Opera and Choral Events

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Your source for classical voice, opera, and choral events

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Week of February 25 - March 3, 2016

This week on Rhode Island Public television,
WSBE:  (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478) 
 *all links are live

Saturday, February 27, 2016, 8:00pm
Sunday, February  28, 2016 3:00am
Monday, February 29, 2016, 12:00am




Giuseppi Verdi's
Otello



Verdi's "Otello," about a Moorish general (Aleksandrs Antonenko) who comes to suspect his wife (Sonya Yoncheva) of infidelity due to seeds of doubt sowed by a treacherous aide (Zeljko Lucic).
Length: 180


Otello: "Quando narravi" (Yoncheva, Antonenko) - YouTube Video for Otello Aleksandrs Antonenko




News from Around the World of Music

Jackie Clarkson and her daughter, Patricia Clarkson. Former New Orleans Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson was termed the 'patron saint of opera' by industry magazine Opera News. (Photo by Steven Forster, The Times-Picayune

Jackie Clarkson called 'patron saint of opera' by Opera News magazine



Classical Music Podcasts You Need to Hear

Tuesday, February 23, 2016 - 12:21 PM
WQXR
By John V. Bennett


TONIGHT!!

Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt Perform Piano Trios
Tune in at 7:30 pm Wednesday for a live broadcast from Carnegie Hall, featuring Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt playing Schumann, Dvořák and Brahms piano trios.






WQXR


'The Shining' Brings the Overlook Hotel to the Opera Stage

Wednesday, February 24, 2016
By David Patrick Stearns
Stephen King's novel, The Shining, has been adapted into an opera that will premiere this spring; David Patrick Stearns previews the production. 


June LeBell with Avery Fisher in Avery Fisher Hall, 1981.
Catching Up with June LeBell

Tuesday, February 23, 2016
By Fred Plotkin
Fred Plotkin catches up with June LeBell, who made history as the first female on-air host of a commercial classical radio station at WQXR, where she served for 30 years.






OPERA ON THE INTERNET 
WITH  
DAVE  D' AGUANNO

This coming Saturday afternoon (Feb. 27), the broadcast from the Met is not a LIVE broadcast, but a pre-recorded performance from November 21, 2015, of Berg's "Lulu" with the same performers who appeared in the HD-transmission of the work earlier this season.

There is, however, a LIVE broadcast from the Met scheduled for tomorrow evening at 7:25 pm, the opera being Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro." This is a FREE audio-stream.

Other broadcasts include a rare opportunity to hear Boieldieu's "La Dame Blanche" (1825) which comes to us via German Radio in a performance that took place earlier this month (Feb. 6) in Giessen.

The opera to be heard this Saturday on ORF (Austria) is "Otello." However, this happens to be a performance of Rossini's opera (rather than Verdi's) which has actually been heard several times over the last few years. This particular performance will be taking place on Friday (Feb. 26), but the actual broadcast is scheduled for the next day.

French Radio, on the other hand, gives us what seems to be considered yet another 20th century masterpiece (besides Berg's "Lulu"): Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk." This was performed earlier this season (January 25) in Lyons. (For those who may be interested, a video of the performance was actually seen in Europe at that time, but so far nothing has turned up on YouTube.)

Enjoy!

DAVE

.*.*.*.*.*.



*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Black Water

Please help Jeremy Beck raise funds for his opera! Reached 20% of fundraising goal already. Every little bit helps!! 

 The Center for Contemporary Opera will be producing the stage premiere of his one-act opera, Black Water, at Symphony Space in New York.

 I am helping to raise funds for this production. Please consider supporting this Kickstarter campaign - We are grateful for your support, and please share this link with others who may be interested - many thanks!


The Met Saturday afternoon
 radio broadcast 
Saturday, February 27, 2016, 1:00 pm.   



Lulu
BERG

Koenigs; Petersen, Graham, Brenna, Groves, Reuter, Grundhebe




No opera on
WGBH this week!




Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Week of February 18 - February 25, 2016

This week on Rhode Island Public television,
WSBE:  (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478)

*all links are live
Saturday, February 20, 2016, 8:00pm
Sunday, February  21, 2016 3:00am
Monday, February 22, 2016, 12:00am



Jacques Offenbach's

Les Contes d'Hoffman 


Jacques Offenbach's "Les Contes d'Hoffman," about a poet (Vittorio Grigolo)  whose romantic hopes are repeatedly dashed.

