As they sing in the second act of this stunning musical, “Art isn’t easy. Every minor details is a major decision.” All the details and decisions that led to the creation of Sunday in the Park with George are revealed in Lapine’s new book, Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created “Sunday in the Park with George.“

To celebrate the release of the book, Christine Baranski will moderate an online conversation with Lapine, Sondheim and the musical’s two stars Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. The event is being presented by The Town Hall and takes place on Tuesday, August 3rd at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT.

If you’re wondering why Baranski is involved, she appeared in the off-Broadway production of the musical in the roles of Clarisse and Blair Daniels.

Trivia note: Kelsey Grammer and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio also appeared in that production but did not participate during its Broadway run.

I saw the original production, but just after Patinkin and Peters had left the show. (Though the show was filmed and their performances have been captured in all their splendor for generations to view.) The leads when I saw it were Harry Groener and Maryann Plunkett. I also saw the 2008 revival at Studio 54 and found it even more moving and emotional than I did during the original production.

For any Sondheim fan, this is essential viewing. I strongly recommend it.

There are two ticket prices to watch this conversation. A $45 ticket allows US residents to see the show and get a copy of the book. A $25 tickets allows anyone to stream the event without receiving the book. Foreign residents can get both the streaming event and the book for $60. Ticket can be purchased here.

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These shows come on the heels of her debut with the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall in Sydney. The MDCH – as it is called – has streamed over 250 digital concerts since the start of the pandemic. All money raised has gone to support artists and the arts community in Australia.

Alcorn was such a smash in her first show they have asked her back for three new concerts beginning on Friday, July 30th. Joining her for this show will be singer/actor Ursula Jovíc, writer/actor/composer/pianist Phil Scott and local comedy legend Jean Kittson.

Yovich is best known in Australia for her stage work. She’s appeared in productions of Mother Courage and Her Children, The Sapphires and one of my favorite and not-well known musicals, Jerry Springer – the Opera. She’s also written her own musicals and is a favorite on the cabaret scene.

Scott, who has been a regular in a series of shows with Max Gillies, was a consultant on the musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert. He’s also written musicals, four novels and scores for film and television. A regular under-achiever he is!

Jean Kittson is known locally for her appearances on The Big Gig, Let the Blood Run and for her stage performances dating back to 1990.

Front and center will be Alcorn whose infectious energy (does one use the word infectious during a pandemic?) is impossible to resist. Whether paying tribute to the big noise from Winnetka or just being herself, Alcorn is a delight. Which is why she was asked back for three shows. (The second streaming concert will be on August 12 and the third on August 27th.)

The show will live stream at 8:30 PM AEST which is seventeen hours ahead of Los Angeles time. But here’s the good news, the show will be available for streaming for 72 hours. And tickets are only $24. You’ll have fun and you’ll be helping others. You might be watching Catherine & Friends from a distance, but you will want to dance with this superstar from Oz.

Photo of Catherine Alcorn (Courtesy of Tenacious C Presents)

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Even if you’ve never been to LA’s train station, you’ve probably seen it in such movies as Blade Runner, Bugsy, Catch Me If You Can and The Dark Knight Rises.

The public piano is re-opening at Union Station and to celebrate they are going to start posting archived pop-up performances of five different pianists making great music called Play On! Each performance will be streamed beginning at 7 PM on the Facebook and Instagram page and YouTube channel for L.A. Union Station. The performances will remain available on the YouTube channel.

The series starts today, July 19th, with pianist and producer Jamael Dean – my personal favorite of the five soloists. He’s performed with Kamasi Washington, Thundercat (who joined Washington for Sunday’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl) and more. He’s a musician who knows the traditions of jazz and just how far he can play with them to create his own sound.

Tuesday, July 20th Donia Jarrar will be performing. She creates a fusion of classical music, improvisation, electronic and more to create her own kind of music that has found its way into film, dance, theater and more.

Wednesday July 21st will feature Ukranian Inna Faliks. Classical music is her speciality and she’ll be performing the music of Maurice Ravel and Franz Liszt. She’s the head of piano for UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music and has performed with Camerata Pacifica, Bodytraffic and more.

If jazz and funk is your thing you’ll want to check out Brandon Coleman on Thursday, July 22nd. Coleman has also collaborated with Kamasi Washington and Babyface, Flying Lotus and Donald Glover. His music is as infectious as his omnipresent smile.

The series closes out with jazz on the Latin side with a performance by Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Montes. He was instrumental (pun intended) in the music on Jane the Virgin and has collaborated with many of the top Latin Grammy nominated artists of our time.

There’s only one other artist missing from this list: you. If you find yourself at Union Station and have the talent and nerve to tickle the ivories, the piano is waiting for you. After the hiatus forced by the pandemic, it’s my understanding that the piano has not been drinking. (Extra points if you get that reference!) So play on!

Main photo: Jamael Dean/All photos courtesy of L.A. Union Station

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Their concert is being live-streamed for those who are unable to attend in person. If you’re a fan of great vocals and swinging jazz, this should be a thoroughly entertaining program.

Elling was recently named in the DownBeat International Critics Poll the Best Jazz Vocalist Male. In October he will release a new album called SuperBlue. The first single, Sassy, has already been released.

Elling has been awarded two Grammy Awards and has 14 nominations to his credit – so far. His most recent Grammy came for his 2020 album Secrets Are the Best Stories.

Charlap, whose most recent album was 2017’s Uptown, Downtown, will be joined for this concert by Carl Allen on drums; Steve Wilson on alto sax and David Wong on bass. He’s been nominated for four Grammy Awards and won for the 2015 album he did with Tony Bennett called The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern.

I spoke to Charlap in 2018 about a Leonard Bernstein concert he was doing. He told me this about how he and his fellow musicians approach the music they play:

“We are always playing the music every night in a new way. We try to approach it like it’s the first time we’ve ever played it.  The ability to really have a conversation all the time and reassess what we are doing, to renegotiate a line or rhythmic phrase, before you get to the end of it, is one of the great joys of jazz.”

Fans of Charlap’s music will also be interested in another 92nd Street Y concert on July 27th. He and his trio (Kenny Washington and Peter Washington) will be joined by vocalist Dianne Reeves. This is a first-time collaboration. This concert will be both a live event and a streaming event. You can find details here.

For in-person tickets (whether in person or streaming) to see Elling and Charlap, please go here.

Kurt Elling will join John Beasley’s Monk’estra for four sets at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood beginning on July 30th. For his full schedule, go here.

Photo: Kurt Elling (Photo by Anna Webber/Courtesy 92nd Street Y)

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The opera star appearing in the most productions is the late baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky who appears in the final two productions being streamed. The composer being represented the most is, no surprise, Verdi. In fact, Hvorostovsky singing Verdi received the top vote. That opera (see below for the reveal) is the final streaming production.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting theplanned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on July 19th, you’ll still have time to see the 2015-2016 season production of Puccini’s Turandot that concludes Puccini week.

Here is are selections for Week 71 at the Met:

Monday, July 19 – Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro – 3rd Showing

Conducted by James Levine, starring Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Susanne Mentzer, Dwayne Croft, and Sir Bryn Terfel. This Jonathan Miller production is from the 1998-1999 season.

Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro is based on the 1784 play La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (translated: “The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”) by Pierre Beaumarchais. Lorenzo da Ponte wrote the libretto. La Nozze di Figaro had its world premiere in Vienna in 1786.

Figaro and Susanna are getting married. They are in a room made available to them by the Count who plans to seduce the bride-to-be based on an old law that gave permission to lords to have sex with servant girls on their wedding night. When Figaro gets wind of this plan he enlists several people to outwit the Count using disguises, altered identities and more.

Bernard Holland, reviewing for the New York Times, said of this production: “One cannot say enough about the septet ending Act II and the final ensemble of Act IV: episodes in which theater and music merged as they rarely do, and where each player was made exquisitely aware of every other. Mozart operas move on the wheels of their ensembles, and Mr. Miller — with no coups de theatre and many acts of self-effacing care — made them turn.”

