The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: This Saturday, you can hear and see UW-Madison grad Brenda Rae make her Metropolitan Opera debut in Handel’s “Agrippina.” Read a local interview with her. Plus, the Avanti Piano Trio gives a free concert on Saturday afternoon.

February 28, 2020
1 Comment

PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

ALERT: The Avanti Piano Trio will perform a FREE concert this Saturday, Feb. 29, at 3 p.m. at Christ Presbyterian Church, 944 East Gorham St. in Madison. The Madison-based trio is pianist Joseph Ross, violinist Wes Luke and cellist Hannah Wolkstein.

The program includes the Piano Trio No. 1 by Claude Debussy, Three Nocturnes by Ernest Bloch and the Tango Trio of Miguel del Aguila.

By Jacob Stockinger

This Saturday, Feb. 29, soprano Brenda Rae (below, in a photo by Harrison Parrott) – an Appleton native and a graduate of the UW-Madison School of Music – makes her worldwide debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Rae appears in the role of the temptress Poppea – below left, in a photo by Marty Sohl, with acclaimed soprano Joyce DiDonato in the title role on the right — in a new production of “Agrippina” by Baroque composer George Frideric Handel. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Rae sing an excerpt of an Act I aria by Poppea.)

Starting at noon, you can hear it live on Wisconsin Public Radio or see and hear it in “Live in HD From the Met” (below is the poster) in the Point Cinema (608 833-3980) on Madison’s far west side and the Palace Cinema (608 242-2100) in Sun Prairie.

The live broadcast will be seen in 2,200 theaters in 70 countries worldwide. Encore performances on Wednesday are at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the Point Cinema only.

Admission is $24 with $22 for seniors and $18 for children 3 to 11. Encore tickets are $18 for everyone. The tickets no longer include sales tax.

The opera will be sung in Italian with surtitles in English, Italian, German and Spanish.

The running time is 3 hours and 35 minutes with one 25-minute intermission.

Here is a link to the Met’s website about the production with photos of cast members and some videos of the the opera: https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/2019-20-season/agrippina-live-in-hd/

Here is a link to a list of cast members and production staff: https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/season/in-cinemas/hd-cast-sheets/agrippina_feb20_global.pdf

Here is a synopsis of the plot that takes place in ancient Rome and involves the Emperor Nero (Nerone): https://www.metopera.org/discover/synopses/agrippina/

Finally, here is an email Q&A with Brenda Rae done by Norman Gilliland (below), host of The Midday program on Wisconsin Public Radio: https://www.wpr.org/shows/soprano-brenda-rae-appleton-native-and-uw-alumna-performing-metropolitan-opera

 


Posted in Classical music
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Classical music: This Saturday the acclaimed German tenor Jonas Kaufmann returns to the Metropolitan Opera in Puccini’s “Girl of the Golden West. It’s the second “Live from The Met in HD” production this season

October 25, 2018
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE IT (not just “Like” it IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE”) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.

This Saturday, Oct. 27, the second production of this season’s “Live From the Met” in HD series will be broadcast worldwide: It is Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West” (Girl of the Golden West), his last work that, for some reason, has never achieved the popularity of “La Boheme,” “Tosca,” “Madama Butterfly” and “Turandot.”

The production features acclaimed superstar German tenor Jonas Kaufmann (below top), who is returning to the Met stage after four years. Soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek (below bottom) plays the gun-slinging title role.

The hi-definition broadcast of a live performance from the Metropolitan Opera (below) in New York City starts at 11:55 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m. with two intermissions.

The encore showings are next Wednesday, Oct. 31, at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

The opera will be sung in Italian with supertitles in English, German, Spanish and Italian. (You can see the trailer preview in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Tickets are for Saturday broadcasts are $24 for adults and $22 for seniors and children under 13. For encore showings, all tickets are $18.

The cinemas where the opera can be screened are two Marcus Cinemas: the Point Cinema on the west side of Madison (608 833-3980) and the Palace Cinema (608 242-2100) in Sun Prairie.

Here is a link to the Marcus website for addresses and more information. You can also use them to purchase tickets:

http://www.marcustheatres.com/movies/met-aida-live

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 this season, which includes operas by Bizet, Wagner, Donizetti, Saint-Saens, Puccini, Cilea and Poulenc plus a new work, “Marnie,” by Nico Muhly:

https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/

Here is a review from The New York Times, which right now has a technical glitch that makes loading it difficult (the Times said the problem should be fixed soon):

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/arts/music/review-jonas-kaufmann-met-opera-puccini-fanciulla.html

And here is a more positive review from Opera Wire:

http://operawire.com/metropolitan-opera-2018-19-review-la-fanciulla-del-west-jonas-kaufmann-edition/

Here is a link to a synopsis and cast list:

https://www.metopera.org/globalassets/season/in-cinemas/hd-cast-sheets/fanciulla_1819_hdsynopsis.pdf?performanceNumber=15221

Here is a link to other information about the production of “Girl of the Golden West,” including photos and audiovisual clips:

https://www.metopera.org/season/2018-19-season/la-fanciulla-del-west/

And here is a Wikipedia history of the 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


Posted in Classical music
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,250 other subscribers

    Blog Stats

    • 2,411,624 hits
    March 2023
    M T W T F S S
     12345
    6789101112
    13141516171819
    20212223242526
    2728293031  
%d bloggers like this: