At the festival of Aix-en-Provence, now in its sixty-first year, the final installment of Wagner’s “Ring,” with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, has hogged the spotlight.
Month: July 2009
Prom 2 — Haydn: The Creation
‘I never left a theatre more contented, and all night I dreamed of The Creation of the world.’ — the view of one of those at the first performance of The Creation in 1799.
Amsterdam: Old Wine in New Bull Rings
A roster of exciting young artists supported by the Concertgebouw Orchestra
in the pit, ensured that Amsterdam’s Carmen worked its
usual spell.
Letter from Munich: Trouble in Tahiti
http://www.scena.org/blog/2009/07/letter-from-munich-trouble-in-tahiti.html
Magic Flutes & Enchanted Forests: The Supernatural in Eighteenth-Century Musical Theater
Readers may recognize the author of this book, David J. Buch, a specialist on the origins of the libretto to Mozart’s Magic Flute.
Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Covent Garden
Music-masters, singing lessons and serenading bands all abound in
Rossini’s comic masterpiece, Il Barbiere di Sivilglia, but at
this performance it was the medical rather than the musical puns which drew the
loudest laughs.
Korn/Ferry Sponsorship Pullout Shakes Holland Park: Interview
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aXW7yhWyxbLY#
Down on a Virginia Farm, a New Festival of Music
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/arts/music/14beggar.html
SF Opera celebrates beginning new era with incoming music director Nicola Luisotti
http://www.examiner.com/x-2366-SF-Opera-Examiner~y2009m7d13-SF-Opera-celebrates-beginning-new-era-with-incoming-music-director-Nicola-Luisotti
The Met’s Favorite Tenor: Marcello Giordani
Marcello Giordani, at present singing a generally highly praised Cavaradossi at the Royal Opera House in London, is the leading exponent of the great Italian and French tenor roles at the Metropolitan Opera, and the man whom James Levine describes as ‘my favorite tenor.’ This prominence has been arrived at after a steady rise to fame: he will celebrate the 25th year of his career in the 2010-11 season.