My  top pick is:

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL:  AMERICAN COUNTERPOINTS – Experiential Orchestra/James Blachly/Curtis Stewart – Bright Shiny Things

Compositions by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson and Julia Perry are highlighted in this album. 

Perkins’s Louisiana Blues Strut: A Cakewalk and Sinfonietta No. 1 anchor the first half of this album from the Grammy Award-winning Experiential Orchestra. 

Perry’s very brief Prelude for Strings (a beautiful work) separates those two works by Perkins. She returns with her Symphony in One Movement for Viols and String Basses, Ye, Who Seek the Truth and her Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (a world premiere recording).

Violinist/composer Stewart closes out the album with By Julia Perry and the solo work We Who Seek.

There aren’t too many albums, however good they might be, that make me stop everything all at once to listen to a second time. This is that album.  Founder/conductor Blachly and the Experiential Orchestra could very well find themselves on track for a second Grammy Award for this incredible recording.

For those wanting to explore more of Julia Perry and her work, The Julia Perry Centenary Celebration and Festival takes places in New York from March 13th – March 16th.

Here are the rest of my picks of the best of what’s New In Music This Week: March 1^st:

CLASSICAL: DURUFLÉ REQUIEM/POULENC LENTEN MOTETS – The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge/Stephen Layton – Hyperion Records

There’s a funny thing about requiems and other sacred music. I’m an atheist, but I can’t resist the beauty of the music. That beauty can certainly be heard on this album. I’ve been quite familiar with Duruflé’s Requiem for years. The discovery for me is Poulenc’s Lentent Motets which I hadn’t heard before. Poulenc composed these four motets in 1938-1939 with the first performance taking place in 1939.

The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge dates back to the 14th century. Their website says they are “exploring a wide-ranging repertoire drawn from both Catholic and Protestant traditions.” For believers I’m sure there’s much more here for you than I can respond to. But on a purely musical level, this is a beautiful recording.

CLASSICAL: SMETANA/MÁ VLAST – Czech Philharmonic/Semyon Bychkov – Pentatone Music

Vlatava  (The Moldau) from Czech composer Smetana’s Má Vlast (My Homeland)is very well known and instantly recognizable for classical music fans. Though there are quite a few recordings of the whole work, the other five of these six symphonic poems aren’t as often performed, resulting in less familiarity.

This recording celebrates both the composer’s 200^th birthday and the year of Czech Music. Bychkov is the Music Director of the Czech Philharmonic. Worth noting is that the first record from the Czech Philharmonic was a 1929 release of Má Vlast.

Clearly recording techniques have vastly improved in 95 years and the sound on this recording is spot-on. As is the playing. I strongly recommend this recording.

CLASSICAL: TCHAIKOVSKY/KORNGOLD STRING SEXTETS – Nash Ensemble – Hyperion Records

Tchaikovsky only composed one string sextet. It goes by the name Souvenir de Florence. It’s a wickedly complicated piece. So much so that even he said, “It is frightfully difficult.” However difficult it may be, the musicians from Nash Ensemble that perform this work make it sound positively effortless. Even though the work calls for each musician to act like a soloist within a sextet, there is a uniformity of this performance that is remarkable.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s String Sextet in D Major, Op. 10 is performed equally well. Korngold is best known for his film scores. As a result of his work for Hollywood, his classical works aren’t embraced as fully as they should be. Nash Ensemble’s performance on this album removes any doubt about Korngold’s place in formal/classical music. (Not that I think there should have been any doubt in the first place.)

This is an album I will be going back to several times.

JAZZ: BEING HUMAN – Lynne Arriale Trio – Challenge Records

Pianist/composer Arriale has recorded an album that runs the gamut of human emotions. Listening to this terrific album I felt all the worries of the world melt away. For 40 minutes I didn’t think about anything. I could relax, take deep breaths and be completely and wholly emotionally connected to this music. Arriale reminded me what it means to be human again.

Arriale composed all the music. She’s joined by Alon Near on bass and Lukasz Zyta on drums. This is a traditional two configuration, but I challenge you to find more reassuring music played any better than it is on Being Human.

JAZZ:  TEX BOOK TENOR – Booker Ervin – Blue Note Records Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series

The first Friday of the month finds the arrival of two news vinyl reissues from Blue Note. The first of which is this album recorded by saxophonist/composer Ervin that was recorded in 1968 but not released until 2005 – 35 years after his death. (Inquiring minds would love to know why!)

Ervin composed three of the five tracks: Den Tex, Lynn’s Tune and 204.  The opening track, Gichi, was composed by pianist Kenny Barron (who plays on the album) and the middle track is Woody Shaw’s In a Capricornian Way.

Also joining Ervin on Tex Book Tenor are bassist Jan Arnet;, drummer Billy Higgins and trumpeter Woody Shaw.

If, like me, you weren’t familiar with this album, the vinyl release (or streaming service of choice), will make you glad you took the time to check it out.

JAZZ:  LIBRARY CARD – Stephen Philip Harvey

It makes complete sense to open an album called Library Card with I Could Write a Book written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Then to follow it with six original tracks (all paying homage to various writers) makes something sensical seem almost ballsy.

Harvey and his +2 (Max Murray on bass and Jordon Stanley on drums) make a solid case for this novel album. They are proud to be a chord-less trio (no piano or guitar).

Going Places sounds like the perfect music to accompany the works of Dr. Seuss for whom that (and Huevos Verdes) was written. You’ll have to figure out the rest of the references/associations. Which you can only do by checking this Library Card out. 

JAZZ: SPEAK TO ME – Julian Lage – Blue Note Records

In last week’s New in Music This Week, I commented that “guitar trios are not usually my go-to choice.” Along comes another album to make me realize the error of my ways. 

Lage composed all 13 tracks on this album which finds him performing solo, as a duo and in trio. A few tracks are expanded out to include keyboards and woodwinds.

The album begins quietly with Hymnal and immediately gets its groove going with Northern Shuffle which follows. Lage takes listeners on a journey through Speak to Me and it ends with the beautiful Nothing Happens Here. Rest assured a lot happens on this album. 

JAZZ:  ACTION – Jackie McLean – Blue Note Records Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series

Saxophonist McLean’s album was recorded in 1964, but wasn’t released until 1967. It’s a terrific album that takes the novel approach of substituting vibes (Bobby Hutcherson) in place of a piano.

Also performing on this album are Billy Higgins on drums; Cecil McBee on bass and Charles Tolliver on trumpet. Two of Tolliver’s compositions (Plight and Wrong Handle) are on Action.

McClean wrote the opening track, Action and the closing track Hootnan. A wonderful arrangement of the standard I Hear a Rhapsody is the penultimate track on the album.

JAZZ:  DISCORDIA – Jeremy Rose and the Earshift Orchestra – Earshift Music

The perfect word to describe the times we are living through is discordant.  From the opening track of composer/musician Jeremy Rose’s album you know you are listening to music that perfectly captures the chaos, anger, mayhem that we all encounter on a daily basis.  Which is precisely his point.

This nine-track recording perfectly showcases his compositions as performed by Rose (on  soprano saxophone and bass clarinet), drummer Chloe Kim and the 17-piece Earshift Orchestra.

Don’t expect this album to be all dissonance paired with angry chords and propulsive rhythms. In fact, the quieter moments on this album are absolutely sublime and well mixed in throughout the album. An album that feels very much influenced by the work of Gil Evans.

Discordia is a wildly ambitious album that pays of beautifully.

JAZZ:  FERMENT BELOW/HIGH FIRMAMENT – Jacob Shulman – Endectomorph 

In the liner notes for Ferment Below, saxophonist/clarinetist/composer Shulman says, “Every moment in jazz lives on a tightrope.” So, too, does Shulman on these ambitious two new recordings.

Shulman’s stated goal is to capture the impulses that lead to creativity on Ferment Below and the world of a smoke-filled jazz club on High Firmament – where that creativity on the first album becomes a living and breathing thing on the second.

Both recordings find Shluman joined by Kayvon Gordon on drums, Hayoung Lyou on piano and Walter Stinson on bass. Jasper Dutz performs on Hometown Hero on High Firmament.

Shulman and his colleagues offer up a journey  I thoroughly enjoyed going on. 

MUSICALS: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG/SWEENEY TODD – Masterworks Broadway/Reprise Records

I’ve already covered the digital release of both of these original cast albums. This week both are being released on vinyl. Merrily We Roll Along is a 2-album release. Sweeney Todd is a 3-lp box set. Sondheim fans who collect vinyl (as I do) will want to hear how Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliff sound in Merrily We Roll Along. They will also want to hear Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. All of them at 33 rpm.

