June 17th – June 18th:

Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival

Formerly called the Playboy Jazz Festival, this two-day event is when summer officially starts. This year’s programming was curated by Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington. The first day features a line-up that includes Lionel Loueke and Gretchen Parlato, Samara Joy, Poncho Sanchez and Washington. Day two includes Ledisi, The Soul Rebels, Leon Bridges and West Coast Get Down (an ensemble that also features Washington.) Arsenio Hall hosts. If you’ve never been to Jazz Fest at the Hollywood Bowl, you don’t know that total joy that you are missing!

July 7th – July 9th:

Maestro of the Movies: John Williams with the LA Phil

This program typically takes place later in the season, but the addition of Gustavo Dudamel as conductor for, probably, the first half of the concert makes the date switch more than just fine. The LA Phil launches a two-year celebration of Williams at the Walt Disney Concert Hall this fall, so this concert is a preview of things to come. Of course, it is capped by having Williams conduct the LA Phil for the second half of the program (if this year’s concerts follow the tradition of these shows.) Fans will have their light sabers ready for music from Star Wars. Of course, I’d love to hear music from Rosewood, too.

July 13th:

An Ellington Celebration

It won’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. But with Dudamel leading the LA Phil, there will be no doubt it will swing. Not much has been released yet about this program, but Ellington’s work – particularly his close collaboration with the often not-credited Billy Strayhorn – is legendary music. Expect many of the classic songs and some of Duke’s symphonic works as well.

July 25th:

Rhapsody in Blue

Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the premiere of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The Los Angeles Philharmonic gets a jump on the centennial celebrations with this performance conducted by Leonard Slatkin with soloist Makoto Ozone. The program also includes Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” which is not my favorite of his works (I know how sacrilegious that seems to many). Cynthia McTee’s Timepiece, commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for their own centennial opens the show.

July 28th – July 29th:

Quincy Jones’ 90th-Birthday Tribute: A Musical Celebration

So far Patti Austin, George Benson, Siedah Garret, Jennifer Hudson, Angélique Kidjo, Ibrahim Maalouf, John Mayer and Sheléa have been announced as performers coming together to celebrate Q. Jules Buckley will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. With the vast career that Jones has had, don’t be surprised if the list of performers more than doubles. He’s had that kind of impact.

July 30th:

Everybody Rise! A Sondheim Celebration

I know this means going to the Hollywood Bowl twice in one weekend, but what fan of Stephen Sondheim’s work can resist an evening of his music performed by Skylar Austin, Sierra Boggess, Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster, Norm Lewis (so good in A Soldier’s Play at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles right now) and Tony Award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell. Robert Longbottom curates the concert along with conductor Kevin Stites. Oh, did I mention that Patti LuPone, who won her most recent Tony Award for her performance in Company will be making sure that everybody rises?

August 10th:

Sibelius and Grieg

For a purely classical music experience, my choice is this LA Philharmonic concert with conductor Tarmo Peltokoski. The Sibelius is his Symphony No. 2. (Doesn’t Sibelius often work so beautifully in an outdoor setting?) The Grieg is the composer’s Piano Concerto with soloist Anton Mejias. Opening the concert will be Ciel d’hiver by composer Kaija Saariaho who just passed away on June 2nd.

August 22nd:

Chris Thile & Appalachian Spring

Classical music fans know that Appalachian Spring is the very famous work by Aaron Copland. Teddy Abrams will lead the LA Philharmonic in this concert. Opening for Copland is the world premiere of HOLLAND by Jonathan Bailey. Following that is where mandolinist Chris Thile comes in for the West Coast premiere of his ATTENTION! A narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra. Thile’s work has its world premiere at the Virginia Arts Festival on June 14th.

August 23rd:

Herbie Hancock Celebrates Wayne Shorter

If anyone can rally a great line-up of artists to celebrate the legendary Wayne Shorter who passed away in March, it is Herbie Hancock. And he has. In addition to Shorter’s regular band (Brian Blade, John Patitucci and Daniel Pérez), Hancock is bringing together Terence Blanchard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Marcus Miller, Chris Potter, Carlos Santana, Cindy Blackman Santana and esperanza Spaulding.

