On Sunday, November 12th, McVinnie will perform a recital on both the organ at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the piano. That concert will feature works by Johann Sebastian Bach, inti Figgis-Vizueta, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Nico Muhly and Gabriella Smith.

On Tuesday, November 14th, McVinnie will give the world premiere performance of Samuel Adams’ Eden Interstates as part of the LA Phil’s Green Umbrella series. This concert is also at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

On Friday, November 17th and Saturday, November 18th, he joins the San Francisco Symphony where he will perform Smith’s Breathing Forests. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts those concerts.

With an upcoming repertoire that covers over three centuries of music, McVinnie and I had plenty to talk about when we spoke on Halloween. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview with McVinnie, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: Robert Schumann is quoted as having said about the organ, “No other instrument takes such an immediate revenge on sloppiness in composition and playing.” As a performer, how do you determine what music won’t allow sloppiness from you and does not represent sloppiness from a composer?

The organ had its zenith in the 17th and 18th centuries when music was all about counterpoint. That was the high point of that style of music making and there’s a kind of utopian ideal to counterpoint that always appealed to me. You have music made up of voices and the music works on these horizontal axes and the voices interact to create the piece of music, and there’s absolute equality of importance. You could play a Bach figure, for instance, and you take out one note and the whole artifice of the expedition falls apart. The organ’s an ideal instrument for counterpoint. You have this incredibly uniform quality to the sound across the range so you can hear every voice as clearly as the other.

That’s the compositional side. From the playing side there’s really nowhere to hide on the organ. Even if you think acoustics will cover you up, you’re perhaps on the wrong track there.

These concerts that you’re doing with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and with the San Francisco Symphony are a part of the California Festival, which is showcasing works by composers primarily written within the last five years. How do you know if most of the recent compositions that would qualify for inclusion in this festival – whether or not they are being performed by you or anyone else – represent the future you would like to see in contemporary classical music?

The composer whose work I’ve loved getting to know most recently is Gabriella Smith. Her music has this incredible immediacy to it. Her music hits a very deep note in how I think about what music should be and how immediate and how accessible music should be to everyone. 

Her work is predominantly preoccupied with the climate crisis. Humanity and the arts have been going hand-in-hand since the year dot. Gabriella has always been very keen that her music is a call to arms, really, and a way of making these issues that we’re faced with very prescient and very immediate.

This organ concerto I’m playing, Breathing Forests, is about the life cycle of a forest. It’s in three contiguous movements. Grow, Breathe and Burn are the three movement’s names. It’s about the natural lifecycle of the forest and forest fire is a natural part of what happens. This is a commentary on when fire becomes an unnatural part. I can think of no better way than to ignite imagination in listener and performer alike.

You gave the world premiere in February a year ago with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The climate crisis has gotten worse since then. As somebody who cares about the environment and who cares about music, how has your relationship to this particular piece and its message changed since you gave that first performance?

It’s just much more immediate. I’m sitting here in Devon, England, and there’s a storm happening outside. September was the hottest on record. I mean, it really is changing month by month. I’m 40. I don’t have kids. But, I fear for the kids that I see around and what kind of experiences they will have to endure as they grow older. It is something that I feel is growing in proportion in people’s general consciousness over here. Of course, that will be the case in the States as well. So it’s very urgent. 

You’re going to be doing Imaginary Pancake by Gabriella Smith in Los Angeles, which is a piano work that was commissioned for Timo Andres. Unless people are at both concerts, they aren’t going to know if there’s a conversation that happens between those two works. From a performer’s perspective, is there a dialog that you can see between the solo work of Imaginary Pancake and the robust relationship that the organ has with the orchestra in Breathing Forests?

One of the interesting things about music is that there are often seemingly simple cycles and progressions that repeat over time, which I guess has been the way most music has been put together. But her version is incredibly vital. That’s one of the reasons why I think the music is incredibly approachable from a layperson’s perspective. There are these moments in Imaginary Pancake that use exactly the same kind of grammar and the same kind of language. So yeah, definitely they’re kind of companion pieces. But that’s true of a lot of her music.

How important is it for you as a listener, or for you as an artist, that the music being composed today has that approachability?

It is important. You can have in MoMA a CRU modernist chair that’s beautiful to look at, but not terribly comfortable to sit on. We’ve gotten to the point in music where we can have an approachability and an intellectual element to it that can sit by, for want of a better kind of terminology, a prettiness to the music. Nico Muhly’s music does all of those things. It’s very beautiful music to listen to, but it’s acutely complex as well. Gabriela’s music as well. We have to remember as classical musicians that most people on the street say their idea of music is so different from mine or yours. Not that we should ever dumb ourselves down, but you have to give people a way in.

The first of your two concerts in Los Angeles is a recital where you’re going to be playing both the monster organ that is at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the piano. What’s the conversation that you want to create between the music that you choose to play on each instrument? 

What I have done in putting together this program is the music has the most important thread through the recital and have a sequence in program of music, irrespective of the instrument that I’m playing on. I’m actually playing an organ piece on the piano and I’m playing a piano piece by Meredith Monk on the organ. So I want to play around with this idea of what we think of as being the idealized instruments for the music.

In the second half, I’m playing music entirely by Philip Glass. There I’m using the organ rather like a synthesizer. I’m playing Music in Fifths, which is a piece that dates from the 1960s that he wrote for his ensemble. It’s possible to play that piece of music as a soloist on the organ, but use the organ in a way which is a nod to the sound of that very austere world. There are lots of ways of circumnavigating people’s expectations, which I try to do with my programing and the instruments that I play.

I like Counterpoint, the album you released where you went back and forth between Glass and Bach, because I thought that it was easy to see a throughline between the two of them.

Definitely. Philip’s music has the same kind of economy I was talking about at the beginning about counterpoint. I called the record Counterpoint for that reason. If you take one of the tunes on the piano by Glass and you take one note away, it’s the same kind of effect that the artifice of the music completely disintegrates. It has a real integrity to it. I chose for that recording movements from Art of Fugue and the C Minor Prelude and Fugue. It’s that kind of intensity to that music and that immediacy and austerity, for want of a better way of describing that music, which is shared by lots of this music from the 1960s by Glass as well.

In a 2021 column for the New York Times, you were asked about the five minutes that will make you love the organ. You said, “Bach is the ultimate composer for this extraordinary, timeless instrument.” If you were to posit who, amongst composers writing for the organ today, is at the top of their game, who would you say it would be and why?

Nico Muhly’s music for the organ is incredibly natural. He understands how the organ works. It’s been very interesting working with other composers who are perhaps less familiar with the way in which you write in the compass of the instrument and the registration of possibilities.

The other people that I work with…Tom Jenkinson is on the other end of the spectrum. He’s an amazing musician who works and releases music under the name of Squarepusher. So if you’re into nineties electronic music, he’s absolutely a cult household name. Cecilia McDowall over here is a wonderful composer for the organ. I admire her music hugely. There’s Judith Bingham who has a huge catalog for the organ, a slightly different musical ecosystem to the one I work in. Her music is very well worth checking out. And then, of course, there are a few pieces by Arvo Pärt’s that I love playing.

French organist composer Charles-Marie Widor is quoted as having said, “Organ playing is the manifestation of a will filled with the vision of eternity.” How would you define your will when you are sitting at the organ bench and what visions do you have while you’re playing about what eternity might be? 

Wow, what a question. It sounds like Widor’s talking about his religious faith. I don’t know whether he was, but I think it’s safe to assume that he was a religious man. Most organists in the 19th century were. I like liturgy and I like church music. Where I stand on the spectrum of faith is a complex issue. I guess the only thing I can say is the organ is definitely the most transcendental instrument that you could possibly play – whether you’re in a cathedral or in a concert hall or a tiny room playing to your friends on a two-stop chamber organ. To those who have religious faith, obviously it has huge implications. For those who don’t, it’s still an extraordinary instrument that goes to the very heart of who I am as feeling as I could have a vocation to do what I do. It’s a wonderful thing.

To see the full interview with James McVinnie, please go here.

Main Photo: James McVinnie (Photo by Graham Lacadao/Courtesy Los Angeles Philharmonic)

The post James McVinnie Discusses Three Centuries of Music appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

My top choice this week is:

JAZZ: undaunted – Lafayette Gilchrist – Morphius Records

I wasn’t familiar with Gilchrist before getting information about this album by the pianist and composer. As a result of listening repeatedly to the five tracks on this superb album, I’m a fan!

Gilchrist is a master of combining a multitude of styles to make it all fresh and alive. It is modern jazz that fully understands the long history that preceded him from New Orleans to Duke Ellington to hard bop.

Joining Gilchrist are bassist Herman Burney; trombonist Christian Hizon; drummer Eric Kennedy; percussionist Kevin Pinder and saxophonist Brian Settles.

undaunted is being released digitally, on CD and a limited-edition vinyl (which I bet sounds amazing). It’s impossible not to enjoy this album.

Here are my other selections for New In Music This Week: November 3^rd

CHORAL: PENDERECKI: SACRED CHORAL WORKS – Latvian Radio Choir/Sigvards Klava – Ondine 

Polish composer Penderecki’s music gets a gorgeous performance in this album by the Latvian Radio Choir. This recording assembles eight of the composer’s works dating from 1965 – 2012. This album opens with his O gloriosa virginum from 2009 and closes with Missa brevis from 2012.

All of the works are performed a cappella and most of them are written, all or in part, in Latin. This is simply a beautiful album. 

