The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Ancora String Quartet performs an all-Italian program four times this month starting this weekend and returns as an ensemble-in-residence at the First Unitarian Society of Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
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The Ancora String Quartet (below) opens its 19th season with a program of works by three Italian composers more usually associated with opera, or solo violin music, than with string quartets.
Members of the Ancora String Quartet (ASQ, below from left in a photo by Barry Lewis) are violins Wes Luke and Robin Ryan; violist Marika Fischer Hoyt; and cellist Benjamin Whitcomb.
Violin virtuoso and composer Antonio Bazzini (below) led a rockstar’s life, touring Europe and hobnobbing with Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn. He later settled in Milan, winning first prize in the Milan quartet competition in 1864 with this piece. The Scherzo shows Mendelssohn’s influence, and the Andante sostenuto delivers breathtakingly beautiful passages of lyrical romance and tender passion.
Opera great Giaocomo Puccini wrote Chrysanthemums (Crisantemi) in one night, upon hearing the news of the death of his friend the Duke of Savoy in 1890. The six-minute piece expresses the composer’s sorrow, in themes that bring to mind the poignant melodies of “Madama Butterfly.” (You can hear “Chrysanthemums” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The String Quartet in E Minor (1873) by Giuseppe Verdi (below) opens with restrained moodiness, but the drama quickly leaps off the page. Written to pass the time while waiting for the delayed opening of his opera “Aida,” this quartet demonstrates Verdi’s mastery of purely instrumental writing — although the cello solo in the Trio of the Scherzo could pass for a tenor aria. The work ends, surprisingly, with an elaborate fugue.
The quartet is gearing up for four performances in September, listed below.
In related news, the Ancora String Quartet, like the Madison Bach Musicians, will become a Resident Ensemble at the First Unitarian Society of Madison (FUS) starting this fall. We are pleased to reconnect with our FUS audiences, and hope our Regent Street fans will make the trip as well.
Here is the September schedule of the Italian program:
- This Friday, Sept. 6, from noon to 1 p.m. in an interview on Wisconsin Public Radio’s The Midday with host Norman Gilliland. WPR is Madison station WERN 88.7 FM. The ASQ will perform the entire Bazzini quartet.
- This Saturday, Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the FUS, Landmark Auditorium, Madison. Tickets at the door are $15 for the general public, $12 for seniors and $6 for students.
- Sunday, Sept. 8, at 3 p.m. at FUS, Landmark Auditorium, Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, Madison. Tickets at the door are $15, $12 and $6.
- Next Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 6 p.m. at the Germantown Community Library, N112W16957 Mequon Rd., in Germantown. The concert is FREE and open to the public.
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Classical music: The 13th season of “Live from The Met in HD” opens this Saturday with Verdi’s opera “Aida” starring Anna Netrekbko
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By Jacob Stockinger
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This Saturday, Oct. 6, the new 10-opera season of the series “Live From the Met in HD” starts with Giuseppe Verdi’s popular late masterpiece and epic opera “Aida.”
The hi-definition broadcast of a live performance from the Metropolitan Opera (below) in New York City – which is a revival production with the superstar Russian soprano Anna Netrebko — starts at 11:55 a.m. and runs until 4:13 p.m. The encore showings are on next Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
The opera will be sung in Italian with supertitles in English, German, Spanish and Italian.
Tickets are for Saturday broadcasts are $24 for adults and $22 for seniors. For encore showings, all tickets are $18.
The cinemas where the opera can be seen are two Marcus Cinemas: the Point Cinema on the west side of Madison and the Palace Cinema in Sun Prairie.
Here is a link to the Marcus website for address and more information:
http://www.marcustheatres.com/movies/met-aida-live
Get out your datebooks!