Tuesday, July 20 – Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci – 2nd Showing

Both operas conducted by James Levine. Cavalleria Rusticana starring Tatiana Troyanos, Jean Kraft, Plácido Domingo and Vern Shinall. Pagliacci starring Teresa Stratas, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes and Allan Monk. This Franco Zeffirelli production is from the 1977-1978 season.

Perhaps no pairing of one-act operas is more popular than the combination of Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. 

Cavalleria Rusticana had its world premiere in Rome in 1890. The opera is based on a short story which later became a play by Giovanni Verga. Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci adapted them both for their libretto.

Mascagni’s opera centers on a love triangle. Turridu, who has returned from military service, goes to see his ex-lover, Lola, before seeing his current lover, Santuzza. Lola is married to Alfio. Santuzza decides to tell Alfio about the infidelity and the two men decide to duel. At the end of the opera, multiple hearts are left broken.

Pagliacci had its world premiere in Milan in 1892. Leoncavallo also wrote the libretto.

The opera tells the story of a married couple, Canio and Nedda, who are performers in a small theatre company on the road. Canio is insanely jealous and that jealousy drives Nedda to seek affection from another man, Silvio. Nedda and Silvio make plans to elope, but their plans are overheard by Tonio, another member of the company. He tells Canio about Nedda’s plans. Looking for revenge, Canio, during a performance of their touring play, makes his personal life mirror the drama in the play.

This was not the first time Domingo had sung the lead tenor roles in both operas on the same night. In fact, with this performance he did so for the 25th time. Previous double-hitters were performed in Vienna, Covent Garden and in San Francisco. These performances also marked the first time James Levine conducted each opera at the Met.

Wednesday, July 21 – Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles – 4th Showing

Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda; starring Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień and Nicolas Testé. This Penny Woolcock production is from the 2015-2016 season.

Les Pêcheurs de Perles (best known to many as The Pearl Fishers) had its world premiere in 1863 in Paris. Bizet’s opera has a libretto written by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré.

The setting is the island of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) and two men find that their plan to be friends forever regardless of circumstances is threatened when they both fall in love with the same woman. She, too, is conflicted as she has sworn to be a priestess, but finds herself falling in love with the men.

Director Woolcock’s production was new to the Met when it debuted on New Year’s Eve 2015. The production was first staged at the English National Opera in 2010. The last time Les Pêcheurs de Perles had been performed at the Met was 1916.

Thursday, July 22 – Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann – 2nd Showing

Conducted by Yves Abel; starring Erin Morley, Hibla Gerzmava, Kate Lindsey, Christine Rice, Vittorio Grigolo and Thomas Hampson. This revival of the 2009 Bartlett Sher production is from the 2014-2015 season.

Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman had its world premiere in Paris in 1881. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and was inspired by three short stories by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman. Offenbach did not live to see this opera performed. He died four months before its premiere.

In the opera Offenbach and Barbier put the author of the stories in the middle of all the action. He’s seeking perfect love and tells a tavern crowd about three fruitless attempts at romance. The first with the daughter of an inventor who turns out to be a doll instead of a human being. The second with a beautiful young woman with a gorgeous voice, but whose singing may lead to her death. The third with a young woman who steals his reflection. Will poor Hoffman ever find love? Or will his writing be his lifelong companion?

In David Shengold’s Opera News review of this production he raved about Grigolo’s performance:

“…Grigolo may have found his most convincing Met part yet. His French is remarkably clear and accurate for an Italian tenor and — though he deployed his full resources at climaxes, often excitingly — Grigolo showed admirable dynamic variety in filling out Offenbach’s higher lines. His soft singing wasn’t exactly Gallic classic voix mixte but he integrated it gracefully into his overall vocalization, clear and attractive save for rather empty low notes. Grigolo paced himself well in this extremely demanding assignment; he tended to be placed near the lip of the stage, but he interacted with colleagues and created an actual character.”

Friday, July 23 – Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Natalie Dessay, Felicity Palmer, Juan Diego Flórez and Alessandro Corbelli. This Laurent Pelly production is from the 2007-2008 season.

This two-act comic opera written by Gaetano Donizetti was first performed in 1840 in Paris. The libretto is by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard.

La Fille du Régiment tells the story of a young woman, Marie, who was raised by the 21st Regiment after having been found as a baby on a battlefield. The plan is that when she is old enough she will marry one of the men of the Regiment. She falls in love with Tyrolean Tonio. When the Marquise de Berkenfield shows up, it is discovered that she is Marie’s aunt and she wants to take Marie away to raise her as a lady. Will love win out for Marie?

Pelly updated the original Napoleonic war setting to World War I for this production. The end result, according to several critics, was that the “war is hell” concept is undermined by the silliness of the plot.

One of the hallmarks of this opera is the challenge that faces every tenor singing the role of Tonio to hit nine high C’s in the opera’s best known aria, “Ah! mes amis.” Flórez nailed them and, of course, repeated the aria to wild applause from the audience. 

Saturday, July 24 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Anna Netrebko, Dolora Zajick, Yonghoon Lee, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Štefan Kocán. This revival of David McVicar’s 2009 production is from the 2014-2015 season. 

Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore is based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez published in 1836. The libretto was written by Salvadore Cammarano with additions by Leone Emanuele Badare. The opera had its world premiere in Rome in 1853.

The setting is Zaragoza, the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon, circa 1412. To offer up a quick synopsis here would be a fool’s game to play. Several stories happen simultaneously and sometimes share the same characters. The opera has rarely been hailed for its story, but it certainly ranks as one of Verdi’s finest compositions.

This production of Il Trovatore took place months after Hvorostovsky’s diagnosis of cancer. This was his last production at the Met and as you could tell at the start of the clip above, he was beloved by the audience.

Anthony Tommasini’s review in the New York Times said that positively influenced the performance Hvorostovsky gave on opening night.

“It’s impossible to imagine a singer giving more than Mr. Hvorostovsky did on this night. When your life is actually threatened by a serious illness, you truly are putting everything on the line when you sing.

“Mr. Hvorostovsky gave a gripping performance as Count di Luna. There was little need to take what he has been going through into account. His resplendent voice, with its distinctive mellow character and dusky veneer, sounded not at all compromised. He sang with Verdian lyricism, dramatic subtlety and, when called for, chilling intensity as the complex count, who, in this production, with its Goya-inspired imagery, is the brash leader of the Royalist Aragon troops at a time of bloody civil war in Spain.”

Sunday, July 25 – Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera – 4th Showing

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe, Marcelo Álvarez and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. This David Alden production is from the 2012-2013 season. 

Verdi’s opera, translated A Masked Ball, had its premiere in Rome in 1859. Librettist Antonio Somma used the libretto written by Eugène Scribe for the opera, Gustave III, ou Le Ballo masqué, written by Daniel Auber in 1833. 

The opera is based on the real life assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden who was killed while attending a masquerade ball in Stockholm. 

Verdi takes some dramatic liberties which certainly enhances the drama. Riccardo is in love with Amelia. She, however, is the wife of his good friend and confidante, Renato. Riccardo is warned by his friend that there is a plot to kill him at the ball. Paying no attention to the warning, Riccardo instead seeks out Ulrica, a woman accused of being a witch. In disguise he visits Ulrica to have his fortune read. She tells him he will be killed by the next man who shakes his hand. That next man turns out to be Renato. What follows is a story of intrigue, deception, questions of fidelity and, of course, the assassination.

This was a brand new production of Un Ballo in Maschera at the Met. Director Alden was influenced by black and white films and, in particular, film noir for his production.

Karita Matilla was originally announced to sing the role of Amelia. She withdrew approximately six months prior to its staging. Radvanovsky assumed the role.