CLASSICAL: PENITENCE & LAMENTATION – Byrd Ensemble – Scribe Records

First there is no relation that I’m aware of between myself and composer William Byrd. To acknowledge the 400^th anniversary of composer William Byrd’s death, the ensemble that takes its name from him has released a terrific new album that includes four of his works; 2 works by Thomas Tallis (whom you might know from Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis); one work each by Robert Carver; Thomas Crecquillon; Nicolas Gombert and Robert Ramsey.

The highlight of the album to me is the world premiere recording of Fallings by Nico Muhly. 

This is a beautifully performed album.

CLASSICAL: KRONOS QUARTET PERFORMS PHILIP GLASS – Kronos Quartet – Nonesuch Records – Vinyl Only Release

First released in 1995, this album by Kronos Quartet features four string quartets written by Glass. The album opens with his String Quartet No. 5 which was composed for Kronos Quartet.

That work is followed by his String Quartet No. 4 (Buczak); String Quartet No. 2 (Company) and String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima) which is an adaptation of his score for the 1985 film, Mishima.

The line-up in 1995 that appears on this wonderful album is Hank Dutt on viola; David Harrington on violin; Joan Jeanrenaud on cello and John Sherba on violin.

For those who aren’t sure about the music of Philip Glass, this album will convince you of his brilliance. 

CLASSICAL: WAVES – Bruce Liu – Deutsche Grammophon

Pianist Liu was the winter of the 18^th Chopin Piano Competition in 2021. After releasing an album of Bach’s French Suite No. 5 earlier this year, Liu returns with a convincing program of music by French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan; Jean-Philippe Rameu and Maurice Ravel.

My favorites on this recording are the 5 Miroirs, M.43 by Ravel and his performance of seven of Alkan’s 12 Etudes in All the Minor Keys. Two of them run barely over half-a-minute but are showstoppers.

CLASSICAL: PINES OF ROME – San Francisco Symphony/Esa-Pekka Salonen – SFS Media

Conductor Salonen and the SF Symphony performed this work in a concert in June of 2022. It is the latest in their partnership with Apple Music Classical. But here’s the good news: these recordings are only exclusive to Apple Music Classical for six months. After that they will be made available on other streaming outlets.

Ottorino Respighi’s tone poem was composed in 1924 and debuted the same year. It’s a four-movement work that runs approximately 21 minutes. It is part of a trilogy of compositions celebrating Rome. The other two are Fontane di Roma and Feste Roma. It happens to be one of my favorite works by Respighi.

I heard Salonen conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of this work in 2019. It was wonderful and no doubt this recording is, too.

CLASSICAL: INFINITE REFRAIN: MUSIC OF LOVE’S REFUGE– Randall Scotting and Jorge Navarro Colorado– Signum Classics

Countertenor Scotting and tenor Colorado pair up for an album of music by composers Boretti, Castrovillari; Cavalli; Legrenzi; Monteverdi; Monteverdi and Stradella that explore gay love in the 17^th century.

In the album notes Scotting writes about Venice as a city that by 1650 was “notable for over a a century for its freedom from religious fanaticism with several accounts of outed or persecuted people finding sanctuary amongst its more permissive culture.”

Scotting reveals these songs without any of the religious or social baggage that was present at the time. He allows these songs to be heard with fresh ears in a fascinating way.
Of course, none of this would matter if it weren’t beautifully performed…and it is.

CLASSICAL (adjacent):  PHOENIX RISING – Silkroad Ensemble – self-released

This EP comes from a July 28, 2022, live performance at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. There are four tracks beginning with the traditional, O, Death arranged by Rhiannon Giddens. That is followed by Ekla Cholo Re (arranged by table musician and ensemble member Sandeep Das) and Ho-Oh, composed by ensemble member Kaoru Watanabe. The recording closes with a beautiful performance Peter Gabriel’s Biko arranged by Colin Jacobsen.

The members of Silkroad Ensemble are Jeffrey Beecher on bass; Das on table; Haruka Fujii on marimba/caxixi/djembe; Giddens on banjo and vocals; Maeve Gilchrist on Celtic harp; Mario Gotoh on viola; Joseph Gramley on multiple percussion instruments; Yo-Yo Ma on cello; Wu Man on pipa; Karen Ouzounian on cello; Mazz Swift on violin and vocals; Kojiro Umezaki on shakuhachi; Watanabe on Japanese flutes and percussion and Reylon Yount on yangqin.

The ensemble is joined by Francesco Turrisi on accordion and frame drums.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC:  KINETIC – Kinetic Ensemble – Bright Shiny Things

Anyone who thinks that contemporary classical music is atonal, non-melodic and built mostly on atmosphere should listen to Kinetic. This 16-piece string orchestra from Houston makes a persuasive argument for the work of four composers on this mesmerizing debut release: Patrick Harlin; Paul Novak, Nicky Sohn and Daniel Temkin.

All of the compositions on this 12-track release revolve around themes of nature. The album opens with Harlin’s The Wilderness Anthology which is probably my favorite of all the works on Kinetic. The combination of string orchestra and pre-recorded audio from remote eco-systems from around the world is incredible.

Equally impressive are Novak’s A String Quartet is like a Flock of Birds; Sohn’s What Happens if Pipes Burst” and Temkin’s Ocean’s Call for String Orchestra (a close second for my favorite composition on this album).

JAZZ:  CONTINUANCE – Joey Alexander – Mack Avenue Records

Pianist Alexander showcases his compositional skills on Continuance. Four of the seven tracks were written by him. His choice of covers is led by I Can’t Make You Love Me, best known for Bonnie Raitt’s version (though it has also been recorded by George Michael, Adele and others.)

Of Alexander’s original compositions, I’m most impressed by Why Don’t We.

Joining Alexander on this album are John Davis on drums and Kris Funn on upright bass. Trumpeter Theo Croker joins for four of the seven tracks.

JAZZ: THE FUTURE IS NOW – The Chick Corea Elektric Band – Candid Records

Pianist and composer Chick Corea toured with his Elektric Band throughout 2016, 2017 and 2018. This album runs nearly two hours and features nine tracks. All but one of these songs were composed in whole or in part by the late Corea.

The members of The Elektric Band (all original members) are Frank Gambale on guitar; Eric Marienthal on saxophone; John Patitucci on bass and Dave Weckle on drums.

This recording – compiled by Corea before his death in 2021, comes in a 3-LP set and a 2-CD set in addition to being available for streaming.

MUSICALS (adjacent):  CATCH A FIRE 50^th ANNIVERSARY EDITIONS – Bob Marley – Ume

The London musical Get Up Stand Up! closed at the beginning of this year. But it is inevitable the musical (whether in its current form or revised) will find its way to American theaters. Before it does, this deluxe re-release of Marley’s 1973 album that exposed the world to the song of that musical, has been released in massive package of music Marley fans will want to devour.

The 3LP vinyl edition includes the original studio album, a concert from the Paris Theatre in London from May 24, 1973, a third LP with extended and/or alternate versions of the songs, plus an EP with three live performances from The Sundown Theatre in Edmonton, England from May of 1973. The 3 CD edition contains all the same music. The digital release does NOT include the Paris Theatre concert.

VOCALS:  MERRY CHRISTMAS, DARLING – Stephanie J. Block – Club44 Records

Okay, it’s official. I’ve succumbed to holiday music. But who can resist the ever-inspiring Stephanie J. Block? There are songs you’d expect (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas; O Holy Night) and songs you might not know (Manhattan in December; Winter White) and one new song, When You Hold Me in Your Arms (It’s Christmas) written by David Zippel and Wayne Haun. The latter is a duet with Block’s husband, Sebastian Arcelus.

The family affair continues on Little Drummer Girl in which their daughter, Vivienne Arcelus, contributes vocals as well. 

I put up every possible resistance to this (and every other Christmas album that crosses my computer) and this was just impossible not to love. 

VOCALS: CHRISTMAS WISH – Gregory Porter – Blue Note/Decca Records

Porter just has one of those voices that makes you pay attention. Porter wrote three new songs for this album: Christmas Wish (which mixes some Gospel traits with the same energy that Revival has) plus the ballads Everything’s Not Lost and Heart for Christmas.

Joining Porter for What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve by Frank Loesser (composer of Guys and Dolls) is Samara Joy. Their voices meld together beautifully. Most surprisingly, Porter takes one Christmas songs that, for me, ranks as traditionally one of the most depressing songs ever – Christmas Time Is Here and makes it compelling.

That’s my list of the best of what’s New In Music This Week: November 3^rd!

Enjoy the music and enjoy your weekend.

Main Photo: Francesco Clemente’s art as used on the cover of Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass (courtesy Nonesuch Records)

The post New In Music This Week: November 3rd appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

What do you make of that item when you are Davies? “It’s ridiculous. The only reason I found that very nice was because Andreas Scholl was the person I first listened to and kind of idolized when I was 18. And I thought if I can have the kind of career he has, which seems to be a career where he can choose to do concerts; he can do a bit of opera; he’s got a beautiful sound. That’s fine for me because that seems to be a good role model.”

Davies clearly learned plenty from his idol (with whom he ultimately ended up performing). He’s doing exactly what he admired about Scholl’s career. On Wednesday he has the official opening night of Santa Fe Opera’s first-ever production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which he will sing the role of Oberon.

For those who watched the Metropolitan Opera’s streaming productions during the pandemic you saw Davies perform in Nico Muhly‘s Marnie with Isabel Leonard; the Thomas Adés opera The Exterminating Angel and Handel’s Agrippina. The latter opera was conducted by Harry Bicket who leads the orchestra for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Britten’s opera, though not performed nearly as often as Billy Budd or Peter Grimes, is credited with rolling back centuries worth of history where the countertenor was confined to churches. It’s a significant moment in history that is not lost on Davies.