Here is a link to the Metropolitan Opera’s web site where you can find the titles, dates, casts, production information and video clips of all 10 productions in the 2018-19 season, which include operas by Bizet, Wagner, Donizetti, Saint-Saens, Puccini, Cilea and Poulenc plus a new work, “Marnie,” by Nico Muhly. (You can also see and hear the season trailer in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/
Here is a link to a very positive review of “Aida” — Anna Netrebko as Aida is on the left in the photo by Sara Krulwich for The New York Times — by senior music critic Anthony Tommasini that appeared in The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/arts/music/anna-netrebko-aida-met-opera-review.html
Here is a link to a synopsis and cast list, which can be printed out:
Here is a link to other information about the production of “Aida,” including photos and audiovisual clips:
https://www.metopera.org/season/2018-19-season/aida/
And here is a Wikipedia history of the successful broadcast series that gives you more information about how many cinemas it uses, the size of the worldwide audience – now including Russia, China and Israel — and how much money it makes for The Met.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Opera_Live_in_HD
Tags: #AncientEgypt, #AnnaNetrebko, #AnthonyTommasini, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChineseCinema, #DialoguesoftheCarmelites, #DieWalküre, #FacebookPost, #FrancisPoulenc, #FrenchLanguage, #GaetanoDonizetti, #GeorgesBizet, #GermanLanguage, #GiacomoPuccini, #GirloftheGoldenWest, #GiuseppeVerdi, #HiDef, #ItalianLanguage, #LaTraviata, #LiveFrom the MetinHD, #LivePerformance, #MarcusTheatres, #MetropolitanOpera, #MetropolitanOperaLiveinHD, #MusicCritic, #MusicReview, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #NicoMuhly, #PalaceCinemas, #PointCinemas, #PucciniOpera, #RevivalProduction, #RichardWagner, #SamsonandDelilah, #SatelliteBroadcast, #SpanishLanguage, #SunPrairie, #TheMet, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheRingCycle, #TheValkyries, #Wikipediaentry, #YouTubevideo, afternoon, Aida, ancient, Anna Netrebko, Anthony Tommasini, Arts, audience, audiovisual, Bizet, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Broadcast, Carmen, cast, China, choral music, Cilea, cinema, Classical music, composer, conductor, date, datebook, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Die Walküre, Donizetti, Egypt, encore, epic, Facebook, famous, Francis Poulenc, Girl of the Golden West, information, Israel, Jacob Stockinger, La Traviata, late, link, live performance, Madison, march, Marnie, masterpiece, Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Opera Live in HD, money, Music, music critic, music review, New Music, New York City, New York Times, Nico Muhly, night, open, opera, Orchestra, Palace Cinemas, photo, Point Cinemas, print, production, Puccini, Richard Wagner, Ring cycle, Russia, Russian, Saint-Saens, Samson and Delilah, satellite, Saturday, Season, showing, sing, size, soprano, sung, superstar, supertitles, symphony, synopsis, the Met, The New York Times, The Valkyries, titles, trailer, triumph, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wednesday, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, world, worldwide, YouTube
Classical music: Broadcasts of operas from the Met and string quartets by the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet are featured on old media and new media this Saturday and Sunday. Plus, the 89th Edgewood college Christmas Concert is tonight and tomorrow afternoon.
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ALERT: Edgewood College will present its 89th Annual Christmas Concerts tonight at 7 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive.
Now expanded to two performances, the holiday concert features the Edgewood College choirs and Concert Band, along with audience sing-alongs, prelude music by the Guitar Ensemble, and a post-concert reception featuring the Jazz Ensemble.
By Jacob Stockinger
Classical music meets old media and new media this weekend through opera and chamber music.
SATURDAY
This Saturday marks the beginning of the LIVE RADIO broadcasts of operas from the Metropolitan Opera (below) in New York City. This will be the 86th season for the radio broadcasts, which educated and entertained generations of opera lovers before there were DVDs, streaming and the “Live in HD From the Met” broadcasts to movie theaters.
The performances will be carried locally on Wisconsin Public Radio, WERN-FM 88.7. This Saturday, the starting time for Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” with Russian superstar soprano Anna Netrebko (below, in a photo by Richard Termine for The New York Times), is 11:30 CST. Other operas will have different starting times, depending their length.
This season runs from Dec. 3-May 15.
Radio has certain strengths, The Ear thinks. For one, it allows the listeners to focus on the music, to be less distracted or less enriched – depending on your point of view – by sets, costumes, lighting, the physicality of the acting and other stagecraft that is left to the imagination.
