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Lebrecht Weekly – Pietro Mascagni: Guglielmo Ratcliff (RTE Lyric)

By Norman Lebrecht on 6 January 2017 Lebrecht Weekly, Opera, Romantic

Whenever I watch any opera by Mascagni and Leoncavallo other than ‘Cav’ and ‘Pag’ I have no trouble understanding why the two composers went down in history as one-hit wonders. True, there are those who make claims for Leoncavallo’s La Boheme (Mahler deemed it vastly inferior to Puccini’s) and others are thrilled by Mascagni’s sex-slave Iris, but neither work has struck me as more than a barrel-scraping of the short-lived 1890s verismo craze, deservedly occupying the fringes of musical memory. All the more reason, then, to eat a few of my words on this first encounter with Guglielmo Ratcliff, a…

Maalouf © JF PAGA Grasset

Amin Maalouf: Up-Close with the Man from “Afar”

By Charles Geyer on 31 December 2016 Contemporary, Interviews, Opera

INTERVIEW: with Amin Maalouf (Kaija Saariaho’s librettist-collaborator on L’Amour de loin and other works) The opera L’Amour de loin – or Love from Afar – premiered to conspicuous plaudits in Salzburg in 2000, and has enjoyed numerous productions around the globe. It also signaled the beginning of a remarkably fertile, ongoing collaboration between composer Kaija Saariaho and then first-time librettist Amin Maalouf. Maalouf has since partnered with Saariaho on three more musico-dramatic works, all of them sharing certain distinctive features: strong female characters, epitomizing a generative, rancorless strain of feminism; an elusive, gossamer air of mysticism; a usually gentle, ultimately…

Photo: Robert Altman

Brooklyn, Beer, Bleachers…and Macbeth!

By Charles Geyer on 21 December 2016 Opera, Romantic

REVIEW AND COMPANY PROFILE: LoftOpera’s unique, found-site production of Verdi’s Macbeth (viewed December 14, 2016) The production has run its course, the drums are silent. But a rising subterranean tattoo of enthusiasm for the vibrant LoftOpera brand of alt-opera experience goes on, and it’s well worth logging a memoir of the company’s most recent happening. A Drum, a Drum! Macbeth Doth Come! Fate has calendared a rendezvous for you in the wilds of Brooklyn. You trek through hell and high water – not to mention some of the borough’s more recherché endroits – to get there. Witches gambol and do…

Eric Owens as Jaufré Rudel in Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

So Far! So Good! L’Amour de loin Comes to the Met

By Charles Geyer on 9 December 2016 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera

OPERA REVIEW: L’Amour de loin by Kaija Saariaho and Amin Maalouf – Metropolitan Opera debut (December 1, 2016) Meditative, poised, sly, and slow-burn, L’Amour de loin oh so gradually grows to dramatic ripeness. Its music glimmers, undulates, bewitches – as fluid in its variety and moods as the play of sun and moonlight on the Mediterranean. But the opera hangs full fire until, ultimately, it knocks you back with its hidden emotional and existential wallop. This elegant and profound French-language work by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, with libretto by Lebanese novelist Amin Maalouf, has been accruing international kudos through more…

Sheku Kanneh-Masson et violoncelle Amati de 1610

Daily News Roundup: 8 December 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 8 December 2016 Daily News Roundup, Opera, Orchestral, Popular Music, Strings, Violin

Greg Lake, bassist, guitarist and singer of British progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer lost his fight to cancer yesterday at the age of 69. The keyboardist Keith Emerson took his own life in March 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89g1P_J40JA Sheku Kanneh-Mason was presented with the 1610 Amati cello he played at BBC Young Musician of the Year. The instrument is a permanent loan from Florian Leonhard workshop in London. Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky announced today he was withdrawing from all coming opera engagements. The 54-year-old singer who was diagnosed with brain tumor in 2015 will continue giving concerts and recitals,…

Anthony Bramall - Photo: Andreas Pohlmann

Daily News Roundup: 7 December 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 7 December 2016 Daily News Roundup, Opera, Scena Jazz, Violin

Jazz pianist Joey Alexander is nominated for a Grammy in the jazz solo category. The 13-year-old Indonesian was nominated last year in two jazz categories but left empty-handed. Find out who the other nominees are here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1liUart72g Anthony Bramall has been named principal chief conductor of Munich’s State Theater on Gärtnerplatz. The British conductor, 59, will start in summer 2017. The Northern Ireland Opera has appointed Walter Sutcliffe as its new artistic director. The 30-year-old British will be starting in February 2017. Violinist and concertmaster Jerrold Rubenstein passed away yesterday in Brussels. The New Yorker taught at the Antwerp…

Daily News Roundup: 6 December 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 6 December 2016 Daily News Roundup, Opera, Vocal

The song competition of the Concours international de musique de Genève, which ended December 2, didn’t hand out a First Prize. Four prizes were handed to German tenor David Fischer: Second Prize, Public Prize, Students Prize and Yvonne Sigg Prize. The Swiss Marina Viotti and Korean Seung-Jick Kim shared the Third Prize ex aequo. Soprano Elisabeth Carron died last Thursday at the age of 94. She sang as Mimi from La Bohème at the MET and as the main role of Madama Butterly at City Opera among many leading roles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m8n28ypNo8 Soprano Gigliola Frazzoni died between Saturday and…

Tamara Mumford as the Pilgrim, Eric Owens as Jaufré Rudel and Susanna Phillips as Clémence in Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Met Premiere: L’Amour de Loin by Kaija Saariaho and Amin Maalouf

By Xenia Hanusiak on 6 December 2016 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera

The Metropolitan Opera’s production of L’Amour de Loin, by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, shines on the most trailblazing composer of the 21st century. It has been a limelight month for Saariaho in New York. Ensembles from the New York Philharmonic to educational institutions such as the Mannes School of Music have given Saariaho’s music a highlight in their programming calendar. These dedicated performances together with the house premiere of L’Amour de Loin at The Metropolitan Opera have not only addressed Saariaho’s stellar status but have inserted a post script on the position of female artists in opera. While Saariaho frequently…

Paula Berry (Alcina), Opera McGill 2016

Opera McGill at 60

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 December 2016 Education, Interviews, Musical Theatre, Opera

If you peel back the layers of any opera company in Canada, you are likely to find Opera McGill graduates at every level: on the stage, beneath the stage, and behind the stage. Take Opéra de Montréal’s recent production of Don Giovanni, for example. While bass-baritone Gordon Bintner, who played his first Don Giovanni at McGill four years ago, reprised the title role, rising star Jordan De Souza led from the pit. Soprano Emily Dorn (Donna Anna) is an alumna, and the show’s stage director, American David Lefkowich also has connections to the program, having directed The Rake’s Progress at…

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…

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