“I think without this role it’s very unlikely we’d be seeing countertenors in operas at the moment because it legitimized the countertenor as a serious stage voice. For someone as important as Benjamin Britten to put their faith and trust in a singer, and in particular Alfred Deller who was part of the whole regeneration and rebirth of 18th century music at the time, it’s hugely significant.”

Not that the press reaction to Deller’s performance was universally accepted as Davies learned.

“When I sang this role at the Aldeburgh Festival [home of the Britten-Pears Foundation] we got taken around to Britten’s house and the archives. There is a letter that Deller wrote to Briten after the dress rehearsal. In those days, because it was a new piece, the Times newspaper came and reviewed the dress rehearsal to get people interested in opening night. It was particularly unfavorable towards Deller and they couldn’t get their heads around it. Deller felt embarrassed and apologized and said ‘delete me when you see fit.’ Meaning before the opening. Britten could have said ‘you got me out of a tight spot’ and hired a woman to sing it. [He didn’t.] To me that letter is hugely significant because on it hinges the careers of most countertenors today.”

For such a groundbreaking role, Davies said that Oberon poses unique challenges for countertenors.

“To sing Oberon you have to really be able to sing it all in your falsetto properly to get that sound that Britten wanted – proper alto countertenor singing; none of this chest voice and trying to fake the bottom. These days it’s considered quite hard, even though it’s a relatively pain free role to sing. There’s not a coloratura aria, but a lot of countertenors shy away from it because it is just too low. They are going into the vocal studio with the mezzo sopranos and working on their high range because many careers can be flashy and if you can sing high that’s exciting. For me it’s so important to be able to sing a healthy voice with a low range near the bottom of your range. That is always a good indicator of your singing.”

In his mid-twenties Davies was already considering how long his career might be and whether his would be a voice that lasted a long time. He told Opera Today in 2006 that he’d “hope that in twenty years, I’d still have a happy voice.”

“When you are 27 you don’t realize how easy it is to do stuff and how quickly you can recover from tiredness, alcohol, whatever. At the time it seems difficult. Now I think it’s not so much the voice is less happy, but you’re just more self-aware of everything. I think I’m actually happier now when it goes well because there have been times in the last ten years, as all singers will tell you, where you have moments of doubt about the health of your voice. I think at the moment, depending on what’s in the diary, I’m pretty happy about my singing.”

He’s certainly happy about this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which reunites him with director Netia Jones.

“I did a production of this opera with Netia and it was a completely different production. It’s interesting to see a director take on a piece for a second time and she’s really nailed it. I’ve been in quite a few productions. They are either quite plain in the sense that they just do the play or they are kind of extreme. I did one at English National Opera with Christopher Alden which was set in a school and it was the power of teachers over the school and the school burned down. It was all very dark and I loved it. But this kind of sits somewhere in between. As it was done in Shakespeare’s time the same actor plays two different roles. Theseus and Oberon are kind of the same person. I’m king of the fairies, but I’m also the shadow, the human person. I hope it’s going to go down well because I think it’s pretty good.”

As is getting back on stage with an orchestra and an audience.

“We’ve had a lot of time to reflect on exactly why it is we do this job. And what became really apparent in this last year is when you do stuff without an audience there it feels completely wrong. You shouldn’t be standing there being paid to sing to nobody. Even if it’s on the internet. That’s not a real thing. It isn’t music unless it’s heard by somebody. As a performer you completely rely on the people listening to dictate where it’s going to go next – especially in opera when you’re repeating yourself over weeks.

“What differentiates classical music from pop music is people go to pop concerts because they want to hear the live version of a band’s song. There’s something really special about classical music where you want to hear the sort of definitive version that’s a one-off in that moment. Not I want to hear this opera live because I’ve listened to a CD. The moment you hear this music it’s gone. Nobody else will ever hear it again in this version. That’s what’s really special.”

For tickets to A Midsummer Night’s Dream please go here. There are performances on August 4th, 13th, 19th and 25th.

All photos: Iestyn Davies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (photo by Curtis Brown/Courtesy Santa Fe Opera)

The post Iestyn Davies Learns from the Past to Assure His Future appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Our top pick this week is actually a twofer. Jazz vocalist Jazzmeia Horn, who has taken the world by storm since her 2017 debut album A Social Call, is featured in two concerts you’ll want to watch this weekend.

With several operas, a very wide range of dance, play readings and more, it will seem at first glance like a pretty intense selection of programs. However, nothing is what it seems this week. Read about each of these programs and you’ll find they almost all represent a new way of telling both familiar and new stories.

Here are the Top Ten Best Bets: June 18th – June 21st.

*TOP PICK* JAZZ: Jazzmeia Horn – SFJAZZ – June 18th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT and Cal Performances on demand through July 21st

This week’s Fridays at Five offering from SFJAZZ is a 2019 performance from the 37th San Francisco Jazz Festival in support of her second album, Love and Liberation.

She rose to prominence after winning the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition.

In a 2017 review of a performance Horn gave at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York, Giovanni Russonello wrote in the New York Times after calling her one of the most talked-about jazz singers to emerge since Cécile McLorin Salvant and Gregory Porter:

“…she’s possessed of some distinctive tools, all of which were on display: a pinched, sassy tone in the highest register; a fondness for unguarded duets with her bassist (at Dizzy’s, it was Noah Jackson); an array of rough, pealing nonverbal sounds that add drama to codas and interludes, hinting at meanings in the music that go beyond what fits on the page.”

Should you be unable to catch the streaming of this concert on Friday, there is an encore showing on Saturday at 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT. Tickets are $5 which includes a one-month digital membership to SFJAZZ.

If you want to explore more of what Horn can do (and perhaps see and hear how she evolved her performances and her set list almost two years later), you can check out a concert filmed at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge in February of this year for Cal Performances.

That concert is available for on-demand streaming with prices ranging from $5 for Cal students and $15 per non-student viewers up to $68 for those who have the ability to pay.

Horn is a force to be reckoned with. These two concerts allow you to chart her growth as, we hope, a new album will soon be on the horizon.

OPERA: Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex – LA Opera – Now – July 18th

Igor Stravinsky composed this opera/oratorio in 1927. Based on the tragedy by Sophocles, it is a work for orchestra, speaker, soloists, and male chorus. If you believe you know well the story of Oedipus, I think you’ll be surprised at all the ultimately timely material to be found in this story.

For this filmed performance of Oedipus Rex, Los Angeles Opera has assembled a terrific ensemble.

Singing the title role is tenor Russell Thomas. The role of his mother, Jocasta, is sung by mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges. Creon and the Messenger are sung by John Relyea. Tiresias is sung by Morris Robinson. The role of the Shepherd is sung by Robert Stahley. Serving as narrator is Stephen Fry (via video).

James Conlon conducts the LA Opera orchestra.

I attended a rehearsal of this production two weeks ago (prior to a live performance in Los Angeles – LA Opera’s first live performance back in their home at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion). Collaborating with them is Manual Cinema. They are the Chicago-based company that did a truly memorable production of A Christmas Carol that was streamed last December (and was also a Best Bet).

At 50 minutes, this is a terrific way to get some opera into your weekend. And it’s free; though donations to LA Opera are encouraged.

If you want to see more of what Thomas and Bridges have to offer, let us remind you of LA Opera’s Signature Recital Series which has recitals by each of them available for streaming through the end of the month. Check out our preview here.

PLAY READING: Dear Elizabeth – Spotlight on Plays from Broadway’s Best Shows – Now – June 21st

You don’t need to know who poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell were. You don’t need to know that they became very good friends, mostly through the hundreds of letters they wrote to each other. Nor that they had an affair. You don’t even need to know that this play, which had its New York premiere in 2015, is written by award-winning playwright Sarah Ruhl.

All you really need to know about this reading is that it stars Kevin Kline and Meryl Streep. The two famously appeared together in Sophie’s Choice. This was the film that earned Streep her second Academy Award. They also appeared as exes in Jonathan Demme’s Rikki and the Flash in 2015.

Not to be outdone, Kline won an Academy Award for his performance in A Fish Called Wanda.

They appeared on stage in the 2001 production of The Seagull and the 2006 production of Mother Courage and Her Children at the Delacorte Theater as part of The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park series.

This seems like a pretty easy choice to make for your weekend plans. Why not see these incredibly talented actors together again? This is the final play in the Spotlight on Plays series. They are clearly going out on a high note.

Kate Whoriskey directs.

Tickets are $19 and allow for streaming through Monday, June 21st at 6:00 PM ET/3:00 PM PT. Proceeds benefit The Actors Fund and The Acting Company.

OPERA/MINI-SERIES: desert in – Boston Lyric Opera – Now available

As befits a project from the mind of James Darrah, desert in does not fit easily into any one category. It is a mini-series. It is an opera. It contains nudity. There’s strong sexual content and adult language. It also comes from the minds of playwright christopher oscar peña and Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Ellen Reid.

In other words, it’s like nothing you’ve seen before.

The stories of multiple characters swirl around a lodge in the desert and its swimming pool. A combination of trysts, betrayals and shamanic ceremonies result in the lodge’s owners Cass and Sunny and new guests Ion and Rufus caught up in its mysterious ways.

Appearing in desert in are mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (for whom the project was written), soprano Talise Trevigne, Tony-nominated performer Justin Vivian Bond (Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway), actors Carlis Shane Clark, Alexander Flores, Anthony Michael Lopez, Jon Orsini, Ricco Ross and Raviv Ullman with vocal performances by tenor Neal Ferreira, Tony Award-winner Jesus Garcia (La Bohème), baritone Edward Nelson, tenor Alan Pingarrón, soprano Brianna J. Robinson, mezzo-soprano Emma Sorenson and bass-baritone Davóne Tines.

