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	<title>Julia Bullock Archives - Cultural Attaché</title>
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		<title>John Adams Revisits an Old Friend</title>
		<link>https://culturalattache.co/2023/01/26/john-adams-revisits-an-old-friend/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2023 21:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Classical: Metronome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opera: Bravo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[contemporary classical music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Davóne Tines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elliot Madore]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Girls of the Golden West]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hye Jung Lee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Adams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julia Bullock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[opera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paul Appleby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Sellars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan McKinny]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[San Francisco Opera]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>"In some ways it's the most personal piece of mine because of that resonance with the land and with the history."</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2023/01/26/john-adams-revisits-an-old-friend/">John Adams Revisits an Old Friend</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17802" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Composer/Conductor John Adams (Photo ©Riccardo Musacchio/Courtesy John Adams)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>&#8220;</strong>I couldn&#8217;t imagine being just a composer and letting somebody else perform and never, ever being a performer myself. I love the thrill of walking on stage now and sort of getting nervous. It&#8217;s really wonderful.&#8221; That&#8217;s how composer (and obviously conductor) John Adams describes his ongoing relationship with his music.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s a relationship that he&#8217;s been cultivating for decades. Adams is a Pulitzer Prize winner (<em><em>On the Transmigration of Souls</em></em>), an Erasmus Prize winner and the recipient of five Grammy Awards. </p>



<p>For over a dozen years he&#8217;s held the position of Creative Chair with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1838/2023-01-27/john-adams-girls-of-the-golden-west" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">This weekend</a> Adams will conduct the LA Phil in a concert version of his 2017 opera <em>Girls of the Golden West</em>. He collaborated with <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/03/15/director-peter-sellars-revisits-insanely-hard-work/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter Sellars</a> on this opera that is set during the Gold Rush in California in the 1850s. Most of the cast that appeared in the opera&#8217;s world premiere at San Francisco Opera are returning for these two concerts. This includes Paul Appleby, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Julia Bullock</a>, Hye Jung Lee, Elliot Madore, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/01/31/ryan-mckinny-celebrant-bernsteins-mass/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ryan McKinny</a> and <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/11/04/baritone-davone-tines-speaks-boldly-about-julius-eastman/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Davóne Tines</a>.</p>



<p>Last week I spoke by phone with Adams about the opera, his career and the future of classical music. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.</p>



<p>This area of California where the gold rush was centered was an area that resonated with you as soon as you came to California. How has your relationship with that area of the state where you live and its history evolved over that time? </p>



<p><strong>I&#8217;m an immigrant. Like all the people came out here looking for gold in the 1850s. I came out here in 1971. I suppose California was a sort of dream at the end of the rainbow for me. I was born in New England and actually had never been anywhere else. I didn&#8217;t expect to stay here, but I never went back. Not too long after I arrived I started going up to the Sierras and I eventually bought a cabin up there at about 6700 feet. So it&#8217;s pretty high up. I have a very deep feeling for the land. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I did not know a lot about the gold rush history until I started researching for this opera and these stories really became intensely important to me. Making this particular piece was very special. In some ways it&#8217;s the most personal piece of mine because of that resonance with the land and with the history.</strong></p>



<p>After the premiere in San Francisco you reworked the opera and made some cuts. How much does this revised version, which I assume is the version that&#8217;s being performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall, reflect a clarification of what you wanted to accomplish?</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Davone-Tines-and-Julia-Bulllock-in-22Girls-of-the-Golden-West22-Photo-by-Cory-Weaver-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera_-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17801" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Davone-Tines-and-Julia-Bulllock-in-22Girls-of-the-Golden-West22-Photo-by-Cory-Weaver-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera_-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Davone-Tines-and-Julia-Bulllock-in-22Girls-of-the-Golden-West22-Photo-by-Cory-Weaver-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera_-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Davone-Tines-and-Julia-Bulllock-in-22Girls-of-the-Golden-West22-Photo-by-Cory-Weaver-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera_-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Davone-Tines-and-Julia-Bulllock-in-22Girls-of-the-Golden-West22-Photo-by-Cory-Weaver-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera_-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Davone-Tines-and-Julia-Bulllock-in-22Girls-of-the-Golden-West22-Photo-by-Cory-Weaver-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera_-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Davone-Tines-and-Julia-Bulllock-in-22Girls-of-the-Golden-West22-Photo-by-Cory-Weaver-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera_-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Davone-Tines-and-Julia-Bulllock-in-22Girls-of-the-Golden-West22-Photo-by-Cory-Weaver-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera_-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Davone-Tines-and-Julia-Bulllock-in-22Girls-of-the-Golden-West22-Photo-by-Cory-Weaver-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera_-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Davóne Tines and Julia Bullock in San Francisco Opera&#8217;s production of &#8220;Girls of the Golden West&#8221; (Photo by Cory Weaver/Courtesy San Francisco Opera)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>Well, it&#8217;s actually the third version of it. This particular version I had to prepare because I have this extraordinary opportunity to record it with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. And I can tell you for any composer alive to get the chance to get a good recording of an opera is extremely rare and I&#8217;m just very fortunate. But all of my operas have been recorded.</strong> </p>



<p><strong>We had to squeeze it into a regular subscription week, which is very limited rehearsal time and the orchestra obviously has not seen it before. So I did have to make a compressed version of it. But I like this version because it&#8217;s focused very, very intensely on the narratives of the characters. The original version had a lot of songs, a lot of entertainment. Things that I&#8217;m sort of sorry to go, but really weren&#8217;t entirely germane to the story. It was really long.</strong></p>



<p><strong>I had no idea I&#8217;d written so much music. It was 600 pages of score. Even when it was revised for Amsterdam, it was still too long.<em> </em>Particularly my musical language, which is sort of wry and tight and economical &#8211; the way you might pack a backpack to go hiking in the Sierras. I really felt that this story needed to be told in a more compact, shorter version.</strong><em> </em></p>



<p>I would assume that even squeezing in these performances as part of the season, it must be a blessing to have all but one of your original cast members back.</p>



<p><strong>Of course. I don&#8217;t want to use the word squeezing it in. The Philharmonic has given me as much time as they can. I would say that of all the orchestras in the world, and I have conducted most of them, the LA Phil was the ideal orchestra for this because they have one of the fastest learning curves of any group of musicians in the world. And they know my music. They play it every year and I&#8217;ve been conducting them since the 1980s &#8211; back when they were at the Music Center. So this is the ideal situation if I&#8217;m going to work with an orchestra</strong>.</p>



<p><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/03/17/grant-gershon-20-years-with-the-los-angeles-master-chorale/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Grant Gershon</a> conducted the premiere in San Francisco. How do you think your approach to this opera, from the conductor&#8217;s point of view, will differ from his? In what areas might it be the same?</p>



<p><strong>You know, it&#8217;s not like </strong>[German conductor Wilhelm] <strong>Furtwängler versus</strong> [Italian conductor Arturo] <strong>Toscanini or something like that. Obviously when Grant conducted that he had singers on the stage and they were doing all kinds of physical activity. And they were singing off book, which puts such a huge responsibility on the conductor. Here I&#8217;ve asked the singers to use music because we just want to get it as good as it can. Obviously this is a concert performance with no action on stage. My goal is to just get as good a performance and tight of performance as much as possible.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>But do you feel that you conduct your music differently than others do?</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Composer-Conductor-John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17805" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Composer-Conductor-John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Composer-Conductor-John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Composer-Conductor-John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Composer-Conductor-John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Composer-Conductor-John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Composer-Conductor-John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Composer-Conductor-John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Composer-Conductor-John-Adams-Photo-©Riccardo-Musacchio-Courtesy-John-Adams.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Composer/Conductor John Adams (Photo ©Riccardo Musacchio/Courtesy John Adams)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>Well, sure. I&#8217;m very, very lucky. I&#8217;ve had the best conductors on the planet doing my music. That&#8217;s a real luxury. But I stay in touch with all my pieces. I conduct them regularly and I think I&#8217;m a good conductor &#8211; at least for my own music. I work regularly with the best orchestras in the world. That&#8217;s a plus that most composers can&#8217;t do. </strong></p>



<p><strong>You know I saw Aaron Copland conduct when I was a kid. The Boston Symphony loved him, but he was barely able to conduct. It&#8217;s a rare group of people who can conduct and compose:</strong> [Leonard] <strong>Bernstein and</strong> [Pierre] <strong>Boulez and Esa-Pekka</strong> [Salonen]. <strong>But most composers just don&#8217;t have the experience.</strong></p>



<p>By having that continued relationship with the vast number of your works that you conduct, how does that fuel your ideas for what you want to do moving forward?</p>



<p><strong>Of course it does fuel it. When I do my pieces I really understand what is right about them and what&#8217;s not right. So I&#8217;ve had the benefit of doing various pieces many, many times. It&#8217;s interesting because I was having to make some programs this week for various orchestras because they&#8217;re all ready to announce their seasons. I was looking at scores of </strong>[composer]<strong> Charles Ives that in the past I&#8217;ve conducted. I think Ives, whom I love on a certain level as a wonderful human being and a kind of visionary, but there&#8217;s something very unsatisfying about most of his orchestral pieces. The reason is that he never heard them played. So they were all kind of speculative. Then you look at a composer like Ravel or Mahler or Richard Strauss who are just constantly sharing their pieces and refining them. The ideal is to have a hands-on experience with your work.</strong></p>



<p>You and Peter Sellers did an interview at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFygj4EyVTs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Guggenheim Works in Progress</a> in September of 2017. He described the music that you wrote for Scene five of Act two as of <em>Girls of the Golden West</em> as being able to perfectly give voice to what was happening at the time and that historians will be able to look back at that music and see that you had &#8220;actually touched what&#8217;s going on.&#8221; When art and current events collide in the way that he&#8217;s describing, is there a part of it that feels like it&#8217;s perfect planning or is it the world working in mysterious ways? How do you view that kind of synchronicity?<em> </em></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Peter-Sellars-and-John-Adams-Photo-by-Jacklyn-Meduga-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17799" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Peter-Sellars-and-John-Adams-Photo-by-Jacklyn-Meduga-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Peter-Sellars-and-John-Adams-Photo-by-Jacklyn-Meduga-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Peter-Sellars-and-John-Adams-Photo-by-Jacklyn-Meduga-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Peter-Sellars-and-John-Adams-Photo-by-Jacklyn-Meduga-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Peter-Sellars-and-John-Adams-Photo-by-Jacklyn-Meduga-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Peter-Sellars-and-John-Adams-Photo-by-Jacklyn-Meduga-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Peter-Sellars-and-John-Adams-Photo-by-Jacklyn-Meduga-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Peter-Sellars-and-John-Adams-Photo-by-Jacklyn-Meduga-Courtesy-San-Francisco-Opera-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Peter Sellars and John Adams (Photo by Jacklyn Meduga/Courtesy San Francisco Opera)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>I think I&#8217;m more modest in my expectations. I mean, it really sounds great, very grandiose what he said. But I&#8217;m always a little skeptical of language like that. I think basically people have very intimate experiences with a work of art. They may be sitting in a big crowd with thousands of people. But how you respond to something is a very intimate experience. I don&#8217;t think you can really predict how people are going to react.</strong> </p>



<p><strong>Even though a lot of my pieces deal with historical events, when I&#8217;m composing I never feel that I&#8217;m preaching to people. I never want to preach or think that I&#8217;m going to grab them by the lapel and give them a lecture.</strong></p>



<p>You&#8217;re also heavily involved with L.A. Philharmonic&#8217;s New Music Group. You have <a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1870/2023-03-14/la-phil-new-music-group-with-john-adams" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a concert coming up </a>with them in March. What gives you the most optimism about the contemporary classical music that we&#8217;re going to discover in the next few years? Do you think that there are composers who are on the cusp of having a breakthrough the way you did with <em>Phrygian Gates</em>?</p>



<p><strong>I think it&#8217;s always been the case that there&#8217;s never been more than a handful of truly great composers at any particular time. If you look at the era of Beethoven there were all the other composers, his contemporaries, but we only listen to them out of historical curiosity. There was a period around the turn of the 20th century when there were an amazing number of really great composers all alive and working: Debussy, Stravinsky, Mahler, Strauss and Sibelius. But that was rare.</strong></p>



<p><strong>With that said, I think that this is a much healthier time to be a composer than when I was in my 20s or 30s. Back then that was what I call the bad old days of extremely obscure approaches to composition. Whether it was serialism or chance music, various systems that created a kind of music that was absolutely inaccessible to most listeners. I have no idea why it became so prestigious. But it did. When I was in college in the late sixties, early seventies, that&#8217;s the music that was treated seriously. And of course, one of the things that did was it frightened audiences away. </strong></p>



<p><strong>Even to this day I still suffer from that. If a piece of mine is on the program and your average concertgoer doesn&#8217;t know who John Adams is and looks at the program and sees Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Adams, the first thing they think is that it&#8217;s a new piece. It&#8217;s going to be unpleasant. That&#8217;s the long tail off of what happened back in the sixties and seventies. Now composers are not driven by style and they are very conscious about whom they&#8217;re writing for and what they&#8217;re writing about.<em> </em></strong></p>



<p><strong>I think there&#8217;s a lot of interest in encouraging young composers. Virtually every orchestra program I see these days, at least by American orchestras, has a piece by an emerging composer. It&#8217;s astonishing because you never saw that 50 years ago or even 30 years ago. So there is interest, but the issue is writing a piece that&#8217;s going to have legs that people want to hear. That other orchestras and performers and pianists want to share. That&#8217;s really where the dividing line is, because there are very, very few pieces that have legs. </strong></p>



<p>Do you think that that the world is is catching up to what you have been doing throughout your career?</p>



