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.
![Abdellah Lasri as Rodolfo and Aleksandra Kurzak as Mimi [Photo by Mara Eggert]](http://www.operatoday.com/Rodolfo-and-Mimi.png)
Lindy Hume’s sensational La bohème at the Berliner Staatsoper brings out the moxie in Puccini. Abdellah Lasri emerged as a stunning discovery. He floored me with his tenor voice through which he embodied a perfect Rodolfo.
Disarming me with its intimacy and genuine vocal chemistry, Hume’s staging caught me off guard. The Australian director’s take on Puccini channelled the vibe of a fresh musical. The result was an exhilarating, fast-paced show that appealed to the young audience, cheering many “bravi” throughout the performance.
Opening the overture, conductor Lahav Shani with dashing aplomb proved to be the musical impetus. In Hume’s concept, we travel back in time as the old man recollects his love for Mimì. The audience sees an elderly man all alone in a chair on stage. By setting the story up as one of Rodolfo’s reminiscences, Hume instantly saturates Puccini’s bohemia with an even thicker layer of nostalgic longing.
With a vibrant Pop Artsy design that triggered memories of Grease and Footloose, Dan Potra’s ultracool aesthetic embellished Hume’s slick production, facilitating the jumps in the story. Yet through her intimate dramaturgy, Hume also charged Puccini’s romantic melodrama with characterful depth. Basking in romance, a crushing “O soave fanciulla” closed the first act. Coy and sweet in her chemistry with the charismatic Lasri, Aleksandra Kurzak’s Mimì falling in love with Rodolfo oozed pure romance…
Old Rodolfo reminisces about his past
Deeply moving from the moment she arrived on stage, Kurzak captured the fragility of her character, presenting the most loveable of Mimìs. Immediately, in “Si, mi chiamano Mimì”, I became enamored by Ms. Kurzak’s virtuous portrayal as a delicate Mimì; by the time she undermines her love for Rodolfo by leaving him in “Donde lieta usci” in the third act, I was smitten.
Arttu Kataja made for an exemplary Marcello in his lustiness for Anna Samuil’s buxom Musetta. At Cafe Momus, they sang with zeal to each other, also joined by Martin Wright’s led choir, which was full of flair. Samuil downright dazzled as Musetta. Her Waltz certainly was a showstopper without being too much of a scene stealing moment from the other characters. She made quite the splash receiving a raucous applause.
Hume effectively contrasted Mimì and Rodolfo’s heartache with the excellently timed biting banter between Musetta and Marcello. The last act burst with gut wrenching drama, culminating in a devastating “Mimì!” from Lasri in utter anguish.
The evening belonged to the Moroccan tenor. The warmth of Lasri’s voice certainly must have warmed Mimì’s hands, as he sang “Che gelida manina”, swooning in romance. Onward, Lasri fueled Puccini’s flames. His voice gushes with personality. He owned Rodolfo. He has superstar wattage that amplifies his robust resonance, all the while serving it up with remarkable authenticity. For me it was the first encounter with this dream tenor, and with great promise, I look forward to Lasri’s future.
Anna Samuil as Musetta [Photo by Thomas Bartilla]
Through his vocal theatricality, Lasri also evokes the most devoted rises from the other performers. As the loveable musician, Gyula Orendt’s Shaunard provided the necessary lighthearted overtones. Jan Martiník marked Colline’s benevolence, selling his coat for Mimì’s medicine. He turned “Vecchia zimarra” into a captivatingly poignant farewell to the philosopher’s cherished overcoat. Jonathan Winell delivered laughs as the foolish landlord Parpignol.
Israeli conductor Lahav Shani began the evening with the Berliner Staatskapelle quite loudly, but he quickly balanced his orchestra out with the singers, forming a fine whole. The exquisite saxophone and violin solos touched me deeply, reflecting Shani’s ear for the moving details in Puccini’s score. I look forward to hearing his fierce intensity in the Rotterdam Philharmonic. He will succeed Yannick Nézet-Seguin as Principal Conductor in September 2018. Shani’s charging energy and the RPhO’s hot temperament promises furious chemistry.
I confess I don’t get too excited when it comes too Puccini. But this performance was something else. The intimate duets and boisterous singing brought out the most of Puccini’s romance and even elevated my appreciation for the composer. Tonight’s heartbreak put the bohemian life in its true perspective. But finding another such electrifying production of Puccini will be rare: by the end of the evening, the skin on my face had tightened up from all the salt. It felt like I had a facelift.
David Pinedo