English Touring Opera are delighted to announce a season of lyric monodramas to tour nationally from October to December. The season features music for solo singer and piano by Argento, Britten, Tippett and Shostakovich with a bold and inventive approach to making opera during social distancing.
This tenth of ten Live from London concerts was in fact a recorded live performance from California. It was no less enjoyable for that, and it was also uplifting to learn that this wasn’t in fact the ‘last’ LfL event that we will be able to enjoy, courtesy of VOCES8 and their fellow vocal ensembles (more below …).
Ever since Wigmore Hall announced their superb series of autumn concerts, all streamed live and available free of charge, I’d been looking forward to this song recital by Ian Bostridge and Imogen Cooper.
Although Stile Antico’s programme article for their Live from London recital introduced their selection from the many treasures of the English Renaissance in the context of the theological debates and upheavals of the Tudor and Elizabethan years, their performance was more evocative of private chamber music than of public liturgy.
Evidently, face masks don’t stifle appreciative “Bravo!”s. And, reducing audience numbers doesn’t lower the volume of such acclamations. For, the audience at Wigmore Hall gave soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and pianist Simon Lepper a greatly deserved warm reception and hearty response following this lunchtime recital of late-Romantic song.
For this week’s Live from London vocal recital we moved from the home of VOCES8, St Anne and St Agnes in the City of London, to Kings Place, where The Sixteen - who have been associate artists at the venue for some time - presented a programme of music and words bound together by the theme of ‘reflection’.
'Such is your divine Disposation that both you excellently understand, and royally entertaine the Exercise of Musicke.’
‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven … that old serpent … Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’
There was never any doubt that the fifth of the twelve Met Stars Live in Concert broadcasts was going to be a palpably intense and vivid event, as well as a musically stunning and theatrically enervating experience.
‘Love’ was the theme for this Live from London performance by Apollo5. Given the complexity and diversity of that human emotion, and Apollo5’s reputation for versatility and diverse repertoire, ranging from Renaissance choral music to jazz, from contemporary classical works to popular song, it was no surprise that their programme spanned 500 years and several musical styles.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields have titled their autumn series of eight concerts - which are taking place at 5pm and 7.30pm on two Saturdays each month at their home venue in Trafalgar Square, and being filmed for streaming the following Thursday - ‘re:connect’.
The London Symphony Orchestra opened their Autumn 2020 season with a homage to Oliver Knussen, who died at the age of 66 in July 2018. The programme traced a national musical lineage through the twentieth century, from Britten to Knussen, on to Mark-Anthony Turnage, and entwining the LSO and Rattle too.
With the Live from London digital vocal festival entering the second half of the series, the festival’s host, VOCES8, returned to their home at St Annes and St Agnes in the City of London to present a sequence of ‘Choral Dances’ - vocal music inspired by dance, embracing diverse genres from the Renaissance madrigal to swing jazz.
Just a few unison string wriggles from the opening of Mozart’s overture to Le nozze di Figaro are enough to make any opera-lover perch on the edge of their seat, in excited anticipation of the drama in music to come, so there could be no other curtain-raiser for this Gala Concert at the Royal Opera House, the latest instalment from ‘their House’ to ‘our houses’.
"Before the ending of the day, creator of all things, we pray that, with your accustomed mercy, you may watch over us."
The doors at The Metropolitan Opera will not open to live audiences until 2021 at the earliest, and the likelihood of normal operatic life resuming in cities around the world looks but a distant dream at present. But, while we may not be invited from our homes into the opera house for some time yet, with its free daily screenings of past productions and its pay-per-view Met Stars Live in Concert series, the Met continues to bring opera into our homes.
Music-making at this year’s Grange Festival Opera may have fallen silent in June and July, but the country house and extensive grounds of The Grange provided an ideal setting for a weekend of twelve specially conceived ‘promenade’ performances encompassing music and dance.
There’s a “slide of harmony” and “all the bones leave your body at that moment and you collapse to the floor, it’s so extraordinary.”
“Music for a while, shall all your cares beguile.”
The hum of bees rising from myriad scented blooms; gentle strains of birdsong; the cheerful chatter of picnickers beside a still lake; decorous thwacks of leather on willow; song and music floating through the warm evening air.