This season, there will be lots of standard fare including: Verdi’s “La Traviata” and “Aida”; Puccini’s “La Boheme”; Bizet’s “Carmen”; Beethoven’s “Fidelio”; Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” and “The Flying Dutchman”; Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” and “Salome”; and Mozart’s “Idomeneo.”
But you can also hear the new music and less frequently staged operas. They include the 2000 opera “L’amour de loin” (Love From Afar) by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, which will receive its Metropolitan Opera premiere next week, on Dec. 10.
Here is a link to the complete season along with links to information about the various productions. Starting times are Eastern Standard Time, so deduct an hour for Central Standard Time or a different amount for your time zone:
http://www.metopera.org/Season/Radio/Saturday-Matinee-Broadcasts/
SUNDAY
On this Sunday afternoon, the Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer), longtime artists-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, will wrap up the first semester of “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen,” which used to air weekly on Wisconsin Public Radio but now is presented once a month, on the first Sunday of the month, directly by the museum.
The program this Sunday features the “Italian Serenade” by Hugo Wolf; the String Quartet No. 3 in F Major by Dmitri Shostakovich; and the String Quartet in A-Flat Major, Op. 105, by Antonin Dvorak.
The FREE concert takes place from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Brittingham Gallery No. 3 of the Chazen Museum of Art and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Donors to the museum can reserve seats. Concerts by the Pro Arte Quartet, kind of the house quartet of the museum, are usually “sold out.”
But the concert can also be streamed live via computer or smart phone by clicking on the arrow in the photo and using the portal on the following website:
You might also want to arrive early or stay late to see the historic and rare First Folio edition (below) of the plays by William Shakespeare that is on display at the Chazen Museum through Dec. 11 to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of the Bard.
Tags: acting, Aida, Anna Netrebko, Arts, band, Beethoven, Bizet, Carmen, Cello, Chamber music, chapel, Chazen Museum of Art, Choir, choral music, Christmas, Classical music, computer, Concert, costume, DVD, Dvorak, Edgewood College, Finland, First Folio, guitar, Holiday, Hugo Wolf, Italian Serenade, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Kaija Saariaho, La bohème, La Traviata, lighting, Live From The Met in HD, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Met, Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Opera Live in HD, movie, Mozart, Music, new media, New Music, New York City, New York Times, old media, opera, Orchestra, Prelude, premiere, Pro Arte Quartet, Puccini, Radio, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Russia, Salome, sets, Shakespeare, Shostakovich, sing-along, smart phone, soprano, St. Joseph, stagecraft, streaming, String quartet, Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen, theater, Tristan und Isolde, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical music: Madison Opera’s FREE “Opera in the Park” turns 15 and takes place this Saturday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following press release about one of the fun cultural highlights of the summer, which was started by the late Ann Stanke 15 years ago.
In The Ear’s experience, the whole event is a kind of light opera in itself, with food and amusements as well as community social interactions and of course great music that is beautifully performed.
Madison Opera’s FREE Opera in the Park will celebrate its 15th year on this Saturday, July 23, at 8 p.m. in Garner Park on Madison’s far west side.
The annual free concert of opera and Broadway favorites closes the company’s fantastic 2015-16 season and provides an enticing preview of the upcoming 2016-17 season.
A Madison summer tradition that attracts over 15,000 people every year, Opera in the Park brings the best of opera and Broadway to the community, creating an enchanting evening of music under the stars.
Opera in the Park 2016 stars soprano Emily Birsan (below top), soprano Angela Brown (below second), tenor Scott Quinn (below third) and baritone Sidney Outlaw (below fourth).
They are joined by the Madison Opera Chorus and Madison Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the returning Gary Thor Wedow (below) instead of John DeMain, who is spending the summer guest conducting at the acclaimed Glimmerglass Festival in upper New York State.
The evening is hosted by Madison Opera’s General Director Kathryn Smith and WKOW TV’s 27 News Wake-Up Wisconsin anchor Brandon Taylor.
“Opera in the Park is without question my favorite night of the year,” says Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill). “When you combine a live performance of beautiful music with thousands of people from across our community, all under a gorgeous night sky, you get the most important performance Madison Opera gives.