<p><strong>Well, you know, I&#8217;m like any contemporary composer except maybe John Williams. I have a modest audience and I say modest compared to a pop musician. But I have what I think is a quality audience who appreciates deeply what I do and loves my work. The reason we call it classical is because we always feel what we&#8217;re doing is going to have a very long shelf life, hundreds of years. We&#8217;re making something that is not just for now, but for many, many generations ahead.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p><a href="https://bachtrack.com/classical-music-statistics-2022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bachtrack</a> had you as number three on the top ten contemporary composers whose works were performed last year.<em> </em>[Arvo Pärt and John Williams were in the first and second position.]</p>



<p><strong>I guess maybe it&#8217;s just because I&#8217;m a Yankee at heart. I&#8217;m just very skeptical of grandiose language and things like that. But maybe that&#8217;s healthy because I still keep doing very original things. You know, I came back to this opera, <em>The Girls of the Golden West</em>, thinking it had been a failure. I hadn&#8217;t even listened to it or looked at the score in five years. </strong>[When I did]<strong> I thought, not bad.</strong></p>



<p>Main Photo: John Adams (Photo ©Riccardo Musacchio/Courtesy John Adams) </p>



<p> </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2023/01/26/john-adams-revisits-an-old-friend/">John Adams Revisits an Old Friend</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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		<title>Christian Reif Reworks John Adams&#8217;s &#8220;El Niño&#8221;</title>
		<link>https://culturalattache.co/2022/12/20/christian-reif-reworks-john-adamss-el-nino/</link>
					<comments>https://culturalattache.co/2022/12/20/christian-reif-reworks-john-adamss-el-nino/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2022 08:10:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Classical: Metronome]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[John Adams]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Knoxville: Summer of 1915]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nonesuch Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rachael Wilson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Samuel Barber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Cloisters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Walking in the Dark]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>"It basically started with us believing that this piece needs to be heard by more people and performed by more people. Not every ensemble has the resources to perform it. John gave us the blessing for it."</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/12/20/christian-reif-reworks-john-adamss-el-nino/">Christian Reif Reworks John Adams&#8217;s &#8220;El Niño&#8221;</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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<p>There are numerous pieces of the classical music repertoire that are always played around the world at this time of year. Handel&#8217;s <em>Messiah</em> and Tchaikovsky&#8217;s <em>The Nutcracker</em> certainly head that list. If conductor and pianist Christian Reif has influence on what gets added to that list he would add John Adams&#8217; <em>El Niño</em>.</p>



<p>Reif, along with soprano <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Julia Bullock</a> (the couple are together), have conceived of a one-hour version entitled <em><a href="https://www.stjohndivine.org/calendar/42514/el-nino-nativity-reconsidered" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered</a></em> that will be performed on Wednesday by the America Modern Opera Company. This is his effort to make this nearly two-hour <em>Nativity Oratorio</em> from 1999 more accessible for a wide range of performing arts organizations and audiences alike. The performance will take place at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York.</p>



<p>Their revision was first performed in 2018 at The Cloisters in New York. As with that performance, Bullock will be joined by countertenor <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/08/05/anthony-roth-costanzo-defines-his-place-in-opera/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anthony Roth Costanzo</a> and baritone <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/11/04/baritone-davone-tines-speaks-boldly-about-julius-eastman/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Davóne Tines</a>. Mezzo-soprano Rachael Wilson sings the role at this week&#8217;s performance that was previously sung by <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/05/31/jnai-bridges-enters-peter-lorraine-hunt-liebersons-world/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">J&#8217;Nai Bridges</a>. </p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Anthony-Roth-Costsanzo-JNai-Bridges-and-Julia-Bullock-perform-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Paula-Lobo-Courtesy-American-Opera-Company-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17565" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Anthony-Roth-Costsanzo-JNai-Bridges-and-Julia-Bullock-perform-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Paula-Lobo-Courtesy-American-Opera-Company-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Anthony-Roth-Costsanzo-JNai-Bridges-and-Julia-Bullock-perform-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Paula-Lobo-Courtesy-American-Opera-Company-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Anthony-Roth-Costsanzo-JNai-Bridges-and-Julia-Bullock-perform-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Paula-Lobo-Courtesy-American-Opera-Company-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Anthony-Roth-Costsanzo-JNai-Bridges-and-Julia-Bullock-perform-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Paula-Lobo-Courtesy-American-Opera-Company-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Anthony-Roth-Costsanzo-JNai-Bridges-and-Julia-Bullock-perform-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Paula-Lobo-Courtesy-American-Opera-Company-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Anthony-Roth-Costsanzo-JNai-Bridges-and-Julia-Bullock-perform-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Paula-Lobo-Courtesy-American-Opera-Company-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Anthony-Roth-Costsanzo-JNai-Bridges-and-Julia-Bullock-perform-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Paula-Lobo-Courtesy-American-Opera-Company-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Anthony-Roth-Costsanzo-JNai-Bridges-and-Julia-Bullock-perform-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Paula-Lobo-Courtesy-American-Opera-Company-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Anthony Roth Costanzo, J&#8217;Nai Bridges and Julia Bullock perform &#8220;El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered&#8221; (Photo by Paula Lobo/Courtesy American Modern Opera Company)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p>Earlier this month I spoke with Reif about <em>El Niño</em>, how Bullock&#8217;s relationship with Adams made this project possible and about the miracle of birth. He and Bullock recently had their first child. What follows are excerpts from that conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQfUdH08rahzGKm2Hcawq-g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YouTube channel</a>.</p>



<p>The year that <em>El Niño</em> premiere, John Adams gave <a href="https://www.boosey.com/cr/news/John-Adams-in-interview-about-his-new-oratorio-El-Nino/188" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an interview</a> specifically about this work in which he said, &#8220;I want the work to be flexible and not tied to any one way of presenting it.&#8221; What were the conversations that you and Julia had when you came up with this revised version of presenting <em>El Niño</em>?<em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><strong>Julia and I love the piece so much. It&#8217;s one of the great pieces of our times and it has this immediacy and this intensity. We wanted to focus on that intimacy and immediacy of the work which is reflected both in the subject matter, but also how we have decided to perform it. It&#8217;s so hard to cut anything of John&#8217;s music and the poetry, but we tried to focus on the relationship &#8211; the bond between mother and child.</strong></p>



<p><strong>It basically started with us believing that this piece needs to be heard by more people and be performed by more people. The original, which is so impactful and wonderful, is a big, big piece. It has a six soloists, three of them countertenors, a big orchestra, a big chorus and children. Not every ensemble, not every orchestra, not every chamber orchestra has the resources to perform it.&nbsp;John gave us the blessing for it.</strong></p>



<p>I can&#8217;t imagine too many composers being open to having their works altered by other people.</p>



<p><strong>I don&#8217;t know if this is just speculation, but if it was anyone else other than Julia Bullock asking John Adams, since they have such a wonderful close relationship, I&#8217;m not sure he would have been quite as happy or forthcoming. Julia approached him for her Met Museum residency and he was supportive of it. That was one iteration of it, but we there were several parameters during this presentation. </strong></p>



<p><strong>We played it at The Cloisters so it had to be a certain amount of people only. Also the length was an hour. So there were several restrictions that we wanted to break out a bit now for this iteration. I did a lot of arranging of it for the first one, but I didn&#8217;t start from scratch at that point. There was someone else. Now that we&#8217;re performing at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine on December 21st, that is my arrangement and Julia&#8217;s concept.</strong></p>



<p>For people who saw it at the Cloisters in 2018 what&#8217;s going to be fundamentally different about what&#8217;s getting performed this year?</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Cloisters-performance-of-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Joshua-Bright-for-the-New-York-Times-Courtesy-Modern-Opera-Company-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17567" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Cloisters-performance-of-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Joshua-Bright-for-the-New-York-Times-Courtesy-Modern-Opera-Company-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Cloisters-performance-of-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Joshua-Bright-for-the-New-York-Times-Courtesy-Modern-Opera-Company-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Cloisters-performance-of-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Joshua-Bright-for-the-New-York-Times-Courtesy-Modern-Opera-Company-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Cloisters-performance-of-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Joshua-Bright-for-the-New-York-Times-Courtesy-Modern-Opera-Company-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Cloisters-performance-of-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Joshua-Bright-for-the-New-York-Times-Courtesy-Modern-Opera-Company-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Cloisters-performance-of-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Joshua-Bright-for-the-New-York-Times-Courtesy-Modern-Opera-Company-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Cloisters-performance-of-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Joshua-Bright-for-the-New-York-Times-Courtesy-Modern-Opera-Company-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-Cloisters-performance-of-22El-Nino-Nativity-Reconsidered22-Photo-by-Joshua-Bright-for-the-New-York-Times-Courtesy-Modern-Opera-Company-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Anthony Roth Costanzo, J&#8217;nai Bridges, Julia Bullock and Davóne Tines, sing &#8220;El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered&#8221; with conductor Christian Reif at the Met Cloisters. (Photo by Joshua Bright for The New York Times/Courtesy American Modern Opera Company)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>It&#8217;s not fundamentally different.&nbsp;We have a 10-piece chamber choir which is one of the major changes. Also the instrumentation is different than we played it at The Cloisters. I added both the clarinet and the horn back into it.&nbsp;I went closer to John&#8217;s music, especially in <em>El Niño</em>, but also in <em>The Gospel According to the Other Mary</em>. In these two oratorios much the heart of the sound are the keyboards: it is piano, it&#8217;s sampler synthesizer and also harp guitar. Those are the heart of it.</strong></p>



<p>In that same interview that I referenced at the beginning of our conversation John Adams said, &#8220;The piece is my way of trying to understand what is meant by a miracle.&#8221; How do you understand what is meant by a miracle?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>That&#8217;s a big question and I&#8217;m hoping I can answer it somewhat. John is a father and grandfather and now our son was born six weeks ago. That miracle, I think maybe that&#8217;s stereotypical or cheesy, but it is a miracle witnessing birth. Of course we know what is going on in the body and how it&#8217;s all happening. Julia and I researched a lot. But there&#8217;s something special having this miracle of birth and being so close to it. Obviously I didn&#8217;t give birth myself, but I was there every step of the way and that is a very special feeling. So I can only imagine that John was thinking a lot about his own family.</strong></p>



<p><strong>What is so fascinating to me is the selection of poems and poets that John and <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/03/15/director-peter-sellars-revisits-insanely-hard-work/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter Sellars</a> collected for <em>El Niño</em>. It&#8217;s not, as usually is the case with a lot of Western European music, the birth is not presented through the lens of white men. Rosario Castellanos, an incredible poet, is featured very prominently in both the original and <em>El Niño</em> in our arrangement. It&#8217;s very important to us as well. It&#8217;s an incredible honor and privilege to raise a child. And I think that miracle is being brought through and shines through the whole piece.</strong><em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p>Do you feel like the piece is going to resonate differently with both of you now as a result of having given birth to a son?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>I think so, yes. Even just in these last few weeks, when I read the poetry and studied the music, it hits differently. It always impacted both of us in a very deep way. There&#8217;s something inexplicable when you read the beginning that talks about how this other being takes some room in the woman and suddenly your body is not your own anymore. You&#8217;re nurturing another human being. This is the only time you&#8217;ve been alone. Now you will never be alone anymore. That&#8217;s something that you grasp when you have given birth or as the father, the partner being right there. I think that&#8217;s something I wouldn&#8217;t have thought about too closely before.</strong></p>



<p>Does the success of this version of John Adams&#8217;s work make an argument for truncation of larger works in a society that demands shorter pieces because of shortened attention spans?</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Composer-John-Adams-Courtesy-John-Adams-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17570" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Composer-John-Adams-Courtesy-John-Adams-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Composer-John-Adams-Courtesy-John-Adams-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Composer-John-Adams-Courtesy-John-Adams-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Composer-John-Adams-Courtesy-John-Adams-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Composer-John-Adams-Courtesy-John-Adams-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Composer-John-Adams-Courtesy-John-Adams-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Composer-John-Adams-Courtesy-John-Adams-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Composer-John-Adams-Courtesy-John-Adams.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Composer John Adams (courtesy of John Adams)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>I think being able to experience this work &#8211; it is only an hour long. I think it&#8217;s not too much task for anyone. If it was a Wagner opera of four or five hours, I understand that&#8217;s a daunting thought. But I think to sit one hour and experience a work like this and being able to really delve into it and let everything else go is good.</strong></p>



<p><strong>I think our generation right now wants that, too. They want to be able to let go as well as being impacted deeply. They want an experience. This is some of the most ferocious, most incredible and intense music and lyrics. At the same time, some of the most delicate and wondrous. So I think that is something that would speak to anyone.</strong> </p>



<p><strong>And I know from many conversations with my family who have seen this or experienced the full original version, who might not be necessarily the most adventurous contemporary listeners, but were deeply impacted and and taken by this piece. I think this is a piece that people will be drawn to.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>You serve as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVDAAsWnT0Q" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">conductor and pianist</a> on Julia&#8217;s album, <em>Walking in the Dark</em>. It should be noted that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK7bQOY3aM0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Memorial de Tlateloloco</em> from <em>El Niño</em></a> is one of the pieces you recorded for the album. What were the conversations that you and Julia had that led to works that were selected?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>It&#8217;s her album, but obviously since I&#8217;m conducting and also playing piano and her partner in life, we exchanged a lot of ideas and thoughts. I think it started with her conversation with Bob Hurwitz from Nonesuch Records who told her, &#8220;Don&#8217;t worry about what sells. Don&#8217;t worry if you can tour the album. Think about the time you live in right now. Think of what speaks to you the most. What do you want to say? The album should be a work of art.&#8221; </strong></p>