Joining Reid in composing music for desert in are Michael Abels, Vijay Iyer, Nathalie Joachim, Nico Muhly, Emma O’Halloran, Wang Lu and Shelley Washington. Each one a truly fascinating composer.

Six of the eight episodes have been released and are available for viewing on operabox.tv. The final two episodes will be released in the next couple of weeks.

You have several options for viewing with varying price points. You can subscribe to operabox.tv, purchase on-demand streaming of the entire series or for individual episodes. Details can be found here.

CLASSICAL MEETS HIP-HOP: Common with the Los Angeles Philharmonic – Debuts June 18th

We’ve previewed the second season of the LA Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage series, but can attest from personal experience that seeing Common on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl with the orchestra is an event like few others. Frankly, it’s almost one of a kind, except that they created this 17-minute film available for free streaming that didn’t come from that concert.

Common is one of the most important and exciting performers in hip-hop. Gustavo Dudamel leads one of the most adventurous orchestras in this country. This pairing is going to please those who can’t imagine hip-hop with classical music institutions and those who can’t imagine a symphony orchestra with hip-hop.

Other episodes in this series are available for streaming and can be found at the link above.

OPERA: This Little Light of Mine – Kentucky Opera in collaboration with the Santa Fe Opera – June 19th – 6:00 PM ET/3:00 PM PT

Here’s a great opportunity to see a work truly in development. The Santa Fe Opera commissioned this opera inspired by the story of Fannie Lou Hamer. She was a voting rights activist whose relentless efforts lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Chandler Carter is the composer of This Little Light of Mine. The libretto is by Diana Solomon-Glover.

The two had previously collaborated on No Easy Walk to Freedom about Nelson Mandela. Solomon-Glover portrayed Winnie Mandela in that work.

On Saturday they will be streaming a workshop of This Little Light of Mine that was filmed on Monday at Kentucky Opera. This opera had been scheduled for a workshop last fall, but was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Nicole Joy Mitchell sings the role of Fannie Lou Hamer. Aundi Marie Moore sings the role of Dorothy Jean Hamer and Heather Hill sings the roles of June Johnson and an Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Worker. The workshop is directed by Beth Greenberg.

There is no charge to watch This Little Light of Mine. It will be available on Kentucky Opera’s YouTube channel.

ONE-ACT PLAYS: Unmasked: A Theatrical Celebration of Black Women’s Liberation – The Wallis – Debuts June 19th

The Wallis collaborated with Black Rebirth Collective on Unmasked, one-act plays by four Black female playwrights that was filmed in the Lovelace Studio Theatre at The Wallis.

Those writers are: Ngozi Anyanwu, Jocelyn Bioh, Dominique Morisseau and Stacy Osei-Kuffour.

Anyanwu is best known for Good Grief, an award-winning play that was first performed at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2016. Her play is called G.O.A.T. which finds three close friends who try to determine who is the greatest of all time (hence the title) through a sacred ritual.

Bioh, best known for School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, has written White-N-Luscious. While appearing on a talk show a Nigerian pop star and an Afro-British scholar face issues of self-representation and beauty standards.

Morisseau, who was Tony nominated for writing the book for Ain’t Too Proud and also wrote The Detroit Project trilogy of plays, contributes Jezelle the Gazelle. As the title perhaps alludes to, the title character is a young female runner who is easily the fastest on her block. But does she have the skill set to navigate what life has in store for her and still remain on top?

Osei-Kuffour’s work is called Madness. While handling an issue at work on a phone call, the protagonist is offered a new way to address the situation by a new colleague whom she doesn’t know. Osei-Kuffour’s ANIMALS was recorded by the Williamstown Theater Festival and can be heard on Audible.

The ensemble cast – Kelly M. Jenrett, Masha Mthembu, Candace Thomas and Jonah Wharton – are accompanied by violinist Katherine Washington. Unmasked was co-drected by Kimberly Hébert of Black Rebirth Collective and The Wallis’ Camille Jenkins.

Tickets are $19 for all four plays. If you only want to watch one of the plays, you can purchase a single ticket for $5. Please go here for details on ticket sales. Unmasked will be available for streaming on demand through July 2nd.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Jenn Colella – SETH Concert Series – June 20th – 3:00 PM ET/12:00 PM PT

I’ve never been lucky enough to see Broadway star and Tony-nominated actor Jenn Colella in any of the shows in which she’s appeared (Come From Away, If/Then, Chaplin, High Fidelity and Urban Cowboy). But that last show did lead to a chance to see her early in her career and I realized how special she was immediately.

Colella was a guest at a concert by composer Jason Robert Brown in North Hollywood. (He music directed Urban Cowboy). When she sang a couple songs with him it was like the best possible hurricane just blew into and through the theater.

I can only imagine what Colella will do this weekend as Seth Rudetsky’s guest in his concert series.

If you’re unable to see the live stream on Sunday as scheduled, there will be a re-stream of the show at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM the same day. Tickets for either showing are $25.

DANCE: Broadway Bares: Twerk from Home – Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS – June 20th – 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT

Just as Broadway is on the cusp of coming back comes an annual tradition that is one of the toughest tickets in town. And because Broadway isn’t back yet…we all get a front row seat.

Broadway Bares is an annual dance/performance fundraiser, usually performed on a Broadway stage.

For the uninitiated, it is one where clothes become less necessary as each performance goes on. This year’s show is called Twerk from Home and it will debut on Sunday night.

Two-time Tony Award winning choreograph Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, the 2005 revival of La Cage Aux Folles), is the creator of Broadway Bares and once again he directs this year’s show. Joining this year as co-directors are Laya Barak and Nick Kenkel.

Over 170 dancers are participating in Twerk from Home. Joining them will be Harvey Fierstein, J. Harrison Ghee, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Robyn Hurder, Peppermint and Jelani Remy who make special appearances. This year’s Broadway Bares culminates in a finale extravaganza that was filmed outdoors in Times Square.

There is no charge to watch Twerk from Home, but donations are encouraged. This is one of their biggest fundraisers of the year. Last year’s virtual edition raised $596,504 for Broadway Cares. You can watch the show on BC/EFA’s YouTube Channel.

MODERN DANCE: Future Dance Festival – 92Y – June 21st – July 4th

From a pool of 185 applicants, seven panelists selected 21 choreographer finalists to be part of the 92nd Street Y’s first Future Dance Festival. The goal of the festival is to pair emerging choreographers and creators with working directors.

Beginning on Monday, those 21 finalists will have their work showcased in three different programs that will all be available for free streaming.

Program 1 features work by Annie Rigney, Max Levy, Madison Elliott, Leonardo Sandoval, Burr Johnson, Nicole von Are and Brian Josiah Martinez.

Program 2 features works by Barkha Patel, Adrienne Lipson, Jessie Lee Thorne, William Ervin, Vera Kvarcakova & Jeremy Galdeano, Brian Golden and Caroline Payne.

Program 3 features works by Taylor Graham, Baye & Asa, Patrick Coker, Charly and Eriel Santagado, Jamal Callender, Beatrice Panero and Nicholas Ranauro.

The panelists, who come from Ballet Hispánico, Dance Magazine, Martha Graham Dance Company and other organizations, will introduce each work.

Registration is required.

Here ends the Top Ten Best Bets: June 18th – June 21st. But just a couple reminders:

The Metropolitan Opera celebrates Father’s Day with Verdi’s Rigoletto from the 1981-1982 season Friday; his Don Carlo from the 2010-2011 season on Saturday and his Luisa Miller from the 1978-1979 season Sunday. If you’re not a father, consider this the end of Verdi Week.

Next week the Met will be celebrating Pride Week. Monday that program gets launched with the 2017-2018 season production of Thomas Adés’ The Exterminating Angel. We’ll have the full line-up for you on Monday. We strongly recommend this opera.

Your last chance to watch A Tribute to John Williams from the Boston Pops Orchestra is Saturday. Film music fans, what are you waiting for?

On Monday South Coast Rep starts streaming the final production of their Pacific Playwrights Festival. It’s a concert performance of Harold & Lillian. You can find details here.

You’re now fully loaded with options to enjoy the performing arts this weekend. That’s all for this week’s Top Ten Best Bets: June 18th – June 21st.

Enjoy your weekend!

Photo: Jazzmeia Horn (Photo by Emmanuel Afolabi/Courtesy imnworld.com)

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She just made her directorial debut with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Close Quarters series episode #12 (Beyond the Horizon – available for streaming here).

This Saturday she will join fellow opera singers Ailyn Pérez and Nadine Sierra in a streaming concert live from the Royal Opera of Versailles in France as part of the Metropolitan Opera’s Met Stars Live in Concert series. All three performed together in the 2017-2018 Met Opera production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.

In June she stars in Desert In which was created for her by director James Darrah, composer Ellen Reid and writer Christopher Oscar Peña and includes compositions by Reid, Vijay Iyer, Nico Muhly and more.

Leonard is known for singing the title role in Muhly’s Marnie; Blanche de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites and Miranda in Thomas Adés’ The Tempest at the Met. She has performed in opera houses around the world since launching her career in 2007.

What better time to talk to Leonard about her new projects and the state of the arts in a post-pandemic world. What follows are excerpts from last week’s Zoom interview that have been edited for length and clarity.

I know you’re a big Ella Fitzgerald fan. Something she said sounds to me like a description of your career: “A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside. I’m going to try to find out the new ideas before others do.”