“I often brag to my colleagues around the country about our Opera in the Park, as it is so distinctly important in our community – not to mention having the highest per capita attendance of any such concert in the U.S.
“I am so proud that we are celebrating our 15th summer of this incredible event, and grateful to all who make it possible.”
Opera in the Park 2016 features arias and ensembles from Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, which opens the 2016-17 season in November; Daniel Schnyder’s jazz-inspired Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, which will be performed in February; and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which will be performed in April.
In celebration of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, the concert will also offer selections from Shakespeare-based operas and musicals such as Hamlet, The Boys from Syracuse and Kiss Me, Kate.
Classic selections from Aida and Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet; Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin and more round out this spectacular evening, which always includes one number conducted by the audience with light sticks (below).
Garner Park is located at 333 South Rosa Road in Madison’s far west side. Parking is available in the CUNA Mutual Group and University Research Park lots.
Attendees are encouraged to bring picnics, blankets and chairs.
Alcohol is permitted but not sold in the park.
On the day of the concert, Garner Park will open at 7 a.m. Audience members may NOT leave items in the park prior to this time.
The rain date for Opera in the Park is Sunday, July 24, at 8 p.m.
Madison Opera is grateful to the major sustaining donors who support Opera in the Park not only this year, but have done so for many years, enabling the concert to reach this 15th anniversary: CUNA Mutual, the Berbeewalsh Foundation, the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation, Full Compass Systems, University Research Park, Colony Brands, the MGE Foundation, and an Anonymous Friend.
Opera in the Park 2016 is also generously sponsored by the Richard B. Anderson Family Foundation, BMO Harris Bank, Starion Financial, Wisconsin Bank & Trust, National Endowment for the Arts Wisconsin Arts Board, Dane Arts, the Evjue Foundation, and the Madison Arts Commission. WKOW, Isthmus, Madison Magazine, Wisconsin Public Radio, Triple M, Mix 105.1, and WOLX are media sponsors for this community event.
RELATED EVENT: PRELUDE DINNER AND FUNDRAISER
The Prelude Dinner (below) at Opera in the Park 2016 is at 6 p.m.
This annual fundraiser to benefit Opera in the Park helps support Madison Opera’s free gift to the community.
The event includes dinner catered by Upstairs Downstairs, VIP seating at the concert, a complimentary light stick and a reception with the artists following the performance.
Tickets are $135 per person or $1,000 for a table of eight. More information is available at www.madisonopera.org
Tags: Aida, alcohol, Arts, baritone, Bizet, Broadway, Charles Gounod, Charlie Parker, choral music, chorus, Classical music, Dane Arts, Gary Thor Wedow, Gershwin, Glimmerglass, Hamlet, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, John DeMain, Kate, Kiss Me, Madison, Madison Magazine, Madison Opera, Madison Opera Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mozart, Music, musica; theater, musical, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, New York, opera, Opera in the Park, outdoors, Porgy, Rigoletto, Romeo and Juliet, soprano, tenor, The Boys From Syracuse, The Magic Flute, The Pearl Fishers, theater, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, vocal music, William Shakespeare, Wisconsin Arts Board, wisconsin public radio, WKOW TV, Yardbird
Classical music: The Opera Student Showcase concert this Sunday afternoon will introduce David Ronis as the new director of University Opera and spotlight University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate soprano Shannon Prickett.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a the press release for the University Opera’s Student Showcase that will take place this coming Sunday afternoon and will preview the talent and productions of the upcoming season:
“A concert of favorite melodies by Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi and others -– mostly operatic but one clearly comic -– will be presented by students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music’s opera program.
The concert will take place this Sunday afternoon, September 14, at 3 p.m. in the First Unitarian Society of Madison’s Landmark Auditorium (below) at 900 University Bay Drive.
Directing the concert and this year’s University Opera program will be David Ronis (below, in a photo by Luke DeLalio), currently on leave from the Aaron Copland School of Music at City University of New York, and Hofstra University. He is serving as the interim successor to longtime director William Farlow, who retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison last spring. (At bottom is a YouTube video of the work that the versatile Ronis recently did at Queens College with an early music version of Luigi Rossi’s opera “Orfeo.”)