<p><strong>That really spoke to her. That speaks to me. She has an incredible gift for curation and that comes through in everything she does. She went through many different versions of different ideas of the album; what it might be, what it possibly could be. She asked me for my input with it. She started with talking and working on </strong>[Samuel] <strong>Barber and John Adams.<em>&nbsp;</em>We were traveling together performing Barber&#8217;s <em>Knoxville: Summer of 1915</em>.&nbsp;Since we just are performing Barber, I thought, why don&#8217;t you think about anchoring the album with two bigger orchestral pieces.</strong></p>



<p>I&#8217;m going to go one more time back to that John Adams interview from 2000, because I found it really intriguing. He said, &#8220;Entering into this myth, making art about it and finding your own voice to express it, can&#8217;t help but put you in a very humble position.&#8221; At this point in your career, whether it&#8217;s <em>El Niño</em> or <em>Walking in the Dark</em>, how does your work put you in a humble place and what realizations do you have as a result of that?</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christian-Reif-Photo-by-Stefan-Cohen-Courtesy-ChristianReif.eu_-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17571" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christian-Reif-Photo-by-Stefan-Cohen-Courtesy-ChristianReif.eu_-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christian-Reif-Photo-by-Stefan-Cohen-Courtesy-ChristianReif.eu_-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christian-Reif-Photo-by-Stefan-Cohen-Courtesy-ChristianReif.eu_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christian-Reif-Photo-by-Stefan-Cohen-Courtesy-ChristianReif.eu_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christian-Reif-Photo-by-Stefan-Cohen-Courtesy-ChristianReif.eu_-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christian-Reif-Photo-by-Stefan-Cohen-Courtesy-ChristianReif.eu_-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christian-Reif-Photo-by-Stefan-Cohen-Courtesy-ChristianReif.eu_-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Christian-Reif-Photo-by-Stefan-Cohen-Courtesy-ChristianReif.eu_.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Christian Reif (Photo by Stefan Cohen/Courtesy ChristianReif.eu)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>The act of conducting, being in connection with each other and with the musicians on stage, is very humbling. I never saw myself as the dictator on the podium. Sometimes I just listen and see what is being offered and make music in real time. It is a very humbling experience. The main thing as a conductor is just to bring everyone together and make sure that everyone can perform on the best level possible. And if you&#8217;re not humble in that, I don&#8217;t think you get that response from people. </strong></p>



<p><strong>As a father of a young boy, it&#8217;s humbling in a different way where I feel my whole being is in service to this young being. Everything else is taking a little bit of a backseat. At the same time I know when I&#8217;m on stage I am onstage fully present. There&#8217;s also nothing like it. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I did one gig in Colorado a few weeks ago. A sister was able to be here and help out, which was wonderful. I missed Lucas and Julia tremendously, but I was also able to just be with the musicians and be completely present and connect with them. That is a very humbling and very wonderful experience.</strong></p>



<p><em>To see the full interview with Christian Reif, please go <a href="https://youtu.be/12evzHIJMMU" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</em></p>



<p>Main photo: Christian Reif (Photo ©Simon Pauly/Courtesy ChristianReif.eu)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/12/20/christian-reif-reworks-john-adamss-el-nino/">Christian Reif Reworks John Adams&#8217;s &#8220;El Niño&#8221;</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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		<title>Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson: A War of Attrition</title>
		<link>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/09/conductor-jeri-lynne-johnson-a-war-of-attrition/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Nov 2022 01:27:38 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>"The inherent understanding of genius, stifled genius, unrecognized genius, not given the support and the nourishment that it deserves and having to find its own way. I understand that completely."</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/09/conductor-jeri-lynne-johnson-a-war-of-attrition/">Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson: A War of Attrition</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17352" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson (Courtesy JeriLynneJohnson.com)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p>Los Angeles Philharmonic&#8217;s <em>Rock My Soul Festival,</em> curated by Julia Bullock, has more exciting programming for its second full weekend. <a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1796/2022-11-11/bryan-coleman-price" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">On Friday</a> the orchestra will play works by contemporary composers Valerie Coleman and Courtney Bryan along with the <em>Symphony No. 3</em> by Florence Price.  <a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1798/2022-11-12/rhiannon-giddens" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">On Saturday</a> Rhiannon Giddens, whose opera <em><a href="https://www.laopera.org/performances/202223-season/omar/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Omar</a></em> has its final performance at LA Opera on Sunday, will perform with the LA Phil and the Resistance Revival Chorus. Leading both shows from the podium will be Jeri Lynne Johnson.</p>



<p>Johnson most recently conducted the world premiere performances of <em>This Little Light of Mine</em> at Santa Fe Opera. She is also the founder and Artistic Director of <a href="https://www.blackpearlco.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra</a>. In 2015 she founded <a href="https://www.deiartsconsulting.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DEI Arts Consulting</a> &#8220;for cultural institutions seeking to create a culture of belonging.&#8221;</p>



<p>When you click on the <em>about</em> tab on her website, the page says &#8220;Black female conductor,&#8221; a title which is as unique as you think it is. </p>



<p>We spoke a few weeks ago while she was in New Mexico for <em>This Little Light of Mine</em>. We spoke about working with other women, the <em>Rock My Soul Festival</em>, opportunities she&#8217;d like to have and more. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.</p>



<p>You&#8217;ve stated that it was a concert when you were seven years old that instilled in you this passion to be involved with music. Do you remember what was on that program and was there anything specific about that day?</p>



<p><strong>I don&#8217;t remember the exact program. I just remember it was Beethoven. It was probably one of the odd numbered symphonies. It was the Minnesota Orchestra when Neville Marriner was the music director. As a young musician I was in love with music and as a pianist I realized I don&#8217;t see a piano on stage. I just figured out that what I have to do is what that man with the stick is doing. If I want to make that music I have to be a conductor.</strong></p>



<p>They could have played a Beethoven piano concerto. Then what would you have done?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>You know that is a very interesting question. That has never occurred to me.<em> </em>I always loved piano, but I always wanted to be a conductor. I knew that I made the right choice because I never get nervous as the conductor. As a pianist you get so nervous in your hands and everything. I just never get nervous as a conductor. I always feel like I can trust the musicians, God forbid, if anything goes wrong.</strong></p>



<p>What was your first reaction when you heard about the <em>Rock My Soul Festival</em> and what makes this festival unique?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>I think what makes this festival unique is the wide range of talents that people are going to see on the stage. Nowadays as artists it&#8217;s not unusual for us to have a variety of genres and styles that we&#8217;re fluent in. That used to be very frowned upon. In an earlier era you only did classical music. If you were to do anything else you didn&#8217;t tell anybody about it for fear that you wouldn&#8217;t be taken seriously as a classical musician. I think nowadays there is a willingness to recognize excellence across a variety of genres and styles.</strong></p>



<p><strong>We&#8217;re also doing, of course, compositions by women whose voices are typically underrepresented in music; folk living and who have passed on. I think the thing that connects these composers across time is their willingness to engage in the cultural issues of their day as composers. </strong></p>



<p><strong>For Courtney Bryant, her piece was about Black Lives Matter, especially after the murder of George Floyd. Florence Price and Margaret Bonds&#8217;s work was written in the era of the Harlem Renaissance. So there was a lot of connection around what it meant to be African-American, what it meant to be Black, what it meant to be Negro in America, as they called it. I wanted to engage with who they were as people and use their music to do so.</strong></p>



<p><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Julia Bullock</a> told me she was really inspired by that relationship between Florence Price and Margaret Bonds and how she feels the world doesn&#8217;t allow for that much anymore because people seem to feel the need to be more competitive with one another. Has it really gotten to that point?<em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><strong>If that is the case I have not experienced it. This is my first time working with Julia who is a lovely person. I work with a number of African-American women. For me, the experience has always been one of mutual respect and gratitude and recognition.</strong> </p>



<p><strong>If we are all here at this place together, it is because we all have sacrificed a great deal to be there. We have all earned our place here. For me it has been nothing but mutual respect and collegiality and a willingness to also hold the door open for other people of talent that maybe we haven&#8217;t heard of. That we can connect through and find out about it without putting it a negative spin on it. The more that Black women in classical music are able to work with each other and collaborate, like on this festival, you begin to build that professional trust and that network so that you see more of us out there performing more regularly.</strong> </p>



<p>In a video that you did for Careers for Girls you mentioned that it was your job to express emotion from the podium so that you can get the emotion out of the orchestra. What emotional connection do you feel to the work of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds that you then plan to translate to the orchestra?</p>



<p><strong>The connection for me, if I can be raw here for a moment and vulnerable and transparent, which I know is like a no-no for conductors, but it is the inherent understanding of genius, stifled genius, unrecognized genius, not given the support and the nourishment that it deserves and having to find its own way. I understand that completely. </strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17354" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson (Courtesy JeriLynneJohnson.com)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>I can&#8217;t tell you as a young conductor how many times I was denied opportunity or just not even paid attention to because of who I am. So I look at these works and women with enormous talent and such incredible gifts who, had they had the ability to work with someone like a Nadia Boulanger as Aaron Copland did, what more would we have seen from them? What we have is incredible and so interesting, unbelievably rich, complicated, complex and soulful. It brings tears to my eyes to see the level of excellence that their works are now commanding and the attention they&#8217;re getting. </strong></p>



<p>You were talking about genius stifled and denied opportunities. It&#8217;s not an easy path being a woman who conducts classical music. I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s even tougher being a Black woman who conducts classical music. How much more complicated does that equation become when you are a person of color?</p>



<p><strong>The way that race and gender intersect in my career has been very interesting. Not everything that I&#8217;ve dealt with has been related to that. Conducting is hard, as you know. For young conductors, it&#8217;s just a difficult time.</strong> [Composer] <strong>Jennifer Higdon and I were talking and I was lamenting when I was younger, like, oh, this is never going to work. I should just give up and become a buyer for Neiman Marcus or something. </strong></p>



<p><strong>She told me this is a war of attrition. She said whoever lasts the longest lives. She talked about her experience as a composer, as a woman. So I have that tape loop in my head &#8211; this is a war of attrition. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I think the timing was just right now for me to had been working for this amount of time, to be holding my breath, to be in a position to be able to take advantage of when the L.A. Phil calls and when the Chicago Symphony calls and when Santa Fe Opera calls. The only thing keeping me from these positions before George Floyd was being a Black woman. </strong></p>



<p><strong>Now because I&#8217;m a Black woman people are now beginning to pay attention to me. The work has always been there. The study, the commitment to excellence of artistry, has always been there. The only thing has changed is people&#8217;s perceptions of where excellence resides as an artist and where it can reside and who can embody that on the podium.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>Is true systemic change going to happen without the same changes that we see on the stage taking place in the executive offices?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>You&#8217;re absolutely right that it has to be. There&#8217;s always a power dynamic in any of these relationships of who hires whom and who makes those decisions. We always tell our clients that that representation is not enough. It has to be true empowerment. Until there&#8217;s a very diverse setting at the table of who gets to make these decisions it&#8217;s always going to be a struggle. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I think there&#8217;s a lot of fragility around will donors accept this? Will they like it? Change is hard for anyone and you have to be prepared to lose some people along the way. Some people just aren&#8217;t going to want to change and that&#8217;s okay. But in order to do the work authentically, you have to be prepared to lose a little something in order to gain something on the other side.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>And how many Beethoven festivals does any one organization need to do every few seasons?</p>



<p><strong>I&#8217;m going to put it out there in the universe. I really want to be the first Black woman to have a set of Beethoven&#8217;s nine symphonies recorded.<em>&nbsp;</em>It was kind of my dream as a young conductor so I&#8217;m holding fast to that.</strong></p>



<p>I think since you&#8217;re making your Santa Fe Opera debut, you should also put on your list conducting the <em>Ring Cycle</em>.<em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><strong>That is on my to-do list. I studied it extensively. I think of Wagner, as a person, as a really awful human being. But his music is just stunningly gorgeous.</strong></p>



<p>Florence Price, in a letter to composer/conductor Serge Koussevitzky, then music director of the Boston Symphony, said, &#8220;Unfortunately the work of a woman composer is preconceived by many to be light, froth, lacking in depth, logic and virility. Add to that my race – I have colored blood in my veins – and you will understand some of the difficulties that confront one in such a position.” If you had a chance to update Florence Price about the world she so wanted to be a part of, what would you say?</p>



<p><strong>I would give her the same advice that Jennifer Higdon told me: that it is a war of attrition. We fight these battles on hearts and minds and that art is a mighty warrior. And that people see you. People appreciate you and people understand you. The artists who understand your work, who understand your struggle, will find you. She&#8217;s having her moment and hopefully this moment lasts beyond the political interest of the moment and into real recognition of her as an artist and placing her and Margaret Bonds and others in relationship to their colleagues.</strong><em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p>Main Photo: Jeri Lynne Johnson (Courtesy LA Philharmonic)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/09/conductor-jeri-lynne-johnson-a-war-of-attrition/">Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson: A War of Attrition</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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		<title>Soprano Julia Bullock Wants to Rock Your Soul</title>
		<link>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/</link>
					<comments>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Classical: Metronome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bell Hooks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian Reif]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Courtney Brian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Florence Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[History&#039;s Persistent Voice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J&#039;Nai Bridges]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Agee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jasmine White]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeri Lynn Johnson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Adams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julia Bullock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Margaret Bonds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meshell Ndegeocello]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michelle Bradley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michelle Cann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nonesuch Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Sellars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rhiannon Giddens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rock Your Soul Festival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Samuel Barber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Valerie Coleman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Walking the Dark]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=17271</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>"I made a lot of peace with who I am and how I also am expanding in the various roles that I can take on and feel comfortable in."</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/">Soprano Julia Bullock Wants to Rock Your Soul</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17279" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div>


<p>This year is going out with a bang for soprano Julia Bullock. She&#8217;s curated the <a href="https://www.laphil.com/concerts-and-events/festivals/rock-my-soul-festival" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Rock Your Soul Festival</em> </a>with the Los Angeles Philharmonic that starts in earnest on November 5th and runs through November 22nd. She has her first solo recording coming out from Nonesuch Records. It&#8217;s called <em><a href="https://www.nonesuch.com/albums/walking-in-the-dark" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Walking in the Dark</a></em>. Finally she and pianist/conductor husband Christian Reif are expecting their first child any day now.</p>