I am a huge fan. I couldn’t love that more. From the very beginning my hope was always to bring an experience to the audience. To spend a period of time experiencing something they may have never experienced. That’s all I’ve wanted.

I think anybody involved in the opera business knows how far behind we are in general. Even on days when I think I’ve come up with a new idea, it might be new to the opera world, but it’s not new to the world in general.

Is directing part of your path to realizing that goal? What prompted you to take on this project with LA Chamber Orchestra?

Mainly because it was James Darrah who asked me. There are a few people in this business who say you should take this risk and I’ll follow them. You meet people along the way who see things the way you do and understand what you want to do and see your vision. James is one of them. I’ll follow him blindly into fire. I was terrified and I said yes.

Isn’t that where the most rewarding experiences come from, jumping in head first into the unknown?

With this piece it’s sort of funny. I said once a week to James, “I don’t feel like I’m a director. I don’t feel like I’m directing anything.” And he said, “Welcome to the world of being a director.” I just remember we had a first initial meeting and this is what I’d love to see happen with music and storytelling.

I was very affected by Fantasia when I was a child. Most people, when you talk about classical music, they talk about Bugs Bunny or a car commercial or something tied to a visual. We’re super visual people. The better the visuals and music tell the story in tandem, the more successful we can be. That was my idea for this project.

Jessie Montgomery, who curated your episode, told me she was very excited to see what an opera singer would do with music that at its most fundamental level is based in improvisation. How did your training in the rigors of opera mesh with creating a visual style for these compositions?

For me the idea of improvisation in that sense is not terrifying. If you said go sing with a jazz band and improvise I could, but it wouldn’t be particularly good. Improvisation comes from knowing your craft so well that you can forget it. I had a dance teacher who said you have to practice until you forget it so that your brain doesn’t have to tell your body what to do. When I know a piece I don’t have to tell myself what to do.

Streaming works like Close Quarters and the upcoming Desert In are redefining how classical music and opera is presented to the world. What role do you see works like this playing in the future?

I think and I hope that most of the companies that have put so much time and resources and their learning curve into this little box will hold onto it moving forward because they see how valuable this is. To come up to speed is great – we should be here already. The next step is to keep moving forward and keeping find out the best way to bring what we do to a wider audience and inspire them to want new content.

In addition to catching up with the power of technology, is there any one thing that you think the classical music/opera world has learned and perhaps the world at large during this pandemic?

Contrary to popular notions that artists had a year off, most artists were hustling like crazy just to pay grocery bills. That was one major thing that everybody has been dealing with the entire time. I started teaching as soon as I could very soon after the pandemic started because I knew we were going nowhere fast.

I cancelled all my subscriptions except Netflix. I knew we’d need it.

This should be a huge awakening to people who look at movies and art about how valuable that art and those artists are because this is what got you through the pandemic. Imagine if none of this existed and you had 10 VHS tapes for the whole year and a half of the pandemic. You’d be nuts.

As soon as the pandemic started the first people out of a job were artists. That’s not to say, “Oh woe is us.” I still lead a very privileged life as many of us do. But when it comes to a business and trying to see the business grow and be more sustainable for those involved, it means things have to change.

It’s not going to be easy. Broadway is coming back. Classical music is coming back. It’s back, but everybody working in that building is not doing better. They might be performing, but they’re still struggling and maybe even more than they were before the pandemic. There’s so much to do.

What kind of change do you think will be necessary? And what changes do you want to make moving forward in your career?

It’s not about complaining, it’s about having a conversation 100 times with as many people as you can find. We’re all in that boat right now trying to figure out how to make this sustainable for those people in it. I don’t know how to fix it, but I do think about it a lot. All these things are really interesting moving forward in the arts.

For me it’s about working on projects that scare me like LA Chamber Orchestra or doing a crazy opera film like Desert In. I’d love to do movies and bring my talents into another medium. By doing so bringing people from that medium to say, “Oh, she does opera, let’s go see an opera.” Or “Who is this person? Let’s see Marriage of Figaro. Oh, she can be a boy, too, that’s interesting.”

We must remember how integral and how important what we do is because it brings a lot of peace, joy and cathartic moments. I have lots of hope.

Photo: Isabel Leonard in Desert In (Photo by Michael Elias Thomas/Courtesy Boston Lyric Opera)

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With yesterday’s good news that those who are vaccinated can go around without masks with the exception of a few specified areas, it seems like only a matter of time before live events will come roaring back.

The question now is whether or not all the streaming events of the past 15 months will become a relic of the era or a regular part of our cultural experience. Only time will tell.

For now, there are still plenty of great programs available for viewing. Topping our list is MCC Theater’s Miscast 2021 Gala. There are two other gala events, a new musical reading, a vintage classical music concert, new music, a play reading and more.

Here are the Best Bets: May 14th – May 17th.

*TOP PICK* – Miscast 2021 – MCC Theater – May 16th – May 20th

Yesterday we posted a full preview of this event, but here’s what makes this show so entertaining: Broadway stars perform songs separately or with others they would never be cast to sing. For instance, Robert Fairchild sings this song from the musical Sweet Charity in a clip from last year’s “quarantine” edition of Miscast.

This year’s line-up includes Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George), Melissa Barrera (In the Heights), Gavin Creel (Hello, Dolly!), Robin de Jesús (The Boys in the Band), Renée Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton), Leslie Grace (In the Heights), Cheyenne Jackson (Finian’s Rainbow), Jai’Len Josey (SpongeBob SquarePants), LaChanze (Summer: The Donna Summer Musical), Idina Menzel (Wicked), Kelli O’Hara (Kiss Me, Kate), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), Kelly Marie Tran (Raya and the Last Dragon), Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge) and Patrick Wilson (The Full Monty).

This is a free event, though donations are encouraged.

PLAY READING: Watch on the Rhine – Broadway’s Best Shows – Now – May 17th

Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine had its world premiere at the Martin Beck Theater on April 1, 1941. Her play tells the story of a German man, Mueller, married to an American woman, who is involved with anti-fascist causes in Europe. While visiting his wife’s relatives in Washington, D.C., another guest, also staying with the family, blackmails Mueller after discovering Mueller is planning to send money to aid underground operations in Germany.

For this reading as part of Spotlight on Plays, Ellen Burstyn, Alan Cox, Carla Gugino, Mary Beth Peil and Jeremy Shamos star in this reading directed by Sarna Lapine.

Tickets are $18 with the reading available for viewing through Monday at 6:00 PM ET/3:00 PM PT. Proceeds from the reading benefit The Actors Fund.

Trivia: Two years later a film version of Watch on the Rhine was released starring Bette Davis and Paul Lukas (reprising his role from Broadway). The film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture. Lukas won for Best Actor.

DANCE: Stephen Petronio Company – The Joyce Theater – Now – May 26th

There are five works being showcased in this new film by the Stephen Petronio Company, the New York-based dance company that was founded in 1984.

Two of the five pieces being performed are set to songs made famous by Elvis Presley: Are You Lonesome Tonight and Love Me Tender.

There are two versions of Are You Lonesome Tonight being performed. Love Me Tender was originally performed in 1993 in a collaboration with artist Cindy Sherman.

New Prayer For Now (Part 1) has its debut in this film. Petronio was inspired by Balm in Gilead and Bridge Over Troubled Water when creating New Prayer…. Monstah Black (who is also a dancer and choreographer in addition to being a musician) composed the music and performs with the Young People’s Chorus of New York City.

The program wraps up with a new version of Group Primary Accumulation by Trisha Brown and Pandemic Portraits, a film by Dancing Camera.

Tickets are $25.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Berlin Philharmonic 1967 – Carnegie Hall – May 14 – May 21st

Herbert von Karajan leads the Berliner Philharmoniker in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with soloist Alexis Weissenberg.

This is amongst the most popular concerti in the world. But if Weissenberg’s name isn’t familiar to today’s audiences, this quote from his obituary by Maraglit Fox in the New York Times defines his reputation:

“Mr. Weissenberg possessed a technical prowess rivaled by few other pianists. The ice of his demeanor at the keyboard (he sat, leaned forward and got down to business, playing with scarcely a smile or grimace) was matched by the fire that came off the keys.” (Weissenberg passed away in 2012.)

There is no charge to watch this performance. This is the first of a new series Carnegie Hall Selects featuring performances by artists who played major roles in the 130-year history of the venue.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Jose Llana: Broadway Stories & Songs with Ted Sperling – May 14th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT

Broadway star Jose Llana is Ted Sperling‘s guest for Broadway Stories & Songs. Llana has been seen in The King and I, Rent, Street Corner Symphony, Flower Drum Song, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Wonderland on Broadway.

I first saw him in Flower Drum Song at the Mark Taper Forum. I also saw him in the incredible show Here Lies Love at the Public Theater.

He also performed Adam Guettel’s song cycle Saturn Returns (later renamed Myths and Hymns) which is where he and Sperling first worked together.

If you can’t see the show on Friday, there is an encore showing scheduled for May 15th at 2:00 PM ET/11:00 AM PT. Tickets for either showing are $25. You can watch the show a second time if you buy tickets for the Friday night showing.

JAZZ: Robert Glasper: Everything’s Beautiful – SFJAZZ – May 14th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT

This 2018 concert found innovative musician/composer Robert Glasper putting his own spin on works by Miles Davis for his album Everything’s Beautiful. Glasper’s music was featured in Don Cheadle’s film Miles Ahead from 2015.

If you don’t know Glasper or his work, he’s one of the most interesting artists working in jazz today. He’s also collaborated with Erykah Badu, Herbie Hancock, Kendrick Lamar, Ledisi and Jill Scott.