September 20th:

Promises

Legendary saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders passed away last September. Just four days before the first anniversary of his death, Floating Points (composer Sam Shepherd) will premiere the live performance of this 2019 collaboration with Sanders. There are nine movements in this nearly 50-minute work. The original plan was for Sanders to perform with Floating Points. In his absence, Shepherd is being joined in this performance by Kara-Lis Coverdale, John Escreet, Shabaka Hutchings, Kieran Hebden, Los Angeles Studio Orchestra, Jeffrey Makinson, Hinako Omori, Dan Snaith and Sun Ra Arkestra. The album is amazing. The live performance should be equally exciting.

That’s my list of the 10 Hollywood Bowl Concerts not to miss this season. What’s on your list? Let me know!

Click on the title of each concert for information and to purchase tickets.

Main Photo: The Hollywood Bowl (Photo by Adam Latham) All Photos Courtesy Los Angeles Philharmonic Association

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On Wednesday, July 6th, the Chilean-born conductor will lead the LA Philharmonic New Music Group in performances of works by Gérard Grisey, Vivian Fung, Juan Felipe Waller, Gabriella Smith and Kaija Saariaho. On Saturday, July 9th, he’ll lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in performances of the classical works of Devonté Hynes.

None of this material is anywhere near as well-known as Mozart’s opera. So the challenge Bortolameolli faces is how to excite audiences as much about music they don’t know as he can with music they do. Which is exactly what we spoke about last week in a Zoom call. What follows are excerpts from our conversation. You can see the complete interview on our YouTube channel.

I want to start by asking you about your TEDx talk, which I thought was really terrific. You begin by asking how do you prepare a child to attend a classical music concert for the first time? My question is how do you prepare an audience today for a concert that features exclusively contemporary classical music that they probably have never heard?

The last part of your sentence is the key one, because when you invite someone is because you really want that people to be amazed, surprised and enjoy. The one who delivers the invitation is the one that it’s already there, the enthusiast. So my first advice is always try to infuse your enthusiasm into your people. Because if something moves you, that’s why you want to share with them. 

I feel that new music is actually more linked to us than maybe a Mozart symphony. Music, art in general, somehow evolves with us in the way we experience the world, in the way we experience the sounds, the rhythms and how artists are so inspired by their surroundings. It’s kind of like a perpetual reflection of our structure.

What surprises you most about contemporary classical music?

I would say the most obvious aspect of the surprise is that we cannot expect something that we still don’t know. When you attend a premiere everything’s so new. How can I be safe? How can I be rooted to something that I know it’s going to happen. When you make this prediction, it’s like safe place, like finally tonic after a dominant [chord.]

The surprise in the contemporary music is everywhere. That’s also what makes it so fascinating, because the other thing is that our brain is so wired and we cannot change it because our hardware it’s the same. So the way we are wired is to make predictions, is to find something, “Now I understand this and this makes me feel good.” So since we cannot change that, the invitation is then enjoy it and enjoy the crazy ride and just try to let yourself go.

On the heels of graduating from Yale School of Music, you not only commissioned a new work as part of a celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Rite of Spring, but you also raised $10,000 for it to be performed – which is a pretty ballsy thing to do right out of school. What is it you’re looking for in new music?

Every single piece such as The Rite of Spring was a new piece. Some of them were a really subtle continuation. Other ones were breakthroughs. The new aspect of music and performing new music, it’s been always there. For me it’s essential to keep that spirit alive in every thing we do as musicians. If we only look back then we are missing the point. And the point is we are not only performing, we are pushing creation every day because that’s what it’s all about. This a life organism with an unstoppable pulsation of creativity. 

If you’re conducting The Rite of Spring you can’t have a conversation with Stravinsky. With these new works, however, you can discuss intention with many of the composers. What difference does that make for you and how you approach a given composition?

To have the chance to work with the composer is like a dream because then you understand the whole creation process. The composers know that even if they own the piece it has to be performed. So at some point they have to let it go. When you have the chance to be aligned in the same space for the rehearsals then you understand the whole process.

Even for for composers listening to a rehearsal is such an important moment, a key moment, because they make corrections, because they change things, because they actually understand how it works. Even the most experienced composer knows that the piece will behave differently. The paper is just a map; this is what I want. For us, who could be the most authorized voice than the composer? Then [it will be] much better, not only in terms of performance, but in terms of the experience, the ritual of doing this together.

You’re describing the conductor as cartographer.

