finley and pianist Julius Drake
perform Schubert's Winterreise at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in
February.
Other vocalists performing during the season include soprano
Natalie Dessay, tenor Nicholas Phan, and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsk.
San Francisco Opera
It’s culminating event season for San Francisco Opera’s ARIA
Network schools! SF District 7 Supervisor, Norman Yee, was present at West
Portal Elementary as 2nd and 3rd grade students kicked off the season
yesterday. From mid-April to early-June, 1,200 students from 48 classrooms
throughout the SF Bay Area will perform their mini-operas for peers, families,
school district administrators and community. — Timeline Photos
Becoming Traviata: A Film By Philippe Beziat Starring
Natalie Dessay
Tenor Bryan Hymel Named as Recipient of Met's Eighth Annual
Beverly Sills Artist Award
Joyce DiDonato: Alone on the Road
Wagner represented characters and objects in Der Ring des
Nibelungen with recurring musical themes known as leitmotifs. These themes
change and adapt as the story progresses, connecting plot elements and the
evolution of characters across the four operas that make up the Ring cycle. Are
you a valiant Valkyrie? A nasty Nibelung? Take our highly un-scientific quiz to
find out which Ring leitmotif best represents you.
Muscat attends Joseph Calleja concert in Paris
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Muscat-attends-Joseph-Calleja-concert-in-Paris-20130423
Interviews with Elina Garanča
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Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2
Symphony No. 2, the “Resurrection Symphony,” was, with Symphony No. 8, among Mahler’s most popular and successful works during his lifetime. Preoccupied by visions of his own death and by larger philosophical questions about the purpose of life, Mahler pondered a kind of immortality through artistic achievement.
Mahler himself wrote the text sung by soprano, alto, and chorus at the end of the fifth movement: “Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen in heißem Liebesstreben, werd’ ich entschweben zum Licht!” (“With wings that I won for myself during passionate struggles of love, I shall ascend to the light!”) He was also struck by “Auferstehen” (“Resurrection”), a hymn by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, which he heard at the funeral of the conductor Hans von Bülow: “Auferstehen, ja auferstehen wirst du, mein Staub, nach kurzer Ruhe!” (“You shall arise, my dust, yes you shall arise after a brief rest!”) The Singers will perform as guest artists with the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
8 p.m. Saturday, May 4 The Vets, Providence | More about the concert | Program notes
Tickets online or at the Philharmonic Box Office (401-248-7000)
http://www.providencesingers.org/
Concert and Event Calendar
2012-2013 Season
Rhode Island Council for the Humanities
This weekend! Friday 04/26 and Saturday 04/27 - RICH
Grantee Opera Providence in association with The Rhode Island Black Heritage
Society presents two performances of songs and spoken word in honor of
Sisieretta Jones, nicknamed Rhode Island's "Black Patti" after
Italian opera singer, Adelina Patti.
Jones' musical talents garnered her international
popularity and prominence at the end of the 19th-century but she died alone and
impoverished in the 1930s. Intrigued?
Check out this great coverage of the events in
the
Brown Daily Herald -
http://www.browndailyherald.com/2013/04/17/local-event-honors-the-black-patti/
♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫
Saturday, April 27, 2013
"A Concert of Italian Songs"
— Featuring —
Michael DiMucci
♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫
Friday, June 14, 2013 — 8:00pm
Saturday, June 15, 2013 — 8:00pm
Friday, June 21, 2013 — 8:00pm
Sunday, June 23, 2013 — 3:00pm
"Pirates of Penzance
— Featuring —
Samuel - Devon Morin, The Pirate King - Ryne Cherry, Fredric - Joshua Collier,
Ruth - Ana Maria Ugarte, Kate - Arielle Rogers, Edith - Kristen Charpentier,
Mabel - Julianne Gearhart, Major General Stanley - Andy Papas, The Sergeant - Jason Shealy
Stage Director and Choreographer - Nathaniel Merchants • Artistic Director - Rene de la Garza
The Columbus Theatre
Broadway
Providence, RI
Tickets: $35 and $60 per person
For tickets please call the Opera Providence Office at 401-331-6060
July & August 2013
Summer production of
"Elixir of Love"
Exact dates to be determined.
For additional information on our exciting opera season,
to purchase tickets, or to contribute to the Annual Appeal, contact:
Opera Providence
585 Elmgrove Avenue
Providence RI 02906
401-331-6060
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NO OPERA ON WGBH TV
THIS WEEK!