<p><em>Rock Your Soul</em> <em>Festival</em> was originally conceived by the LA Phil as a celebration of the work and friendship of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds. The title harkens back to a spiritual (<em>Rock My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham</em>) and a book by noted author and activist Bell Hooks (<em>Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem</em>).</p>



<p>Amongst the artists Bullock has assembled for the festival are soprano Michelle Bradley, mezzo-soprano <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/05/31/jnai-bridges-enters-peter-lorraine-hunt-liebersons-world/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">J&#8217;Nai Bridges</a>, pianist Michelle Cann (look for our interview with her later this week), singer/composer Rhiannon Giddens, conductor Jeri Lynn Johnson, singer/songwriter <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/07/11/meshell-ndegeocello-unplugged-and-unmasked/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Meshell Ndegeocello</a> and mezzo-soprano Jasmine White.</p>



<p><em>Walking in the Dark</em> finds Bullock performing works by John Adams, Samuel Barber, Oscar Brown Jr., <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDdUOXpp6Zc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Connie Converse</a> and Sandy Denny. It&#8217;s a beautiful record that is set for release on December 9th. Reif plays piano on the recording and leads the Philharmonia Orchestra of London as well.</p>



<p>Bullock&#8217;s pregnancy precludes her from performing in <em>Rock Your Soul Festival</em>, but it did allow for other opportunities which she described in our conversation recently. What follows are excerpts from that conversation which have been edited for length and for clarity.</p>



<p>I want to start by asking you about something you told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/arts/music/julia-bullock-zauberland-lincoln-center.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zachary Wolff</a> in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span> in 2019. It was advice your mother gave you: &#8220;Make sure that your work is making a difference for the betterment of the world.&#8221; You seem to have taken up that challenge and made it your mission. How do you think that has made your career different than others and, by extension, more fulfilling for you?&nbsp;</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17280" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div>


<p><strong>Well, I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s made it so much different from other people&#8217;s. I think every artist has a call in one way or another to have a mission or have their their passion realized. I don&#8217;t have a casual relationship with music. In fact, my desire to sing and also share music is because I know the impact that it&#8217;s had on my life and also how it&#8217;s enriched my life and helps me feel more interconnected and engaged. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I guess I&#8217;m always looking for ways to deepen that exploration and enjoy it in the process. I find that most of the artists whose work I really love also have this sort of mission. They&#8217;re very much conscious of the world that was going on around them and trying to make sense of it or call out hypocrisies. I&#8217;m not sure if I feel it&#8217;s so different than what other artists are doing. I guess I&#8217;ve just given myself permission to expand that in as many directions as I can imagine.</strong></p>



<p>I would assume that in doing that, when someone like Peter Sellars says &#8220;Her path is going to be our path,&#8221; that&#8217;s got to be both hugely flattering and also a bit of a mantle to take on on a certain level.</p>



<p><strong>I truthfully don&#8217;t like to be positioned in any capacity. I appreciate that Peter feels that the way that I work, the reflections that I have, and just the fact that I&#8217;m really dedicated to my craft and my own development and learning, is something that he wants to celebrate. I guess I celebrate that, too. That would be part of why, in the performing arts in particular, I don&#8217;t take that pressure on because that&#8217;s just a projection of something. The work that I do is not trying to live into some projection of Julia.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>In the liner notes for <em>Walking in the Dark</em> you conclude your statements in the liner notes with &#8220;If our intentions are translated well enough and are clearly in focus, it may lead to some moments of illumination.&#8221; What has been the process of making your intentions perfectly clear with the <em>Rock Your Soul Festival</em>?</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17275" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Florence Price (Courtesy New York Public Library Archive)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>It was their idea, not the title or anything like that, but just the proposal to curate a program that was focusing on the relationship between Margaret Bonds and Florence Price. Other than their vocal music and really just their songs, I was not too familiar with a lot of their repertoire &#8211; the breadth of their repertoire. It was an opportunity for me to again delve into some research and take six, seven months to consider the work of composers that I had not had the time or had this opportunity to look at. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I was reading about their personal lives and also this relationship of mutual support. They had this teacher</strong> (Price)<strong>/ student</strong> (Bonds) <strong>relationship.</strong> <strong>When there were really troubling times for Florence Price in her personal life she went and lived with Margaret Bonds for a period of time. That really communicated this beautiful thing. It wasn&#8217;t just about their artistic output. It was also about nurturing and respecting each other as human beings and fully supporting each other that way. That was something I really wanted to celebrate and acknowledge besides just sharing their repertoire. </strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17276" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Margaret Bonds (Courtesy New York Public Library Archives)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>Every single artist that was invited into the festival there is this feeling of mutual support. Every single composer that I know, that I work with personally and also the composers that I either read their letters or biographies, they openly admit how influenced they are by the people who are around them. And they seek out guidance and advice. They are influenced by what&#8217;s going on socially, politically.</strong> </p>



<p>I think we can learn a lot from what Florence Price and Margaret Bonds did in terms of shared experiences as musicians and as human beings. Because it goes without saying that a lot of people care more about ideologies and less about each other as human beings right now. Perhaps the festival can find a way to bridge that divide.</p>



<p><strong>It can be very closed and people can get very closed. Growing up listening to recordings, my family had vinyls or cassettes playing all the time. A lot of the time we listened to music together. Even if I was alone I was still playing music, not locked into an earphone or earbuds privately, it was something that was heard in the house &#8211; the shared space. I think music can foster some really beautiful acknowledgment of each other.&nbsp;It&#8217;s not just some theoretical exercise. It&#8217;s like actually putting it into practice. I think that&#8217;s probably what drove me and that&#8217;s what drives most musicians to make music. Because you&#8217;re wanting a shared experience and wanting to share your own experience as well.<em>&nbsp;</em></strong></p>



<p>Once you became pregnant and knew that being here for the festival wasn&#8217;t going to be possible did that give you any opportunities to make changes or add other things that maybe couldn&#8217;t fit into the program because you were a part of it at one point and now you were not?<em>&nbsp;</em></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17282" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div>


<p><strong>I&#8217;m sad. I&#8217;m just not going to be there. Obviously I&#8217;m growing a human being. So that&#8217;s what it is.</strong><em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><strong>I was supposed to perform <a href="https://juliabullock.com/met-residency-historys-persistent-voice/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">History&#8217;s Persistent Voice</a>, which featured a lot of  contemporary composers who are all Black women. That was an hour-and-a-half program.<em>&nbsp;</em>I decided to save this for another season and think about another program. </strong></p>



<p><strong>That was a great opportunity to perform one of <a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1796/2022-11-11/bryan-bonds-price" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Florence Price&#8217; full symphonies</a>. It was also an opportunity then for me to think about the composers who were associated with <em>History&#8217;s Persistence Voice</em> and look at some of their other pieces and see if there was a way to feature their work.</strong>&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>I&#8217;m really excited Courtney Brian&#8217;s <em>Sanctum</em> is included. Her work is just super powerful and I&#8217;m so glad that that is going to have a premiere at the LA Phil. Valerie Coleman&#8217;s selections from her <em>Phenomenal Women</em> will be featured as well. It&#8217;s the first time that she will have anything performed at the Phil.</strong></p>



<p>Your first album is going to be something that was to be considered carefully. Now that you&#8217;ve recorded it, and I know from earlier in this conversation you haven&#8217;t listened to it recently, but what would you like listeners to know about you from hearing the choices that you made for <em>Walking in the Dark</em> and the performances you give? </p>



<p><strong>What do I want them to know about me? I really hope it is just an invitation. All of the music that&#8217;s on this is material I&#8217;ve lived with for honestly two decades and some of it I&#8217;ve performed for a decade. The chance to lay it down and be a part of a recording legacy of some of these pieces that have also been recorded by so many different artists was a rare and wonderful opportunity. It&#8217;s not one that I take for granted. </strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="300" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17277" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-300x300.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-150x150.jpg 150w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-768x768.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-696x696.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-1068x1068.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-420x420.jpg 420w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div>


<p><strong><em>Walking in the Dark</em>, I mean the title of it. I didn&#8217;t write this in the liner notes and I&#8217;ve only brought it up to a few people, but I want to make it very clear that darkness is not something that should have, in fact, any kind of negative association. I feel in some ways that darkness, or blackness even, has been conditioned in certain parts of societies or cultures to have negative connotations and somehow promotes the idea of a white supremacist ideology. That really is not something that I can tolerate. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I guess it&#8217;s been something I have grappled with &#8211; a collective question about identity or I have felt that I have had to question my identity for a very, very long time. I made a lot of peace with who I am and how I also am expanding in the various roles that I can take on and feel comfortable in.</strong></p>



<p>James Agee, who probably needs no introduction to you since his poetry inspired Samuel Barber&#8217;s <em>Knoxville Summer of 1915</em> (which Bullock performs on <em>Walking in the Dark</em>), is quoted as saying, &#8220;Some people get where they hope to in this world. Most of us don&#8217;t.&#8221; I feel like in watching your career over the last number of years that you&#8217;re actively working through your art and through your activism to get the world to where you hope it will be. As a soon-to-be mother, what is the world you&#8217;d like to see your child living in and how do you think your art can pave a path for that to be a reality?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Well, I hope that this child will feel safe. That the child will not be limited in anything that they want to invest in and enjoy. That there will be not be a lot of assumptions made or anticipated projections of this child and what they feel they have to represent so that they can just live their lives. But there&#8217;s something in safety that feels really important right now.</strong></p>



<p>Photos of Julia Bullock (By Allison Michael Orenstein/Courtesy Askonas Holt)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/">Soprano Julia Bullock Wants to Rock Your Soul</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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		<title>Best Bets: May 21st &#8211; May 24th</title>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 May 2021 16:29:21 +0000</pubDate>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>Our top ten picks for the weekend along with eight reminders to enjoy!</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/05/21/best-bets-may-21st-may-24th/">Best Bets: May 21st &#8211; May 24th</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>Welcome to the weekend and our Best Bets: May 21st &#8211; May 24th. If you saw our preview yesterday, you already know our top pick is <em>A Tribute to John Williams</em> by the Boston Pops. But there are nine other shows you shouldn&#8217;t miss this weekend.</p>



<p>They include Jim Parsons in <em>Harvey</em>, jazz pianist Chano Domínguez (if you don&#8217;t know him, you should!), the pentulimate episode of <em>Close Quarters</em> from Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and For the Record Live&#8217;s <em>Brat Pack</em>.</p>



<p>Here is the full list of our Best Bets: May 21st &#8211; May 24th:</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stargazes-Score-Photo-courtesy-Keith-Polito-John-Williams-Forum-on-Facebook-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14530" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stargazes-Score-Photo-courtesy-Keith-Polito-John-Williams-Forum-on-Facebook-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stargazes-Score-Photo-courtesy-Keith-Polito-John-Williams-Forum-on-Facebook-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stargazes-Score-Photo-courtesy-Keith-Polito-John-Williams-Forum-on-Facebook-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stargazes-Score-Photo-courtesy-Keith-Polito-John-Williams-Forum-on-Facebook-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stargazes-Score-Photo-courtesy-Keith-Polito-John-Williams-Forum-on-Facebook-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stargazes-Score-Photo-courtesy-Keith-Polito-John-Williams-Forum-on-Facebook-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stargazes-Score-Photo-courtesy-Keith-Polito-John-Williams-Forum-on-Facebook-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Stargazes-Score-Photo-courtesy-Keith-Polito-John-Williams-Forum-on-Facebook.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Stargazers Score (Photo courtesy Keith Polito/John Williams Forum on Facebook)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>*TOP PICK*</strong> &#8211; <em><a href="https://www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/113477" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A Tribute to John Williams</a></em> &#8211; Boston Pops &#8211; Now &#8211; June 19th</p>



<p>We showcased this concert in <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/05/20/top-pick-best-bets-may-21st-may-24th/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">yesterday&#8217;s preview</a> of our Best Bets. Here is the the top line. Composer John Williams and his music are celebrated in this concert by his one-time home, The Boston Pops. Keith Lockhart will be on the podium for this program of Williams&#8217; film scores ranging from the well-known (<em>Star Wars</em>) to lesser-known tracks. </p>



<p>A special part of this program is the inclusion of interviews with Williams about many of these scores and his memories of creating them with filmmakers such as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.</p>



<p>A 7-day pass is required to watch <em>A Tribute to John Williams</em>. Those passes are $9</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Jim-Parsons-in-22Harvey22-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-Courtesy-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14529" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Jim-Parsons-in-22Harvey22-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-Courtesy-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Jim-Parsons-in-22Harvey22-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-Courtesy-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Jim-Parsons-in-22Harvey22-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-Courtesy-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Jim-Parsons-in-22Harvey22-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-Courtesy-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Jim-Parsons-in-22Harvey22-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-Courtesy-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Jim-Parsons-in-22Harvey22-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-Courtesy-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Jim-Parsons-in-22Harvey22-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-Courtesy-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Jim-Parsons-in-22Harvey22-Photo-by-Joan-Marcus-Courtesy-Roundabout-Theatre-Company.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Jim Parsons in &#8220;Harvey&#8221; (Photo by Joan Marcus/Courtesy Roundabout Theatre Company)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>PLAY</strong>: <em><a href="https://register.roundabouttheatre.org/?performanceId=32766&amp;promo=RRHARVEY&amp;utm_source=wordfly&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=LHCRemote-HARVEYpretrip-V2GENERAL5.20&amp;utm_content=version_A&amp;cluid=2006867%3D60675" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harvey</a></em> &#8211; Roundabout Theatre Company on Broadway on Demand &#8211; Now &#8211; June 13th</p>