In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini said of Radvanovsky and Hvorostovsky, “She was particularly moving in the scene in which her husband, here the charismatic baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, having discovered her in a rendezvous with the king, tells her to prepare to die. Confronting his wife, Mr. Hvorostovsky shook Ms. Radvanovsky by the shoulders, as if really ready to strangle her. But the next moment he nestled his head next to her face and kissed her, almost pleadingly, singing with his trademark dark sound and supple phrasing, which poignantly brought to life this suffering husband’s love.”

It’s been quite a run of streaming productions. But all good things must come to an end.

Enjoy the operas! Enjoy your week!

Photo: Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Sondra Radvanovsky in Un Ballo in Maschera

The post Week 71 at the Met: The Final Week appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Since he composed 12 operas, it is inevitable that there will be some operas being presented in both weeks. In fact, the same seven operas are being presented this week that were presented back in September. However, to the Met’s credit, there is only one production being shown this week that appeared in the previous Puccini Week.

Amongst the stars in this week’s operas are Roberto Alagna, Barbara Daniels, Plácido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, Karita Mattila, Luciano Pavarotti, Renata Scotto, Nina Stemme, Paulo Szot and Shirley Verrett.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on July 12th, you’ll still have time to see the 2016-2017 season production of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier that concludes Richard Strauss week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 70 at the Met:

Monday, July 12 – Puccini’s Manon Lescaut – 2nd Showing

Conducted by James Levine; starring Karita Mattila, Marcello Giordani and Dwayne Croft. This revival of Gian Carlo Menotti’s 1980 production is from the 2007-2008 season.

Puccini’s Manon Lescaut was based on Abbé Prévost’s 1731 novel, Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de Manon Lescaut. The libretto is by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and Domenico Oliva. Manon Lescaut had its world premiere in Turin in 1893.

This is another opera about an ill-fated couple. Manon is taken by her brother to live in a convent. A local student, Des Grieux, feels it is love at first sight and persuades Manon to run away with him. Poverty doesn’t suit her, nor does a life of having everything she wants when she leaves Des Grieux for Geronte, the man her brother had chosen as a possible husband. Passion cannot be denied, but doesn’t mean Manon and Des Grieux will live happily ever after.

Anthony Tommasini said in his New York Times review that there was basically one reason the Met brought back this production of Manon Lescaut after 18 years: Mattila. He said she did not disappoint. Going further he added, “Though a lovely and mature Finnish woman, Ms. Mattila is such a compelling actress that she affectingly conveyed Manon’s girlish awkwardness. She acted with her voice as well, singing with burnished sound and nuanced expressivity.”

Tuesday, July 13 – Puccini’s La Bohème – 3rd Showing

Conducted by James Levine; starring Renata Scotto, Maralin Niska, Luciano Pavarotti, Ingvar Wixell and Paul Plishka. This Fabrizio Melano production is from the 1976-1977 season.

Easily one of the most popular operas in the world, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème had its world premiere in Turin, Italy in 1896. The libretto is by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera is based on Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème.

The story centers on four friends who are unable to pay their rent. Successfully getting out of a potentially bad situation with their landlord, all but one go out on the town. Rodolfo stays home and meets a young woman named Mimi. They fall in love, but Mimi’s weakness may be a sign of something far more life-threatening than they know. (If this sounds like the musical Rent, it is because La Bohème served as Jonathan Larson’s inspiration for that musical.)

Pavarotti made his Met Opera debut in 1968 in La Bohème. This 1977 production of Puccini’s beloved opera was actually the very first Live at the Met broadcast. 

Harold C. Schonberg, writing in the New York Times, said of Pavarotti’s performance, “Nobody around today can sing a better Rodolfo, and this despite the fact that the voice has changed somewhat in recent years. It is a little heavier passages above the staff are not produced as effortlessly as before sometimes there is a decided feeling of strain. One hopes that the Manricos he has been singing have not taken the lyric bloom from his voice. With all that, he sang most beautifully last night. Only Mr. Pavarotti can spin out long phrases with such authority and color.”

Wednesday, July 14 – Puccini’s Tosca – 4th Showing

Conducted by James Conlon; starring Shirley Verrett, Luciano Pavarotti and Cornell MacNeil. This Tito Gobbi production is from the 1978-1979 season.

It is quite likely that Puccini’s Tosca was the first opera to premiere in 1900. Its first performance was on January 14 in Rome. Based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 play of the same name, Tosca‘s libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

The setting for Tosca is Rome in 1800. The Napoleonic wars were raging and political unrest was omnipresent. The opera takes place over the course of slightly less than 24 hours. Floria Tosca is the object of Chief of Police Baron Scarpia’s lust. He uses suspicions that her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, aided a political prisoner who has escaped as an opportunity to get him out of his way which will leave Tosca for himself. After capturing Cavaradossi, Scarpia says that if Tosca doesn’t become his lover, he will have Cavaradossi killed.

Donal Henahan, in his New York Times review, praised Verrett’s singing. “Miss Verrett, in appearance the most persuasively starlike Floria Tosca the Met has offered in years, also succeeded in satisfying the purely vocal demands of her role. There was little strain anywhere, and many passages of extraordinarily fine, intelligently nuanced singing.”

He went on to say about Pavarotti, “Mr. Pavarotti, though a bit thin of voice in such outpourings as ‘Recondite armonia,’ pitched himself into the action, vocally and theatrically, with his usual infectious enthusiasm. Puccini is notoriously hard on voices—perhaps more so than Verdi or even Wagner— and Mr. Pavarotti is taking a calculated risk in moving into emotionally heavy and tone‐shredding roles. But his ‘Vittoria!’ rang out excitingly, without sounding strident, and in the lyrical passages he was nothing less than glorious. Bravissimo is not good enough for such singing. How about pavarotissimo?”

Thursday, July 15 – Puccini’s Madama Butterfly – 2nd Showing

Conducted by Pier Giorgio Morandi; starring Hui He, Elizabeth DeShong, Bruce Sledge and Paulo Szot. This is a revival of the 2006 Anthony Minghella production from the 2019-2020 season.

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly is every bit as popular as La Bohéme. Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa wrote the libretto based on John Luther Long’s short story, Madame Butterfly and on the 1887 French novel Madame Chrysanthème by Pierre Loti. David Belasco turned Long’s story into the play Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy in Japan. Puccini saw the play in 1900 in London. His opera had its world premiere in 1904 at La Scala in Milan.

Cio-Cio San falls in love with an Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy named Pinkerton while he is stationed in Japan. They hold a wedding ceremony that Cio-Cio San takes very seriously. When Pinkerton has orders to go back to the States, she awaits his return. Unbeknownst to Pinkerton, Cio-Cio San has gotten pregnant and given birth to a son. When he finally does return with his American wife, Cio-Cio San is devastated. (If this sounds like the musical Miss Saigon, it is because Madama Butterflyserved as the inspiration for that musical.)

Seth Colter Walls, writing in the New York Times, praised much of Hui He’s work as Cio-Cio San:

“Ms. He’s work in ensembles could also give off a stranded feeling — and not just because of the strain evident in ascents to high notes. Yet during more intimate passages, she pulled the night together by delivering a Cio-Cio-San full of subtle yet fascinating changes. Some darkly rich tones provided dramatic dimension for her first-act work before a brighter, brassier sound underlined the character’s hopeful delusions in the second act. Tellingly, the soprano was at her most moving when interacting with her young son, depicted in this production through Bunraku-style puppetry. In these moments, the intensity that was missing from the flesh-and-blood interactions became plainly obvious.”

Friday, July 16 – Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West FIRST SHOWING

Conducted by Leonard Slatkin; starring Barbara Daniels, Plácido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes. This Giancarlo Del Monaco production is from the 1991-1992 season.

Giacomo Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West had its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910. It was Puccini’s follow-up to Madama Butterfly. Like that work, this was also inspired by a play by David Belasco. The Girl of the Golden West was adapted by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini.