I think it’s always kind of like that at the beginning. We always try to respect the score the most we can. We try to be as precise as we can. But at the same time you’re an interpreter, right? You make your own interpretations of every single aspect of the score. There are just few things that you cannot change: meter, rhythm, notes. That’s a definite aspect. But the rest of it, it’s what do you think about that? What is the thought of it? Nobody measured a forte, you know, in decibels. Even a metronome mark, which sounds to be or looks to be exact, it’s not because the way the music behaves in a particular acoustic theater with the audience will affect the shape of the counter, the phrasing. So all these kind fixed parameters, they’re not fixed. We have to try to be in the mind of the composer and extract that information.

You’re in Barcelona conducting The Magic Flute. What is the process by which you leave the world of a work composed over 230 years ago and enter the world – just a few days later – of these new/newer works?

I feel it’s the same. It’s an easy answer and almost a cheap answer. I don’t want to be cheap. I’m just saying that when you face music you’re putting together sounds, shaping the tempo, the phrasing, you’re understanding colors, you’re understanding balances, reacting to the energy of your players, reacting to your audience. So when you talk about those elements of music and you make it kind of like an abstraction above the repertoire, you find yourself doing exactly the same thing. The difference will be in terms of the score. But the way you face it, I always find it’s pretty similar.

I want to conclude where we started, which is with the one of the last things you said in your TEDx talk. You said that immediately on the heels of your father taking you to that concert at age seven it changed your life so profoundly that you wanted to spend of it changing our expectations. What are the challenges of changing our lives with music we don’t know versus changing in our lives with the music with which we are familiar?

I think the answer it’s more about how you experience the music more than the music itself. I deeply believe that our biggest challenge these days is to keep the flame on. Like the bonfire, where you sit around and you contemplate something that’s happening there and you are surrounded with people that will experience it at the same time. Then it will fade and will keep in your memory, in your heart, in your subconscious. You embrace the importance of that, which makes it so human. It’s part of our core nature to share an experience, to be there with a group of people. Then you realize that it’s far more about that than what is actually performed.

If it’s the right energy, if it’s well-performed and there is passion and commitment on stage, you could be incredibly moved by a piece that you never heard before. Even if it’s because you were shocked, you were provoked, or you were seduced by the sounds or the storytelling or the shape. I just encourage people to go with an open heart, an open mind. Go and experience the experience. Because there is a high chance that the experience itself will change your life.

Paolo Bortolameolli will lead the San Francisco Symphony in a program of works by Aaron Copland, Kevin Puts, Johann Strauss, Jr., and Richard Strauss on July 14th and 15th. On August 4th he return to Los Angeles lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program of works by Camille Saint-Saëns at the Hollywood Bowl. For his full schedule, please go here.

To see the full interview with Paolo Bortolameolli, please go here.

Main photo: Paolo Bortolameolli (Photo ©Marco Borrelli/Courtesy of the Artist)

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This weekend’s choices range from several jazz performances to a topical one-woman show to a powerful dance performance and some great classical music.

If you’re looking for Halloween-themed events in our Best Bets, I want to point you to our special column dedicated to all things spooky you and your family can enjoy this weekend.

Here are our selection of the Best Bets at Home: October 30th – November 1st:

Reena Esmail’s Piano Trio – The Wallis – Now – November 19th

The world premiere of composer Reena Esmail’s Piano Trio took place last November in Seattle. It is a work that finds both Indian and Western classical music combined. As Esmail said about the work, “Imagine if you could say a single sentence, but it could be understood simultaneously in two different languages – that is what I aim to create through my music.”

Over the course of the next four weeks The Wallis will present a performance of one movement of her Piano Trio combined with insights and observations from Esmail and the three musicians performing the work. They are Vijay Gupta on violin, Peter Myers on cello and Suzana Bartal on piano.

Each movement will be streamed via Zoom. After that initial stream each movement can be found on The Wallis’ YouTube channel. Since the streaming events are on Thursdays, this week we have included a link to the YouTube page. If you want to watch subsequent performances on Zoom, you can go here to register for those.

Esmail is one of our most talented and interesting composers. This is going to be well worth your time if you love chamber music.

Kamasi Washington – Los Angeles Philharmonic – October 30th – November 29th

Jazz musician/composer Kamasi Washington takes to the Hollywood Bowl stage for a performance of the music he wrote for the film Becoming. This concert is part of the LA Phil’s Sound/Stage series and is free and available on their website. Becoming is the documentary about Michelle Obama’s book tour.