<p>Mary Chase&#8217;s play about a man&#8217;s friendship with an invisible rabbit (who gives the play its name) first opened on Broadway in 1944 with Frank Fay in the role of Elwood P. Dowd. (Trivia note for theater buffs: Antoinette Perry, the woman for whom the Tony Award is named, was the director.)</p>



<p>A 1970 revival of the play starred James Stewart who starred as Elwood in the 1950 film classic.</p>



<p>It would be 42 years before <em>Harvey</em> would find its way back to Broadway. Jim Parsons (<em>The Big Bang Theory</em>) starred as Elwood with Jessica Hecht and Charles Kimbrough co-starring. This Roundabout Theatre Company production from 2012 is streaming for free on Broadway on Demand. </p>



<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/theater/reviews/harvey-with-jim-parsons-at-studio-54.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Charles Isherwood</a>, in his <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span> review, hailed Parsons&#8217; performance:</p>



<p>&#8220;The breakout star of the popular sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” the soft-spoken&nbsp;Mr. Parsons&nbsp;makes an ideal Elwood, the drinker and dreamer who passes his days in the company of Harvey, doing little more than sitting around saloons making friendly conversation with whoever happens by. Mr. Parsons possesses in abundance the crucial ability to project an ageless innocence without any visible effort: no small achievement for an actor in these knowing times.</p>



<p>You will need to register to stream the play. After you do so you&#8217;ll receive streaming instructions.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Yuan-Yuan-Tan-in-22Swna-Lake22-©Erik-Tomasson-Courtesy-SF-Ballet-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14531" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Yuan-Yuan-Tan-in-22Swna-Lake22-©Erik-Tomasson-Courtesy-SF-Ballet-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Yuan-Yuan-Tan-in-22Swna-Lake22-©Erik-Tomasson-Courtesy-SF-Ballet-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Yuan-Yuan-Tan-in-22Swna-Lake22-©Erik-Tomasson-Courtesy-SF-Ballet-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Yuan-Yuan-Tan-in-22Swna-Lake22-©Erik-Tomasson-Courtesy-SF-Ballet-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Yuan-Yuan-Tan-in-22Swna-Lake22-©Erik-Tomasson-Courtesy-SF-Ballet-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Yuan-Yuan-Tan-in-22Swna-Lake22-©Erik-Tomasson-Courtesy-SF-Ballet-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Yuan-Yuan-Tan-in-22Swna-Lake22-©Erik-Tomasson-Courtesy-SF-Ballet-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Yuan-Yuan-Tan-in-22Swna-Lake22-©Erik-Tomasson-Courtesy-SF-Ballet.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Yuan Yuan Tan in &#8220;Swan Lake&#8221; (© Erik Tomasson/Courtesy San Francisco Ballet)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>BALLET</strong>: <em><a href="https://www.sfballet.org/productions/digital-program-07/#Casting_07" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Swan Lake</a></em> &#8211; San Francisco Ballet &#8211; Now &#8211; June 9th</p>



<p>When San Francisco Ballet debuted Helgi Tomasson&#8217;s new <em>Swan Lake</em> ballet, it was a runaway hit. Interest in this production was so intense that they sold out nearly every performance.</p>



<p>In the ballet, Odette is a princess turned into a swan by a sorcerer. Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette. At night she turns back into her human form and it was upon seeing this transformation that the romance begins. Other spells and deception awaits the leads in&nbsp;<em>Swan Lake</em>. While love triumphs, it isn’t necessarily the happiest of endings, but it is certainly romantic.</p>



<p>Tchaikovsky&#8217;s music is still present, but it is Tomasson&#8217;s vision that was different after he updated the choreography by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa. </p>



<p>The cast for this streaming performance features Yuan Yuan Tan in the dual roles of Odette and Odile. Tiit Helimets dances the role of Prince Siegfried. Alexander Reneff-Olson dances the role of Von Rothbart and the Pas de Trois is performed by Dores André, Taras Domitro and Sasha De Sola. Martin West conducts.</p>



<p>Tickets are $29 which allows for 72 hours of access to <em>Swan Lake</em>.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wendy-Wasserstein-Courtesy-South-Coast-Rep-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14532" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wendy-Wasserstein-Courtesy-South-Coast-Rep-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wendy-Wasserstein-Courtesy-South-Coast-Rep-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wendy-Wasserstein-Courtesy-South-Coast-Rep-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wendy-Wasserstein-Courtesy-South-Coast-Rep-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wendy-Wasserstein-Courtesy-South-Coast-Rep-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wendy-Wasserstein-Courtesy-South-Coast-Rep-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wendy-Wasserstein-Courtesy-South-Coast-Rep-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Wendy-Wasserstein-Courtesy-South-Coast-Rep.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Playwright Wendy Wasserstein (Courtesy South Coast Repertory)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>PLAY READING</strong>: <em><a href="https://www.stellartickets.com/o/spotlight-on-plays/events/the-sisters-rosensweig/occurrences/6b628288-72d3-4947-a949-99af97366924" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Sisters Rosensweig</a></em> &#8211; Spotlight on Plays on Broadway&#8217;s Best Shows &#8211; Now &#8211; May 24th</p>



<p>Jason Alexander, John Behlmann, Lisa Edelstein, Kathryn Hahn, Kathryn Newton, Tracee Chimo Pallero, Chris Perfetti and James Urbaniak star in a reading of Wendy Wasserstein&#8217;s play. The reading is directed by Anna D. Shapiro (Tony Award-winner for her direction of <em>August: Osage County</em>).</p>



<p><em>The Sisters Rosensweig</em> opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1993. This was her first Broadway play since wining the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for <em>The Heidi Chronicles</em>.</p>



<p>The play depicts a reunion of three sisters who haven&#8217;t seen each other in years. Through the course of the play they come to understand that the bond of being sisters is more important than any of the reasons they&#8217;ve stayed apart.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/19/theater/review-theater-the-sisters-rosensweig-take-up-residence-on-broadway.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mel Gussow</a>, in his review for the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span> said of the play:</p>



<p>&#8220;Ms. Wasserstein&#8217;s generous group portrait is not only a comedy but also a play of character and shared reflection as the author confronts the question of why the sisters behave as they do. The immediate answer is that they are Rosensweigs and are only doing what is expected of them. The play offers sharp truths about what can divide relatives and what can draw them together.&#8221;</p>



<p>Wasserstein passed away in 2006 at the age of 55 due to complications of lymphoma.</p>



<p>Tickets are $18 which allows for repeated viewings through May 24th at 6:00 PM ET/3:00 PM PT. Proceeds benefit The Actors Funds, TDF Wendy Wasserstein Project and Steppenwolf Theatre Company.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chano-Dominguez-Couttesy-Addeo-Music-International-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14533" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chano-Dominguez-Couttesy-Addeo-Music-International-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chano-Dominguez-Couttesy-Addeo-Music-International-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chano-Dominguez-Couttesy-Addeo-Music-International-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chano-Dominguez-Couttesy-Addeo-Music-International-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chano-Dominguez-Couttesy-Addeo-Music-International-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chano-Dominguez-Couttesy-Addeo-Music-International-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chano-Dominguez-Couttesy-Addeo-Music-International-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Chano-Dominguez-Couttesy-Addeo-Music-International.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Chano Domínguez (Courtesy Addeo Music International)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>JAZZ</strong>: <em><a href="https://www.sfjazz.org/fridaysatfive/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chano Domínguez</a></em> &#8211; SFJAZZ &#8211; May 21st &#8211; 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT</p>



<p>Spanish born pianist Chano Domínguez has long put postbop, flamenco and fusion influences together to create a wholly original approach to jazz music. In this concert from 2018, Domínguez celebrates the work of Miles Davis.</p>



<p>Joined by bassist Alexis Cuadrado, drummer Henry Cole, flamenco singer Blas Córdoba and dancer Daniel Navarro, Domínguez will offer his take on such classic Davis tracks such as <em>So What</em>, <em>All Blues</em> and <em>Freddie the Freeloader</em> from Davis&#8217; 1959 classic album <em>Kind of Blue</em>.</p>



<p>The concert is streaming right around dinner time on the East Coast (8:00 PM) and happy hour on the West Coast (5:00 PM). As a wine pairing for this concert I suggest a crisp Albariño for those who prefer white wine and a dry Rioja for those who prefer red. </p>



<p>If you can&#8217;t make the <em>Fridays at Five</em> showing, there will be an encore presentation on Saturday, May 22nd at 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT.</p>



<p>Tickets are $5 which includes a one month digital membership.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Elizabeth-Stanley-Courtesy-Broadway-Stories-and-Songs-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14539" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Elizabeth-Stanley-Courtesy-Broadway-Stories-and-Songs-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Elizabeth-Stanley-Courtesy-Broadway-Stories-and-Songs-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Elizabeth-Stanley-Courtesy-Broadway-Stories-and-Songs-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Elizabeth-Stanley-Courtesy-Broadway-Stories-and-Songs-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Elizabeth-Stanley-Courtesy-Broadway-Stories-and-Songs-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Elizabeth-Stanley-Courtesy-Broadway-Stories-and-Songs-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Elizabeth-Stanley-Courtesy-Broadway-Stories-and-Songs-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Elizabeth-Stanley-Courtesy-Broadway-Stories-and-Songs.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Elizabeth Stanley (Courtesy Broadway Stories &amp; Songs)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>BROADWAY VOCALS</strong>: <em><a href="https://dreamstage.live/event/elizabeth-stanley" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Elizabeth Stanley</a></em> &#8211; Broadway Stories &amp; Songs with Ted Sperling &#8211; May 21st &#8211; 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT</p>



<p>I first saw Elizabeth Stanley in the 2006 revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth&#8217;s <em>Company</em>. Since then she&#8217;s appeared on Broadway in <em>Cry-Baby,</em> <em>Million Dollar Quartet</em>, the 2014 revival of <em>On the Town</em> and she was starring in <em>Jagged Little Pill</em> when the pandemic hit. That show, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, will re-open on October 21st.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Elizabeth Stanley Performs &quot;You Learn&quot; from ‘Jagged Little Pill&#039; | Offstage: Opening Night" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XqUhvriDmMg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<p>Stanley is an amazing singer and one who performs songs in the truest sense of the word. She doesn&#8217;t just sing, she imbues them with whatever the song calls for: comedy, drama, pathos, etc..</p>



<p>She joins Ted Sperling for this weekend&#8217;s Broadway Stories &amp; Songs with Ted Sperling. The show will first air at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT on Friday. It will also be rerun on Saturday at 2:00 PM ET/11:00 AM PT. The $25 ticket price allows you to view both showings.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Peter-S.-Shin-Courtesy-his-website-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14538" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Peter-S.-Shin-Courtesy-his-website-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Peter-S.-Shin-Courtesy-his-website-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Peter-S.-Shin-Courtesy-his-website-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Peter-S.-Shin-Courtesy-his-website-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Peter-S.-Shin-Courtesy-his-website-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Peter-S.-Shin-Courtesy-his-website-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Peter-S.-Shin-Courtesy-his-website-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Peter-S.-Shin-Courtesy-his-website.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Composer Peter S. Shin (Courtesy his website)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>CLASSICAL MUSIC</strong>: <em><a href="https://www.laco.org/events/shin-reid-britten/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shin, Reid + Britten</a></em> &#8211; Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra &#8211; Debuts May 21st &#8211; 9:30 PM ET/6:30 PM PT</p>



<p>In this penultimate episode of LA Chamber Orchestra&#8217;s <em>Close Quarters</em> series, the music of Benjamin Britten and Pulitzer Prize winner <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/05/09/composer-ellen-reids-new-work-cautionary-tale/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ellen Reid</a> is performed along with the world premiere of <em>Hyo</em> by Peter S. Shin.</p>



<p>Shin was the recipient of the 2020/2021 <em>Sound Investment Honor</em> which finds donors investing in the creation of a new work and following its progress leading up to its premiere. </p>



<p><em>Les Illuminations</em> by Britten is a 16-minute song cycle that had its world premiere in 1940. Joining LACO for this performance is soprano Nicole Cabell. She&#8217;s performed in opera houses around the world in <em>Porgy and Bess</em>, <em>La Traviata,</em> <em>Don Giovanni</em> and more.</p>



<p><em>Lumee&#8217;s Dream</em> from Reid&#8217;s opera <em>p r i s m</em> is the last work on the program.</p>



<p>Dance is included in this episode with choreography by Rebecca Steinberg performed by Layne Paradis Willis and Joe Davis.</p>



<p>Visuals are by Jian Lee and the LACO is lead by Grant Gershon.</p>



<p>There is no charge to watch this show. If you haven&#8217;t look at the other 12 episodes in this ambitious and very satisfying series, I urge you to do so.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/James-Byous-in-22Brat-Pack22-Courtesy-The-Wallis-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14534" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/James-Byous-in-22Brat-Pack22-Courtesy-The-Wallis-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/James-Byous-in-22Brat-Pack22-Courtesy-The-Wallis-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/James-Byous-in-22Brat-Pack22-Courtesy-The-Wallis-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/James-Byous-in-22Brat-Pack22-Courtesy-The-Wallis-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/James-Byous-in-22Brat-Pack22-Courtesy-The-Wallis-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/James-Byous-in-22Brat-Pack22-Courtesy-The-Wallis-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/James-Byous-in-22Brat-Pack22-Courtesy-The-Wallis-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/James-Byous-in-22Brat-Pack22-Courtesy-The-Wallis.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>James Byous in &#8220;Brat Pack&#8221; (Courtesy The Wallis)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>MUSICAL</strong>: <em><a href="https://thewallis.org/show-info.php?id=596" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brat Pack</a> </em>&#8211; The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts &#8211; May 21st &#8211; May 23rd</p>