In other words, for Sondheim fans this is a good thing going.

OPERA: PARSIFAL – Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tézler, Elīna Garança/Phillippe Jordan/Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus – Sony Classical

While critics were somewhat underwhelmed by the production itself, they were universal in their praise for the music and the singing.  No wonder with this cast that shines in this live recording from 2021.

I haven’t seen this (or any other) production of Parsifal, but art from this recording and other images on line make it clear this was a modern dress production.

This was not Kaufmann’s first production of Wagner’s opera, but it is his first recording. It was not Garança’s first production either, but from what I can tell this is her first recording of Parsifal.

With these two leading the cast and the incredible musicianship of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus makes this great new recording so deeply satisfying.

NO CATEGORY:  LUMINESSENCE – Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek – ECM (Vinyl Release)

When Stephen Davis reviewed this album for the New York Times he said it belonged “neither to jazz or modern music.” The three tracks on this fascinating album were composed by Ketih Jarrett (who does not perform on the album).

Numinor, Windsong and Luminessence were composed for string orchestra. Gabarek’s contributions to the recording were all improvised.

How much you like or dislike this album (and there are two camps on this one), the remastering of this for high-grade vinyl will certainly make for great listening. For me, I find some of it incredible and other parts, turgid. But I was always intrigued.

That’s all for New In Music This Week: March 1st.

Enjoy the weekend!

Enjoy the music!

Main Photo: Part of the art for Jacob Schulman’s High Firmament

The post New In Music This Week: March 1st appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

It’s a busy time for composer/pianist Marc-André Hamelin. On February 2nd his album New Piano Works was released. It was Hamelin’s first recording of his own compositions since 2010’s Études. Hyperion Records, his label, was acquired and the floodgates of his dozens of releases on Hyperion were suddenly available for streaming. It is, as Hamelin says, a veritable “treasure trove of recordings.”

This weekend he joins the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for performances on March 2nd at The Wallis in Beverly Hills and a March 3rd performance at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School in downtown Los Angeles. Hamelin will be performing Nadia Boulanger’s Three Pieces for Cello and Piano and César Franck’s Piano Quintet in F Minor.

I last spoke with Hamelin in 2019. His new album (one of my selections for New In Music This Week: February 2nd) was part of our conversation as were his concerts. It also served as an opportunity to see how his point-of-view may, or may not, have changed in that time.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To watch the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: You’re going to be playing two pieces in these concerts with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. One of them is Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor. That’s a work you recorded in 2016. How much does the personality and the musicianship of any given other four musicians make a difference in the end result of this, or any other piece of music that you’re performing? 

It does. But the fun, I think, of getting with a new group that you haven’t played with before, is to just to discover each other’s musicianship and finding common ground. Also, suggesting differences and new ways of doing things that they might not have thought of. It’s an area that’s very, very rich in surprises and possibilities. That goes for any piece in the repertoire, really.

With all five musicians in a quintet, or four in a quartet, is there any place to hide? 

Maybe small ones. But especially with a work that’s so well known as the Franck Quintet. It’s really one of the big five along with the Brahms, Schumann, Dvorak and Shostakovich. We hear it so often that people know how it goes, or at least most of them do. So, in that sense, there is little room to hide and for mistakes. In a lesser known work, belonging to the byways of the repertoire, then maybe, since the piece is not heard very often, perhaps it’s more acceptable to be faulty. It will matter a lot less, I guess. Of course, we always strive for as much perfection as possible. Or at least, fidelity to the composer’s thought.

Apropos of that statement, do you feel like works are museum pieces and should be slave to what the composer’s thoughts were? Or is there room for this music to live and breathe and have its own life in 2024 versus the life it had when it was composed?

There’s several ways of thinking about this. On one hand, being a composer myself, I don’t pretend to have all the answers. Nobody does. But being a composer allows you to feel a little closer to the works you perform and especially how they were created. Sometimes you can see the process. I have a pretty good idea of how I want my pieces to go, but there is so much you can do in the way of notation to convey that. You have to leave something to the performer’s individual views or ways of understanding musical notation.

On the other hand, there are several different types of composers. There are composers who will allow great variations of interpretation. For example, I can think of Grieg, who once said to someone this is not really the way I saw it, but don’t change anything, I love individuality. There are other composers who are thankful for any performance, even though it may fall short of their expectations. There’s lots of nuances within the individual composer’s appreciations and that’s what makes the whole world richer.

When we spoke five years ago, you mentioned that you, “Have the luxury, at this point in my career, to be playing, without exception, pieces that I really love.” How do you think your perspective on what those pieces are has shifted since then?

It’s pretty much the same, actually. I keep introducing favorites. Sometimes I come back to old ones because it’s always very healthy and also very fascinating to revisit things that you haven’t played for quite a few years. It’s always really startling. I see sometimes how much they have changed without you doing a single thing. In the meantime, you have changed yourself. Therefore, your approach has changed. When I play these pieces for myself, after not having played them for many, many years, they will be completely different. That’s only because of my personal evolution and, hopefully, my increased understanding of what the composer wants.

Do you find that there are pieces that intimidate you? 

I’m a little less inclined – quite a bit less inclined – these days to play the big virtuosic things. I’m much more interested in meaningful communication at this point rather than showing myself off on stage. That, to me, is really not very satisfying. A recital is really a one-to-one act of communication. An offering, an act of sharing with the audience. I’m always thinking every single second of the audience, rather than myself. Because what else am I doing this for? I just really adore sharing discoveries and perhaps new ways of doing things that people already don’t. 

Is there something that you think is pivotal to communicate to an audience now that perhaps reflects either who you are as a person right now or the times that we’re living in?

I really concentrate on the music. Generally a concert really should be, in the best of times, abstracted from whatever else is happening in the world. However, I will say this though. Maybe two or three days after the 2016 election I was giving an all-Mozart concert at the 92nd Street Y in New York. So many people at the end told me, thank you. We needed that. And I won’t say any more.

New Piano Works is your first album of material you’ve composed to be released since Études in 2010. Why this work and why now?

It’s really more for practical reasons than anything. I’ve been very fortunate in having been published by Edition Peters who are one of the major publishers. They originally solicited me, and the first thing they published with it was this volume of 12 études which I recorded along the same time. Since then I published a number of piano pieces which hadn’t been recorded. So it’s basically a collection of almost everything that I’ve written for piano since then.

It’s sort of a dull reason, but, I’ve really come to realize very quickly that even if you publish a score and make the music available, the music is going to be a lot more appreciated and more pianists are going to go to it if they can hear it first. That’s why I recorded these things. 

The album opens with Variations on a Theme of Paganini, a piece most concertgoers or classical music fans have heard for years. How do you approach something that is as familiar as that for a transcription versus something that an audience may not know as well?

It was really a fun thing to do and I instinctively chose the theme simply because it’s one of those things which is easy to elaborate on. I mean, the structure is very simple. It’s very easy to remember and you can riff on it in just a gazillion different ways. A piece like that, for me, is an expression of freedom in a sense. I couldn’t resist having fun and quoting different composers. I’m sure you heard, variation seven I think it is, there’s a passage and one of the variations in the Beethoven Sonata, opus 109, it’s in E major. I transposed it to A minor and for 16 bars, it’s already a Paganini variation. I didn’t have to change anything. That was a lot of fun. When I came across this little bit I thought, I can’t not use this. This is too good. And it happens to be quite funny.

Do you, as a composer, have any conversations with you as a pianist in terms of what is truly possible to play versus what you want to express in the notes themselves?

At the beginning when I started to write, I just wrote whatever I wanted. Whatever I heard, without really too much concession to pianistic comfort. I was wondering why nobody was playing my things. Even I had trouble and I wrote them. So over the years, as I gained experience, I was able to make things sound the way I wanted without them being so difficult. But I’ll always carry that reputation of my things being almost unplayable. But I can assure you that there’s a lot that I wrote which is perfectly approachable. 

Are there other ways in which you feel you have evolved as a composer? 

I think that my harmonic system, such as it is, because I’ve never tried to explain it, really hasn’t changed that much. I think if anything has changed, I think I’ve gotten to think more about expressing pure music than thinking in pianistic terms. 

Your Hyperion Recordings now available for streaming. Do you feel this new way of distributing music, however challenging it might be economically for a performing artists like yourself, balances out with this newfound exposure that people can suddenly have to countless recordings of yours?

I think exposure is really the priority here. We should be thankful for that. A lot of people, over the last few years, have complained to me, we can’t find you on Spotify. We can find your early recordings on other labels. Hyperion resisted for the longest time and purely for financial reasons. But now that they’ve been bought by a large corporation, the justification is there. I think people are just so pleased as punch that Hyperion is finally being heard. The catalog is a golden treasure trove of discoveries and wonderful performances.