Set during the Gold Rush era in California, Sherriff Rance is told by a Wells Fargo agent, Ashby, that he is chasing a bandit named Ramerrez. Minnie is the owner of the bar where Rance’s unrequited love for Minnie remains just that. A stranger arrives and successfully flirts with Minnie. He identifies himself as Johnson, but in reality he is the bandit Ramerrez. Can he avoid recognition and capture? Will their love save the day?

Martin Bernheimer, writing in the Los Angeles Times, was very impressed with the production. Here are excerpts from his review:

“The Metropolitan Opera has expended rousing, loving care on its new production of La Fanciulla del West…The most striking contribution to this emphatically successful project would seem to come, however, from the stage director: Giancarlo del Monaco…His Fanciulla may be the most realistic, the most detailed, the most atmospheric version since the world premiere, which happened to be presented by the same company 81 years ago…Perhaps Del Monaco has given us the ultimate oxymoron: a thinking person’s Fanciulla del West.”

Saturday, July 17 – Puccini’s La Rondine – 4th Showing

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Angela Gheorghiu, Lisette Oropesa, Roberto Alagna, Marius Brenciu and Samuel Ramey. This Nicholas Joël production is from the 2008-2009 season.

Puccini’s La Rondine had its world premiere in Monaco in 1917. The libretto, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert, was written by Giuseppe Adami.

Multiple people collide in this opera about love. Magda is Rombaldo’s kept mistress. While entertaining friends, including the poet Prunier, she realizes how much she misses being in love. Prunier is in love with Lisette, who is Magda’s maid. A young man enters their group, Ruggero, who falls in love with Magda. Could he possibly provide the true love she so desperately desires? Who will end with whom and will they all live happily ever after?

Gheorghiu and Alagna were the hottest couple in opera when this production happened. They first met in 1992 while performing in La Bohème together. They were married four years later while also doing a production of the same opera. In late 2009 they separated. They reconciled two months later, but did end up divorcing in 2013.

But the chemistry was still very much alive in this production. Anthony Tomassini wrote in the New York Times:

“…in this sensitive staging, thanks to the expressive performances of Ms. Gheorghiu and Mr. Alagna, this excess of Italianate emotion just makes “La Rondine” more appealing.”

Sunday, July 18 – Puccini’s Turandot – 2nd Showing

Conducted by Paolo Carignani; starring Nina Stemme, Anita Hartig, Marco Berti and Alexander Tsymbalyuk. This revival of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1987 production is from the 2015-2016 season.

Puccini’s opera had its world premiere in 1926 in Milan. The libretto was written by Guiseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. The composer died two years before its premiere and the opera was completed by Franco Alfani.

Set in China, Turandot tells the story of Prince Calaf who has fallen in love with the title princess. She, however, isn’t very interested in him. In order for any man to marry Turandot, he is required to correctly answer three riddles. Should any answer be wrong, the suitor is put to death. Calaf is successful, but Turandot remains opposed to their marriage. He strikes a deal with her that will either lead to their marriage or his death. 

By the time this production of Turandot was broadcast on Met Opera in HD, Nina Stemme was the fourth woman to sing the title role. Christine Goerke, Lise Lindstrom and Jennifer Wilson had all performed in the production prior to Stemme. It should be noted that having multiple singers for a given role during a season is not at all unusual.

Vivien Schweitzer, in her review for the New York Times, said of Stemme’s performance that she, “managed to render the grisly ice maiden surprisingly vulnerable. Ms. Stemme sounded more grief-stricken than angry during “In questa reggia,” the aria in which she recalls her violated ancestor.

“Her powerful, luxuriant voice retained its warmth throughout the evening, with blazing high notes that were never forced or shrill, even when projected over the massed ensembles of orchestra and chorus. Her transition from powerful to helpless seemed particularly acute when she begged her father not to be given to the “stranger” (the prince Calaf), who has solved the riddles that will allow him to possess her.”

That’s the line-up for Week 70 at the Met. For those following the labor issues at the Metropolitan Opera, a tentative agreement has been reached so it looks like there will indeed be a 2021-2022 season. That will mean more LIVE in HD presentations to experience.

Enjoy your week! Enjoy the operas! 

Photo: Nina Stemme and Marco Berti Puccini’s Turandot. (Photo by Marty Sohl/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

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You might be asking why six operas when there are seven days in the week. This celebration of Strauss begins and ends with Der Rosenkavalier, but two different productions.

The 1982 production that opens this week is being streamed for the very first time. As is the 2002-2003 season production of Ariadne auf Naxos and the 1994-1995 season production of rarely-performed Arabella.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on July 5th, you’ll still have time to see the 2019-2020 season production of Glass’ Akhnaten that concludes Celebrating American Composers week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 69 at the Met:

Monday, July 5 – Der Rosenkavalier – FIRST SHOWING

Conducted by James Levine; starring Kiri Te Kanawa, Tatiana Troyanos, Judith Blegen, Luciano Pavarotti, Derek Hammond-Stroud and Kurt Moll. This revival of the 1969 Nathaniel Merrill production is from the 1982-1983 season.

It was in Dresden in 1911 that the world was first introduced to Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. The libretto was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Two sources served as inspiration for the opera: Moliere’s Monsieur de Pourceaugnac and the novel Les amours du chevalier de Fabulas by Louvet de Courvai.

Several relationships are tested in this comic opera. The Marschallin, having an affair with Octavian, a much younger count, feels that her age is becoming an issue not just for him, but for her. Baron Ochs is engaged to Sophie and he asks Octavian to deliver the customary silver rose to his bride-to-be. She, however, falls in love with Octavian. What will it take to sort out real love and who will find themselves together and who will be alone at the end of the opera?

Donal Henahan, writing in the New York Times, singled out Te Kanawa for praise

“Miss Te Kanawa, portraying the Princess von Werdenberg for the first time at the Met, gave an emotionally restrained and inward performance that put one in mind of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s similarly studied Marschallin. Miss Te Kanawa, whose voice is neither the largest nor the most opulent in the soprano world, is nonetheless a singer of exquisite taste and delicate sensibility. A beauty of extraordinary bearing, she held the audience in her hand with her mirror monologue at the close of the first act and commanded the stage regally in the great closing trio.”

Tuesday, July 6 – Elektra – Sixth Showing

Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; starring Nina Stemme, Adrianne Pieczonka, Waltraud Meier, Burkhard Ulrich and Eric Owens. This Patrice Chéreau production is from the 2015-2016 season.

Richard Strauss’s Elektra had its world premiere in Dresden in 1909. The libretto was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and was based on his 1903 drama of the same name.

For a one-act opera, Elektra has a tangled web of intrigue at its core. Simply put, Elektra is enraged by the murder of her father, King Agamemnon. Elektra’s mother, Klytämnestra, convinced her lover, Aegisth, to kill her husband. Once Elektra finds out, she is out for nothing short of total revenge and enlists her brother, Orest, to kill their mother.

When Elektra was first presented, critics were deeply divided. Perhaps none more so than Ernest Newman, then London’s most important former music critic and playwright George Bernard Shaw. Newman found the opera abhorrent. Shaw fiercely defended it. Their argument about the merits of Strauss’s opera were published in a series of letters in The Nation.

Of this production, the New York Times‘ Anthony Tommasini said,

“…nothing prepared me for the seething intensity, psychological insight and sheer theatrical inventiveness of this production on Thursday night, conducted by the brilliant Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mr. Chéreau’s partner in this venture from the start. A superb cast is headed by the smoldering soprano Nina Stemme in the title role.”

Wednesday, July 7 – Ariadne auf Naxos – FIRST SHOWING

Conducted by James Levine; starring Deborah Voigt, Natalie Dessay, Susanne Mentzer and Richard Margison. This revival of the 1993 production by Elijah Moshinsky is from the 2002-2003 season. 

Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos had its world premiere in Stuttgart in 1912. The libretto is by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

This is really an opera-within-an-opera. Two different sets of performers have been brought together at the home of a rich man. One group is a serious ensemble of opera singers who embrace the highest of dramatic operas. The other is a group of comedians who are set on acting out an Italian comedy. Their host, seeing that time is quickly running out, asks them to perform their separate works together.