<p>Don&#8217;t you forget about films like <em>The Breakfast Club,</em> <em>Pretty in Pink</em>, <em>Sixteen Candles</em>, <em>Weird Science</em>, <em>Ferris Bueller&#8217;s Day Off</em> and more. You won&#8217;t be able to if you stream <em>Brat Pack</em> this weekend.</p>



<p>For the Record Live created a cottage industry of shows dedicated to the soundtracks from various films centered around individual directors. Amongst the most popular was their show celebrating John Hughes. That show serves as the inspiration for <em>Brat Pack</em> which tells the story of the high school experiences of the archetypal Basket Case, Geek, Jock, Mister and Rebel. Does that sound like a club with whom you might like to have breakfast?</p>



<p><em>Brat Pack</em> was filmed live on stage at The Wallis with James Byous, Emily Lopez, Parissa Koh, Patrick Ortiz, Doug Kreeger and <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/05/23/kenton-chen-geeks-out-in-the-brat-pack/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kenton Chen</a>. As with any For the Record Live production, they are accompanied by a killer band.</p>



<p>Tickets are $20 which allows for viewing all weekend long. One note of caution: the show does contain adult subject matter and language. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/22The-Cunning-Little-Vixen22-Photo-by-Bill-Cooper-Courtesy-Glyndebourne-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14536" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/22The-Cunning-Little-Vixen22-Photo-by-Bill-Cooper-Courtesy-Glyndebourne-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/22The-Cunning-Little-Vixen22-Photo-by-Bill-Cooper-Courtesy-Glyndebourne-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/22The-Cunning-Little-Vixen22-Photo-by-Bill-Cooper-Courtesy-Glyndebourne-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/22The-Cunning-Little-Vixen22-Photo-by-Bill-Cooper-Courtesy-Glyndebourne-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/22The-Cunning-Little-Vixen22-Photo-by-Bill-Cooper-Courtesy-Glyndebourne-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/22The-Cunning-Little-Vixen22-Photo-by-Bill-Cooper-Courtesy-Glyndebourne-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/22The-Cunning-Little-Vixen22-Photo-by-Bill-Cooper-Courtesy-Glyndebourne-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/22The-Cunning-Little-Vixen22-Photo-by-Bill-Cooper-Courtesy-Glyndebourne.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>&#8220;The Cunning Little Vixen&#8221; (Photo by Bill Cooper/Courtesy Glyndebourne)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>OPERA</strong>: Janáček&#8217;s <em><a href="https://www.glyndebourne.com/events/the-cunning-little-vixen/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Cunning Little Vixen</a></em> &#8211; Glyndebourne &#8211; May 23rd &#8211; June 6th</p>



<p>Vladimir Jurowski conducts; starring Emma Bell; Lucy Crowe, Sergei Leiferkus and Mischa Shelomainaksi. This Melly Still production is from the 2011-2012 season.</p>



<p>Leoš Janáček&#8217;s opera had its world premiere in Prague in 1924. <em>The Cunning Little Vixen</em> has a libretto by the composer based on a serialized novel by Rudolf Těsnohlídek called <em>Liška Bystrouška</em>.</p>



<p>In <em>The Cunning Little Vixen</em> a foster, while taking a nap, is taken by a young vixen to be her pet. Once she gets older she pursues a more independent life. The vixen gets mistaken for a gypsy girl and her life becomes a whirlwind she never expected.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Janáček: THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN  (Glyndebourne)" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CQvLOfbvRwE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<p>We&#8217;ve covered literally hundreds of opera productions here at Cultural Attaché. I can say with absolute certainty that this is the first time we&#8217;ve offered up a production of <em>Cunning Little Viven</em>. This is not a commonly performed opera.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/27/cunning-little-vixen-glyndebourne-review" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fiona Maddocks</a>, in her review for <span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Guardian</span>, said of this production:</p>



<p>&#8220;Melly Still&#8217;s staging, designed with folkloric charm by Tom Pye and atmospherically lit by Paule Constable, wins enough plus points to balance out the minuses. The action is often chaotic and unfocused. There is no allowance made for the speed at which the text moves. Lacking the requisite fluency in Czech – feeble, I know – one had to cling on to the surtitles at the risk of missing the action. The shooting of the Vixen passed almost without notice, though this may be the point: another ordinary day in the genocidal war of man and beast.&#8221;</p>



<p>There is no charge to watch <em>Cunning Little Vixen</em> which will be available for streaming through June 6th.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mary-Tyler-Moore-and-Bernadette-Peters-Photo-by-Timothy-White-Courtesy-Broadway-Barks-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-14537" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mary-Tyler-Moore-and-Bernadette-Peters-Photo-by-Timothy-White-Courtesy-Broadway-Barks-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mary-Tyler-Moore-and-Bernadette-Peters-Photo-by-Timothy-White-Courtesy-Broadway-Barks-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mary-Tyler-Moore-and-Bernadette-Peters-Photo-by-Timothy-White-Courtesy-Broadway-Barks-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mary-Tyler-Moore-and-Bernadette-Peters-Photo-by-Timothy-White-Courtesy-Broadway-Barks-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mary-Tyler-Moore-and-Bernadette-Peters-Photo-by-Timothy-White-Courtesy-Broadway-Barks-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mary-Tyler-Moore-and-Bernadette-Peters-Photo-by-Timothy-White-Courtesy-Broadway-Barks-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mary-Tyler-Moore-and-Bernadette-Peters-Photo-by-Timothy-White-Courtesy-Broadway-Barks-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mary-Tyler-Moore-and-Bernadette-Peters-Photo-by-Timothy-White-Courtesy-Broadway-Barks.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters (Photo by Timothy White/Courtesy Broadway Barks)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p><strong>BROADWAY FUNDRAISER</strong>: <em>Broadway Barks</em> &#8211; May 23rd &#8211; 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT</p>



<p>This annual event supports the adoption of shelter animals. <em>Broadway Barks</em> was started by good friends Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters in 1998. Every year they have had in-person events where Broadway stars and shelter pets combine to entertain and find homes for the four-legged friends.</p>



<p>This is the second virtual edition and they have an incredible line-up:</p>



<p>Sebastian Arcelus, Annaleigh Ashford, Alec Baldwin, Christine Baranski, Bill Berloni, Stephanie J. Block, Carol Burnett, David Burtka, Victoria Clark, Glenn Close, Lily Collins, Harry Connick Jr., Sheryl Crow, Jason Danieley, Ted Danson, Ariana DeBose, Daveed Diggs, Gloria Estefan, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2014/11/11/harvey-fierstein-gets-back-to-drag/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Harvey Fierstein</a>, Calista Flockhart, Whoopi Goldberg, Josh Groban, Kathryn Grody, Emmylou Harris, Neil Patrick Harris, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2015/09/18/smashs-megan-hilty-tackles-classic-roles-in-her-stage-career/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Megan Hilty</a>, James Monroe Iglehart, Hugh Jackman, Christopher Jackson, Allison Janney, Nathan Lane, Bob Mackie, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2013/10/23/broadway-star-audra-mcdonald-returns-to-la-opera-for-one-night/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audra McDonald</a>, Charlie McDowell, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2016/02/03/brian-stokes-mitchell-and-the-la-phil-take-you-on-a-sonic-ride-through-broadway-with-in-character/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brian Stokes Mitchell</a>, Bebe Neuwirth, Mandy Patinkin, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2014/02/05/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike-and-david-hyde-pierce/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">David Hyde Pierce</a>, Randy Rainbow, Kelly Ripa, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/05/07/chita-rivera-really-doesnt-like-talking/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chita Rivera</a>, Lea Salonga, Phillipa Soo, and Mary Steenburgen.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Peters will serve as the host.</p>



<p><em>Broadway Barks</em> will stream on <a href="http://www.broadway.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Broadway.com</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/BCEFA/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ Facebook</a>&nbsp;and YouTube pages.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Those are our Best Bets: May 21st &#8211; May 24th. As usual, a few reminders before we conclude:</p>



<p><em><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/05/12/tales-from-the-wings-celebrating-lincoln-center-theater/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tales from the Wings: Celebrating Lincoln Center Theater</a></em> with Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald and others remains available through Sunday, May 23rd only. Don&#8217;t miss it.</p>



<p>LA Opera&#8217;s <em><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/04/14/la-operas-signature-recital-series-has-begun/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Signature Series</a></em> adds a recital by Julia Bullock on Friday to still available performances by Russell Thomas, Susan Graham and Christine Goerke.</p>



<p>Next week the fourth and final episode of <em><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/11/adam-guettels-myths-and-hymns/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Myths and Hymns</a></em> from MasterVoices debuts. If you haven&#8217;t seen the first three episodes, take a look.</p>



<p>The Romero Quartet launches their 60th anniversary celebration with a streaming concert from Belly Up in Solano Beach on Sunday. For details and our interview with Pepe Romero, please go <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/05/19/guitarist-pepe-romero-enjoys-pleasure-in-droves/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</p>



<p>The Metropolitan Opera productions streaming this weekend are the 2016-2017 season production of Verdi&#8217;s <i>Nabucco</i> on Friday; Donizetti&#8217;s <em>Lucia di Lammermoor</em> from the 1982-1983 season (with Joan Sutherland) on Saturday and the 1995 production of Tchaikovsky&#8217;s <em>The Queen of Spades </em>on Sunday. This will conclude the <em><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/05/17/unhinged-mad-scenes-week-62-at-the-met/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Unhinged Mad Scenes</a></em> week.</p>



<p>Monday the Met begins <em>Rare Gems</em> week with a 2008-2009 season production of Massenet&#8217;s <em>Thaïs</em>. We&#8217;ll have the full line-up on Monday for you.</p>



<p>Lastly if you&#8217;ve read our interview with <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/05/20/operas-isabel-leonard-directs-her-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Isabel Leonard</a> (and please do, she has a lot to say), you&#8217;ll remember that Saturday the Met streams <em>Three Divas</em> at 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT featuring Leonard with Ailyn Pérez and Nadine Sierra.</p>



<p>That&#8217;s truly the end of our Best Bets: May 21st &#8211; May 24th.</p>



<p>I hope you have a great weekend. Enjoy the culture!</p>



<p>Photo: Keith Lockhart conducting the Boston Pops (Photo by Stu Rosner/Courtesy Boston Pops)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/05/21/best-bets-may-21st-may-24th/">Best Bets: May 21st &#8211; May 24th</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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		<title>LA Opera&#8217;s Signature Recital Series Has Begun</title>
		<link>https://culturalattache.co/2021/04/14/la-operas-signature-recital-series-has-begun/</link>
					<comments>https://culturalattache.co/2021/04/14/la-operas-signature-recital-series-has-begun/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Apr 2021 07:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Opera: Bravo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Streaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adolphus Hailstork]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aida]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Akhnaten]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carrie Jacobs-Bonds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christine Goerke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craig Terry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Die Walküre]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fire Shut Up in My Bones]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Frideric Handel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Girls of the Golden West]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Götterdämmerung]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gustavo Dudamel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Howard Watkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hugo Wolf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J'Nai Bridges]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeremy Frank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Johann Sebastian Bach]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Adams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julia Bullock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kurt Weill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Laura Boe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Opera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Margaret Bonds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mi-Kyung Kim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Philip Glass]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Richard Strauss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Richard Wagner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Schumann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roberts Owens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rodgers & Hammerstein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russell Thomas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Satyagraha]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Signature Recital Series]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[St. Matthew Passion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Susan Graham]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terence Blanchard]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Verdi's Otello]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[William Grant Still]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>LA Opera Website<br />
<br />
Now - July 1st<br />
<br />
Available Now: Russell Thomas/Susan Graham/Christine Goerke/Julia Bullock/J'Nai Bridges</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/04/14/la-operas-signature-recital-series-has-begun/">LA Opera&#8217;s Signature Recital Series Has Begun</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>Lest one think that the Metropolitan Opera has a monopoly on recitals by opera&#8217;s biggest names, the Los Angeles Opera just launched their <em><a href="https://www.laopera.org/performances/upcoming-digital-performances/signature-recitals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Signature Recital Series</a></em> and it is guaranteed to please opera fans.</p>



<p>There are five recitals in the <em>Signature Recital Series</em> and once they debut they will be available for streaming through July 1st.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Russell-Thomas-Signature-Recital-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13931" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Russell-Thomas-Signature-Recital-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Russell-Thomas-Signature-Recital-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Russell-Thomas-Signature-Recital-Courtesy-LA-Opera-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Russell-Thomas-Signature-Recital-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Russell-Thomas-Signature-Recital-Courtesy-LA-Opera-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Russell-Thomas-Signature-Recital-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Russell-Thomas-Signature-Recital-Courtesy-LA-Opera-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Russell-Thomas-Signature-Recital-Courtesy-LA-Opera.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Tenor Russell Thomas (Courtesy LA Opera)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>Up first &#8211; in a recital that debuted last Friday &#8211; is tenor Russell Thomas. </p>



<p>Filmed at Atlanta&#8217;s Spivey Hall, his recital finds performances of works Adolphus Hailstork, George Frideric Handel, Roberts Owens and Robert Schumann. He&#8217;s accompanied by pianist Mi-Kyung Kim.</p>



<p>Thomas was recently named an Artist-in-Residence with LA Opera. That announcement falls in line with something he told me was important for real progress in the performing arts when I <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/07/12/russell-thomas-carrying-weight-otello-shoulders/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">interviewed</a> him in 2018. At that time he was preparing to sing Verdi&#8217;s <em>Otello</em> with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. </p>



<p>“What happens when you diversify the back office then the stage will become diversified and then the audience. You can’t expect audiences to be diversified if they don’t see themselves on stage. &#8230;I understand everything is about dollars and cents, but I think the long term survival of classical arts is at stake. If you look around the room and everybody looks the same, there’s a problem.”</p>