![Lindsay Russell as The Queen of the Night announces her presence to David Margulis as Tamino [Photo by Tim Trumble]](http://www.operatoday.com/MagicFlute06.png)
On March 7, 2015, Arizona Opera presented Dan Rigazzi’s production of Die Zauberflöte in Tucson. Inspired by the works of René Magritte, designer John Pollard filled the stage with various sizes of picture frames, windows, and portals from which he leads us into Mozart and Schikaneder’s dream world.
In 1790 and 1791, Emanuel Schikaneder produced a series of fairy-tale operas at the Theater auf der Wieden that culminated with the premiere of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) for which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote the music. Although Schikaneder probably wrote the libretto, Karl Ludwig Giesecke, the playwright he most often worked with, also claimed authorship. The writer based his text on earlier plays such as Sophie Seyler’s Oberon. By combining elements of Masonic ritual with fairy tale opera, the librettist created a fine musical work in which a clever artist could make good use of his abilities as a comedian and a singer. Although Mozart died shortly after its premiere, The Flute was a monumental success that was seen over a hundred times in the short space of a few months. Schikaneder wrote, “Mozart’s work is beyond all praise. One feels only too keenly, on hearing this or any other of his music, what the art has lost in him.”
On March 7, 2015, Arizona Opera presented Dan Rigazzi’s production of Die Zauberflöte in Tucson. Inspired by the works of René Magritte, designer John Pollard filled the stage with various sizes of picture frames, windows, and portals from which he leads us into Mozart and Schikaneder’s dream world. Costume Designer Leslie Bernstein’s clothing was timeless and opulent but she might have been wiser if she had avoided thinly veiled midriffs for singers because of their constant use of muscles in that area of the body.
Chad Sloan as Papageno with chorus ladies
The star of the show was Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist Sarah Tucker who sang Pamina. She has already been a Marcello Giordani Young Artist and Metropolitan Opera National Council 2014 Auditions semifinalist. Her voice was sweet and her high notes had a radiant bloom. David Margulis was an energetic Tamino who was only momentarily laid low by Pollard’s iconic monster. He sang with sumptuous lyrical sounds conveyed on a well-honed legato. Chad Sloan was a sparkling Papageno with a robust voice who never stopped moving. He made you believe he could easily capture the most elusive birds with his bare hands. As Papagena, the lover who does not appear until the last act, Rhea Miller sang with dulcet tones and showed a great deal of affection for the many children who magically appeared when the couple sang of their love.
The Three Ladies, soprano Andrea Shokery, along with mezzo-sopranos Beth Lytwynec and Maria Dominique Lopez, sang with limpid harmonies while taking advantage of every comedic possibility. As the Queen of the night, Lindsay Russell negotiated the highest notes with unusual security, blazed through its difficult runs, and gave her character understandable human traits. I couldn’t help wondering about the age-old question as to whether she had once been Sarastro’s lover! He hated her with more emotion than anyone would waste on a casual enemy! A fine bass, Nicholas Masters sang his character’s views passionately with robust bronze tonal colors.
Second year Studio Artist Calvin Griffin sang the Speaker and the lower-voiced Armed Man with stentorian tones. Ian McEuen was a thoroughly amusing Monostatos while Studio Artists Andrew Penning and Chris Carr were committed priests. Dressed in resplendent costumes, Henri Venanzi’s choristers combined visual spectacle with vocal acumen as they sang Mozart’s immortal harmonies. Scott Terrell’s conducting was generally brisk and he followed the singers, giving them the space they needed to form believable characters. Only on a few occasions did he slow down enough to slacken the tension for a moment or two of respite. We had a pleasant trip to Tucson and hearing the performance in a different hall provided an interesting contrast.
Maria Nockin
Cast and production information:
Tamino, David Margulis; Papageno, Chad Sloan; Pamina, Sarah Tucker; Queen of the Night, Lindsay Russell; First Lady Andrea Shokery; Second Lady, Beth Lytwynec; Third Lady, Maria Dominique Lopez; Sarastro, Nicholas Masters; Monostatos, Ian McEuen; Papagena, Rhea Miller; First Priest/Armored Man, Andrew Penning; Speaker/Second Armored Man, Calvin Griffin; Second Priest, Chris Carr; Spirits: Liam Boyd, Noah Sharma, Owen Lamb; Conductor, Scott Terrell; Stage Director, Dan Rigazzi; Scenic Designer, John Pollard, Lighting and Projection Designer, Douglas Provost; Chorus Master, Henri Venanzi.