Joining Glasper in this performance are vocalist Bilal; Michael Severson on guitars; Burniss Travis on bass and Justin Tyson on drums.

If you can’t watch Friday night’s showing that is part of SFJAZZ’s Fridays at Five series, there is an encore showing on Saturday, May 15th at 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT. Tickets require either a one-month digital membership for $5 or a $50 annual digital membership.

MUSICAL: Breathe: A New Musical – May 14th – July 9th

Playwright Timothy Allen McDonald (Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka) and novelist Jodi Picoult (The Book of Two Ways) have teamed up for this new musical suite that features interlocking stories of five different couples navigating their way through the Covid pandemic and its impact on their lives.

The songs were written by Doug Besterman (The Big One-Oh!), Zina Goldrich (Ever After), Marcy Heisler (Hollywood Romance), Kate Leonard (Ratatouille: The TiKTok Musical), Douglas Lyons (Peter, Darling), Daniel J. Mertzlufft (Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical), Rebecca Murillo (Credence & Cecilia), Ethan Pakchar (Five Points), Rob Rokicki (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical) and Sharon Vaughn (My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys).

Appearing in this online musical are Tony Award winners Kelli O’Hara and Brian Stokes Mitchell along with Denée Benton (Hamilton), Rubén J. Carbajal (Hamilton), Max Clayton (Moulin Rouge), Josh Davis (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Colin Donnell (Anything Goes), Matt Doyle (the upcoming revival of Company), Patti Murin (Frozen), T. Oliver Reid (Hadestown), and Daniel Yearwood (Once on This Island).

Tickets are $25 to watch Breathe. If you want to join the official opening night on Friday, May 14th at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT, those tickets are $40 and includes an post-premiere cast party and a download of the music from the show.

CONTEMPORARY SONG CYCLE: Dorothea – CAP UCLA – Debuts May 15th – 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT

Ted Hearne, one of our most fascinating and interesting composes, has created a song cycle inspired by the poetry of Dorothea Lasky.

Lasky is an acclaimed poet who told the LA Review of Books, “I do believe it’s better not to be safe in your poems.” As a composer, Hearne also doesn’t play it safe.

They both are utterly compelling. This combination should double down on that and prove to be very exciting to watch.

Hearne was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his 2018 composition Sound From the Bench. Both Los Angeles Opera and San Francisco Opera performed his opera The Source about Chelsea Manning.

Hearne will be singing vocals in this performance. Joining him are Eliza Bagg on vocals and synths; Ashley Bathgate on cello; Nathan Koci on piano/keyboards; Diana Wade on viola; Ron Wiltrout on drums and Ayanna Woods on bass.   

There is no charge to watch Dorothea. Donations to CAP UCLA are encouraged.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Nadia Sirota, Gabriel Cabezas and Rob Moose – The Phillips Collections – Debuts May 16th – 4:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Trio Sonata No. 6 in G Major, BWV 530 serves as the foundation for this performance by violist Nadia Sirota, cellist Gabriel Cabezas and violinist Rob Moose.

The concert will begin and end with a movement from the sonata with a third movement at the halfway point.

Interspersed amongst the concert are works by three of today’s most interesting contemporary composers: Marcos Batler, Missy Mazzoli and Nico Muhly.

Sirota is also the music producer for Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Close Quarters series.

There is no charge to watch this performance, however registration is required. The program will remain available for viewing through May 22nd.

PLAY READING: Sejanus, His Fall – Red Bull Theater – Debuts May 17th – 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT

New York’s Red Bull Theater will present a new adaptation of Ben Johnson’s 17th-century play Sejanus, His Fall on Monday night. The adaptation is by Nathan Winkelstein, who also directs.

The play depicts a power struggle between Tiberius, the Emperor of Rome and Sejanus, his right-hand man. Sejanus covets being the emperor. Tiberius has no desire to make that a possibility. Factions line up behind each man and the power struggle begins with all of our own contemporary issues surrounding politics and power at play.

Participating in the reading are: Shirine Babb (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Grantham Coleman (The Great Society), Keith David (Seven Guitars), Manoel Felciano (To Kill a Mockingbird), Denis O’Hare (Assassins), Matthew Rauch (Junk), Liv Rooth (To Kill a Mockingbird), Laila Robins (Heartbreak House), Stephen Spinella (Angels in America), Emily Swallow (High Fidelity), Raphael Nash Thompson (The Red Letter Plays), Tamara Tunie (Radio Golf) and James Udom (The Rolling Stone).

Tickets are pay what you can with proceeds going to Red Bull Theater.

CONCERT/GALA: Stand Up, Stand Strong – Covenant House – May 17th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT

Sara Bareilles, Stephanie J. Block, Jon Bon Jovi, Zach Braff, Terron Brooks, Rachel Brosnahan, Stephen Colbert, Charlie Day, Darius De Haas, Ariana DeBose, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Morgan Freeman, Jon Hamm, Adrianna Hicks, James Monroe Iglehart, Capathia Jenkins, Jewel, Jeremy Jordan, Amanda Kloots, Ames McNamara, Laurie Metcalf, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Abby Mueller, Alex Newell, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, Kelli O’Hara, Laura Osnes, Dolly Parton, Jo Ellen Pellman, Ben Platt, Jason Ralph, Ryan Reynolds, Chita Rivera, Robin Roberts, Aliza Russell, Keala Settle, Tony Shalhoub, Meryl Streep, Ana Villafañe, Dionne Warwick, Marlon Wayans, Frank Wildhorn, Vanessa Williams, Daniel Yearwood and more will join co-hosts Audra McDonald and John Dickerson for this annual fundraiser for Covenant House.

The organization provides shelter for homeless youth living on the streets. They have helped more than one million youth since their inception more than 40 years ago.

This gala fundraiser will offer music, stories and more. There is no charge to watch the show, however donations are encouraged. For a list of the many ways you can watch Stand Up, Stand Strong, please go here.

VOCALS/STORIES: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – May 17th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT

Though Jim Caruso has multiple guests for this Monday’s 58th episode of Pajama Cast Party, I can sum up the reason to tune into this particular episode with two words: Marilyn Maye.

That’s the official list of Best Bets: May 14th – May 17th. Here are also a few reminders:

Lincoln Center Theater’s Tales from the Wings, which we previewed here, will remain available through Monday, May 17th. This is a must for theater fans.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic debuts Chamber Music: Piazzolla in their Filmed at the Ford series. You can find details here.

This weekend’s offering from the Metropolitan Opera include the documentary The Audition on Friday; Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia from the 2014-2015 season on Saturday and Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux from the 2015-2016 season on Sunday.

Sunday will also be the finals of the National Council Auditions at the Met at 3:00 PM ET/12:00 PM PT.

Monday begins Week 62 at the Met where the theme is Unhinged Mad Scenes. The first production being streamed is the 2006-2007 season production of Bellini’s I Puritani with Anna Netrebko.

There are just two weeks left to see Sutton Foster’s Bring Me to Light. You can find details in our preview here.

There you have a jam-packed list of Best Bets: May 14th – May 17th.

Enjoy your weekend and enjoy the shows!

Photo: Renée Elise Goldsberry (Photo by Justin Bettman/Courtesy MCC Theater)

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Quite a few of this week’s offerings are concerts. We have jazz, classical, Broadway vocals and one jazz/dance combination.

I’ve made a change to help you navigate my listings. Before each title there is a category that defines the genre of the listing. So if you only want to find jazz concerts, just look for JAZZ. For ballet or dance, look for DANCE. And in the case of our hybrid event, you’ll find DANCE/JAZZ combined. All listings are in order of when they become available.

Topping our list this week is the world premiere of a new work by composer Nico Muhly that is being performed by organist James McVinnie on Saturday.

Here are my choices as your Best Bets at Home: December 4th – December 6th.

PLAY: The Night of the Iguana – La Femme Theatre Productions – Now – December 6th

Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana gets an all-star reading from New York’s La Femme Theatre Productions.

Williams based the play on his own short story that in and of itself was inspired by his cousin. The Night of the Iguana had its Broadway debut in 1961.

Reverend Shannon has been forced out of his church after a sermon where he demonized God. He’s relegated to serving as a tour guide and accused of statutory rape of a 16-year-old girl.

While escorting a group of women to Acapulco and staying at a cheap motel, Shannon battles the pressures from the outside world and the demons within himself.

Dylan McDermott stars as Reverend Shannon; Phylicia Rashad plays Maxine; Roberta Maxwell as Judith Fellowes; Austin Pendleton as Nonno and Jean Lichty as Hannah, with Keith Randolph Smith, Carmen Berkeley, Eliud Kauffman, Julio Macias, Stephanie Schmiderer, Bradley James Tejeda and John Hans Tester. Emily Mann directs.

Tickets are range from $10 – $250 depending on your ability to pay. This reading serves as a fundraiser for The Actors Fund.

DANCE: in the absence of things – Baryshnikov Arts Center – Now – December 15th

In this ten-minute experimental dance short film, Somi Kakoma explores the impact the pandemic is having on her and her creative process.

Instead of being on the road, she returned home to Illinois and found herself wrestling with the the desire to create and perform and the need to just live.

Movement, art songs, spoken word and more are utilized to tell her story. Kakoma’s mother provides some of the film’s narration. There is also music from a recent live album, Holy Room – Live at Alte Opera with Frankfurt Radio Big Band in the film.

CLASSICAL: Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus – The Philharmonia Orchestra of London – Beginning December 4th – 2:30 PM EST/11:30 AM PST

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 The Weimar Republic: Salonen Conducts The Seven Deadly Sins.