<p>I attended that performance of <em>Otello</em>. Thomas is the real deal. </p>



<p>Thomas will be seen in Verdi&#8217;s <em>Aida</em> with the LA Opera during the 2021-2022 season.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Susan-Graham-Photo-by-Dario-Acosta-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13932" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Susan-Graham-Photo-by-Dario-Acosta-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Susan-Graham-Photo-by-Dario-Acosta-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Susan-Graham-Photo-by-Dario-Acosta-Courtesy-LA-Opera-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Susan-Graham-Photo-by-Dario-Acosta-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Susan-Graham-Photo-by-Dario-Acosta-Courtesy-LA-Opera-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Susan-Graham-Photo-by-Dario-Acosta-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Susan-Graham-Photo-by-Dario-Acosta-Courtesy-LA-Opera-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Susan-Graham-Photo-by-Dario-Acosta-Courtesy-LA-Opera.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham (Photo by Dario Acosta/Courtesy LA Opera)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>The second recital is by mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and it will debut on April 23rd. She will be showcasing the work of composer Kurt Weill in this recital filmed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.</p>



<p>Amongst the songs she performs are <em>I&#8217;m a Stranger Here Myself</em>, <em>Lonely House</em> and <em>September Song</em>. Graham is accompanied by pianist Jeremy Frank.</p>



<p>She is one of those rare singers who embraces music from multiple periods of music. Graham is just as comfortable singing the work of Handel and Mozart as she is works by contemporary composers such as <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2015/03/04/jake-heggies-opera-dead-man-walking-comes-to-santa-monica/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jake Heggie</a> and Tobias Picker.</p>



<p>Her next appearance at LA Opera will be in a performance of Bach&#8217;s <em>St. Matthew Passion</em> in the spring of 2022.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Christine-Goerke-Photo-by-Arielle-Doneson-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13933" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Christine-Goerke-Photo-by-Arielle-Doneson-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Christine-Goerke-Photo-by-Arielle-Doneson-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Christine-Goerke-Photo-by-Arielle-Doneson-Courtesy-LA-Opera-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Christine-Goerke-Photo-by-Arielle-Doneson-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Christine-Goerke-Photo-by-Arielle-Doneson-Courtesy-LA-Opera-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Christine-Goerke-Photo-by-Arielle-Doneson-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Christine-Goerke-Photo-by-Arielle-Doneson-Courtesy-LA-Opera-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Christine-Goerke-Photo-by-Arielle-Doneson-Courtesy-LA-Opera.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Soprano Christine Goerke (Photo by Arielle Doneson/Courtesy LA Opera)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>The third recital is by Wagnerian soprano Christine Goerke. This is billed as an intimate performance from New Jersey&#8217;s Art Factory with pianist Craig Terry accompanying her. The debut of her performance is scheduled for May 7th.</p>



<p>Goerke&#8217;s diverse program will include works by Brahms, Handel and Strauss, show tunes, Italian art songs and a song cycle by Carrie Jacobs-Bonds called <em>Half-Minute Songs</em>.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;ve watched any of the Met Opera streaming productions you might have seen her in <em>Turandot</em> and as Brunhilde in <em>Die Walküre</em>. I saw her sing excerpts from <em>Götterdämmerung </em>with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and was seriously impressed with not just the power of her voice, but also the quieter and softer tones as well. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Julia-Bullock-photo-by-Allison-Michael-Orenstein-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13934" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Julia-Bullock-photo-by-Allison-Michael-Orenstein-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Julia-Bullock-photo-by-Allison-Michael-Orenstein-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Julia-Bullock-photo-by-Allison-Michael-Orenstein-Courtesy-LA-Opera-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Julia-Bullock-photo-by-Allison-Michael-Orenstein-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Julia-Bullock-photo-by-Allison-Michael-Orenstein-Courtesy-LA-Opera-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Julia-Bullock-photo-by-Allison-Michael-Orenstein-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Julia-Bullock-photo-by-Allison-Michael-Orenstein-Courtesy-LA-Opera-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Julia-Bullock-photo-by-Allison-Michael-Orenstein-Courtesy-LA-Opera.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Soprano Julia Bullock (Photo by Allison Michael Orenstein/Courtesy LA Opera)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>The fourth recital is by soprano Julia Bullock with pianist Laura Boe. The performance was filmed at Blaibach Concert Hall in Germany. This recital will debut on May 21st.</p>



<p>On Bullock&#8217;s program are works by John Adams, Margaret Bonds, Robert Schumann, William Grant Still, Kurt Weill and Hugo Wolf. The finale is a series of songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein&#8217;s <em>The Sound of Music</em>.</p>



<p>Another singer who embraces both classic works and contemporary works, Bullock in the past few years has appeared in the world premieres of John Adams&#8217; <em>Girls of the Golden West</em> at San Francisco Opera and <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/06/13/fire-shut-up-in-my-bones-terence-blanchards-second-opera/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terence Blanchard&#8217;s <em>Fire Shut Up in My Bones</em></a> at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. </p>



<p>In 2019 she opened the Los Angeles Philharmonic season with a performance of Samuel Barber&#8217;s <em>Knoxville</em>. This was also a concert I attended and I can&#8217;t wait for an opportunity to see Bullock in a fully-staged production.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/JNai-Bridges-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-13935" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/JNai-Bridges-Courtesy-LA-Opera-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/JNai-Bridges-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/JNai-Bridges-Courtesy-LA-Opera-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/JNai-Bridges-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/JNai-Bridges-Courtesy-LA-Opera-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/JNai-Bridges-Courtesy-LA-Opera-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/JNai-Bridges-Courtesy-LA-Opera-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/JNai-Bridges-Courtesy-LA-Opera.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>J&#8217;Nai Bridges (Courtesy LA Opera)</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>The last recital is by mezzo-soprano J&#8217;Nai Bridges beginning June 4th. Accompanied by pianist Howard Watkins, Bridges&#8217; recital was filmed at Harlem School of the Arts in New York. The program has yet to be announced.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;ve seen any of the multiple streams of Philip Glass&#8217; <em>Akhnaten</em>, you know how amazing she is. She also appeared in the composer&#8217;s <em>Satyagraha</em> at LA Opera during the 2018-2019 season.</p>



<p>How can you watch the <em>Signature Recital Series</em>? They are available as a package for $45 for non-subscribers and $30 for LA Opera subscribers. Single tickets are not available. However, regardless of when you purchase the package you will have through July 1st to watch each of the concerts. Tickets are available <a href="https://tickets.laopera.org/booking/production/bestavailable/5791" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</p>



<p>Photo: Russell Thomas from his <em>Signature Recital Series</em> performance (Courtesy Los Angeles Opera)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/04/14/la-operas-signature-recital-series-has-begun/">LA Opera&#8217;s Signature Recital Series Has Begun</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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		<title>Adam Guettel&#8217;s Myths and Hymns</title>
		<link>https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/11/adam-guettels-myths-and-hymns/</link>
					<comments>https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/11/adam-guettels-myths-and-hymns/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:28:02 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Musicals: 5-6-7-8]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Streaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adam Guettel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ailyn Pérez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anderson & Roe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annie Golden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anthony Roth Costanzo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bob Stillman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Capathia Jenkins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cheyenne Jackson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daniel Breaker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elizabeth Stanley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Floyd Collins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Lithgow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[José Llana]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joshua Henry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julia Bullock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kelli O'Hara]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lawrence Clayton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MasterVoices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael McElroy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mykal Kilgore]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Myths and Hymns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicholas Phan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Norm Lewis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Renée Fleming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saturn Returns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shoshana Bean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Take 6]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ted Sperling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Light in the Piazza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Theresa McCarthy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tina Landau]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vivian Cherry]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[<p>MasterVoices<br />
<br />
Now - June 30th<br />
<br />
Part 3 Debuts April 14th<br />
<br />
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/11/adam-guettels-myths-and-hymns/">Adam Guettel&#8217;s Myths and Hymns</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>Since its debut in 1998 at the Public Theatre, Adam Guettel&#8217;s <em>Myths and Hymns</em> has been an ambitious project. The song cycle has intrigued artists ranging from director Tina Landau to singers <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/07/12/six-years-later-with-kristin-chenoweth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kristin Chenoweth</a>, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2013/10/23/broadway-star-audra-mcdonald-returns-to-la-opera-for-one-night/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Audra McDonald</a>, Mandy Patinkin and <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/05/31/soul-billy-porter-meets-soul-richard-rodgers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Billy Porter</a>.</p>



<p>Enter MasterVoices, a choral group originally founded as an interfaith, interracial ensemble in 1941. Ted Sperling, the organization&#8217;s Artistic Director, has taken the group to new levels of success and with that, has lead MasterVoices into more adventurous projects.</p>



<p>Few organizations have been able to perform as full ensembles during the pandemic. The 150 singers of MasterVoices were no exception. So rather than just do a simple zoom call performance, Sperling had the idea of creating a series of films for the 23 songs that make up <em><a href="https://www.mastervoices.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Myths and Hymns</a></em>. The songs are broken up into four themes: <em>Flight</em>, <em>Work</em>, <em>Love</em> and <em>Faith</em>.</p>



<p>Guettel was inspired by Greek mythology and uses those stories and his own take on them for <em>Myths and Hymns</em>. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="&quot;Myths and Hymns&quot; | presented by MasterVoices" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q07GXKh6B60?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<p>If Adam Guetell&#8217;s name sounds familiar, he&#8217;s the composer of the Tony Award-winning musical <em>The Light in the Piazza </em>(in which O&#8217;Hara starred and Sperling was co-orchestrator and Music Director). He also wrote the musical <em>Floyd Collins</em> and there are indications a first-ever Broadway production may happen in the next couple years. The show has been performed regionally for quite some time.</p>



<p>Sperling was also the Music Director when this work first debuted with the title <em>Saturn Returns</em>. The cast featured Vivian Cherry, Lawrence Clayton, Annie Golden, José Llana, Theresa McCarthy and Bob Stillman. Tina Landau directed the show.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/10/movies/music-review-myths-made-potent-through-stylistic-somersaults.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stephen Holden</a>, writing for the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span>, said of the work upon its debut: </p>



<p>&#8220;Broadly speaking, the songs evoke a kind of human yearning that is as piercing as it is unappeasable: yearning for immortality, true love and God, and yearning to win the game of life. The lyrics are shadowed by intimations of failure and disconnection symbolized by the astrological return of Saturn from its nearly-three-decade cycle around the sun.&#8221;</p>



<p>Both Golden and Llana are participating in these films. Joining them are Anderson &amp; Roe, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/02/21/shoshana-bean-discovers-full-spectrum/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Shoshana Bean</a>, Daniel Breaker, Julia Bullock, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Renée Fleming, Adam Guettel, Joshua Henry, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2014/04/23/is-cheyenne-jackson-the-don-draper-of-song/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cheyenne Jackson</a>, Capathia Jenkins, Mykal Kilgore, Norm Lewis, John Lithgow, Michael McElroy, Kelli O&#8217;Hara, Ailyn Pérez, Nicholas Phan, Elizabeth Stanley and Take 6.</p>



<p>I&#8217;ve long been a fan of <em>Myths and Hymns</em>. I&#8217;ve also seen the first two parts of the MasterVoices series and strongly recommend this series. I can&#8217;t wait for the other two.</p>



<p><em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-JR320vlIQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flight</a> </em>and <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPF0IxxBIbU" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Work</a></em> are available on their YouTube channel. <em>Love</em> will debut on April 14th at 6:30 PM EDT/3:30 PM PDT. <em>Faith</em> will debut on May 26th at 6:30 PM EDT/3:30 PM PDT. All four pieces will remain available for viewing through June 30th.</p>



<p>Photo: Joshua Henry in a scene from <em>Myths and Hymns</em> (Courtesy MasterVoices)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2021/03/11/adam-guettels-myths-and-hymns/">Adam Guettel&#8217;s Myths and Hymns</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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		<title>Classical Music Best Bets for the Holidays</title>
		<link>https://culturalattache.co/2020/12/22/classical-music-best-bets-for-the-holidays/</link>
					<comments>https://culturalattache.co/2020/12/22/classical-music-best-bets-for-the-holidays/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2020 20:45:06 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Classical: Metronome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Streaming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[92nd Street Y]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Audra McDonald]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bang on a Can]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bang on a Can Marathon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brian Stokes Mitchell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bryce Dessner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Camille Saint-Saëns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carnegie Hall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conrad Tao]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daniil Trifonov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Denyce Graves]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ellen Reid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Emanuel Ax]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Esa-Pekka Salonen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eun Sun Kim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[George Frideric Handel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gerard McBurney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Great Performances]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Isaac Stern]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jaime Loredo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jamie Barton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jean-Yves Thibaudet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeremy Denk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Adams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Josh Groban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joshua Bell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Juanes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julia Bullock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Live with Carnegie Hall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ludwig van Beethoven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Messiah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Missy Mazzoli]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York String Orchestra]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oratorio Society of New York]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PBS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter and the Wolf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Philip Glass]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Renée Fleming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Salute to Vienna and Budapest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[San Francisco Symphony]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sergei Prokofiev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sound/Stage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stephen Fry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steve Reich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Teatro alla Scala]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ted Hearne]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Carnival of the Animals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Creatures of Prometheus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Kronos Quartet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Philharmonia Orchestra of London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thomas Adés]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tyshawn Sorey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United in Song: Celebrating the Resilience of America]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vijay Iyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yo-Yo Ma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yuja Wang]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=12358</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Twelve options for classical music fans to enjoy during the holidays</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2020/12/22/classical-music-best-bets-for-the-holidays/">Classical Music Best Bets for the Holidays</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>In my continuing series of performing arts programming available through  the end of the year, I offer my Classical Music Bets Bets for the Holidays.</p>