In 1998 Voigt, Dessay and Mentzer all performed this opera in the same production. Critics and fans were overwhelming in their praise. Three years later the trio reunited in hopes of filming their performances, but Dessay was having voice issues and withdrew. On this, the third production with the trio, they were able to capture the performance.

In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini gave high praise to Dessay:

“With breezy confidence, Ms. Dessay dashed off Zerbinetta’s coloratura flights, pushed to comic excess in her daunting showpiece aria. Though hers is a light, lyric voice, Ms. Dessay’s warm and focused sound carried easily throughout the house. A poised and natural actress, she has this character nailed. Explaining herself to the composer, Zerbinetta protests that she is not just some coquette, but a thoughtful soul puzzled by the mysteries of the heart. Yes, she enjoys the attentions of men. But what can she do when they come in such variety? By taking these sentiments seriously, Ms. Dessay makes Zerbinetta humane and achingly funny.

Thursday, July 8 – Capriccio – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, starring Renée Fleming, Sarah Connolly, Joseph Kaiser, Russell Braun, Morten Frank Larsen and Peter Rose. This revival of the 1998 John Cox production is from the 2010-2011 season.

As the Countess, Fleming must make one decision that resonates in a second way. Does she prefer words or music? And by extension, does she prefer the poet or the composer that make up the love triangle in this opera.

When Fleming decided to do the role of the Countess in this opera by Strauss in 2011, it was the first time she had performed the full opera at the Met. Anthony Tomassini of the New York Times was impressed:

“The role suits her ideally at this stage of her career, and she sang splendidly. The performance over all, sensitively conducted by Andrew Davis and featuring a winning cast, made an excellent case for this Strauss curiosity, his final opera, which had its premiere in Munich in 1942 in the midst of World War II.”

Friday, July 9 – Salome – Third Showing

Conducted by Patrick Summers; starring Karita Mattila, Ildikó Komlósi, Kim Begley, Joseph Kaiser and Juha Uusitalo. This Jürgen Flimm production is from the 2008-2009 season. 

Richard Strauss’ one-act opera had its world premiere in Dresden in 1905. Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name inspired the opera. In fact, the libretto is from Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of Wilde’s play. 

During a meal Princess Salome is having with her step-father, King Herrod, she is warned to ignore the screams coming from the prophet Jochanaan (John the Baptist). Concurrently a guard, Narraboth, can’t keep his eyes off Salome. After hearing Jochanaan cursing her mother and being rebuffed in efforts to visit the prophet, she convinces Narraboth to take her to see him. Her attraction to Jochanaan sets off a series of events that won’t end well for anyone.

If you’ve read these previews before we have been unable to find any performance clip from this production. Do you have a link to share with us? If so, please send it our way!

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review, raved about Mattila’s performance:

“Vocally Ms. Mattila is born to this daunting role, singing with an eerie combination of cool Nordic colorings and raw power. She can spin a Straussian melodic line with sumptuous lyricism. But when Salome erupts in a spasm of twisted desire or childish petulance, Ms. Mattila unleashes chilling, hard-edged top notes that slice through Strauss’s king-size orchestra.

Saturday, July 10 – Arabella 

Conducted by Christian Thielemann; starring Kiri Te Kanawa, Marie McLaughlin, Helga Dernesch, Natalie Dessay, David Kuebler, Wolfgang Brendel and Donald McIntyre. This revival of the 1983 Otto Schenk production is from the 1994-1995 season.

Arabella had its world premiere in 1933 in Dresden. It marked the sixth and final collaboration with his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

Though the Waldners are a Count and Countess, they have fallen on hard times. They are trying to find a suitor for the title character, Arabella, but come up with a plan to have their youngest daughter, Zdenka, dress up like a boy to save money. She’s actually in love with one of Arabella’s admirers, Matteo. Arabella is convinced she’ll know the right man when she sees him and has promised to make a decision by the end of the Coachmen’s Ball. Poverty, disguise, mistaken identity and bizarre promises lead this comedy to its inevitable happy ending.

Edward Rothstein, writing for the New York Times, said this opera seems like a relic from a past that pre-dates its creation:

“Arabella, after all was the authors’ attempt to recapture the success and spirit of their triumph from a quarter-century earlier, Der Rosenkavalier. Only in this work, completed just before the Nazis came to power, there is no Marschallin to represent nobility of spirit as well as birth; the jesting, meant to recall the Vienna of Die Fledermaus, is also forced. Arabella seems to yearn for a past when one could healthily yearn for a past. It is an image of an image, leaving behind a feeling that by 1933, when the opera was first performed, even nostalgia wasn’t what it used to be.”

Sunday, July 11 – Der Rosenkavalier – Third Showing

Conducted by Sebastian Weigle; starring Renée Fleming, Elīna Garanča, Erin Morley, Matthew Polenzani, Marcus Brück and Günther Groissböck. This Robert Carsen production is from the 2016-2017 season.

No need to repeat the history of the opera and its synopsis here. We’re going straight to the clip!

With this production, Fleming retired the role of Marschallin from her repertoire as she gradually made her exit from full productions. Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, closed his review by stating:

“Der Rosenkavalier is not just about the passage of time and aging, but also about the importance of knowing when to let something, or even someone, go — in all stages of life. Ms. Fleming may be letting go of opera productions. We’ll see. Predictability is not a significant component of diva DNA. But she can look forward to many years of concerts and other artistic projects. And she sang beautifully on this milestone night for her, and for opera.”

That’s the complete line-up for Week 69 at the Met. We don’t have any word just yet as to what the next week has in store of us. Stay tuned!

Enjoy your week! Enjoy the operas!

Photo: Deborah Voigt in Ariadne auf Naxos (Photo by Marty Sohl/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

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There are some live events happening this weekend and as the summer rolls out we’ll be offering top selections of live events.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t great options for you to enjoy at home this week. In fact, one of the year’s most exciting projects is having its premiere on Sunday. It is called America/Beautiful and it is our top pick

Here is our complete line-up of Top Ten Best Bets: July 2nd – July 5th:

*TOP PICK* CLASSICAL MUSIC: America/Beautiful – Premieres July 4th – 3:00 PM ET/12:00 PM PT

We all know the song America the Beautiful. Pianist Min Kwon has commissioned over 70 composers to create variations on that song for Kwon to perform. She begins streaming performances of these variations on July 4th.

Kwon was able to get a veritable who’s who of contemporary composers to participate: Samuel Alder; Bruce Adolphe; Leila Adu-Gilmore; Timo Andres; Andrew Bambridge; Jonathan Berger; Victoria Bond; Kris Bowers; Peter Boyer; Kenji Brunch; Theo Chandler; Anthony Cheung; Jaehyuck Choi; Charles Coleman; Viet Cuong; Sebastian Currier; Richard Danielpour; Tyson Davis; Jed Distler; Avner Dorman; Geena Esmail; Alan Fletcher; Michael Gandolfi; Michael Gilbertson; John Harbison; Stephen Hartke; Jake Heggie; Fred Hersch; Jonathan Bailey Holland; Huang Rao; Vijay Iyer; Pierre Jalbert; JP Jofre; Kristjan Järvi; Aaron Jay Kernis; Texu Kim; Jiyoung Ko; Libby Larsen; Hannah Lash; George Lewis; Tania León; Lei Liang; David Serkin Ludwig; Miya Masoaka; Jessica Meyer; Patricio Molina; Paul Moravec; Nico Muhly; John Musto; Qasim Naqvi; Daniel Newman-Lessler; Paola Prestini; Dave Ragland; Shulamit Ran; City Razaz; Gian Riley; Terry Riley; Daniel Bernard Roumain; Greg Sandow; David Sanford; Paul Schoenfeld; Jeff Scott; Juri Seo; Robert Sirota; Derrick Skye; Augusta Read Thomas; Christopher Trapani; Lilya Ugay; Melinda Wagner; Wang Vie; Trevor Weston; Pamela Z; Judith Lang Zaimont; Patrick Zimmerli and Samuel Zyman.

