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.
![Joseph Lattanzi as Don Giovanni [Photo by Tim Trumble]](http://www.operatoday.com/Don%20Giovanni%2016.png)
Don Giovanni is Mozart at his mature zenith. He makes his musical statements directly with optimum economy and, even after more than two centuries, the dramatic scope of his work remains a source of wonder to operagoers. Charles Gounod called Don Giovanni “an unequalled and immortal masterpiece, the pinnacle of lyrical drama.”
The performance of Don Giovanni on Saturday February 27, 2016, simply bubbled with Mozart's melodic and harmonic invention as the orchestra provided a firm foundation for the excellent performances of Arizona Opera’s cast under Steven White’s caring but firm conducting. Leading with authoritative tempi, he drew luxurious tone and refined phrasing from the Arizona Opera Orchestra.
Tara Faircloth’s stage direction was realistic and gave the visual aspects of the performance a firm foundation. Peter Nolle and Douglas Provost’s functional sets allowed the singers to bring the libretto to life in all its glory while Kathleen Trott’s carefully researched, exquisitely detailed costumes placed the action firmly in eighteenth century Spain.
Alyssa Martin, Ryan Kuster, Matthew Burns and Andrew Penning as Zerlina, Masetto, Leporello and Don Ottavio
As Don Giovanni, Joseph Lattanzi was a delight both vocally and dramatically. His portrayal was entirely sympathetic and oriented towards the work's tragic overtones and its eventual outcome. Although Lattanzi’s voice is not large and he reserved his full power for the supper scene, he achieved a high plane of vocalism and dramatic purpose whenever he was onstage. Matthew Burns was a cunning Leporello whose comedic turns were both pointed and deliciously amusing.
Alyssa Martin was a charming Zerlina who sang with a sweet sound. A smooth Ottavio, Andrew Penning sang a well articulated "Il mio tesoro" and made a fine partner for Andrea Shokery’s dramatically eloquent and musically exquisite Donna Anna. Ryan Kuster made a telling contribution as Masetto. His interpretation reminded us that revolution was on its way and would eventually change the relationship between common people and the nobility.
Andrea Shokery, Andrew Penning and Peter Volpe as Donna Anna, Don Ottavio and The Commendatore
Sarah Larsen sang Donna Elvira’s music with taste and technical excellence as she encompassed the character’s mix of strong emotions. Her “Mi tradi’ was a delight. Veteran bass, Peter Volpe was a sonorous Comendatore. Working with Maestro Steven White, the excellent solo artists sang the concerted numbers with precision and accuracy. Henri Venanzi’s chorus moved gracefully as they embodied individual townspeople and sang their glorious harmonies.
Maria Nockin
Cast and production information:
Don Giovanni, Joseph Lattanzi (1); Donna Anna, Andrea Shokery (2); Donna Elvira, Sarah Larsen; Don Ottavio, Andres Penning (1); Leporello, Matthew Burns; Zerlina, Alyssa Martin (1); Masetto, Ryan Kuster; Commendatore, Peter Volpe; Conductor, Steven White; Director, Tara Faircloth; Lighting Design, Douglas Provost; Scenic Design, Peter Nolle, Douglas Provost; Costume Design, Kathleen Trott; Chorus Master, Henri Venanzi; Fight Director, Andrea Robertson.
(1) Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist
(2) Former Marion RoosePullin Studio Artist