Length: 180







News from Around the World of Music

VIDEO: First Look at Meryl Streep as OpeRA Singer
 FLORENCE FOSTER
 JENKINS! 





 Meryl Streep as American-born opera singer Florence Foster 
Jenkins and Hugh Grant as her husband and manager St. Clair
 Bayfield 

(Never heard of 
her? There's a good
reason.)







WQXR


Analysis: The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 Season

Wednesday, February 17, 2016
By Fred Plotkin
The Metropolitan Opera announced the line-up for it's 2016-2017 season. Fred Plotkin offers his thoughts on what to love about it.


Kristine Opolais as Manon and Roberto Alagna as des Grieux

Kristine Opolais as Manon and Roberto Alagna as des Grieux in Puccini's 'Manon Lescaut'.
Review: Met's WWII-Era 'Manon Lescaut' Offers Mixed Bag

Saturday, February 13, 2016
By David Patrick Stearns
Roberto Alagna, replacing Jonas Kaufmann, joins Kristine Opolais in an uneven production of Puccini's 'Manon Lescaut' at the Metropolitan Opera.


A scene from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation takes place at the Vienna State Opera House
The Vienna State Opera: Mission Possible
Friday, February 12, 2016
By Fred Plotkin
How does the Vienna State Opera manage fifty operas and ten ballets a year at a third of the budget of the Met? Fred Plotkin offers his thoughts.








OPERA ON THE INTERNET 
WITH  
DAVE  D' AGUANNO

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky sings the title role in Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda" this coming Saturday (February 20), and the Met's LIVE broadcast of the event can be heard on most internet radio stations. As many of you know, earlier this season Ms Radvanovsky sang the role of Anna Bolena (also by Donizetti) and will be singing the role of Queen Elizabeth in a few weeks in Donizetti's "Roberto Devereux" (scheduled to receive its HD-transmission on April 16).

The Met also has Puccini's "Madame Butterfly" scheduled for a FREE live audio-stream on Friday evening (Feb. 19) at 7:25 pm.

Other operas featured on the internet this Saturday all happen to fall into either the category of "lesser-known" or "contemporary." As one of the lesser-known works in a lighter vein, there's Chabrier's "L'Etoile" which is being performed at London's Royal Opera House. This Saturday you can tune in to BBC Radio 3 and hear that one.

Also in a lighter vein, on RAI there's a double-bill of Wolf-Ferrari's "Il Segreto di Susanna" (Susanna's secret being that she smokes cigarettes!!!) & Roberto Hazon's 1962 opera "Agenzia Matrimoniale" (otherwise known as "Dating"). Both operas were performed in Venice on January 23 of this year.

Russian composer Anton Rubinstein wrote more than 10 operas during his lifetime; yet his 1871 work "The Demon" is the only one that gets performed at all these days. A couple of concert performances of this opera were given in Brussels last month, and the Belgian station Klara is transmitting one of those performances for us this Saturday.

On Swedish Radio, Swedish composer Daniel Bortz's brand-new opera "Medea" can be heard in a performance that took place in Stockholm last Saturday (Feb. 13).

One of the works of Dutch-German composer Konrad Boehmer (who died as recently as 2 years ago) is being broadcast on German Radio: It's "Sensor" as performed in January 27, 2016 in Berlin.


Enjoy!

DAVE

.*.*.*.*.*.



*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Black Water

Please help Jeremy Beck raise funds for his opera! Reached 20% of fundraising goal already. Every little bit helps!! 

 The Center for Contemporary Opera will be producing the stage premiere of his one-act opera, Black Water, at Symphony Space in New York.

 I am helping to raise funds for this production. Please consider supporting this Kickstarter campaign - We are grateful for your support, and please share this link with others who may be interested - many thanks!


The Met Saturday afternoon
 radio broadcast 
Saturday, February 20, 2016, 1:00 pm.   



Maria Stuarda
DONIZETTI
Frizza; Radvanovsky, van den Heever, Albelo,  Carfizzi, Youn




No opera on
WGBH this week!