Starting on Friday, Salonen and Gerard McBurney are once again collaborating on a concert. The Philharmonia Orchestra of London is performing Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus.

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.

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.

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

The link takes you directly to The Philharmonia Orchestra of London’s YouTube page where this performance can be seen.

DANCE/JAZZ: waiting – 92nd Street Y – December 4th – 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Dancer/choreographer Sidra Bell was working on waiting in anticipation of its world premiere performance in June of this year. That was postponed due to the pandemic.

The work is a collaboration with jazz composer/saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

Wilkins’ debut album, Omega, was named the Best Jazz Album of 2020 by the New York Times this week.

What is being shown is a work-in-progress of waiting. Sidra Bell and Immanuel Wilkins will participate in a post-performance Q&A.

Tickets are $10.

JAZZ: Christian McBride – Village Vanguard – December 4th – December 5th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Bassist Christian McBride is joined by Marcus Strickland on saxophone; Josh Evans on trumpet and Nasheet Waits on drums for these two performances from New York’s Village Vanguard.

McBride’s most recent album is The Movement Revisited: A Musical Portrait of Four Icons.

On this record McBride celebrates Rosa Parks, Malcom X, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King, Jr.

He just received two Grammy Award nominations recently for Round Again (which finds him recording with Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau and Brian Blade) and also for Trilogy 2 (which is a live recording with Chick Corea and Blade). He can’t win both awards unless there is a tie – he’s competing against himself.

Tickets are $10 for each performance.

JAZZ: Robert Glasper Acoustic Trio – The Kennedy Center – December 4th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM EST

Composer, pianist, producer Robert Glasper is equally comfortable working in the hip-hop world (Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Maxwell, Common) and the jazz world (Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride).

He has released albums that find him collaborating with such artists as Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, Phoelix and Herbie Hancock.

For this concert at The Kennedy Center he’s working in the trio configuration with Vicente Archer on bass and Justin Tyson on drums. As befits an artist who works in multiple genres, the trio will be joined by DJ Jahi Sundance.

I believe Glasper is one of our most interesting musicians and this should be a terrific concert.

After the performance, Glasper will be joined by Jason Moran for a conversation. Moran is the Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz.

Tickets are $20 and the program will remain available for renting beyond this premiere showing.

PLAY/MAGIC: The Future – Geffen Stayhouse – December 4th – January 31st

It seems like only yesterday that magician Helder Guimarães just concluded his run of The Present with the Geffen Playhouse. He’s back with a new show and given its title I’m wondering if a trilogy is being planned.

The Future finds gambling at the core of Guimarães’ storytelling and perspective is the fulcrum through which we will view the story and guide its direction.

Frank Marshall returns as director. Will there also be a show next year called The Past?

Tickets are $95 with a majority of the performances already sold out. If you’re interested, act quickly. To do otherwise might gamble away your chance to get a look into The Future.

JAZZ: Pink Martini – SFJAZZ – December 4th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

This week’s Fridays at Five concert from San Francisco Jazz is a holiday concert by Pink Martini that was performed at the venue last December.

This seventeen-member ensemble successfully blends musical styles to create a sound all their own. For instance, did you ever think this rhythm would be part of “We Three Kings?”

Having watched many a concert from this Fridays at Five series, I’m always pleased with how good these shows look and how great they sound.

The concert will air only at this one time. Tickets are $5 for a one-month subscription or $60 for a one-year subscription.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Vanessa Williams: Live from the West Side – Segerstrom Center – December 5th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

In the third and final concert from the Women of Broadway series Live from the West Side, Vanessa Williams take to the stage.

Williams was a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominee for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as The Witch in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods revival from 2002.

She made her Broadway debut when she joined the cast of Kiss of the Spider Woman as Aurora/Spider Woman in 1994. Her other Broadway credits include 2010’s Sondheim on Sondheim and the 2013 revival of The Trip to Bountiful.

Beyond her Broadway career she’s had best-selling albums and singles including The Colors of the Wind from the Disney animated film Pocahontas.

Tickets are $30 and allow for additional viewings for 72 hours.

JAZZ: Arturo Sandoval Live from the Broad Stage – The Broad Stage – December 5th – December 13th

In October of this year, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and a small ensemble of musicians came together to film a live concert at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. The end result is 60 minutes of Latin jazz sure to entertain.

Sandoval is a 10-time Grammy Award winner who was born in Cuba. There isn’t enough space to list all the recordings he’s made and all the musicians with whom he’s recorded. But perhaps the names Bennett, Estefan, Keys, Monk and Sinatra might sound familiar.

Joining him are Will Brahm on guitar; Ricard Pasillas on percussion; Johnny Friday on drums; John Belazaguy on bass and Max Haymer on piano.

Tickets are $10 for non-members. Free for members.

JAZZ: Barbara Morrison: Standing on Their Shoulders – The Wallis – December 5th – 11:00 PM EST/8:00 PM PST

No jazz vocalist can claim not to have been influenced by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. Singer Barbara Morrison is no exception.

In this concert, part of the virtual version of The Sorting Room from The Wallis, Morrison will put her own stamp on the songs these women made famous.

Tickets are $25 and allow for viewing for 24 hours. There are more concerts in this series and package deals are available for viewing either half or all six of The Sorting Room series.

CLASSICAL: James McVinnie Live from Concert Hall ‘Latvija’ in Ventspils – December 6th – 12:00 EST/9:00 AM PST

In February of 2018 I saw and heard organist James McVinnie give the world premiere performance of Register by Nico Muhly. It was an amazing performance of truly fascinating music.

It wasn’t their first collaboration. Muhly wrote 2013’s Cycles for McVinnie. Muhly and McVinnie have collaborated again on Nativity Cycle.

This music was written specifically for this concert and for McVinnie by Muhly.

The composer was inspired by plainsong. That term refers to unaccompanied church music sung in medieval modes and free rhythm. The text is taken from liturgical material.

Each of Muhly’s pieces will include the plainchant at the end, but expect him to transform the original music into something that is at times, much simpler and at other times, much more complex. All of which suits McVinnie’s talents.

Tickets are €8 which is just under $10 as of press time. This does not include any service charges. There is a note on the website that says ticket prices will increase as the concert dates get closer.

JAZZ: Billie Holiday: A Concert Celebration – 92nd Street Y – December 6th – December 9th

On November 21st, the Emmet Cohen Trio was joined by singers Catherine Russell and Veronica Swift for a celebration of the music of Billie Holiday filmed at New York’s 92nd Street Y. That concert will start being available on Sunday at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST and remain available for renting through December 9th.

Also joining the concert is saxophonist Tivon Pennicott who joins for a special tribute to the collaborations Holiday had with Lester Young.

I wasn’t familiar with Swift before reading about this concert. She’s quite good. It will be exciting to see where she goes with her career.

The members of Cohen’s trio are Yasushi Nakamura on bass and Kyle Poole on drums. (Cohen, of course, plays piano.)

Tickets are $15.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Eva Noblezada Live from Adelphi – Adelphi PAC Concert Hall – December 6th – 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST

Eva Noblezada has appeared on Broadway in two musicals: She played Kim in the 2017 revival of Miss Saigon. She originated the role of Eurydice in the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown. She was Tony nominated for both performances. In other words, she’s gotten a nomination for every role she’s performed on Broadway. She hasn’t yet snagged one of the trophies, but just you wait.

You’ll be able to see what makes her so engaging in this live concert on Sunday. I’ve seen her in Hadestown. She’s very talented and this should be a great opportunity to see her shine.

Tickets are $15.

CLASSICAL: McGill/McHale Trio – Shriver Hall Concert Series – December 6th – 5:30 PM EST/2:30 PM PST

Clarinettist Anthony McGill and his flautist brother Demarre met pianist Michael McHale when they were artists-in-residence at Bowling Green University. The trio first performed together in 2014 and they’ve been making music together ever since.

For this program, which took place at New York’s 92nd Street Y last December, the trio will celebrate dance. The concert features works by Chris Rogerson, Francis Poulenc, Antonin Dvořák, Guillaume Connesson, Claude Debussy and Paul Schoenfield.

There will be a post-performance Q&A with the artists available after the concert.

Tickets are $15 and allow for continued viewing through December 9th.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Ana Gasteyer with Seth Rudetsky – December 6th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Columbia, Elphaba and Mrs. Peachum are all familiar characters to fans of musicals. Martha Stewart, Celine Dion and Hillary Rodham Clinton are familiar to most people.

Saturday Night Live veteran Ana Gasteyer has played them all.

Her Broadway debut came in the 2001 Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Show. Several years later she played that oh-so-green woman in Wicked after having appeared in a new production of The Threepenny Opera with Alan Cumming.

She joins Seth Rudetsky for his concert series this weekend. The live performance takes place on Sunday. If you are unable to watch that performance, it will be re-streamed on Monday, December 7th at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST.

Tickets for either performance are $28.50 (which includes service charges).

That concludes my selections of the Best Bets at Home: December 4th – December 6th. But there are always going to be a few reminders:

Ute Lemper’s Rendezvous with Marlene has a final streaming performance on Saturday, December 5th at 2:00 PM EST/11:00 AM PST.

Larry Powell’s The Gaze…No Homo continues with new episodes at The Fountain Theatre’s website.

Greenway Court Theatre’s If I Should Wake makes both parts available for the first time beginning on Friday. The show ends its streaming on December 10th.

All concerts that are part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage series remain available for streaming. The Solitude episode, featuring works by Thomas Adés and Duke Ellington, will only be available through December 15th.