What do you think the role is of a transcription in allowing listeners new ways of hearing works that they’re familiar with, or new ways of hearing music that they’re not familiar with, for that matter?

In many cases, it’s about expanding the repertoire. A lot of solo instrumentalists are envious of something like the Franck Violin Sonata and they want to play it. So there are arrangements for cello, for flute and other solo instruments as well. I’ve always been fascinated by composer’s views of other composers; appreciations of other composers. I think really a transcription is just another way of expressing that. It’s paying tribute, let’s say. You think of what Busoni did with the Bach Chaconne from the D minor Partita. He really built a wonderful cathedral of sound. There are some people who don’t like the transcription, but I personally view it as a tremendous act of reverence for a composer.

Amongst my favorite transcriptions are Liszt’s transcriptions of Wagner. I think those are really interesting because we’re so used to his big, huge orchestral arrangements. To have it pared down to one instrument, I find it endlessly fascinating and a different way of hearing Wagner. 

The only ones that I’ve played are the Liebestod (from Tristan und Isolde) and also the Tannhauser Overture. But that particular one, I don’t like pianistically. It’s in E major and it feels, under the fingers, like completely the wrong key. 

It’s interesting you say that because I spent a little bit of time over the years with Stephen Sondheim. He and I were talking once about The Ballad of Sweeney Todd. He said it’s published in F minor, but it sounds so much better in F-sharp minor. I went to my piano at home and played it. He was right. It’s shocking how even a half-step difference can have such profound effects on a piece of music.

Keys are a very important. They have personalities. They really do. Gerald Moore, the famous pianist, expresses that very, very eloquently. He guards against sometimes indulging transposition – a singer’s transposing. Because you can stray too far from the original mood of the song.

Liszt is quoted as having said, “My piano is to me what a ship is to the sailor. It is the intimate, personal depository of everything that’s stirred wildly in my brain during the most impassioned days of my youth. It was there that all my wishes, all my dreams, all my joys and all my sorrows lay.” What is your piano to you?

An extension of my thought. An instrument of communication and sharing and joy.

To watch the full interview with Marc-André Hamelin, please go here.

All photos of Marc-André Hamelin (Photo by Sim Cannety Clarke/Courtesy Colbert Artists Management)

The post Marc-André Hamelin: A Franck Conversation About His Music appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The Norwegian singer made her debut at The Met in a 2019 production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. She’s also appeared there in the operas Ariadne auf Naxos (which I saw and was astounded by her performance), Elektra and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. This season she will appear in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino.

Before that happens she will be one of just a few select artists to give a recital at those hallowed halls at Lincoln Center on Thursday, September 14th. She will also perform a recital at the BroadStage in Santa Monica on September 17th. Pianist James Bailieu will accompany her at both concerts.

Last month I spoke with Davidsen about her approach to recitals, how the world has changed for opera singers and the responsibility of accepting those keys that Gelb has offered her. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: You told Jeff Linden of PBS’s Morning Edition last year that you realized it would be easier for you to take on roles because you didn’t have to be yourself. Essentially that you just could be the character and some of your fear went away. In a recital you don’t get that opportunity unless you create a world where you are a persona apart from yourself. So how do you approach recitals?

It’s a very good question because you don’t have the props, the sets, the dresses. You don’t have the other colleagues. So there’s a lot of information and role characteristic things that are not there. But I do think that I have created my world for each number that I do. Each aria, each song, there is sort of a little world that is my world. My hope is that some of it will go to you as an audience member. Maybe you know the song, maybe don’t know the song, maybe you will get completely different pictures. But there’s room for us to explore all these smaller songs – smaller in terms of length rather than a three-hour opera. 

When you were accepting your Opera News Award earlier this year, you talked about how music allows you to express yourself in ways that words could not. What does a recital and the repertoire that you choose to perform tell us about who you are?

In recital I’ll talk in between to present the songs. So I think already there the audience gets to know a bit more of me. I will bring some Grieg songs, some Sibelius to these recitals. There’s a different part of me than when you hear an Ariadne or Tannhäuser or a Verdi. It’s something else you get to know. The bigger arias that will be where people think obviously this is the Lise we’ve heard before. So I think it’s presenting different sides of me or different parts of what I do, rather than sharing the main emotion in a way. 

But is there part of of putting the repertoire together for a recital that you think not only does this music speak to each other, but this helps me tell a story about who I am at this moment as I’m performing?

I think there is an aspect. The BroadStage and the Met concert [are] both a mix. There are certain arias that I would like to do because I think about the space and the piano. You have to think about that as well. The pianist is lost with these long chords that don’t really sustain in a piano. Then there’s how we build it up, what what suits each other, what’s a good contrast in all of this. I always think, what can I bring that they haven’t heard before? What can I bring that it will be a surprise? All of these things have to be taken in.

I saw a video where you performed I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady, which I think a lot of people would be surprised to hear you singing. What inspires a choice like that?

That is a simple inspiration because it is about what can I do to lighten my repertoire? My opera roles are filled with drama. There is not so much operetta in my repertoire. I think the audience, when they hear that in a concert, it is to sort of clear the air a bit like, oh what a light little tune or fun maybe. Also, I think we need that. We need something to sort of clear it up a bit before we dig into something even more serious.

When Peter Gelb says, “Every major dramatic soprano role that she wants to do is hers as far as I’m concerned” and offers you the keys to the Met, that’s pretty heady to be told at any point in one’s career. What kind of pressure do you feel when when the head of a Met is saying such glorious things about you?

One part is unbelievably overwhelming. It’s big, big, big words. It’s a responsibility I’m not sure I can carry. But on the other hand, it’s a responsibility I would like to carry. It’s a job that I would like to have because I really love being at the Met. So if those two things can come together, then it’s kind of the perfect match. Both him and me can only see what the future holds in a way and plan accordingly.

You have so much attention on you right now which gives you tremendous opportunities. Given that a lot of people describe the time we’re living in now is a golden age for new opera, how much do new contemporary works interest you as you move forward in your career?

It interests to me quite a lot. But in terms of what I feel I can do, I still focus on the more classical, ultra-traditional operas, because I do believe I have a voice that suits that repertoire. That said, I do believe that when I’ve sort of settled some of these roles, then I hope I’ll get to do modern opera and work with a composer because it must be amazing to do a whole new opera that is made for you in your time. There’s a completely different way of communicating with the composer. You don’t have to say, Why did you write this? It means you can actually go and ask and I think that is amazing.

Is there an opera that you have so many questions that you would love to have a chance to talk to the composer? Would you like to talk to Wagner before tackling Tristan und Isolde if that were possible?

I think I’ve always liked to have a chat with them. I think the thing is both Wagner and Strauss are very specific in their writing. I think Verdi is even more interesting because there’s so much tradition. There’s so much this is how it used to be done and we don’t really know how much truth there is in that. Sometimes I wonder if they do this, why do they do it?

Renata Scotto just passed away. In 1978 she did an interview with the New York Times and she said, “I have two Renata Scottos, one working and one private. The private one doesn’t remember the artist because I really need to relax my head and have fun.” That was nearly 45 years ago. Does being an opera singer today require that same duality? 

I think that is the same. It’s just in a different way than it was for her. I think in today’s time we are even more exposed to our audience. With social media we’re connected in a completely different way, and that has its pros and cons. It’s brilliant because I can communicate with people on the other side of the world. I can get messages from people. I can give advice to young singers. There are so many good things, but I think it also requires an even stricter strategy in how to protect yourself. It’s all out there and how much do you want to be out there, How much do you want to be private or personal? And I think that is a balance I worked a lot on to find and I still do. 

In 1960, another Norwegian soprano, Kirsten Flagstad got a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Most people today probably walk around or walk on her star and have no idea who she is because opera isn’t embraced in 2023 the way it was in 1960. Do you think it would be good if if opera was embraced the way it was in 1960? Do you think that’s even remotely possible? 

I have no idea if it’s possible. I think the world has so much to offer right now. We have so many paintings and art forms available to us that to go back and be such a high percentage of what people used to do, I think is really, really hard. I don’t know if I’m naive, but I really hope that there will be a time where [there] will be even more people listening to opera. If we can manage to open our doors a bit more and make sure that it’s reachable for everyone, that is my number one wish for this art form. 

I come from a house where we didn’t know what opera was, but we thought it was not for us. We didn’t listen to it. True to my education, to my work, my family now goes to opera and they say they love it. There’s a completely different way of listening. In a time where we search for yoga or mindfulness or meditation, I want to say, “Hey, we’re already there. Just come in.”

