The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Fresco Opera Theatre opens its new season, starting this Sunday afternoon, with five FREE garage performances of “Snow White” in Madison, Waunakee and Sun Prairie
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By Jacob Stockinger
Fresco Opera Theatre has justifiably developed a reputation for quality quirkiness.
Little wonder, then, that it has also developed a loyal following.
Fresco Opera Theatre opens its new season with FREE garage performances of “Snow White” in Madison, Waunakee and Sun Prairie.
There will be five afternoon performances, at 2 p.m., starting this Sunday afternoon and running through Aug. 28. All performances take place at different addresses.
You are advised to bring lawn chairs and blankets.
Here is what was Fresco Opera Theatre posted on Facebook:
COMING THIS SUMMER…
TO A NEIGHBORHOOD GARAGE NEAR YOU…
IT’S MUSIC!
NO! IT’S THEATER!
NO – IT’S GARAGE OPERA!
Our 16/17 season starts with a BANG! by bringing Garage Opera out to the suburbs again!
This year, Snow White will be the story set to some of the most beautiful music the world has ever heard.
BUT WAIT! There is a twist in this tale…
While this is the story of Snow White you are familiar with, in true Fresco fashion we have added a few twists, including a mild-mannered “dwarf” of a man who befriends Snow White. And who will save her after the Evil Queen has poisoned her?
Come to Fresco’s GARAGE OPERA – SNOW WHITE to find out!
NOTE: You can hear Melanie Cain and Jeff Turk discuss with the local NBC affiliate Channel 15 Fresco’ s past production of Smackdown – which mixed high-brow opera with low-brow professional wrestling — in the YouTube video at the bottom.
For more information, visit:
http://www.frescooperatheatre.com
Tags: Arts, blanket, chair, choral music, Classical music, Facebook, Fresco Opera Theatre, garage, high-brow, Jacob Stockinger, lawn, low-brow, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, NBC, opera, professional wrestling, Queen (Snow White), smackdown, Snow White, Sun Prairie, theater, theatre, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, WAUNAKEE, Wisconsin, wrestling, YouTube
Classical music: Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle” wins two Golden Globe awards. But Season 2 — which is now available for streaming and features real-life famous longhairs — gets a mixed review from The New York Times
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By Jacob Stockinger
“Sex, drugs and classical music”?
It was easy to underestimate the Amazon comedy sitcom “Mozart in the Jungle” as just a commercial low-brow, rock and roll take on the high-brow world of classical music.
Until two weeks ago.
That when the TV comedy series, which portrays the trials and tribulations of being a classical musician in today’s pop-oriented culture, won two Golden Globe awards.
One award went to the accomplished Mexican actor, director and producer Gabriel Garcia Bernal (below) for the Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical. He plays Rodrigo, an orchestra conductor.
The second award went to the show as Best TV Series for Comedy or Musical.
Will any Emmys follow?
The second season has been ready for streaming since Dec. 30. And winning the two Golden Globe awards is sure to spike viewer interest. (You can see the trailer for Season 2 in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Although there are some fine things to admire in Season 2, apparently it loses steam and gets repetitive.
At least that is the assessment of music critic Zachary Woolfe, who writes for The New York Times.
One interesting sidelight of Season 2 is that several big-name classical musicians make a cameo appearance on the show.
They include the conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the phenom music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic:
The flamboyant Chinese superstar pianist Lang-Lang:
And mainstream American piano star Emanuel Ax, who will perform with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in March. (NOTE: Ax was to play the Symphonic Variations by Cesar Franck and the Burleske by Richard Strauss. That program has now been changed to the Piano Concerto No. 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven.)
To The Ear, the show still sounds like fun – if you can get past or overlook the endless sense of crisis.
Which, curiously, also just happens to be how one might feel about the real-life, non-fiction world of classical music these days with its focus on declining attendance, fewer recordings, labor strife and programming.
Here is a link to the review:
Tell us in the COMMENT section what you think of either the first season or the second season, if you have already started to watch it.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Actor, Amazon, Amazon Prime, America, Arts, Axel Strauss, Beethoven, China, Classical music, comedy, conductor, critic, director, Emanuel Ax, Emmy, Emmy award, Franck, Gabriel Garcia Bernal, Golden Globe, Gustavo Dudamel, high-brow, Jacob Stockinger, Lang Lang, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Philharmonic, low-brow, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mexico, Mozart, Mozart in the Jungle, Music, musical, New York Times, Orchestra, Piano, pop, producer, Rock, rock 'n roll, rock and roll, streaming, Television, TV, United States, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube, Zachary Woolfe
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