<p>The list begins with performances that have specific dates and start times. After those listings are performances you can discover at your leisure with their end dates included.</p>



<p>Here are my Classical Best Bets for the Holidays:</p>



<p><strong><em><a href="https://marathon2020.bangonacan.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bang on a Can Marathon 2020</a></em></strong> &#8211; December 22nd &#8211; January 1st</p>



<p>For classical music fans who like very contemporary composition, you won&#8217;t want to miss this marathon streaming of all 90+ performances that were part of the four Bang on a Can Marathons this year.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Bang on a Can LONG PLAY Festival: May 1-3: 2020: Brooklyn" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rFpXmAJAcW0?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<p>Bang on a Can&#8217;s marathon presented 31 world premieres during their online festivals held in May, June, August and October of this year. If you didn&#8217;t catch the marathons as they happened, you ordinarily wouldn&#8217;t get a second chance to view them. Now you can.</p>



<p>You can also catch all of the other performances which include pianist/composer <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/10/03/vijay-iyer-eschews-labels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vijay Iyer</a>; works by John Adams, Philip Glass, Ted Hearne, Missy Mazzoli and Steve Reich; pianists Jeremy Denk and <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/05/17/how-does-pianist-composer-conrad-tao-juggle-it-all/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Conrad Tao</a>; composer/musician Tyshawn Sorey and dozens more. The complete list is on the event&#8217;s website.</p>



<p>There is no charge to view these performances. However, Bang on a Can is encouraging donations.</p>



<p><strong><em><a href="https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2020/12/24/live-with-carnegie-hall-new-york-string-orchestra-0730pm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York String Orchestra</a></em></strong> &#8211; Carnegie Hall &#8211; December 24th &#8211; 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST</p>



<p>A fifty-year traditions continues with this popular Christmas eve concert that finds the young musicians of the New York String Orchestra performing with established soloists. This year they are joined by pianist Emanuel Ax.</p>



<p>Jaime Loredo conducts. Not much is known about the program, but half-a-century of this tradition means they must be on to something. There&#8217;s no charge to watch this concert.</p>



<p><strong><em><a href="https://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/2020-2021/great-operas-for-children/concert-for-children/peter-and-the-wolf-concert-for-clarinet.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter and the Wolf</a></em></strong> &#8211; Teatro alla Scala &#8211; December 25th &#8211; 5:00 AM EST/2:00 AM PST</p>



<p>You&#8217;ll have to be up late or get up early if you want to experience this Christmas Day concert from Milan&#8217;s legendary Teatro alla Scala, but it will be worth it. And for those restless kids eager to see what Santa brought them, they&#8217;ll enjoy this, too.</p>



<p>Eun Sun Kim leads the La Scala Orchestra in a performance of Sergei Prokofiev&#8217;s <em>Peter and the Wolf</em>. Mozart&#8217;s <em>Concerto in A Major K. 622</em> for clarinet and orchestra will also be played with Fabrizio Meloni on bass clarinet.</p>



<p>Illustrations are part of the presentation of <em>Peter and the Wolf</em>.</p>



<p>The concert will stream on Teatro alla Scala&#8217;s website and also on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/teatro.alla.scala">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/teatroallascala">YouTube</a> channels.</p>



<p><strong><em><a href="https://www.stellartickets.com/events/salute-to-vienna-and-budapest-us/salute-to-vienna-and-budapest/occurrences/130df730-236e-4308-943b-20bf0db1d546" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Salute to Vienna and Budapest New Year&#8217;s Concert</a></em></strong> &#8211; December 27th &#8211; January 3rd</p>



<p>In a newly-filmed concert in Europe, operettas and waltzes are on the program. This <em>Salute to Vienna and Budapest</em> has been  annual tradition for 25 years.</p>



<p>The concert has three premiere performances on December 27th: 5:30 PM EST/2:30 PM PST; 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST and 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST.</p>



<p>Tickets are $20 and that allows for re-streaming the concert to your heart&#8217;s content through January 3rd.</p>



<p><strong><em>United in Song: Celebrating the Resilience of America</em></strong>&nbsp;&#8211; PBS Great Performances &#8211; December 31st&nbsp;</p>



<p>In this concert airing on PBS soprano Jamie Barton, violinist <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/10/29/the-continuing-journey-of-violinist-joshua-bell/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Joshua Bell</a>, opera singers Renée Fleming and Denyce Graves, Josh Groban, Juanes, R&amp;B legend Patti LaBelle, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell, 6-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and pianist <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/10/03/pianist-jean-yves-thibaudets-44-year-journey-with-gershwin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jean-Yves Thibaudet</a> perform. The theme is celebrating Americans and their strength that has been required of us all throughout 2020.&nbsp;</p>



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="PBS United In Song: Celebrating The Resilience of America teaser" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n43Dxz0oie0?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p>The concert was filmed at Mount Vernon and the Kennedy Center and opens with LaBelle singing&nbsp;<em>Lady Marmalade</em>. She also closes the concert and everything in between is a total delight.</p>



<p>As with all PBS programming, check your local listings for exact broadcast times.&nbsp;</p>



<p><i style="font-weight: bold;">The Carnival of the Animals &amp; Eine </i><span style="font-weight: 600;"><i>klein</i></span><em><strong>e Nachtmusik</strong></em> &#8211; Teatro alla Scala &#8211; January 1st &#8211; 5:00 AM EST/2:00 AM PST</p>



<p>Once again, the early riser or night owl will be able to watch this concert from Milan&#8217;s Teatro alla Scala. </p>



<p>As with their Christmas Day concert, Eun Sun Kim leads the La Scala orchestra. On the program are Camille Saint-Saëns&#8217; <em>The Carnival of the Animals</em> and Mozart&#8217;s <em>Eine </em><i>klein</i><em>e</em> <em>Nachtmusik</em>.</p>



<p>The concert will stream on Teatro alla Scala&#8217;s website and also on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/teatro.alla.scala">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/teatroallascala">YouTube</a> channels.</p>



<p><strong><em><a href="https://www.carnegiehall.org/Explore/Watch-and-Listen/Live-with-Carnegie-Hall#Past" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Live with Carnegie Hall at Home</a></em></strong> &#8211; Carnegie Hall &#8211; Available now</p>



<p>If you haven&#8217;t taken a look at  Carnegie Hall&#8217;s <em>Live with</em> series, luckily it&#8217;s still available for streaming. Amongst their guests during the year have been The Kronos Quartet, a celebration of violinist Isaac Stern; pianist Daniil Trifonov; pianist Emanuel Ax; cellist Alisa Weilerstein; violinist Joshua Bell and more.</p>



<p>Each program runs approximately one hour. There are also sessions with opera singers, Broadway stars, folk singers, conductors, world music singers and cabaret stars. </p>



<p>While you&#8217;re there you might want to check out their <a href="https://www.carnegiehall.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2020 Opening Night Gala</a> which combines new interviews and performances with archival footage from the venerable hall&#8217;s long history.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.laphil.com/about/watch-and-listen" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong><em>Los Angeles Philharmonic</em></strong> <em><strong>Watch &amp; Listen</strong></em></a>&nbsp;&#8211; LA Phil &#8211; Available now</p>



<p>In addition to their&nbsp;<em><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2020/09/23/the-la-philharmonics-sound-stage/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sound/Stage</a></em>&nbsp;performances (click on the link built into&nbsp;<em>Sound/Stage</em>&nbsp;to read details on that series), the Los Angeles Philharmonic has a lot more to discover on their website.</p>



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="Andrew Norman’s “For Ashley” with David Garrett" width="696" height="392" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H6xTycYL6O8?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p>Amongst the highlights are pianist <a href="https://www.laphil.com/about/watch-and-listen/must-the-devil-mvt-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Yuja Wang performing</a> the first movement of John Adams&#8217; <em>Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?</em> from a November 2019 concert; Thomas Ades&#8217; <a href="https://www.laphil.com/about/watch-and-listen/thomas-ades-darknesse-visible" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Darkness Visible</em> </a>performed by LA Phil pianist Joanna Pearce Martin; timpanist <a href="https://www.laphil.com/about/watch-and-listen/joseph-pereiras-magnificent-desolation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Joseph Pereria</a> performing <em>Magnificent Obsession</em>, a piece he wrote inspired by Buzz Aldrin&#8217;s experience on the moon; violinist Gabriela Peña-Kim performing Eugène Ysaÿe’s <em><a href="https://www.laphil.com/about/watch-and-listen/la-phil-home-recital-gabriela-pena-kim" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Obsession</a></em> and more.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s plenty to entertain you and there&#8217;s no charge to watch the videos. If you haven&#8217;t watched <em>Sound/Stage</em>, I strongly encourage you to do so.</p>



<p><strong><em><a href="https://osny.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Handel&#8217;s Messiah</a></em></strong> &#8211; Oratorio Society of New York  &#8211; Now &#8211; January 10th</p>



<p>Every year since 1874 the Oratorio Society of New York has performed the Christmas portion of Handel&#8217;s <em>Messiah</em> for the holidays. In spite of the pandemic, they are presenting a virtual version to keep that tradition alive.</p>



<p>Kent Tritle conducts chorus, orchestra, and soloists Susanna Phillips, Heather Petrie, Joshua Blue, and Sidney Outlaw in a safely-performed and filmed concert.</p>



<p>Oratorio Society of New York received a Grammy nomination earlier this year for Best Choral Performance for their recording <em>Sanctuary Road</em>.</p>



<p>There is no charge to watch this performance.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/philharmonialondon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Beethoven’s&nbsp;<em>The Creatures of Prometheus</em></strong></a><strong>&nbsp;</strong>– The Philharmonia Orchestra of London – Available Now</p>



<p>In February of this year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic had one of their most exciting concerts when Esa-Pekka Salonen, Simon McBurney and Gerard McBurney collaborated on&nbsp;<em>The Weimar Republic: Salonen Conducts The Seven Deadly Sins</em>.</p>



<p>Salonen and Gerard McBurney have once again collaborated on a concert. The Philharmonia Orchestra of London is performing Beethoven’s&nbsp;<em>The Creatures of Prometheus</em>.</p>



<p>Most concertgoers are familiar with the work’s overture; far fewer are familiar with the complete score Beethoven composed for this ballet that had its world premiere in Vienna in 1801.</p>



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<p>McBurney has written a new script for this concert. There will be animation by Hillary Leben whose work has been seen in performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Silk Road Ensemble and more.</p>



<p>When you add that the narration will be performed by Stephen Fry, what else do you need?</p>



<p>The link takes you directly to The Philharmonia Orchestra of London’s YouTube page where this performance can be seen for free.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.sfsymphony.org/Watch-and-listen/Events/Throughline"><strong><em>Throughline: San Francisco Symphony From Hall to Home</em></strong>&nbsp;</a>&#8211; San Francisco Symphony &#8211; Now available</p>



<p>This ambitious and exciting concert features performances of works by John Adams, Ludwig van Beethoven, Kev Choice, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/05/09/composer-ellen-reids-new-work-cautionary-tale/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ellen Reid</a> and presents the world premiere of&nbsp;<em>Throughline</em>&nbsp;by <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/02/22/composer-nico-muhly-registers-organ-concerto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nico Muhly</a>.</p>



<p>Joining Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen for this program are soprano Julia Bullock; composer/guitarist <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/03/04/composer-bryce-dessners-mapplethorpe-memories/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bryce Dessner</a>; Muhly on piano and conducting; bassist Esperanza Spalding and more.</p>



<p>Reid&#8217;s&nbsp;<em>Fear/Release&nbsp;</em>opens the nearly one-hour program. That is followed by Adams&#8217;&nbsp;<em>Shaking and Trembling</em>&nbsp;from Shaker Loops;&nbsp;<em>Movements</em>&nbsp;by Choice; Beethoven&#8217;s&nbsp;<em>Allegro con brio from String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Opus 95</em>&nbsp;and the concert concludes with&nbsp;<em>Throughline</em>.</p>



<p>There is no charge to watch this concert.</p>



<p><strong><em><a href="https://www.92y.org/event/jeremy-denk-piano" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeremy Denk Recital</a></em></strong> &#8211; 92nd Street  Y &#8211; Now available </p>



<p>If you didn’t get a chance to see pianist&nbsp;<a href="https://culturalattache.co/2018/04/24/classical-piano-genius-jeremy-denks-daily-discovery/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeremy Denk</a>‘s recital from Caramoor in October, he’s performed the same program from New York’s 92nd Street Y earlier this month and it is still available for streaming.</p>



<p>The program is scheduled to include: Mozart’s&nbsp;<em>Piano Sonata in C Minor, K 457</em>; Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins’s&nbsp;<em>The Battle of Manassas</em>; Joplin/Chauvin’s&nbsp;<em>Heliotrope Bouquet</em>; Tania León’s&nbsp;<em>Ritual</em>; Frederic Rzewski’s&nbsp;<em>Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues</em>&nbsp;and Beethoven’s&nbsp;<em>Piano Sonata No 32 in C Minor, Op. 111</em>.</p>



<p>You’ll get two classical period compositions, ragtime, the work of a young Black man during The Civil War and the work of two contemporary composers. How’s that for diverse?</p>



<p>Tickets are $15.</p>



<p>Those are my dozen recommendations for Classical Music Best Bets for the Holidays. I also have recommendations for <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2020/12/23/dance-best-bets-for-the-holidays/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dance</a>, <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2020/12/23/jazz-best-bets-for-the-holidays/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jazz</a> and <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2020/12/22/musicals-cabaret-best-bets-for-the-holidays/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Musicals/Cabaret</a> if you want even more choices.</p>



<p>Enjoy the music and the season.</p>



<p>Photo: Yosemite Trees (Photo by Craig L. Byrd)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2020/12/22/classical-music-best-bets-for-the-holidays/">Classical Music Best Bets for the Holidays</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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