There’s so much to look at. There’s so much to take in. Turn your phone off. When we let go of the fact that we have to know everything all the time, that’s when we are able to take in new experiences. That’s what I’ve said to friends or family that don’t normally go to the opera. It’s okay if you’re bored for a couple of minutes. You can look at those sets. You can look at an orchestra of 100 people that are playing. And we’re all there for you. There’s so many things. Eventually you will know more and, maybe as an audience member, demand more. Lean back and let the music speak.

If there was anything about this time in your life, in your career, that you would like to bottle up and have as a reminder 15, 20, 25 years from now, what do you think it would be?

It will be the fact that I have so many wonderful audience members that come to my concerts. The fact that people travel to see me sing. I wish I can sort of take that in, not just in a bottle, but, I wish I understood that because it’s pretty surreal.

Why? 

I don’t know. Can’t you find someone where you are? I don’t really grasp that. But of course, I travel to see people, too. So it’s not really connected. If I zoom out, I can say,” Oh, how about that repertoire? You like that?” Then you travel to do it. But when people come from Australia to hear you, that is for me. There’s so much love in that and I wish I could take that in and keep that because it’s this dedication beyond. It’s really, really impressive.

Both photos of Lise Davidsen ©James Hole/Courtesy BroadStage

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Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Rock My Soul Festival, curated by Julia Bullock, has more exciting programming for its second full weekend. On Friday the orchestra will play works by contemporary composers Valerie Coleman and Courtney Bryan along with the Symphony No. 3 by Florence Price. On Saturday Rhiannon Giddens, whose opera Omar has its final performance at LA Opera on Sunday, will perform with the LA Phil and the Resistance Revival Chorus. Leading both shows from the podium will be Jeri Lynne Johnson.

Johnson most recently conducted the world premiere performances of This Little Light of Mine at Santa Fe Opera. She is also the founder and Artistic Director of Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra. In 2015 she founded DEI Arts Consulting “for cultural institutions seeking to create a culture of belonging.”

When you click on the about tab on her website, the page says “Black female conductor,” a title which is as unique as you think it is.

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

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

I don’t remember the exact program. I just remember it was Beethoven. It was probably one of the odd numbered symphonies. It was the Minnesota Orchestra when Neville Marriner was the music director. As a young musician I was in love with music and as a pianist I realized I don’t see a piano on stage. I just figured out that what I have to do is what that man with the stick is doing. If I want to make that music I have to be a conductor.

They could have played a Beethoven piano concerto. Then what would you have done? 

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

What was your first reaction when you heard about the Rock My Soul Festival and what makes this festival unique? 

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

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

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

Julia Bullock told me she was really inspired by that relationship between Florence Price and Margaret Bonds and how she feels the world doesn’t allow for that much anymore because people seem to feel the need to be more competitive with one another. Has it really gotten to that point? 

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

If we are all here at this place together, it is because we all have sacrificed a great deal to be there. We have all earned our place here. For me it has been nothing but mutual respect and collegiality and a willingness to also hold the door open for other people of talent that maybe we haven’t heard of. That we can connect through and find out about it without putting it a negative spin on it. The more that Black women in classical music are able to work with each other and collaborate, like on this festival, you begin to build that professional trust and that network so that you see more of us out there performing more regularly.

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

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

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

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

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

She told me this is a war of attrition. She said whoever lasts the longest lives. She talked about her experience as a composer, as a woman. So I have that tape loop in my head – this is a war of attrition.

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

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

Is true systemic change going to happen without the same changes that we see on the stage taking place in the executive offices? 

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

I think there’s a lot of fragility around will donors accept this? Will they like it? Change is hard for anyone and you have to be prepared to lose some people along the way. Some people just aren’t going to want to change and that’s okay. But in order to do the work authentically, you have to be prepared to lose a little something in order to gain something on the other side. 

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

I’m going to put it out there in the universe. I really want to be the first Black woman to have a set of Beethoven’s nine symphonies recorded. It was kind of my dream as a young conductor so I’m holding fast to that.

I think since you’re making your Santa Fe Opera debut, you should also put on your list conducting the Ring Cycle. 

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

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

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

Main Photo: Jeri Lynne Johnson (Courtesy LA Philharmonic)

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At Cultural Attaché we believe firmly in direct, one-on-one conversations before we post any interview. However, when the person you are interviewing is singing the demanding role of Brünnhilde in Die Walküre, we’ll make an exception. After all, soprano Christine Goerke isn’t just taking on a role she’s been performing since 2015, she’s doing so in a wildly unique production of the opera’s third act on Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl. Gustavo Dudamel will be leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the performance.

Yuval Sharon, the innovative director behind Invisible Cities, Sweet Land and productions of The Magic Flute and La bohème that upended long-held traditions, is directing this production. As you’ll see, it’s also not going to be a traditional approach to this second opera in Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle and it’s going to require a lot of rehearsal time.

So we agreed to ask Goerke about this production via e-mail so she could rest her voice. Goerke, who has also sung roles in Wagner’s Parsifal and Lohengrin, has appeared throughout the world in Elektra, Turandot, Ariadna auf Naxos, Falstaff and many more. We knew she was a tremendously talented singer. What we didn’t know was how great a sense of humor she has. As you’ll see in this interview.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. All emphasis built into her answers are hers.

Very shortly after we posted our BEST BETS for the week on social media, you re-posted and said you were “Very excited about this!” What has you so excited about this particular concert?

There are so many reasons to be excited about this event.  First of all, it’s Die Walküre and any opportunity I get to sing Brünnhilde is reason enough to be excited! It’s also my first opportunity to work with Maestro Dudamel, not to mention that it’s been a minute since I’ve been on stage at the Hollywood Bowl. 

I will say, however, that this isn’t just a concert. This is a fully staged “experience.” It is a way to approach the storytelling that I have never experienced in opera, and I would imagine it’s something that most of the audience will never have experienced either.  It’s *exciting*! (Did I mention – “exciting”?!? LOL!)  

Yuval Sharon has proven himself to be one of our most imaginative directors. What does he have in store for this production and what do you think will make it unique?”

Yuval is absolutely one of our most imaginative and innovative directors. I think that often when people hear that a work that they know and love is being “re-imagined” there is trepidation. I get it. But in working with someone like Yuval, who doesn’t just have an incredibly strong vision for a different presentation of something that you think you know, but also has immense knowledge and love of the work, that has given all of us an incredible glimpse into the new direction in which he is taking our art form. 

His production of Act 3 of Die Walküre takes place in a world that Wotan has created. It is a digital world and we can truly see this when things start to fall apart (I’ll let you all join us at the performance and see exactly what that means!) The singers are all working in costume with a green screen. 

We are essentially offering two performances which are going on at the same time. Different cameras will be picking up different parts of the story/staging and adding the stage elements to the digital offering (which the audience can view at the same time on the screens placed around the Hollywood Bowl). We will all be on the stage interacting with each other in ways that perhaps you won’t see on the screens at all times. It is definitely some hardcore multi-tasking for us, but it is worth it and we’re all loving it.

This is not the first time you have worked with Sharon. What resonates most about your collaborations with him?

Collaborating with Yuval is really quite remarkable. He’s warm and genuine to work with as a director and he comes armed with an immense amount of knowledge. He knows exactly what he wants, but he is willing to listen to the people in front of him and take their thoughts and needs into account. Often his innovative ideas can be a bit jarring (and I mean this as a compliment), but if you allow yourself to step in and go along for the ride it’s a hell of a lot of fun!

How do you think Sharon takes Wagner’s theory of Gesamtkunstwerk (a total work of art) into the 21st century and how does it apply to this concert?

It’s interesting…Wagner was so specific as to what he envisioned for his Ring Cycle. He was a great dramaturg. He wrote of fantastical beasts and journeys and epic sagas. I truly believe that we are simply moving through that journey and every day, with every new way to tell stories – here through a digital medium – we continue that storytelling journey. It is ever-evolving with whatever new technology and innovation that we are able to offer to it and we are speaking to people in a way that is perhaps more relatable to what we now know and are able to create. I believe this invites more people in to what has, at times, seemed elitist. 

You began singing Brünnhilde in productions in 2015. Though the pandemic interrupted your schedule, how has your relationship to this character and her music evolved since those first performances with the Canadian Opera company?”