Along with the recently released Andra Day concert, this is a performance without the LA Phil.

Washington and his band perform his score. In addition to the performance, Washington will also be seen in an interview.

Of his work for Nadia Hallgren’s film, Washington told Rolling Stone Magazine, “Nadia asked me to write a song that would capture what the movie was saying about Michelle Obama. She’s a down-to-earth, brilliant queen who lives next door. She’s aware of who she is and what she has done, but she’s also aware of the people around her. So I tried to give that song a sense of depth and lightness. I thought, ‘If Michelle was going to write a song, what would it sound like?’”

Washington is one of our most exciting jazz musicians. I wouldn’t miss this.

Trio 3 & Vijay Iyer – Blue Note – October 30th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT – $10 Restream 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT

New York’s Blue Note will live stream a concert on Friday featuring the supergroup Trio 3 and they are joined for this performance by pianist/composer Vijay Iyer.

The members of Trio 3 are Oliver Lake on alto sax, Reggie Workman on bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums. Iyer joined them for 2014’s Wiring.

Each musician has a lengthy career as both a leader and as a sideman. It is the combination of the three of them that makes truly unique music.

Nate Chinen, in writing for the New York Times about a 2015 performance at the Village Vanguard, said of Trio 3, “One misperception about the jazz avant-garde is that it’s essentially reactive, a single-minded pushback against conventions of form. Whatever lump of truth or slander you might find in that idea, Trio 3, which is playing at the Village Vanguard, provides scant supporting evidence for it. 

“An alliance of eminent composer-improvisers now in their 70s — the alto saxophonist Oliver Lake, the bassist Reggie Workman and the drummer Andrew Cyrille — Trio 3 belongs squarely to the jazz avant-garde, both in process and pedigree. But there was no rebellious undercurrent in the group’s first set on Wednesday night, which moved briskly through its allotted hour, propelled by cooperative forces.”

Adding Iyer to this trio will make for a truly wonderful concert.

Tickets are $15. There is also a re-streaming of the performance at 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT.

Lila Downs – SFJAZZ – October 30th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This week’s Fridays at Five concert from SFJAZZ features Lila Downs in a concert from May 2019 at the venue in support of her album, Al Chile.

Downs, who is from Oaxaca, rose to fame with her participation in the soundtrack to Julie Taymor’s 2002 film, Frida. She is the winner of one Grammy and three Latin Grammy awards.

As a friend said to me recently in an e-mail, “Hope you are able to watch Lila Downs! I love her and saw her concert in Portugal a couple of years ago!! Lively!!!”

Even though the clip we have from this concert is a ballad, expect lively for much of the performance.

Membership is required to watch the concert. Either a $5 monthly membership or a $60 annual membership. Tips are also encouraged during the streaming of the concert which will be split between the artists and SFJAZZ.

A Swingin’ Sesame Street Celebration – Jazz at Lincoln Center on PBS – October 30th

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra have played with a veritable who’s who of jazz artists throughout their careers. But this weekend’s show on Jazz at Lincoln Center on PBS finds them sharing the stage with some of the biggest stars in the world.

Elmo, Bert & Ernie, Big Bird, Grover, Oscar the Grouch and more Sesame Street characters join the orchestra to sing songs from the show in A Swingin’ Sesame Street Celebration.

The one-hour concert, which took place October 2019, is scheduled to air on October 30th. As with most PBS programming, best to check your local listings for exact start times.

So if you want to go where the air is sweet….

Kristina Wong for Public Office – Center Theatre Group – October 30th – November 29th

We often wonder why our elected officials seem to lack a sense of humor. Or why they lack any awareness of the absurdity of it all. That isn’t the case with Kristina Wong who both serves in office and is also a performance artist with a wicked sense of humor.

She combines both those seemingly disparate sensibilities in a new one-person show called Kristina Wong for Public Office.

The 75-minute comedy performance becomes available at 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT from Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.

Kristina Wong for Public Office examines the role an artist, who is also a politician, can play in the democratic process. She also examines what that process is like, the history of voting and what it takes to run a campaign – all filtered through Wong’s unique perspective.

Tickets to watch Kristina Wong for Public Office are $10.

