Art Song - my/maSCENA

NYFOS Next: Christopher Cerrone & Friends

By Xenia Hanusiak on 21 December 2016 Art Song, Concert Reviews

In the same week that the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) presented a contemporary art song program entitled “Christopher Cerrone & Friends” at National Sawdust (viewed December 8, 2016), Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize. The legitimacy of granting the prize to a singer-songwriter received the public auditing the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences anticipated, but also produced an opportune moment to shine a spotlight on the art of song. As part of his acceptance speech, Bob Dylan stated, “Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, ‘Are my songs literature?’” Dylan’s response politely rebuked…

This Week in Montreal (December 12-18)

By Nicole Yeba on 12 December 2016 Art Song, Classical, This Week in Montreal

OM – IN TCHAIKOVSKI’S COMPANY A true musical symbol of Christmas evening, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker rejoices music lovers young and old each year. The Orchestre Métropolitain, under Julian Kuerti, will also perform his Symphony No. 2 “Little Russia,” Glière’s Harp Concerto (with OM artist-in-residence Valérie Milot), and music by Morel. (December 13 to 17 at 7:30 PM in 5 boroughs; 1 Maison symphonique, Sunday December 18, 3:00 PM). www.orchestremetropolitain.com SMAM – CHRISTMAS WITH CHARPENTIER Le Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, in collaboration with Clavecin en concert, under Andrew McAnerney and Luc Beauséjour, will perform five of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s sacred…

Simone McIntosh

Wirth Vocal Prize 2016–17

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 December 2016 Art Song, Arts Industry, La Scena Spotlight, Opera, Vocal

The second annual Wirth Vocal Prize at McGill’s Schulich School of Music culminated in an evening of superior music-making by the three finalists: bass-baritone Jean-Philippe McClish, mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh, and baritone Igor Mostovoi. Made up of past and present McGill graduates, the jury of Michael McMahon (pianist), Joan Patenaude-Yarnell (soprano), Patrick Corrigan (Director General of the Opéra de Montréal), and chair Stéphane Lemelin (pianist and head of the Department of Performance) selected McIntosh for the top prize, which includes $25,000, artistic mentorship, and several performance opportunities, including a recital with the COC. McIntosh, also the recent winner of the COC’s…

French Institute Alliance Française and Opera Lafayette – Menu: Plaisirs with Jean-Paul Fouchécourt

By Xenia Hanusiak on 21 November 2016 Art Song, Concert Reviews, Opera

Menu: Plaisirs with Jean-Paul Fouchécourt French Institute Alliance Française and Opera Lafayette Where: FIAF Florence Gould Hall, New York When November 16, 2016 The phrase “from the sublime to the ridiculous” is one of those idiomatic expressions that you associate with happenstances of all kinds, so to use that choice of words to describe a performance of high art French chanson, cabaret of Yvette Guilbert, and eighteenth-century Comédie lyrique may seem odd. But not when you consider that the performance Menu-Plaisirs co-created by its tenor soloist Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, director Jean Lacornerie, and magician Thierry Collet was conceived not simply as…

CMIM announces New Positioning for Future Voice Editions

By Newswire on 10 November 2016 Art Song, Newswire, Opera

Competition will honor both Aria and Art Song Toronto, November 10, 2016 – The Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) announces at the IAMA Toronto 2016 conference (International Artists’ Managers Association) its new positioning for future voice editions. Starting in 2018, the vocal competition will feature two divisions: Aria and Art Song. Eligible candidates will be able to compete in either or both divisions. The same amount of prizes, grants, and awards will be assigned to both divisions, resulting in a record amount of more than a quarter million Canadian dollars to be awarded to prizewinners. The next Voice competition…

Lebrecht Weekly – Arnold Schoenberg: Gurre-Lieder (Chandos)

By Norman Lebrecht on 7 October 2016 Art Song, Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Orchestral

It is so rare to hear the Gurre Lieder live that most of us are acquainted with it only on record – in memorable interpretations by Rafael Kubelik, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Claudio Abbado and others. The work employs a vast orchestra and chorus for an unbroken duration of ninety minutes, much of which occupies a zone of uncertainty as to whether what we are hearing is ancient or modern. Schoenberg began composing the cycle in Wagnerian modalities in 1900, abandoned it three years later, finished it in 1911 as a provocative atonalist, and achieved the greatest triumph of his…

Sergio Barza’s Favourite Art Song

By Kiersten van Vliet on 25 September 2016 Art Song, Next Great Art Song, Romantic

La Scena Musicale is celebrating the Art Song with the worldwide survey, What is your favourite art song? Submit your vote at www.nextgreatartsong.com. Conductor Sergio Barza shares his three choices below. 3. Schubert – Gretchen am Spinnrade “My peace is gone, My heart is heavy, I will find it never and never more. Where I do not have him, That is the grave, The whole world Is bitter to me. My poor head Is crazy to me, My poor mind Is torn apart. My peace is gone, My heart is heavy, I will find it never and never more. For him only, I look Out the…

Olivia Betzen (Manon) and Sean Christensen (Des Grieux), Manon, Photo: Mark Baker

The Art, the Craft, the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble

By Charles Geyer on 20 September 2016 Art Song, Concert Reviews, La Scena Spotlight, Opera

OPERA REVIEW AND COMPANY PROFILE: dell’Arte Opera Ensemble’s “Violetta & Her Sisters”: “Scenes from the Demi-Monde” (August 23, 2016) Massenet’s Manon (August 24, 2016) Verdi’s La traviata (August 25, 2016) “Chansons de Baudelaire” (August 27, 2016) Libiamo! Autumn ought not arrive without our noting that New York City enjoyed a mini-“Summer of the Courtesan.” For two weeks in August (the 13th through the 28th), one could join in a bittersweet brindisi, tip a glass to free-spirited pleasure, and shed a tear for loveliness cut down too young. The program was “Violetta & Her Sisters,” and it was the fruit of…

Inaugural concert for the Azrieli Music Project

By Newswire on 16 September 2016 Art Song, Contemporary, Newswire, Orchestral

Premiere of a large-scale work for orchestra, choir and tenor, in addition to compositions by Mahler, Bernstein and Wlad Marhulets Kent Nagano, 4 soloists and the OSM Chorus Montréal, September 16, 2016 – Maestro Kent Nagano is conducting the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal on Wednesday, October 19 at 8 p.m. atMaison symphonique de Montréal in a concert presenting a reflection on tradition, identity and on the universal character of music. Four wonderful soloists – tenor Frédéric Antoun, pianist Serhiy Salov, clarinetist André Moisan and soprano Sharon Azrieli Perez – and the OSM Chorus will join forces with the Orchestra on…

Jordan de Souza

La Rentrée Musicale: Vocal & Opera

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 September 2016 Art Song, Choral, La Scena Spotlight, Opera

Opera Montreal’s opera season begins with the Opéra de Montréal’s Aida on September 17. Running until the 24, the show features Kamen Chanev (Radames), Olesya Petrova (Amneris), Gregory Dahl (Amonasro), Phillipe Ens (Ramfis), Anatoli Sivko (The King of Egypt), with Russian soprano Anna Markarova in the title role. Paul Nadler conducts. The November production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni features the return of Canadian bass-baritone Gordon Bintner to the Opéra de Montréal stage as the philandering anti-hero. Includes an all-Canadian cast of Daniel Okulitch (Leporello), Emily Dorn (Donna Anna), Jean-Michel Richer (Don Ottavio), Layla Claire (Donna Elvira), as well as up-and-coming…

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