Ohhhh Brünnhilde…This character has been and always will be so close to my heart. She is an incredibly fully-formed character like no other that I’ve been able to portray. When I first took her on at the Canadian Opera Company in 2015, I was a little terrified. I would have been insane not to have been! I think it’s fair to say that the first time we do any role we don’t get to the root of it. In fact, I feel like the ones that are really and truly worthwhile are the ones that are constantly teaching us something new every time we come back to them.   

Brünnhilde begins her journey in Die Walküre as a naive and somewhat “know-it-all” teen; righteous and indignant.  She then finds fear and disappointment as the person she loves most, her father, falls from his pedestal. She goes on in Siegfried to find love again, but then finds betrayal in Götterdammerung, as well as her own internal strength, integrity and power.   

It all sounds incredibly grand, but when you take it down to bare bones we have all been that know-it-all teen who has no idea what the world has in store for them. We have all seen a parent that we have on a pedestal of perfection become fallible in our eyes. We have all fallen in love, been betrayed and hopefully, found our inner strength and worth, allowing us to accomplish great things.

Those things in all of our lives are ever-evolving. That is what I hope I can bring to this character and it changes every single time I have the honor of portraying her.  

At what point can you tell if the production of the Ring Cycle in which you’ve agreed to appear will be a good one or not?

As far as I am concerned, every production of a Ring can be great … though we all admittedly might prefer one over another.   

As someone who has seen only one Ring Cycle and was frankly scarred by it, what would you say is the reason to give the entire work another try? It should be noted that hearing you sing the Immolation Scene with the LA Philharmonic in concert went a long way towards doing so.

First, I’m heartbroken to hear that you were scarred by a Ring Cycle! I think it’s the coolest story in all of opera. Look, at times it is difficult to divorce yourself from say… a costume… or a set… or the lighting… or even the premise for the storytelling in which the director is asking you to immerse yourself.   

In the end the text, the music, the interpersonal relationships on stage, they don’t change. There is an incredible intimacy in a grand saga here. It offers an insanely wide span of emotional depth and, let’s face it, visceral volume*. (See This Is Spinal Tap “the numbers go up to 11”)  

In its simplest form? It’s a story of a wildly dysfunctional family. I have a funny feeling that we can all relate to that on some level!

In an interview with Alex Ross for Pitchfork, writer Cat Zhang says, “The anarchist Emma Goldman allegedly remarked that Wagner’s music helped women release ‘the pent-up, stifled and hidden emotions of their souls.'” Assuming she made that remark, was Emma Goldman right? What does his music help you do?”

Oh Emma. These days very few women have those soulful emotions pent-up, stifled OR hidden. This just gives us a fabulous soundtrack with which to let them fly. 

I hope that the next time I have a conversation with Christine Goerke, it will be in person. And I can’t wait to see Sunday’s concert!

All photos by Arielle Doneson/Courtesy Opus 3 Artists

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Ian Judge’s production of the opera had its debut in Los Angeles in 2007. Mark Swed, in his Los Angeles Times review said, “Los Angeles Opera — ever eager to seem an adjunct of Hollywood — advertises raunchiness, not redemption. Nudity is promised and delivered in quantity onto the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage.”

At lot has changed in 14 years and Muller knew that. She also had a different idea of how to present this story of a man seduced by Venus’s carnal delights but who seeks redemption from Elizabeth, a mere mortal.

As she told me earlier this week in a Zoom call, there were changes that could be made and how Wagner’s 1845 opera provides commentary on the times in which we live.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

What are the challenges when you’re taking on someone else’s production of an opera and what freedom do you have in reworking aspects of it so that it feels like you’re not just there as a shadow director, but you’re actually the director of record?

It’s a really interesting question. Sometimes I’ve been in situations where I’m mounting a work where I was the original assistant director. And then you’re walking in with much more information about the original intentions of the director, of course. In the case of Tannhaüser, I was just really looking at an archival video, so that makes it very different.

I wasn’t in the room the first time they did it. I think in some ways that’s more difficult. And in some ways that’s less difficult because you don’t know exactly why every decision was made. So you can look at it a little bit more objectively and just see what works and what didn’t work as well and what my point of view on this scene or this moment is. Of course, the physical production already is there. So then every decision you’re making is within the confines of just what’s possible physically with the set and the costumes.

I think in any revival, it’s really important as the director in the room to really respond to the people that are in the room with you. Much of what we’re doing as as directors is really shaping the singer’s individual performances; shaping what the relationships are onstage. I always feel like regardless of what’s physically around them, that kind of work we can really do from scratch each time so that it really feels like the singers themselves can take ownership over it and are not just sort of doing what another singer did before.

When it was first produced it seemed like there weren’t always a lot of costumes.

That’s true. My understanding of what happened before was that it wasn’t really dancing per se. They had a sort of a staging that was quite sort of orgiastic. We brought in Aszure Barton, who’s an amazing contemporary choreographer, and she then brought eight dancers, most of whom were already people that she’s worked with quite a bit.

We decided to make something that was quite quite a bit more about an atmosphere rather than sort of specifically just about sex. I think what we’ve created together is so beautiful. It is erotic as well, but in a way that I feel like is more sensual than literal.

How timely is this opera in which redemption is offered to characters at a time when cancel culture in our own society is rendering people without careers and livelihoods? And I’m wondering if you see ways in which this opera serves as a commentary for the world we live in today.

Certainly I think the sort of mob mentality in general. The other thing that I think feels really timely to me is the sort of religious society acting in a quite non-Christ like way. The sort of condemnation of somebody – I find that that feels very modern. I’m not a religious person, but the idea of giving people salvation or giving people the benefit of the doubt or giving people a second chance feels really important.

Cancel culture a lot is being made of that and I think obviously there’s, in some cases, a sort of overcorrection happening right now. But for me, it feels like that’s a necessary overcorrection to find our equilibrium of how do we handle second chances for people or how we do handle past transgressions. How we as a society can move forward from these events. And that feels like a thing we’re all really grappling with, aren’t we?

It’s hard to know exactly what redemption means for us now as a modern society. But I think the sacrifices that Elizabeth makes feel like they have something to teach us, which is endless love and patience.

I’ve done multiple interviews with people in all aspects of the performing arts, and they constantly say you’re not going to see as many people of color on stage until there are people of color in the offices making the decisions. Do you think sustainable change will happen without women and people of color in leadership roles?

No, I don’t. It feels to me like diversity in casting is a real sort of low hanging fruit, actually, and it’s really important. But I am worried that some people are just stopping there, because that is what audiences see. You can point very easily to a roster of singers and say, “No. Look. We have great diversity in casting.” I’ve been really heartened that there are several companies now that have just recently been taken over by women of color: Houston Grand Opera, the Portland Opera, Fort Worth Opera. That feels like really positive change.

I was so struck by Morris Robinson [“Hermann” in Tannhaüser] saying that he had never been hired by a black person, never been directed by a black person and never even had a stage manager who was black. We know there are these disparities, but there’s something so concrete about that that just feels like it has to change right away. I am thrilled for so many amazing singers of color that are being given wonderful opportunities right now that they more than deserve. I just hope it doesn’t stop there.

So let’s conclude by my asking you about something that Wagner said. He said “Music is the inarticulate speech of the heart, which cannot be compressed into words because it is infinite.” What role do you have as director in making that inarticulate speech of the heart palpable for the audience?

It’s an interesting question, actually, because it’s why I’m drawn to opera specifically. The music is already its own. It already exists. Fully, wholly. I think what we’re doing as directors is [to be] this sort of spigot to bring it closer.

For me, it’s so much about a story. I completely believe in that quote, which is that you have a visceral reaction sitting in the house to the music itself. And then I think my role as director is to unlock something specific, more specific, so there’s a sort of universality to what you feel from the music. Then we find what’s the very specific story that fits with that because so often I think the most specific is the most universal. Even if it’s not our own specific story.

Issachah Savage, Sara Jakubiak and Lucas Meachem star in Tannhaüser. Three performances remain of LA Opera’s production on October 31st, November 3rd and November 6th.

Photo of Louisa Muller by Simon Pauly/Courtesy Louisa Muller

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“I was having dinner with a friend of mine who is on the staff in Vienna the night before I got the call for this,” Jakubiak told me via Zoom last week. “He said, ‘Sara, what do you really want to sing if you could sing any role?’ And I said I want to sing Tatyana. I literally got the call the next day.”

Nicole Car was originally announced to sing the part opposite her husband, Etienne Dupuis. Travel restrictions related to the pandemic made that impossible. Jakubiak and baritone Lucas Meachem were tapped to assume the roles.

Jakubiak first sang the role of Tatyana at Oper Frankfurt. Her other roles have included Eva in Der Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Elsa in Lohengrin and Prima Donna in Ariadne auf Naxos. But it is with Tatyana at Frankfurt that we begin our conversation. What follows are excerpts from that interview that have been edited for length and clarity.