Four Quartets: 2018 Premiere – Fisher Center at Bard – October 31st – November 1st

In February of this year choreographer Pam Tanowitz’s Four Quartets was performed at UCLA’s Royce Hall. This work is a collaboration with Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, American painter Brice Marden and actress Kathleen Chalfant.

For two days this weekend Bard College will stream the 2018 premiere of Four Quartets. The work is inspired by T.S. Eliot’s monumental work.

Four Quartets is comprised of four different poems written by Eliot over a period of six years. They are Burnt Norton, Easy Coker, The Dry Salvages and Little Gidding. Thematically Eliot is exploring mankind’s place in the world and our relationships with both time and God.

Four Quartets is comprised of four different poems written by Eliot over a period of six years. They are Burnt Norton, Easy Coker, The Dry Salvages and Little Gidding. Thematically Eliot is exploring mankind’s place in the world and our relationships with both time and God.

The result of this collaboration has earned worldwide acclaim. Rightly so, it is a beautiful and powerful work.

Tickets range from $5 for Bard Students up to $25 to stream Four Quartets. (Pricing is based on your individual ability to afford tickets.)

There is another option as well. On Friday, October 30th at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT, you can join the premiere of a documentary, There the Dance Is (In the steps of Pam Tanowitz’s Four Quartets). The film features interviews with the dancers, Tanowitz and Chalfant.

Prior to the screening there will be a live Q&A between Tanowitz and Alistair Macaulay of the New York Times. You will also gain early access to stream the performance of Four Quartets. Tickets are $100.

Modern Beauty – Pittance Chamber Orchestra – November 1st – 6:00 PM EST/3:00 PM PST

Pittance Chamber Orchestra is comprised of musicians from the LA Opera Orchestra. This weekend they begin rolling out a three-part performance series called Modern Beauty. The performances were all filmed during the pandemic and feature Grammy Award-wining pianist Gloria Cheng.

The first performance finds Cheng and bassoonist Judith Farmer performing Sonata for Bassoon and Piano by Billy Childs. Included in this performance will be comments from Childs.

Part two of the series will stream on November 8th and the third part will stream on November 15th.

There is no charge for the performances, but donations are strongly encouraged.

En 3×4 – Quinteto Astor Piazzolla – November 1st – 6:00 PM EST/3:00 PM PST

One could argue that Astor Piazzolla redefined the tango with his compositions and his playing. Quinteto Astor Piazzolla celebrates his work in this performance filmed live in Buenos Aires for CAP UCLA.

On the program are seven different compositions: Verano Porteño, Camorra III, En 3×4, Soledad, Milonga del Ángel, Adios Nonino and Libertango.

The members of Quinteto Astor Piazzolla are Pablo Mainetti on bandoneón, Nicolás Guerschberg on piano, Serdar Geldymuradov on violin, Daniel Falasca on bass and Armando de la Vega on guitar.

There is no charge to watch the performance. However, donations are encouraged.

American Youth Symphony Fall Concert – November 1st – 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Since its inception in the early 1960s, the American Youth Symphony has afforded Los Angeles-based students the opportunity to perform symphonic works as part of a fully-functioning orchestra. They regularly perform live concerts (commonly at Royce Hall) throughout the year.

Obviously 2020 is a different year. For their Fall Concert, Music Director Carlos Izcaray has assembled a combination of remotely-lead performances and two in-person filmed performances.

On the program is Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments performed by the AYS Virtual Wind & Brass Ensemble, Jessie Montgomery’s Starburst performed by the AYS String Ensemble, the world premiere of Izacary’s Bloom, performed by a Percussion Trio and Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge also performed by the AYS String Ensemble.

Through the performance both Montgomery and Izacary will discuss the creation of their two compositions.

Tickets are free, but require registration. The link in the title will take you to details and provide access to register for the concert.

Beth Malone with Seth Rudetsky – November 1st – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM EST

Tony Award-nominee Beth Malone is best known for her performance as Adult Alison in the musical Fun Home. She recently appeared in the 2018 revival of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. Earlier this year she starred as the title character in the off-Broadway production of The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest this weekend for music and conversation about her life and career.

If you are unable to catch the live performance of Beth Malone‘s appearance, there is a re-stream on Monday, November 2nd at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST. Tickets are $25 for either date.

They are also making a VIP Upgrade available three hours prior to the live performance that allows a behind-the-scenes look at the sound check and prep for the live show. That’s an additional $25 and is only available on November 1st and requires the purchase of a ticket to the performance.