Here is a link to a press release, issued by the UW-Madison School of Music when David Ronis was chosen from a nationwide search last spring, with Ronis’ impressive background:
Most of the singers will appear in this year’s productions of Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring this fall and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute in the spring.
Here is a link to information about the upcoming season of the University Opera:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/opera/
But one singer -– soprano Shannon Prickett (below top) – is an alumna returning from her current work as Resident Artist at the Minnesota Opera.
While in Madison from 2011 to 2013 and working on her Master’s of Music degree, Prickett performed lead parts in Puccini’s La Bohème, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Luigi Cherubini’s Medea, Pietro Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, and Verdi’s Requiem.
In the Showcase concert, she will sing arias from Verdi’s I Lombardi, Giacomo Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, and a dramatic duet from Verdi’s Aïda with new mezzo-soprano doctoral student Jessica Kasinski, below bottom. (The Ear has no word on specific works to be performed.)
Other singers will take on arias by Mozart, Donizetti, Bellini, Richard Strauss and even Flanders and Swann: That number requires good humor as well as pianistic skill from the accompanist, and will provide a treat for fans of the multi-talented and critically acclaimed Thomas Kasdorf (below), another graduate of the UW-Madison.
The concert is a benefit for the University Opera that sponsored by Opera Props, which supports the University Opera. Admission is a contribution of $25 per person, $10 for students. A reception follows.
Tags: Aaron Copland School of Music, Aida, aria, Arts, Bellini, Benjamin Britten, Cherubini, City University of New York, Classical music, David Ronis, Donizetti, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Flanders and Swann, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Hofstra University, I Lombardi, Jacob Stockinger, Jessica Kasinski, L'Amico Fritz, La bohème, Luigi Rossi, Madison, Manon Lescaut, Mascagni, Medea, Mezzo-soprano, Minnesota Opera, Mozart, Music, opera, Orfeo, Piano, Puccini, Requiem, Richard Strauss, Shannon Prickett, soprano, The Magic Flute, Thomas Kasdorf, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, Verdi, Vincenzo Bellini, William Farlow, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical music: Meet the Met. Here is a historical pop quiz about the Metropolitan Opera from NPR. But don’t grow complacent because the labor disputes are settled. Troubles are far from over, says one expert.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Now that the labor strife is over and the new season at the Metropolitan Opera (below) will open on time after all, it is time to lighten up and shout out a bit.
But no one should be naïve. And no one should get too complacent. Even with the labor negotiations now settled, the future may not be so rosy for the Met, or for other big opera companies:
Here is a commentary in The Wall Street Journal by the acclaimed cultural historian Joseph Horowitz (below, speaking in Madison in 2011) who, you may recall, came to Madison to open the Pro Arte Quartet’s centennial celebration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison three years ago:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/joseph-horowitz-union-trouble-isnt-the-mets-only-problem-1407537082
Still, this season will go on, starting on Oct. 27 with Giuseppe Verdi‘s epic “Aida.” So to see how much you know about the Met –- The Ear finds that opera fans, like sports fans, are vast repositories of historical trivia and statistics.
Try this quiz, based on historical facts, about the Met that was posted by NPR (National Public Radio:
But a word of advice or warning: Make sure your speakers are turned on or use headphones, since sound is an integral part of the quiz:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2014/08/20/318464055/the-music-geek-s-met-opera-puzzler
Classical music: Good news! The Metropolitan Opera season will open on time, now that it has settled disputes with its labor unions.
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By Jacob Stockinger
A week ago, The Ear offered readers an update on the labor strife at the Metropolitan Opera (below), which had been partially resolved.
The final results, and successful settlement, came in earlier this week.
And the news is good.
Here is a wrap-up of what happened from several major media outlets, plus a link to the Met so you can check into its various seasons and productions.