This is a true melting pot of composers. This thoughtful selection of creative partners for Kwon reflects everything America represents.

Kwon, who was born in Korea, has toured the world as a soloist with major orchestras around the world. She’s recorded five albums for MSR Classics.

For those in New York, Kwon will be performing many of these compositions in person on July 8th and 9th at the Green-Wood Catacombs.

I’ve seen previews of three of the compositions she’ll be playing. This will be a treat! Thus it is our top pick for the weekend.

CABARET: Night of a Thousand Judys – Now available through July 24th

The ninth annual celebration of Judy Garland benefitting the Ali Forney Center debuted in mid-June, but its all-star line-up of performers taking their turns with songs made famous by the star of The Wizard of Oz makes it a perfect holiday entertainment.

This year’s line-up includes Alan Cumming, Duchess, Nathan Lee Graham, Sam Harris, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Jose Llana, Karen Mason, Grace McLean, Jane Monheit, Nadia Quinn, Vivian Reed, Margo Seibert, Kim David smith, Gabrielle Stravelli and Mary Testa.

The show was written and hosted by Justin Sayre.

The Ali Forney Center is a non-profit organization that helps LGBT homeless youth throughout the country. Donations are encouraged.

OPERA: Puccini’s La Bohème – Royal Opera House – Now – July 25th

Conducted by Renato Balsadonna; starring Anna Princeva, Joshua Guerrero, Boris Pinkhasovich, Danielle de Niese and Cody Quattlebaum. This 2021 is a revival of the 2017-2018 season Richard Jones production.

Easily one of the most popular operas in the world, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème had its world premiere in Turin, Italy in 1896.

The libretto is by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera is based on Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème.

The story centers on four friends who are unable to pay their rent. Successfully getting out of a potentially bad situation with their landlord, all but one go out on the town. Rodolfo stays home and meets a young woman named Mimi. They fall in love, but Mimi’s weakness may be a sign of something far more life-threatening than they know. (If this sounds like the musical Rent, it is because La Bohème served as Jonathan Larson’s inspiration for that musical.)

Tickets to watch La Bohème are $18.50

CLASSICAL MUSIC: What’s Past is Prologue Parts 1 and 2 – Baryshnikov Arts Center and Tippet Rise Arts Center – Now available

The Aizuri Quartet celebrates the music of female composers in this two-part concert under the title What’s Past is Prologue.

This all-female quartet is comprised of violinist Emma Frucht, violist Ayane Kozasa, cellist Karen Ouzounian and violinist Miho Saegusa.

In part one (available through July 7th) the quartet performs music by Rhiannon Giddens, Gabriella Smith and Hildegard von Bingen.

In part two (available through July 14th) they perform works by Eleanor Alberga and Barbara Strozzi.

You probably don’t know most of these composers. I know I don’t. But that’s what makes this two-part concert so appealing – the ability to discover new music and new voices.

The link above goes to Part one on the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Part two can be found on the Tippet Rise Art Center website here.

MODERN DANCE: Animals & Angels – The Joyce Theater – Now – July 18th

As part of celebrating Pride Month, The Joyce Theater in New York has made available the premiere of Animals & Angels. The work is a pas de deux for two female dancers: Cortney Taylor Key and Audrey Malek.

It is unusual to find a duet for two female dancers. That’s just one of the things that makes this work by #QueertheBallet interesting.

Through the length of this work the two women not only explore their burgeoning relationship, but also the traditional roles played by dancers in the world of ballet.

#Queertheballet was created by choreographer Andriana Pierce. Animals & Angels was created by Pierce in conjunction with the dancers.

It’s a brief work running less than six minutes. The video includes a conversation amongst the creators.

PLAYWRIGHTS: TCG Books’ First Fridays with Larissa FastHorse – July 2nd – 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT

MacArthur Fellow and acclaimed playwright Larissa FastHorse (The Thanksgiving Play) will be in conversation with Cornerstone Theater Company’s Michael John Garcés on Friday to discuss her work.

Garcés has directed three of FastHorse’s plays: Native Nation, Urban Rez and The Thanksgiving Play.

In addition to her writing, FastHorse is the co-founder of Indigenous Direction, the nation’s leading consulting company for Indigenous arts and audiences.

TCG Books has published The Thanksgiving Play along with What Would Crazy Horse Do?

JAZZ: The Hot Club of Cowtown – SFJAZZ – July 2nd – July 3rd

This week’s Fridays at Five presentation from SFJAZZ has a bit more twang than their usual offerings. The Hot Club of Cowtown offers more swing than jazz and they do so in a style that easily follows in the tradition of such artists as Stephane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt and Bob Wills.

This three-member band features bassist Jake Erwin, violinist Elana James and guitarist Whit Smith.

The concert being shown comes from their appearance at SFJAZZ in 2018 as they were supporting their latest release, Crossing the Great Divide.

An apt title as their work crosses the divide between country and jazz, swing and roots music. Earlier this year they released their latest album, What Makes Bob Holler. Listening to their music you just know they’d be right at home on the soundtrack to a Woody Allen movie.

If you are unable to watch the show on Friday at Five (that’s pacific time/8:00 PM ET), there is a second streaming of the show on Saturday, July 3rd at 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT.

JAZZ: Bill Frisell Solo – Village Vanguard – July 2nd – July 4th

Throughout the pandemic, New York’s Village Vanguard has offered streaming concerts filmed inside this world-famous venue. Apparently they kept one tucked away for a special occasion and this holiday weekend appears to be the event that finds this solo concert by guitarist Bill Frisell being made available.

For over four decades Frisell has been one of music’s finest guitarists. Whether performing solo or with his trio, Frisell has been making music that defies easy categorization. His compositions range in style from jazz to Americana to fusion and more. He’s received 6 Grammy Award nominations and won the trophy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 2004 for Unspeakable.

Tickets are $10 and allow for viewing through Sunday, July 4th at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT.

OPERA: Mozart’s La Clemenza Di Tito – Glyndebourne – July 4th – July 18th

Conducted by Robin Ticciati; starring Richard Croft, Anna Stéphany, Alice Coote, Clive Bayley, Michéle Losier and Joélle Harvey. This Claus Guth production is from the 2016-2017 season.

La Clemenza di Tito (“The Clemency of Titus”) has a libretto by Caterino Mazzolà who altered Pietro Metastasio’s libretto which had been used by other composers before Mozart.

The world premiere took place in Prague in 1791.

Roman Emperor Tito has his eyes set on his friend Sesto’s sister, Sevilla. Sesto is in love with Vitellia. She wants to be married to Tito, but he is not interested in her and she recruits Sesto to assassinate the Emperor in exchange for her love. Intrigue, betrayal and mercy are in store for all involved.

Tim Ashley, writing in The Guardian, said of this production:

“…[Gruth] is helped immeasurably by exceptional performances from Croft and Stéphany. Both achieve rounded characterisations through the seamless integration of recitative and aria, and use Mozart’s verbal and melodic repetitions to suggest shifts in psychological perception and meaning. Croft beautifully conveys the lonely isolation attendant on absolute authority and the anger that both informs and threatens Tito’s idealism. Stéphany trawls Sesto’s emotional and moral anguish with tragic intensity.”

POPS/CLASSICAL: Boston Pops July 4th Spectacular – Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio, Bloomberg.com – July 4th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT

The annual tradition of a Boston Pops concert for July 4th continues. For the lucky few they will be able to attend in person at Tanglewood. For the rest of us, we can watch it on July 4th live on various Bloomberg outlets.

Joining Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will be two special guests.

They are recent Academy Award-winner Jon Batiste (bandleader of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and legendary singer Mavis Staples.

The full program hasn’t been announced, but it will continue the tradition of patriotic music (The Star Spangled Banner, Stars and Stripes Forever) with the one piece of classical music that inspires fireworks with nearly ever outdoor performance: Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

If you have other plans that night and suffer from FOMO if you can’t see this concert, you’ll have the ability to stream it for 24 days.