Those are our selections are your Best Bets at Home: October 30th – November 1st. As always, we offer a few reminders:

This weekend’s operas from the Metropolitan Opera are Boris Godunov on Friday, The Ghosts of Versailles on Saturday (which I strongly recommend) and Satyagraha on Sunday (another strong recommendation).

Table Top Shakespeare At Home features Cymbeline on Friday, Julius Caesar on Saturday and Antony and Cleopatra on Sunday.

You can stream all three plays in the Donmar Warehouse’s Shakespeare Trilogy on Film this weekend. St. Ann’s Warehouse is making Julius Caesar, Henry IV and The Tempest available.

The reading of David Mamet’s Race continues through Sunday.

Have a safe and enjoyable Halloween weekend. I hope you enjoy our Best Bets at Home: October 30th – November 1st.

Photo: Kamasi Washington (Courtesy of the artist)

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All productions can be found at the Metropolitan Opera’s website. Each opera becomes available at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT on their respective dates and will remain available for streaming for 23 hours.

Here is the complete list of productions for Week 8 at the Met:

Monday, May 4 – Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro

Conducted by James Levine, starring Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Susanne Mentzer, Dwayne Croft, and Sir Bryn Terfel. This production dates back to 1998.

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

Tuesday, May 5 – Thomas’s Hamlet

Conducted by Louis Langrée, starring Marlis Petersen, Jennifer Larmore, Simon Keenlyside, and James Morris. This production took place in 2010.

French composer Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas is not the best known of opera composers. Over a two-year period he wrote the two operas for which he’s best known: Mignon and Hamlet.

Of Hamlet, many critics ultimately found that perhaps Thomas was biting off more than he could chew by taking Shakespeare’s play as the basis for this opera. But George Loomis, writing for The Classical Review said of this production, “…it is safe to say that many who witnessed the premiere of the Metropolitan Opera’s fascinating new production of Hamlet on Tuesday evening found the experience closer to watching the Shakespeare play than they ever thought possible. Thomas may have been audacious in his choice of subject, but he also took his musical-dramatic task seriously.”

Wednesday, May 6 – Saariaho’s  L’Amour de Loin

Conducted by Susanna Mälkki, starring Susanna Phillips, Tamara Mumford, and Eric Owens. This production took place in 2016.

L’amour de Loin tells the story of a troubadour who has a pre-determined idea of what perfect love would be. But he is convinced he will never find it. Once he’s told by a newly-arrived pilgrim that his love does indeed exist, he becomes hopeful. Simultaneously a lovelorn countess is told of a man whose view of love is just what she’s desiring. Can love work between the two?

Kaija Saariaho’s opera, with a libretto by Amin Maalouf, had its world premiere at the Salzburg Festival in August of 2000. This production marked the first opera written by a woman to be staged at the Met since 1903. With Mälkki conducting, it became the first opera written by a woman and conducted bya woman as part of the Met Opera Live broadcasts. At the time, Mälkki was only the fourth woman to conduct performances at the famed opera house.

Thursday, May 7 – R. Strauss’s Capriccio

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, starring Renée Fleming, Sarah Connolly, Joseph Kaiser, Russell Braun, Morten Frank Larsen, and Peter Rose. This production dates back to 2011.

When Fleming decided to do the role of the Countess in this opera by Strauss in 2011, it was the first time she had performed the full opera at the Met. Anthony Tomassini of the New York Times was impressed. “The role suits her ideally at this stage of her career, and she sang splendidly. The performance over all, sensitively conducted by Andrew Davis and featuring a winning cast, made an excellent case for this Strauss curiosity, his final opera, which had its premiere in Munich in 1942 in the midst of World War II.”

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

Friday, May 8 – Puccini’s La Bohème

Conducted by James Levine, starring Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti. This production took place in 1977.

This 1977 production of Puccini’s beloved opera was actually the first Live at the Met broadcast. That it starred two of the biggest names in opera at the time probably had something to do with La Bohème being the first of what became hundreds of broadcasts. Pavarotti made his Met Opera debut in 1968 in La Bohème.

The inclusion of this particular production is part of the Met Opera’s Viewer’s Choice.

Saturday, May 9 – The Opera House

Rather than show another opera production, the Met Opera is showing this 2017 documentary. It’s a fascinating look at everything it took to build the Met at Lincoln Center in the 1960s. By extension, Susan Froemke’s film also looks at what life was like, both politically and artistically, at the time. Amongst the people contributing to the documentary was soprano Leontyne Price.