First, here is link to the back story about the first settlements between general director Peter Gelb (below top), who sought even bigger salary rollbacks, and the unions (below bottom):
Now here are links to three stories that wrap up the labor disputes and the final outcome:
From The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-labor-talks.html?_r=0
From The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/metropolitan-opera-reaches-deal-with-stagehands-1408526766
From the Associated Press via Billboard magazine:
http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/6221948/metropolitan-opera-reaches-deal-with-stagehands-union
Last but not least, here is a link to the Met’s own website, where you can see the schedule of productions for the regular Met season -– which opens on Oct. 27 with Giuseppe Verdi’s “Aida” (below, the opera’s show-stoppping Act 2 Triumphal March from a 1989 Met Opera production in a YouTube video) –- and for the productions for “The Met Live in HD,” which are shown locally at the Eastgate and Point cinemas:
Tags: Aida, Arts, Associated Press, Billboard, Classical music, Giuseppe Verdi, Jacob Stockinger, labor unions, Madison Opera, Met Live in HD, Metropolitan Opera, Music, National Public Radio, New York City, New York Times, NPR, Peter Gelb, Stagehand, Wall Street Journal, YouTube
Classical music: Critics for The New York Times name their favorite recordings, performances and perfomers of favorite Verdi operas to mark his bicentennial year. What are favorite Verdi operas and performers?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is another leftover from 2013 for consumption in the new year.
As you may recall, 2013 was the bicentennial of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi (below), the great and prolific Italian opera composer known especially for dramatic plots, often borrowed from Shakespeare, as well as outstanding vocal and instrumental music.
Right at the end of the year, with only a few days left on the calendar, the various critics for The New York Times did one of their compilation roundups of their favorite recordings of Verdi’s operatic and orchestral masterpieces in their favorite and formative performances, which often happened at the Metropolitan Opera. One of the favorites is Leontyne Price in “Aida,” which you can hear in a YouTube video at the bottom.
Here is the list:
Perhaps you will find it helpful.
Perhaps you have your own favorite performances of favorite Verdi works.
The Ear would love to hear about them in the COMMENT section.
Tags: Aida, Jacob Stockinger, Leontyne Price, Metropolitan Opera, New Year, New York Times, the Met, Verdi, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Symphony Orchestra’s John DeMain is praised by The New York Times for his conducting in two productions at the acclaimed Glimmerglass Opera Festival in New York State. Highlights are an updated version of Verdi’s “Aida” that uses waterboarding; and Kurt Weill’s “Lost in the Stars.”
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By Jacob Stockinger
Madison musicians don’t make great music only in Madison.
If you didn’t already know it, the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s music director and conductor John DeMain (below top, in a photo by James Gill) is spending the entire summer at the acclaimed Glimmerglass Opera Festival (at bottom) in upstate New York in Cooperstown, where the Baseball Hall of Fame is also located.
That is, in fact, the reason why DeMain could not conduct the Madison Opera’s record-breaking “Opera in the Park” concert last month. DeMain is the artistic director of the Madison Opera.
His wife Barbara is also there, as is their daughter Jennifer, who is studying singing with soprano Julia Faulkner at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music and who got a job in the Glimmerglass Opera chorus for the summer.
On Tuesday, a review by senior music critic Anthony Tommasini of the updated version of Giuseppe Verdi’s popular opera “Aida,” staged by Glimmerglass’ general director and artistic director Francesca Zambello with waterboarding and other contemporary references, got a front page laudatory review in the Arts section of The New York Times. (Below, in a photo by Kari Cadel of the Glimmerglass Festival, is Michelle Johnson as “Aida” and Noah Stewart as Radames.)
Tommasini also praised the production of Kurt Weill’s “Lost in the Stars” as “powerful” and reviewed a third opera, the baroque “Armide” by Lully, which had a different conductor.
Tommasini singled out DeMain — who also conducted an unamplified version of the popular musical “The Music Man” — especially for his “lush and urgent conducting” of the Weill opera, which is based on the Alan Paton’s anti-apartheid novel “Cry, the Beloved Country.” (He also praised the artist-in-residence bass-baritone Eric Owen, who played to raves as the evil dwarf Alberich (below) in the Metropolitan Opera’s new “Ring” cycle of Richard Wagner by Robert Lepage. The review is a great read.)
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