Those are the Top Ten Best Bets: July 2nd – July 5th. But a few reminders before we close out this week’s listings:

Unmasked: A Theatrical Celebration of Black Women’s Liberation is only available through the end of the day on Sunday, July 4th from The Wallis.

This weekend’s offerings from the Metropolitan Opera include John Adams’ Nixon in China on Friday; Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny on Saturday and Philip Glass’ Akhnaten on Sunday.

On Monday the Met begins a week of operas by Richard Strauss. Monday the series starts with the 1982-1983 season production of Der Rosenkavalier starring Kiri Te Kanawa and Luciana Pavarotti. We’ll have the full line-up for you on Monday.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage season 2 episodes are all available for viewing including the most recent episode featuring Carlos Vives (who will be performing at the Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic in August.)

Here ends our complete list of Top Ten Best Bets: July 2nd – July 5th. Whatever you do, have a safe and sane and wonderful holiday weekend.

Photo: Min Kwan (Courtesy America/Beautiful)

The post Best Bets: July 2nd – July 5th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

A pair of composers have two operas being shown this week: John Adams (Doctor Atomic and Nixon in China) and Philip Glass (Akhnaten and Satyagraha). Also represented are John Corigliano, Nico Muhly and Kurt Weill (technically German, but he ultimately became an American citizen).

Since the Met is re-running productions as the bulk of their weekly streaming schedule, I’m going to mix in interviews with the performers and creators in place of clips to avoid the redundancy of showing the same few clips available. Let me know your thoughts!

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on June 28th, you’ll still have time to see the 2016-2017 season production of Verdi’s La Traviata that was part of Pride Week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 68 at the Met:

Monday, June 28 – Nico Muhly’s Marnie – 3rd Showing – STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

Conducted by Roberto Spano; starring Isabel Leonard, Iestyn Davies and Christopher Maltman. This Michael Mayer production is from the 2018-2019 season.

Muhly’s opera, with a libretto by Nicholas Wright, had its world premiere at the English National Opera in 2017. The opera is based on Winston Graham’s 1961 novel.

If the title, Marnie, sounds familiar, this is based on the same novel by Winston Graham that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 film. The title character is a woman who steals from people, changes her identity and quickly moves on to other victims. Until an employer catches her and blackmails her.

Anthony Tommasini, in his review for the New York Times, said of the opera, “Marnie benefits from the director Michael Mayer’s sleek and fluid staging, with inventive sets and projections designed by Julian Crouch and 59 Productions. (It was first seen last year in London for the work’s premiere at the English National Opera.) Scenery changes are deftly rendered through sliding and descending panels on which evocative images are projected.

“Mr. Muhly’s music could not have had a better advocate than the conductor Robert Spano, making an absurdly belated Met debut at 57. He highlighted intriguing details, brought out myriad colorings, kept the pacing sure and never covered the singers.”

Tuesday, June 29 – John Adams’s Doctor Atomic – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Alan Gilbert; starring Sasha Cooke, Thomas Glenn, Gerald Finley, Richard Paul Fink and Eric Owens. This Penny Woolcock production is from the 2008-2009 season.

This John Adams opera had its world premiere in 2005 in San Francisco and features a libretto by Peter Sellars. The main source of inspiration for the libretto was declassified government documents from individuals who worked at Los Alamos on the development of the atomic bomb.

Act one of Doctor Atomic takes place approximately one month before the first test. The second act takes place the morning of that test in 1945. At the center of it all is Robert J. Oppenheimer (Finley).

In his review for the New York Times, Anthony Tomassini said of Adams’s score: “This score continues to impress me as Mr. Adams’s most complex and masterly music. Whole stretches of the orchestral writing tremble with grainy colors, misty sonorities and textural density. Mr. Gilbert exposes the inner details and layered elements of the music: obsessive riffs, pungently dissonant cluster chords, elegiac solo instrumental lines that achingly drift atop nervous, jittery orchestral figurations.”

Wednesday, June 30 – John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles – 4th Showing – STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

Conducted by James Levine; starring Håkan Hagegård, Teresa Stratas, Renée Fleming, Gino Quilico and Marilyn Horne. This Colin Graham production is from the 1991-1992 season.

Beaumarchais is the playwright who wrote the plays that inspired Rossini’s The Barber of Sevilleand Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. His third play in that series, The Guilty Mother, serves as the inspiration for this opera by John Corigliano and librettist William M. Hoffman.

In the opera, ghosts occupy the theatre at Versailles. Marie Antoinette, not too happy about her execution, spurns the advances of Beaumarchais. He offers his new opera, A Figaro for Antonia, as a means to win her love and change her fate. Now an opera appears within the opera, utilizing the familiar Figaro characters.

The Metropolitan Opera commissioned this work for its 100th anniversary in 1983. It wasn’t performed there until eight years after that centennial. This film is from those performances.

I interviewed Corigliano when LA Opera performed The Ghosts of Versailles. Here’s what he told me about how he handled opening night at the Met:

“The premiere of the opera, this is what I did. I sent out for a take-out chicken. I had a bottle of wine and ten milligrams of valium. I ate the chicken, took the valium and wine to the opening. If you’re asking about something that happened at opening night, I was a zombie. It was traumatizing. I’d never written an opera, it was overwhelming. I couldn’t face it without a little help.”

Both this Metropolitan Opera production and the more recent The LA Opera production were amazing and I personally think Corigliano had nothing to worry about. This is a terrific work.

Thursday, July 1 – Philip Glass’s Satyagraha – 3rd Showing – STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

Conducted by Dante Anzolini; starring Rachelle Durkin, Richard Croft, Kim Josephson and Alfred Walker. This is a revival of Phelim McDermott’s 2008 production from the 2011-2012 season.

This Philip Glass opera had its world premiere in 1980 in Rotterdam. The libretto was written by Glass and Candace DeJong. The title means “insistence on truth” in Sanskrit.

The life of Gandhi is depicted in a story that goes backwards and forwards through time as a way to examine his life in South Africa and leading to his belief in non-violent protests. Sung in Sanskrit with projected titles on the stage itself, this is one unique opera that is staged beautifully and powerfully.

James R. Oestreich, writing in the New York Times, said of this revival (which took place during a celebration of the the composer’s 75th birthday):

“The singers were exceptionally fine and well matched, starting with the tenor Richard Croft, strong yet vulnerable as Gandhi. Like Mr. Croft, Rachelle Durkin as Gandhi’s secretary, Miss Schlesen; Maria Zifchak as his wife, Kasturbai; and Alfred Walker as his Indian co-worker Parsi Rustomji were veterans of the 2008 premiere, and all were excellent except for a bit of strain in Ms. Durkin’s sustained high work in the newspaper scene. Kim Josephson was also strong as Gandhi’s European colleague Mr. Kallenbach.”

I challenge anyone to get to Satyagraha‘s final aria, “Evening Song,” and not be utterly moved.

Friday, July 2 – John Adams’s Nixon in China – 4th Showing

Conducted by John Adams; starring Kathleen Kim, Janis Kelly, Robert Brubaker, Russell Braun, James Maddalena and Richard Paul Fink. This Peter Sellars production is from the 2010-2011 season.

Nixon in China had its world premiere in Houston in 1987 in a production directed by Peter Sellars. Inspired by President Nixon’s trip to China in 1972, the opera features a libretto by Alice Goodman.

It was wholly unlikely that someone as anti-Communist as Nixon would make a trip to China. That trip forged new relations between the two countries and helped thaw the icy relationship the United States had with the then Soviet Union. Nixon and his wife Pat, Chou En-lai, Mao Tse-tung, Henry Kissinger and Madame Mao all play prominent roles in the opera.

This 2011 production, while a Met debut for Nixon in China, was not the New York debut of the opera. It was performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in 1987 following its premiere in Houston. Critical reaction upon its premiere was quite mixed.