The Metropolitan Opera concludes its Stars in Signature Roles week with Elīna Garanča in Bizet’s Carmen on Friday; Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and Tatiana Troyanos in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos on Saturday and Shirley Verrett, Luciano Pavarotti and Cornell MacNeil in Puccini’s Tosca on Sunday.

Now we’ve truly come to the end of the Best Bets at Home: December 4th – December 6th. Enjoy your weekend and enjoy the culture!

Photo: James McVinnie (Photo ©Magnús Andersen/Courtesy of McVinnie’s website)

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Amongst the highlights this week are Nina Stemme giving the performance of a lifetime, one of Nico Muhly‘s operas (which features a stunning performance by Isabel Leonard) and a seldom-seen opera based on one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.

Each production becomes available at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT on the Metropolitan Opera website. Every opera remains available for 23 hours. They are heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and recently announced the cancellation of the full 2020-2021 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

If you read this column early enough on November 23rd, you might still have time to catch the 2019-2020 season production of Wozzeck by Alban Berg that concludes last week’s operas conducted by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Here is the full line-up for Week 37 at the Met.

Monday, November 23 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore 

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. This revival of the 2009 David McVicar production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available July 30th.

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

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

If you think I was a bit unfair about the plot in Il Trovatore, let me share with you what Zachary Woolfe said at the start of his review of this production in the New York Times:

“With its cackling Gypsies, mistaken identities and secret brothers, the convoluted plot of Verdi’s Trovatore can seem like the setup for a joke. Already verging on chaos, it makes a natural backdrop for the anarchic final scene of the Marx Brothers’ Night at the Opera.

“Il Trovatore overcomes its absurdities, though, with its vitality, its irresistible melodies and tightly driven rhythms.” 

Tuesday, November 24 – Nico Muhly’s Marnie

Conducted by Roberto Spano; starring Isabel Leonard, Iestyn Davies and Christopher Maltman. This Michael Mayer production is from the 2018-2019 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 30th.

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, November 25 – Thomas’s Hamlet

Conducted by Louis Langrée, starring Marlis Petersen, Jennifer Larmore, Simon Keenlyside and James Morris. This Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser production is from the 2009-2010 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on May 5th.

Ambroise Thomas collaborated with librettists Michel Carré and Jules Barbier for this opera. Shakespeare’s play obviously is the inspiration, but they based their libretto on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas and Paul Meurice. Hamlet had its world premiere in Paris in 1868.

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.

Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, believes his Uncle Claudius and his mother, Gertrude, were involved in his father’s sudden death. As Claudius ascends the throne, Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his father asking Hamlet to avenge his murder. This becomes Hamlet’s sole purpose at the expense of other responsibilities. Amongst those responsibilities is his relationship with Ophelia who, convinced these distractions mean Hamlet doesn’t lover her, descends into madness. Will the Prince be able to do as his father’s ghost requests and what will be the price if he does?

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review, raved about Keenlyside in the title role. “The opera is also a star vehicle for the right baritone in this punishing title role. Simon Keenlyside, the Ralph Fiennes of baritones, was the acclaimed Hamlet when this production was introduced, and he dominated the evening here. His singing was an uncanny amalgam, at once elegant and wrenching, intelligent and fitful. Handsome, haunted and prone to fidgety spasms that convey Hamlet’s seething anger and paralyzing indecision, Mr. Keenlyside embodied the character in every moment, and you could not take your eyes off him.”

Thursday, November 26 – Strauss’s Elektra

Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; starring Nina Stemme, Adrianne Pieczonka, Waltraud Meier, Burkhard Ulrich and Eric Owens. This Patrice Chéreau production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 20th and August 31st.

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

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

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

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

Friday, November 27 – Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor

Conducted by Patrick Summers; starring Natalie Dessay, Joseph Calleja, Ludovic Tézier and Kwangchul Youn. This revival of the 2007 Mary Zimmerman production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on July 27th.

Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Bride of Lammermoor was the inspiration for Gaetano Donizetti’s opera, Lucia di Lammermoor. Salvadore Cammarano, who collaborated with the composer on seven operas, wrote this libretto. This opera had its world premiere in Naples in 1835.

The opera, set in Scotland in the early 18th century, is a truly tragic love story. Lucia and Edgardo are secretly in love. They keep their love a secret as they are from opposing families. Her brother keeps them from getting married by lying to Lucia about Edgardo having married another woman. So deep is her despair that she turns to murder and ultimately devolves into madness.

When this production was first presented in 2007, Dessay also sang the title role. Zachary Woolfe, writing for the New York Times felt this return of the production after seven years allowed the men to shine.

“The manipulative brother Enrico, sung richly and acted with laconic ruefulness by Ludovic Tézier, seems almost reasonable in his heartless demands. Kwangchul Youn had burnished tone and great dignity as the well-meaning chaplain Raimondo. Even Arturo, the arranged husband Lucia murders, was charming as sung by the young tenor Matthew Plenk.

“And Joseph Calleja was sensationally ardent as Lucia’s lover, Edgardo, one of the best roles of his young, exciting Met career.”

Saturday, November 28 – Wagner’s Die Walküre

Conducted by Philippe Jordan; starring Christine Goerke, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Jamie Barton, Stuart Skelton, Greer Grimsley and Günther Groissböck. This revival of Robert Lepage’s 2013 production is from the 2018-2019 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on August 2nd

This is the second opera in Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (also known as The Ring Cycle.) It had its premiere as a stand-alone opera in 1870 in Munich. The first performance of the entire cycle was at Bayreuth six years later. Wagner wrote the libretto as well as the music.

The son of the god Wotan is a fugitive named Siegmund. When he finds himself taking refuge at Sieglinde’s house, the two fall passionately in love. But Sieglinde is married and in order for her and Siegmund to be together Siegmund must defeat her husband in a battle to the death.

I’ve seen Christine Goerke sing music from Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen in concert and can attest to the fact that she is amongst the finest and best Wagnerian sopranos working today. Her presence in this production (which drew very mixed reviews and faced challenges with its technology when first performed in 2013) is reason enough to watch this Die Walküre.

Sunday, November 29 – Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra

Conducted by James Levine; starring Kiri Te Kanawa, Plácido Domingo, Vladimir Chernov and Robert Lloyd. This Giancarlo del Monaco and Michael Scott production is from the 1994-1995 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on August 5th.

Giuseppe Verdi’s opera is based on a play by Antonio García Gutiérrez, the same playwright whose work inspired Il Trovatore.  Francesco Maria Piave wrote the libretto. Simon Boccanegrahad its world premiere in its first version in Venice in 1857. Verdi re-worked the opera and the revised version (with assistance from Arrigo Boito) was first performed at La Scala in Milan in 1881.

Simon Boccanegra is the Doge of Genoa. As the opera begins politics surround him and threaten to envelop him as rumors about his past follow him. But they are not just rumors. Twenty-five years ago Maria, his lover, died and their daughter disappeared.

Maria’s father and his adopted daughter are plotting to overthrow Boccanegra. Simultaneously the Doge is going to finally discover the whereabouts of his missing daughter. But will his enemies and the rising political storm make him another casualty?

This is not one of Verdi’s most beloved works. The fact he tried to re-work it doesn’t suggest great confidence. Critics often call in to question the absurd plotting and its reliance on secret revelations and coincidences. 

Edward Rothstein wrote in his New York Times review, this was Verdi exploring themes that had long been a part of his work:

“Verdi’s lifelong preoccupations come to maturity in this work, as Boccanegra attempts to apply the laws of the family to the laws of the state. It is why the opera’s climaxes turn on recognitions: the hidden connections between citizens are being revealed, bringing with them the possibilities of political as well as familial reconciliation.”

Those are the family dramas to be found in Week 37 at the Met. Next week’s theme will be Stars in Signature Roles. What might those be? Send us your guesses.

Enjoy Week 37 at the Met and Happy Thanksgiving.

Photo: Simon Keenlyside in the title role of Hamlet (Photo by Marty Sohl/Courtesy The Metropolitan Opera)

The post Family Drama: Week 37 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The program will find two-time Grammy winner Leonard discussing her career and passions with Zsolt Bognár who hosts Living the Classical Life. She will also be performing on the live-streamed event. Joining Leonard will be pianist Emanuel Ax, soprano Janai Brugger and trombonist Wycliffe Gordon.

Leonard’s roles at the Metropolitan Opera have included Rosina in The Barber of Seville (a role she also performed at LA Opera); Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro; Miranda in Thomas Adés’s The Tempest; Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte; Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Charlotte in Werther.

I first became aware of her when I attended a Met Opera Live in HD screening of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. While the opera happens to be amongst my favorites, this particular production was staggeringly beautiful, truly emotional and Leonard’s singing was glorious.

She also sang the title role in Nico Muhly‘s Marnie when it had its US premiere. Muhly’s opera was streamed on April 30th by The Met. Leonard was stunning once again. As she is in this concert performance of “I See Forio” from Marnie with Muhly at the piano and Nadia Sirota on viola.

Who knows when live performances will resume again. Leonard has multiple bookings on her calendar, but sadly it might be quite some time before we get to see and hear her live in either an opera or a concert.

If you know Leonard and her work, or want to be introduced to her, Thursday’s Live with Carnegie Hall will definitely be something to watch. If, however, the timing doesn’t work out for you, Carnegie Hall archives these programs so you can watch it at your leisure approximately an hour or so after the conclusion of the live stream.

Photo of Isabel Leonard by Fay Fox/Courtesy of Columbia Artists

The post Mezzo Soprano Isabel Leonard Goes Live… appeared first on Cultural Attaché.