How has your relationship to Tatyana evolved since you first sang it with Oper Frankfurt?

I would say vocally I’ve evolved more in the last five years than anything. So there were new avenues to explore with her as far as expression goes in colors. The music team here and Alessandro [Taveli, the director] were really wonderful with me, with expressing this role in a language I don’t speak. You have to work very hard at your translation. It was very helpful to be in a place like Santa Fe because I think the piece, as Russian as it is, has all of these colors that you see around you here in the landscape and the set design.

For an opera called Eugene Onegin, Tatyana has a very prominent role. Why do you think Tchaikovsky made her such an integral part of this story? If he had been able to be more open about his homosexuality do you think this opera might have been very different?

Well she is out there all the time working! (She lets out a glorious laugh.) I know he fiddled with the idea of why did I call this Onegin when maybe I should have called it Tatyana. Thank God that Tchaikovsky was a composer and could express himself at least in this way. Thank God he had this outlet to write these characters the way he did to music that he wrote. Some of the things she says in the letter scene go to a deep part of the soul that you rarely access. I think that was sort of his sexuality. It’s certainly a window into what he was feeling inside.

You told Opera Wire that “an effective vaccine should get us back to the old normal, but with the new awareness about life.” What are the most striking aspects of your new awareness about life both on and off the stage?

My grandmother passed away at the age of 100 and she was born in 1919. She was really bookended by pandemics. The last conversation I had with her was on her birthday and I hadn’t seen her for six years. I made it to her party and saw her the next morning when I was going away. She said, “Where are you going to next?” I told her I was going to Norway. She just said, “You really have a great life.”

She didn’t really deal with pandemics, but several wars and she saw the massive changes of the 20th century with technology and everything. I keep playing this in my mind during these last sixteen months. I do believe that there is still beauty and there is beauty we don’t even know about yet from this pandemic. And it will continue to unfold. We’re going to see more beauty and it’s only just creeping out of the ground right now.

Lucas Meachem told me one of his biggest challenges is to stay honest at all times during a performance.

Me, too. This role does have its corners that are a little tricky. It’s a bit of a lower role and sometimes you have to work hard to support that. Sometimes when you are doing really difficult roles you do have to micromanage things. I have to say sometimes just in the moment is not always the smart way to go. You could blow your voice out sometimes if you are really in the moment.

You and Lucas will also be performing Tannhäuser this fall at Los Angeles Opera. How would you describe your chemistry and are you looking forward to moving on to another production with him?

I was actually a little nervous coming in because we’ve been in different types of productions and he’s got a huge career. So I hope I can survive at the table with him. But you really have to push that stuff aside and just be in the moment. That’s what I like about Lucas. He’s a very in the moment person and I believe him on stage. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Tchaikovsky said “Truly there would be reason to go made were it not for music.” Can you imagine your life without it?

No I couldn’t. I grew up with rock music. I saw my first opera when I was like 20. It was rural around me. But I used to go on my swing set every day as a kid and sing. I don’t know why. You don’t always have to know the reason why it is inside of you. You figure it out later. Maybe this is why I ended up doing this and it’s something I need. You don’t do it because it’s an easy thing. But it’s something I have to do.

For tickets to Eugene Onegin, please go here. There are performances on August 6th, 12th, 20th and 26th.

This is the last in a series of interviews with artists appearing this season at Santa Fe Opera.

Main photo: Lucas Meachem and Sara Jakubiak in Eugene Onegin. (Photo by Curtis Brown/Courtesy Santa Fe Opera)

The post Sara Jakubiak Conjures Her Second Tatyana in “Eugene Onegin” appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

“I was a young artist at San Francisco Opera at the time. They gave me the cover assignment six months in advance. I was assigned the role of Onegin. I knew it was one of the signature baritone roles in the repertoire,” Meachem recalls. “I was eating spaghetti and meatballs at a little Italian place about a block-and-a-half from the opera. They called me around 6:30 for a 7:30 curtain. They said, ‘What do you need?’ I need to fire the gun. I need to dance with Olga and I need John Churchwell, now head of music at San Francisco Opera, in my dressing room all night long.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Last week week I spoke with Meachem via Zoom to discuss another last-minute opportunity to sing what is now one of his signature roles at Santa Fe Opera. The previously announced Etienne Dupuis was unable to perform due to international travel restrictions (as was his wife, Nicole Car, who was set to sing Tatyana, creating an opportunity for soprano Sara Jakubiak.)

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

You’ve sung Onegin in other productions. When you embark on a new production, as you are here with director Alessandro Talevi, at what point do you know if the production is going to be a successful one?

I’ve done traditional and non-traditional productions. I’ve only done one non-traditional production. For ten days to two weeks it was like banging my head against the wall. Ultimately I came to love it. It came to be, up until this one, my favorite production of Onegin. I had to buy in. If a director can have an artist buy into their vision, that’s the most important thing. I have to believe it. Because if I believe it I can make the audience believe it. I believe this production. I totally buy it.

Since you first took on this role in the early 2000s, how has your relationship with it evolved?

The biggest thing that has evolved is my voice; my ability to handle the nuances of the role. What I mean is the arc of the character from beginning to end. That is something I didn’t grasp as a younger Onegin. Now that I’m older I’m able to see that this character needs to start feeling like he knows everything there is to know in the world, who has experienced everything and doesn’t expect that life is going to throw him any curveballs.

On your website you call this your second favorite role to sing. What will need to happen for it to bump The Barber of Seville from the number one spot?

I have so much respect for Figaro in The Barber of Seville because that character and that man have shown me the world as a young singer. I have now gotten to see so many places singing that signature role of mine. For Onegin to take over, I think it would have to show my son the world. Don’t get me wrong, it teeter-totters close to first very easily. It’s a beautiful role.

Santa Fe Opera’s marketing materials say that this production centers on the opera’s “nostalgic theme of what was, what was not and what could have been.” How do you think Tchaikovsky’s career and perhaps his take on this opera might have been different had he been able to be open about his homosexuality?

I think the relationship between Lensky and Onegin would be a lot more at the forefront of this piece and there might be more of a flirtatious loving vibe between them. There’s not much of that. I have to create that between him and me. I feel like he takes advantage of Lensky the whole time and the love he has for him only comes across in asides after we’ve gone too far to come back.

That description I mentioned also sounds like a way of looking at life in the time of COVID.

I think people can see in art a reflection of themselves and of the moment that we live in. Rather than art being just a plain snapshot of the moment, it is also a snapshot of the past and the future and would could have been. I think people will see in Onegin the difficulties we’ve been through in the last sixteen months.

You and Sara Jakubiak are not just appearing in Eugene Onegin at Santa Fe Opera, but will also be in a production of Wagner’s Tannhäuser at Los Angeles Opera in the fall. How would you describe the chemistry the two of you share when performing?

I think Alessandro said it best on the first day that Sara rehearsed. We were rehearsing a scene where she doesn’t sing. It was right after her big aria and she’s just acting and her face – even with a mask – she’s acting and Alessandro said to her, “You could be a silent film actress.” Her voice is beautiful and amazing, but she is an amazing actress. Everything is in her eyes. We have a lot of chemistry on stage and I think the audience really felt that on our opening night.

Tchaikovsky said “Music possesses much richer means of expression and it is more subtle medium for translating the 1000 shifting moments of the feelings of the soul.” Do you agree with that description?

I absolutely agree. I think when we talk about music we need to really speak about opera because it’s not the grandest of all art forms for no reason. You combine singing with the orchestra, with lighting, with sets and wigs and makeup, with all the many ingredients that it takes to make grand opera. It seems like an impossible endeavor just to start out with. All of a sudden you’re able to do it. That’s what keeps audience coming back to this centuries old art form. It speaks right to the heart.

The most important thing in art is that you are honest with your audience. This is probably the most difficult thing as an artist to achieve. Even in my career I still have moments where I say “don’t forget to be honest.” Those are the 1000 emotions that he’s speaking of – the honesty that speaks right to the heart of someone who is listening. The music that hits you in the heart is the music that is honest to you. That’s where people get their thousands of emotions from. It’s not just from music, but art itself. That’s what makes art so vital to a culture.

For tickets to Eugene Onegin please go here. There are performances on August 6th, 12th, 20th and 26th at Santa Fe Opera.

This is the fifth in a series of interviews with artists performing this season at Santa Fe Opera. The sixth interview will be with Sara Jakubiak on her role as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin.

