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.
![A scene from Turandot [Photo by R. Tinker]](http://www.operatoday.com/Turandot_Manitoba.png)
There’s little doubt that Puccini’s Turandot is a flawed, illogical fairytale. Yet it continues to resonate today with its undying “love shall conquer all” ethos, where even the most heinous crimes may be forgiven by that which makes the world go ‘round.
Manitoba Opera closed its 2014/15 season with its first staging of the Asian-inspired drama since 1996, with three performances held April 18, 21, and 24. The 165-minute production (including two intermissions) stage directed by Winnipeg-born Tom Diamond also featured Tyrone Paterson ably leading the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra through Puccini’s lushly orchestrated score infused with exotic, Eastern flavoured themes.
Moscow-born soprano Mlada Khudoley who also appeared in the title role during MO’s 2011 production of Salome re-affirmed her status as an operatic force of nature. Her dramatic intensity seemed only to grow with each passing scene, from her first veiled, “teaser” entry where she silently perches atop sky-high scaffolding, to final duet “Del primo pianto,” in which she confesses her love to Calàf. Her mesmerizing emotional trajectory where she melts before our eyes from a stony cold princess to deeply wounded woman hiding behind pride and power proved masterful. Khudoley’s powerhouse vocals, and especially during Act II’s pivotal scene in which she poses the three cryptic riddles to Calàf enthralled with her every penetrating note.
Winnipeg-based soprano Lara Ciekiewicz also shone in her role debut as slave girl — and moral presence — Liù. She crafted her guileless character with utter simplicity, faithfully tending to American bass Valerian Ruminski’s deposed Tartar King Timur, while begging Calàf to abandon his obsessive pursuit of Turandot during Act I’s “Signore, ascolta!” Her crystal clear voice radiated sincerity during Act III’s “Tu che di gel sei cinta,” performed just before taking her own life in order to spare Calàf’s.
Cuban-born lyric tenor Raùl Melo marking his MO debut did not fare as well. His voice struggled to project at times, albeit did grow increasingly stronger throughout the show. His iconic Act II aria “Nessun Dorma,” should be a showstopper. Melo showed some strain in his upper range, with clunky amplification of the backstage chorus also becoming a distraction. And while yes, the show did go on, his strong conviction and commitment to this character nevertheless earned loud cheers from the clearly rapt audience.
Ping (Benjamin Covey), Pang (Keith Klassen) and Pong (Christopher Mayell) made a magical entrance during their opening trio, “Fermo, che fai?,” pushed about in wheeled, skirted pedestals. Their dreamy Act II “Ho una casa nell’Honan,” where they pine for their former homes with peaceful, bamboo-flanked lakes became another highlight.
The lavish production including vibrantly colourful sets/costumes from Opera Carolina created stunning eye candy, including effective video/stills projections that added further dimensionality and contemporary appeal. The image of skulls bobbing in blood does not easily leave the imagination — but neither does the luminous, breathtaking moon or starry night sky that served as visual canvas for the top of Act II.
Characters positioned on towering scaffolds clearly showed the pecking order of power. The Emperor Altoum wonderfully sung by Manitoban bass Terence Mierau — and notably real-life farmer — seated among shards of light at the very height of the hall added gravitas to the entire production.
The Manitoba Opera Chorus prepared by Tadeusz Biernacki was augmented by Children’s Chorus led by Carolyn Boyes, with the latter ensemble’s pure voices singing of the rising moon in “Perche tarda la luna?” stirring.
Opera at its grandest should ideally move the heart or inspire the soul — as witnessed during MO’s brilliant season-opener of Fidelio last November. However, Puccini’s opera remains a conundrum; a fantastical tale that ends happily ever only after its most innocent characters, Liù and her countless suitors including the Prince of Persia (George Nytepchuk) have become brutally slaughtered.
Still, MO is to be commended for breathing new life into this ice princess after an absence of 19 years. The opening night audience certainly seemed to agree, especially melted by Khudoley’s gripping performance, and springing to its feet at the end with cries of bravo.
Holly Harris