May 9th would have been the final performance of the 2019-2020 Met Opera season.

Sunday, May 10 – Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci

Two commonly paired one-act operas from 2015 close out the week in performances: Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. Both operas are conducted by Fabio Luisi.

Cavalleria Rusticana stars Eva-Maria Westbroek, Marcelo Álvarez, and George Gagnidze. 

Pagliacci stars Patricia Racette, Marcelo Álvarez, and George Gagnidze.

There was controversy surrounding these two productions when David McVicar’s productions replaced the long-performed productions by Franco Zeffirelli. Alex Ross, writing for The New Yorker made the case for the new productions as a way for the Met Opera to continue to grow and evolve.

For those relatively new to opera, these two one-act productions are easy ways to explore the art form. There is well-known music, but there is more. Pagliacci is not just a commonly performed opera, it is also one that is referenced in countless films and television shows. But don’t count out Cavalleria Rusticana. If you’ve seen either Raging Bull or The Godfather III, you’ll recognize this opera, too.

Those are your choices for Week 8 at the Met. What would you like to see in Week 9 or 10? Let us know.

Photo: Tamara Mumford, Eric Owens and Susanna Phillips in L’Amour de Loin. (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy of Met Opera)

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As if to prove that “words don’t do it,” American choreographer Pam Tanowitz, Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, and American painter Brice Marden have collaborated to offer their presentation of Four Quartets. There are two performances this weekend at Royce Hall.

Of course since the work can’t be done without words, acclaimed actress Kathleen Chalfant will be performing the text live at both performances.

Four Quartets is comprised of four different poems written by Eliot over a period of six years. They are Burnt Norton, Easy Coker, The Dry Salvages and Little Gidding. Thematically Eliot is exploring mankind’s place in the world and our relationships with both time and God.

Alistair Macaulay in the New York Times said of Tanowitz’s work that, “After one viewing, on Saturday night, I’m inclined to call this the most sublime new dance since Merce Cunningham’s ‘Biped’ (1999).”

Composer Saariaho is one of the most acclaimed contemporary composers of our time. She recently had worked performed by the LA Philharmonic New Music Group. She writes for large ensembles, solo instruments, opera, and more.

81-year-old artist Brice Marden has turned four of his works into scrims for Four Quartets. His work is most often described as minimalist.

Chalfant was Tony nominated for her performance in Angels in America: Millennium Approaches where she played the parts of Rabbi Chemelwitz, Henry, Hannah Pitt, Ethel Rosenberg. In 199 she starred in the play Wit and earned multiple awards for her performance.

Four Quartets is certain to be one of the most unique performances of the year. I highly recommend you make plans to attend either performance.

Or if you love it, why not both?

For tickets go here.

All photos by Maria Baranova/Courtesy of CAP UCLA

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Bjarnason, who will conduct, has two of his works being performed. 5 Possibilities for piano, cello and clarinet opens the second half of the concert.  There is also a “Post-Concert Set” that finds his Qui Tollis being performed.

The evening opens with Brent Sørensen’s The Weeping White Room. That is followed by Kaija Saariaho’s Sept Papillons for solo cello. Then comes the world premiere of The CV of a Butterfly by Thurídur Jónsdóttir. This work was commissioned by the LA Philharmonic.

Closing out the second half of the program is Sørensen’s Papillions for piano and strings. This marks the U.S. premiere of this work.

Additional musicians joining for the main concert are Eric Byers on cello and Boris Allakhverdyan on  larinet.

If you are wondering if there is a theme to this, perhaps the use of the words butterfly and papillons in several titles is a clue. (Papillion is French for “butterfly.”)

Something unique for this concert is the addition of the post-concert set. Sarriaho’s Trois Rivieres follows Bjarnason’s work and the evening comes to a close with Rolf Wallin’s Stonewave.

The post-concert set is performed by Joseph Pereira (who conducts and plays percussion), Matthew Howard (percussion), Jeffrey Grant (percussion), Nick Terry (percussion), Tyler Stell (percussion), Andres Rosenthal Piccardo (percussion) and Eduardo Meneeses (percussion.)

For tickets go here.

Photo of Víkingur Ólafsson by Ari Magg (Courtesy of the LA Philharmonic)

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