Photo: Lucas Meachem and Sara Jakubiak in Eugene Onegin. (Photo by Curtis Brown/Courtesy Santa Fe Opera)

The post Lucas Meachem Speaking Honestly About Eugene Onegin appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Amongst the offerings is the second production of Rigoletto within 12 days. You’ll certainly get a chance to compare and contrast these two very different productions. It also helps to like Verdi’s operas. Five of them are being performed this week.

Amongst the men performing in these productions are Roberto Alagna, Plácido Domingo, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Simon Keenlyside, Sherrill Milnes, Luciano Pavarotti, Matthew Polenzani and Stuart Skelton.

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 7th, you’ll still have time to see the 2017-2018 season production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte that was part of Changing the Scene week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 66 at the Met:

Monday, June 14 –Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra – 3rd Showing

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.

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.”

Tuesday, June 15 – Wagner’s Die Walküre – 3rd Showing

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 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.

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, in her review for the New York Times, wasn’t a fan of the production, but did praise much of the singing.

“Ms. Goerke’s Brünnhilde, who has observed her father’s despair, responded with singing of fingertip delicacy, a precise and private sound that clearly marked the awakening of compassion as her character’s destiny. But Ms. Goerke was also capable of zinging fortes in her “Hojotoho!” war cries that Wagner sets to something like a proto-ambulance siren.

“Jamie Barton’s portrayal of Fricka, Wotan’s wife, was also brilliantly purposeful and vocally commanding. Her flamboyant mezzo-soprano, with its inky depths and flickering hues, rendered the character as guardian of legal integrity. But, in the surprisingly tender tone in which she passes the responsibility on to Brünnhilde, she hinted at a deeper sense of not only the futility, but also the undesirability of being proved right.”

Wednesday, June 16 – Verdi’s La Traviata – 4th Showing

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Natalie Dessay, Matthew Polenzani and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. This Willy Decker production is from the 2011-2012 season.

Alexandre Dumas fils (the son of the author of The Three Musketeers) wrote the play, La Dame aux camélias on which Verdi’s opera is based. Francesco Maria Piave wrote the libretto for La Traviata which had its world premiere in Venice in 1853.

In the opera, Violetta, who is in declining health, throws an opulent party. At this party she is introduced to Alfredo by her lover, Baron Douphol. When signs of failing health get noticed by Alfredo, he encourages her to give up her lavish lifestyle. He also admits his great love for Violetta. A love triangle is now in play. From there the opera tells the story of a woman who sacrifices everything to live life on the edge.

Dessay was ill when this production started and missed the opening night performance. She recovered and sang the role starting with the second performance. 

Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, said of Dessay’s performance, “This was her first time portraying the touchstone role of Violetta at the Met. And before she uttered a note, Ms. Dessay, who had originally intended to be an actress, made a wrenching impression as the fatally ill courtesan…Dragging her feet, she walked unsteadily, a woman with no doubt that her life is slipping away. But when she heard the bustle of guests approaching, she shook out the wrinkles from her dress, took a whiff of a white camellia, and put on her party face.”

Thursday, June 17 – Mozart’s Idomeneo – 4th Showing

Conducted by James Levine; starring Nadine Sierra, Elza van den Heever, Alice Coote and Matthew Polenzani. This revival of the 1982 Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production from the 2016-2017 season. 

Mozart’s opera had its world premiere in 1781 in Munich and has a libretto by Giambattista Varesco. 

Idomeneo tells the story of Idomeneus, the King of Crete, who in order to survive at sea promises Poseidon he will kill the first man he sees upon being rescued. His son, Idamante, learns that his father is in serious danger and fears he has perished. Mourning his father at the beach, he is overjoyed to see that he has survived. But in doing so becomes the first man his father sees. That’s when the story gets good!

George Grella, writing in New York Classic Review, said of Nadine Sierra’s performance:

“Her voice balanced youthful shine and, just under the surface, deep feeling. She was incandescent all night, singing with great ease and richness, and modulating naturally between moods of loss, love, regret, and pride.”

Friday, June 18 – Verdi’s Rigoletto – 3rd Showing

Conducted by James Levine; starring Christiane Eda-Pierre, Isola Jones, Luciano Pavarotti, Louis Quilico and Ara Berberian. This revival of John Dexter’s 1977 production is from the 1981-1982 season.

Victor Hugo, the author of Les Míserables, was also a playwright and it was his play, Le roi s’amuse, that served as the inspiration for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera. Francesco Maria Piave, who regularly collaborated with the composer, wrote the libretto. The opera had its world premiere in Venice, Italy in 1851.

The title character is a jester who serves the Duke of Mantua. The Duke is a seductive man who, upon learning that the woman with whom Rigoletto lives is his daughter and not his wife, makes the young woman, Gilda, his next target. Curses, assassination plots and more leave this clown without much to smile about. 

For most opera fans, Pavarotti’s appearance in this production was the selling point. But for New York Times critic Edward Rothstein, he found something, or rather, someone else to admire.

“Though Luciano Pavarotti as the Duke may attract the most attention, Louis Quilico, as Rigoletto, was at the center of the drama; his passions and fears could be heard in his voice as well as seen in his face and body. His ‘La ra, la ra, la la’ seemed sobbed out by a jester who has lived too long and seen too much.”

Saturday, June 19 – Verdi’s Don Carlo – 4th Showing

Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; starring Marina Poplavskaya, Anna Smirnova, Roberto Alagna, Simon Keenlyside, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Eric Halfvarson. This Nicholas Hytner production is from the 2010-2011 season. 

Don Carlo had its world premiere in 1867 in Paris. Friedrich Schiller’s play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien, served as the basis for the libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille du Locle. The opera was originally performed in French. Three months after its debut in Paris, Don Carlo was performed in Italian. First at Covent Garden in London and later in Bologna. It is most frequently performed in Italian.

Don Carlo of Spain and Elisabetta of Valois are betrothed to one another. They have never met. Don Carlo sneaks away to meet this unknown woman. They fall in love. However, their happiness is quickly ruined when Carlo’s father, Filippo, announces that he’s in love with her and she is to be his bride.

Even though she is now his stepmother, Don Carlo tries multiple times to woo Elisabetta away from his father. With the Spanish Inquisition ongoing, the affairs of all three and the appearance of a mysterious monk lead to murder plots, revenge, unrequited love, thievery and more being played out in Verdi’s longest opera.

In his New York Times review of this new-to-the-Met production, Anthony Tommasini was impressed:

“Though not without flaws, Verdi’s Don Carlo is the Hamlet of Italian opera. Every production of this profound and challenging work is a major venture for an opera company. The Metropolitan Opera has to be pleased, over all, with its new staging by the eminent English director Nicholas Hytner in his company debut, which opened on Monday and earned an enthusiastic ovation. No booing of the production team on this premiere night.”

Sunday, June 20 – Verdi’s Luisa Miller – 2nd Showing

Conducted by James Levine; starring Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Bonaldo Giaiotti and James Morris. This Nathaniel Merrill production is from the 1978-1979 season. 

Luisa Miller was Verdi’s 15th opera. Like Maria Stuarda, the composer turned to Friedrich von Schiller for inspiration. His work, Kabale und Liebe, was the basis for Salvadore Cammarano’s libretto. The opera had its world premiere in 1849 in Naples, Italy.

Like many a young woman, Luisa Miller’s father is not thrilled with her choice of boyfriends. Carlo, the man she loves, is not quite who he seems to be. Enter Wurm, who knows the truth about Carlo and who does everything he can to ruin their relationship because he, too, is in love with Luisa.

Did you notice the heckler midway through this clip? That interruption was edited out of the film when it was released on DVD. This situation prompted the MET, at that time, to move from live broadcasts to filmed broadcasts.

When this production opened earlier in the season, a different cast sang most of the roles. When the Met Opera decided to film this production, they realized the kind of stars usually found only on recordings would be most beneficial. As a result, you will see major opera stars of the late 1970s here. 

One bit of trivia: This was the first time Renata Scotto sang the title role in this opera at the Met.

As Week 66 at the Met closes out celebrating fathers, Week 67 will celebrate Pride Week with a very interesting line-up. You’ll have to come back next Monday to see what’s on tap.

Enjoy your week. Enjoy the operas and Happy Father’s Day to all of you dads out there!

Photo: Ferruccio Furlanetto and Roberto Alagna in Don Carlo (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

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The competition is designed to find the most talented young opera singers and help them develop their craft and their careers. Amongst the alumni appearing in this week’s productions are Lawrence Brownlee, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Ben Heppner, Sondra Radvanovsky, Samuel Ramey, Teresa Stratas and Carol Vaness.