By the time of this production (which found Sellars revisiting his original work and that of a 2006 revival), Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times called it an “audacious and moving opera.”

Saturday, July 3 –Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny – 2nd Showing

Conducted by James Levine; starring Teresa Stratas, Astrid Varnay, Richard Cassilly and Cornell MacNeil. This John Dexter production is from the 1979-1980 season. 

Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny had its world premiere in Leipzig in 1930. The libretto, of course, is by Bertolt Brecht.

Three fugitives and four lumberjacks make their way to Mahagonny. The fugitives are trying to elude the authorities and enjoy themselves in a city where men can get all their needs met. The lumberjacks are looking for opportunity. 

A prostitute named Jenny is, at first, attracted by the presence of the fugitives and their money. But she finds herself falling for one of the lumberjacks, Jimmy, who gets more and more in debt as the opera progresses.

As both personal and city financial problems mount, the lives of all eight characters will be changed forever and the shining city will collapse into chaos.

This was the first ever production of this opera at The Met. Harold C. Schonberg, writing in the New York Times, opened his review this way:

“The Weill‐Brecht Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny came to the Metropolitan Opera Friday night, and at least one question about the work was answered. There were those who predicted that Mahagonny with its cabaret roots, smallish orchestra and jazz elements, would not ‘go’ in a house as big as the Met’s. It does. Whether or not it is an opera, and Weill strongly insisted that it is, it does use voices skillfully, it has a big chorus, and it was not lost on the stage of the big house.”

Sunday, July 4 – Philip Glass’s Akhnaten – 6th Showing – STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

Conducted by Karen Kamensek; starring Dísella Lárusdóttir, J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Aaron Blake, Will Liverman, Richard Bernstein and Zachary James. This Phelim McDermott production is from the 2019-2020. 

Akhnaten is one of Glass’s three biographical operas (the others are Einstein on the Beach and Saturday’s opera, Satyagraha.) The composer also wrote the libretto with the assistance of Shalom Goldman, Robert Israel, Richard Riddell and Jerome Robbins.

Akhnaten was a pharaoh who was controversial for his views on worshipping more than one God. He suggested just worshipping one – the sun. He was husband to Nefertitti and father of Tutankhamun. This opera does not have a linear storyline.

In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini praised the leads:

“Wearing gauzy red robes with extravagantly long trains, Mr. Costanzo and Ms. Bridges seem at once otherworldly and achingly real. His ethereal tones combine affectingly with her plush, deep-set voice. Ms. Kamensek, while keeping the orchestra supportive, brings out the restless rhythmic elements that suggest the couple’s intensity.”

I’ve seen this production with Costanzo singing the title role and cannot recommend taking the time to watch Akhnaten highly enough. 

That’s the full line-up for Week 68 at the Met. At press time we had no details for next week.

Enjoy your week! Enjoy the operas! Happy Birthday America!

Photo: James Maddalena, Russell Braun and Janis Kelly in Nixon in China (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

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It made me realize how much is going on inside her brain. Whittling her articles, books or shows down to a manageable length must be a challenge. As it was perhaps when she wrote The Bitch is Back as an essay for The Atlantic, published in the October 2011 issue. A challenge that paid off.

Loh adapted that award-winning essay into a solo show, also named The Bitch is Back, which debuted at The Broad Stage in 2015. It was filmed and this version is going to be available on demand beginning on Wednesday via the Broad Stage (with a more family-friendly title that invokes asterisks The B**** is Back: An All-Too Intimate Evening).

What follows are edited excerpts of my conversation with Loh in which we discuss the show’s theme of menopause, life pre-pandemic versus post-pandemic and whether or not there is humor in heaven.

You started this year with polar plunges into the Pacific Ocean. You stated on your Instagram account (with a nod to Madeline Kahn) that you felt “veefweshed.” Has that feeling stayed with you?

Okay, this may not be a short answer. I think the pandemic, well, to go even a year earlier than that, it was a hard year for so many people. The plunging into the ocean was the beginning of a shock therapy treatment to start feeling things, sensing things. I’d never done that before. It was just to normalize myself and feel like myself. I felt truly out-of-touch with my body.

I went to the doctor and they threw me on a scale recently and it was like alarms went off and police helicopters were circling. I just came in for a check-up and I saw a number that made me traumatized. They took my blood pressure and it was like I was going into cardiac arrest because I’d just seen my weight. So I think that whole journey of plunging, I think it was my personal journey of coming back onto my body and psyche and space.

Before you wrote the essay that inspired this show, you wrote another story for The Atlantic called Should Women Rule? where you talked about being in a perimenopausal stage. Ten years later, presumably post-menopausal and after doing this show, how has your relationship to menopause changed?

To a certain extent I still regard it as not having to take care of anyone – using those hormones that fire during taking care of children. There was this really expensive diaper cream, I can’t tell you how amazing it smelled and the hormones it inspired. It felt like I was on a fantastic acid trip – not that I have done many acid trips. I felt like I was on drugs [her voice changes and she impersonates being high] “I’m on drugs now and I’m going to bake a pie and I’ve never made one before.” Everyone was shocked I was a mother in these filthy paint-splattered overalls. I didn’t look like a mother and I still don’t.

There’s the freedom of thank God I’m not fertile anymore. Boo-hoo. It’s not really boo-hoo. I got my first period and my mother said it’s going to happen every month. I could not believe it. I wasn’t very well-informed. There are all these different phases of “oh not this” or “oh not that.” I felt initially freed when I thought about being out of it.

The press release positions the streaming of this show as a fascinating look at what a night in a cabaret was like for audiences pre-pandemic. You discuss menopause as returning one’s body back to normal, do you see a parallel between the themes of this show and the concept of us returning to normalcy and attending live events again?

I think when I look back at that show it’s amazing how much body contact there is and serving of wine. I’m bringing them wine, sometimes spilling it on them. I remember how tactile it was. I remember being able to chat with the audience and they were part of the show.

This is an interesting moment of transition back out. I think as the pandemic is lifting it’s mixed for many people. There’s a bit of euphoria to go to a restaurant and order a cocktail. Some people who are more introverted are saying “There are things I liked, but sorry about the deaths.” Someone texted me recently, “Oh no, I have to do brunch again.”

I think Bitch is a look at some of the things we had before the pandemic and are actually going back to in some form and maybe we can sift through them and find the good stuff and the joy and maybe not do things we don’t want to do. That’s the theme of the show: now that I’m 50, I don’t have to do this anymore. I’m 59 now. Do you have to go to brunch? No, you don’t.

Mark Twain said, “The secret of humor itself is not joy, but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven.” Is he right?

Wow that really does resonate. Yes. YES!!!! Our days are glued together with these small tentpoles: the coffee my partner gets me, doing the New York Times crossword, going to Trader Joe’s or Stater Brothers – the good one – that cheers me up. It’s like our phones going off with news alerts and the adrenalin rush of would Giuliani be going to jail or something related to Trump in trouble. These little tentpoles get us through the day.

This show is based on this moment when I was driving. This grave opened up below me. That was the moment I thought something was wrong with my physically. This is a totally new thing of being pitched over and I don’t know what this part is. That was the start of my menopause journey. We can all laugh about it now because we’re in a room, but when we’re in it, we don’t know. It’s funny how perspective flips a bit.

The B**** Is Back: An All-Too Intimate Conversation by Sandra Tsing Loh is available for streaming June 23rd – 30th. Tickets range from $10 – $75 based on your ability to pay. For tickets go here. There are two happy hour events (June 24th and June 26th) hosted by Loh that will be available with the purchase of a ticket. The first will feature special guest Marlo Thomas with the theme Women 45+ and Relationships. The second one looks at the work of playwright Wendy Wasserstein with guests Caroline Aaron, Marilu Henner, Melanie Mayron and Jobeth Williams.

Photos of Sandra Tsing Loh courtesy The Broad Stage

The post Sandra Tsing Loh Gets to the Heart of the Matter appeared first on Cultural Attaché.