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 May 10th, you’ll still have time to see the 2019-2020 season production of Handel’s Agrippina that was part of Happy Mother’s Day week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 61 at the Met:

Monday, May 10 – Puccini’s La Bohème

Conducted by James Levine; starring Teresa Stratas, Renata Scotto, José Carreras, Richard Stilwell, Allan Monk, James Morris and Italo Tajo. Franco Zeffirelli production from the 1981-1982 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available last year on July 19th and December 24th.

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

The story centers on four friends who are unable to pay their rent. Successfully getting out of a potentially bad situation with their landlord, all but one go out on the town. Rodolfo stays home and meets a young woman named Mimi. They fall in love, but Mimi’s weakness may be a sign of something far more life-threatening than they know. 

Director Zeffirelli reworked his 1963 production for this “new” production nearly twenty years later. John Rockwell, writing in the New York Times, wasn’t terribly impressed with the revisions. 

“Perhaps La Boheme, Puccini’s finest and most innocent opera, works best in a far more intimate house than the Met. Perhaps it is best encountered on a journey, with young, unknown singers playing out its tale of passion and despair in a way that can really be believed. Mr. Zeffirelli’s Boheme is grand and traditional, but it lost its innocence long ago.”

Tuesday, May 11 – Mozart’s Don Giovanni

Conducted by James Levine; starring Carol Vaness, Karita Mattila, Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley, Samuel Ramey, Ferrucio Furlanetto and Kurt Moll. This Franco Zeffirelli production is from the 1989-1990 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on February 19th of this year.

The legend of Don Juan inspired this opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Lorenzo da Ponte. Don Giovanni had its world premiere in 1787 in Prague.

Don Giovanni loves women. All women. Early in the opera he tries fleeing Donna Anna. In doing so her father, the Commendatore, awakens and challenges him to a duel. Giovanni kills the Commendatore – an event that will ultimately lead to his own descent into hell.

Donal Henahan, in his New York Times review, singled Ramey out for praise for his performance as the title character. “Samuel Ramey, the handsomest and most athletic Don Giovanni on the stage today, dominated the performance physically, as the Don must. But his flexible bass could also articulate cleanly a breathtakingly fast Champagne Aria and sustain a singing line in his Serenade. If his phrasing was sometimes blunt and insensitive, so was the heartless character he portrayed.”

Wednesday, May 12 – Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde

Conducted by James Levine; starring Jane Eaglen, Katarina Dalayman, Ben Heppner, Hans-Joachim Ketelsen and René Pape. This Dieter Dorn production is from the 1999-2000 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on July 12th of last year.

Richard Wagner wrote the music and the libretto for Tristan and Isolde. Gottfried von Strassburg’s novel, Tristan, from the 12th century, serves as his inspiration. The opera had its world premiere in Munich in 1865.

It is a bit of oversimplifying to say that the story in Tristan und Isolde is about two lovers whose passion for each other is so strong, it can only truly thrive in the afterlife. But frankly, in a nutshell, that’s the essential premise. But don’t be mistaken, this is pure drama and glorious music.

Bernard Holland, writing for the New York Times, loved this production. He praised the two leads saying “I wonder if we’ve ever had better ones.” He raved about the orchestra saying, “The heart of Tristan is its orchestra, and James Levine worked in slow, patient accumulations of force. The sound was wonderful.” And concluded his review by stating, “There is no other music like it, and I have never heard a better performance.”

Tristan und Isolde is easily my personal favorite opera. I’ve seen productions in the United States and in Europe. I find it profoundly moving on all levels. What Wagner accomplished here by not resolving the music until the final minutes of the opera is without parallel. I plan to watch this production and encourage you to do the same.

Thursday, May 13 – Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier

Conducted by Edo de Waart; starring Renée Fleming, Christine Schäfer, Susan Graham and Kristinn Sigmundsson. This revival of the 1969 Nathaniel Merrill production is from the 2009-2010 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available last year on July 25th and this year on January 13th.

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

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

Fleming first performed the role of The Marschallin at the Metropolitan Opera in 2000 to great acclaim. Singing the trouser role (a male character sung by a female) of Octavian in that production was Susan Graham. They reunited for this 2009 production in the same roles.

James Levine was scheduled to conduct Der Rosenkavalier, but was forced to leave during rehearsals for spine surgery.

Friday, May 14 – The Audition

In anticipation of this year’s National Council Auditions Finals, the Metropolitan Opera is running a documentary about the 2007 competition called The Audition. The film is directed by Susan Froemke.

The finalists in that year’s competition were Jamie Barton, Kierra Duffy, Michael Fabiano, Dísella Làrusdóttir, Ryan McKinny, Angela Meade, Nicholas Pallesen, Matthew Plenk, Alek Shrader, Ryan Smith and Amber L. Wagner.

Don’t some of those names sound familiar?

Saturday, May 15 – Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Conducted by Michele Mariotti; starring Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Christopher Maltman and Maurizio Muraro. This revival of Bartlett Sher’s 2006 production is from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available last year on July 20th and December 23rd.

Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) had its world premiere in 1816 in Rome. The opera is based on the new 1775 comedy by Beaumarchais of the same name. The libretto was written by Cesare Sterbini.

In this comedic opera, Count Almaviva is in love with the delightful Rosina. As he’s a Count, he wants to make sure her love is true and anchored in her passion for him, not the fact that he’s a Count. 

In order to be sure, he pretends to be student with no money. Regardless of his efforts, Bartolo, who serves as Rosina’s guardian, will make sure no one will woo Rosina and win. Bartolo, however, doesn’t know that Almaviva has a secret weapon, a cunning man named Figaro who is…the barber.

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, writing for the New York Times, said of this revival, “The Met’s production is glossy, sweet and rich in laughs. And it has stars: Lawrence Brownlee makes a dashing Almaviva, singing with a focused, ardent tenor. Isabel Leonard is a pitch-perfect Rosina, cute but sharp clawed, dispatching Rossini’s dizzying runs and ornaments with stenciled precision. Maurizio Muraro owns the role of Bartolo, his diction flawless in the rapid-fire patter arias. Paata Burchuladze was a sly, gravelly Basilio.”

Sunday, May 16 – Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Elīna Garanča, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecień.  This David McVicar production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available last year on April 29th and October 17th and this year on March 31st.

Roberto Devereux had its world premiere in Naples in 1837. François Ancelot’s Elisabeth d’Angleterre was the main inspiration for Salvadore Cammarano’s libretto. It is believed he also used Jacques Lescéne des Maisons’ Historie secrete des amours d’Elisabeth et du comte d’Essex as inspiration as well.

This opera tells the story of the title character who is the Earl of Essex. Queen Elizabeth I is secretly in love with him. In the very late 16th century (1599 to be exact), she sends him with an army to quash an uprising in Ireland. He is unsuccessful and, despite instructions to do otherwise, he returns to England. He is deemed to be a deserter. This being opera, it isn’t just a political tale nor one of history. There are conflicted relationships that ultimately lead to tragedy.

This was the Metropolitan Opera’s first production of Roberto Devereux. When Radvanovsky sang in this production, she had also performed the two previous Donizetti operas in this informal trilogy in the same season at the Met. 

This is how the audience responded on opening night to Radvanovsky’s accomplishment as reported by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times: 

“The applause and bravos for the soprano Sondra Radvanovsky were so frenzied at the end of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux at the Metropolitan Opera on Thursday night that she looked overwhelmed, almost a little frightened.The audience members knew, it seemed, that they had just witnessed an emotionally vulnerable and vocally daring performance, a milestone in the career of an essential artist.”

If you want to watch the National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on May 16th you’ll need to go here to register. The event starts at 11:00 AM ET/8:00 AM PT.

This year’s finalists are:

Jongwon Han, a bass baritone from Seoul, South Korea (age 26)

Duke Kim, a tenor from Seoul, South Korea (age 29)

Hyoyoung Kim, a soprano from Seoul, South Korea (age 24)

Brittany Olivia Logan, a soprano from Garden Grove, CA (age 28)

Raven McMillon, a soprano from Baltimore, MD (age 25)

Timothy McMurray, a baritone from Milwaukee, WI (age 29)

Murrella Parton, a soprano from Seymour, TN (age 30)

Erica Petrocelli, a soprano from East Greenwich, RI (age 28)

Emily Sierra, a mezzo-soprano from Chicago, IL (age 23)

Emily Treigle, a mezzo-soprano from New Orleans, LA (age 23)

Who will be the next big opera stars in the future? This event will certainly offer some insights.

That’s the complete line-up for Week 61 at the Met.

Enjoy your week and enjoy the operas!

Photo: Lawrence Brownlee in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Met Opera)

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