Opera - my/maSCENA

Leah Partridge, Photo: David Andrako

Putting Opera on the Spot, with On Site Opera

By Charles Geyer on 26 October 2016 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Interviews, Opera, Romantic

COMPANY REVIEW: On Site Opera (New York City); PERFORMANCE REVIEW: An Evening of Monodramas – La Morte de Cléopâtre by Hector Berlioz; and Miss Havisham’s Wedding by Dominick Argento; The Harmonie Club, 4 East 60th Street, New York, New York (September 29 and 30, 2016; viewed September 30). “Waiter! There’s a diva in my soup!” Actually, there wasn’t any soup – but a double helping of diva was definitely on the menu at Manhattan’s Upper East Side Harmonie Club on the evenings of September 29th and 30th. That’s when On Site Opera, a spry and peripatetic company that has been…

Heidi Stober (Alice B. Toklas) and Stephanie Blythe (Gertrude Stein), Photo: Erin Baiano

On a Recent Visit with Gertrude Stein

By Charles Geyer on 22 October 2016 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera

OPERA REVIEW/ARTIST INTERVIEWS: Ricky Ian Gordon’s and Royce Vavrek’s 27, an opera about Gertrude Stein; at New York’s City Center, October 20 and 21, 2016. 27, the new opera about Gertrude Stein and her artistic cronies by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Royce Vavrek, was commissioned by and premiered at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2014. But the current City Center incarnation represents both a New York and a world premiere of the opera, as now reimagined and expanded by the composer and his original creative team to honor the 75th anniversary of that New York institution formerly…

Daily News Roundup: 21 October 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 21 October 2016 Daily News Roundup, Opera, Orchestral

The English National Opera (ENO) appoints British conductor Martyn Brabbins as its new Music Director. He replaces Mark Wrigglesworth who resigned in March. The ENO seeks stability after two years of cuts and crises. The Victoria Symphony named Christian Kluxen to succeed Tania Miller next year as Music Director. The Danish 34-year-old assistant conductor at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra was a Dudamel Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2014-2015. Lyric Opera of Chicago announced today the renewal of General Director Anthony Freud’s five-year contract until the 2020-2021 season.

Daily News Roundup: 19 October 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 19 October 2016 Classical Music, Daily News Roundup, Opera, Orchestral

The composer of the shortest opera, Peter Reynolds, died on October 11 at his home in Cardiff, United Kingdom. The Welsh composer created Sands of Time in 1993, which lasts only four minutes. The Verbier Festival has appointed Canadian Stephen McHolm as Director of the Verbier Festival Academy and Special Projects on December 1, 2016. He replaces Christian Thompson who will work full-time at the Orchestre National de Lyon. McHolm is currently the Artistic Director of the Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary.

Daily News Roundup: 18 October 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 18 October 2016 Classical Music, Daily News Roundup, Opera, Popular Music, Strings

Jordan de Souza, 28, gets appointed as Kapellmesiter at the Komische Oper Berlin for the 2016-2017 season. The Toronto-born conductor was named the Head of Music at Germany’s Komische Oper Berlin last year. He will conduct a new production and a symphony concert in the orchestra’s series among the approximate 45 performances this season. Rock’n’roll legend, Chuck Berry who celebrates his 90th birthday today, announced he is releasing a new album next year. The album titled Chuck comes 38 years after his last album. Pianist Yuja Wang was named the 2017 artist of the year of Musical America. The piano…

Elizabeth Futral as Alice B. Toklas with Theo Lebow, Tobias Greenhalgh, and Daniel Brevik as paintings in Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ 2014 production of “27.” Photo by Ken Howard.

Gertrude Stein is at Home! You are Cordially Invited

By Charles Geyer on 18 October 2016 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Interviews, Opera

An Advance Profile of Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27, an opera about Gertrude Stein, with libretto by Royce Vavrek, to be presented at New York’s City Center, October 20 and 21, 2016. “Knock, knock” was no joke at chez Gertrude Stein in early 20th-century Paris. Rather, a knock at the private side entrance of one cramped room in Stein’s small apartment at 27 rue de Fleurus cued the commencement of serious and exciting business on any given Saturday evening. That was when the likes of Matisse and Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Man Ray, and other artists, writers, and avant-garde headliners of…

Guy Nadon

Daily News Roundup: 12 October 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 12 October 2016 Daily News Roundup, Mainstream Jazz, Opera, Orchestral, Scena Jazz

+ Jazz musician Guy Nadon, known as “le roi du drum” died at the age of 82. He passed away at 2 a.m. on Sunday in the Maison Neuve residence for older people where he lost his battle against kidney disease. He performed his last concert at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in June 2016. In 1998, he was awarded the jazz fest’s Oscar Peterson Award for outstanding contributions to the development of Canadian jazz. (English/French) + Peter Allen, voice on the radio for the Met Opera died at 96. He passed away at his home on Saturday in Manhattan. He presided…

The Ultimate Opera Gala Starring Anna Netrebko in Toronto

By Newswire on 12 October 2016 Newswire, Opera, Toronto

Show One Productions In Collaboration With The Canadian Opera Company PROUDLY PRESENTS TRIO MAGNIFICO The Ultimate Opera Gala STARRING ANNA NETREBKO, soprano Ÿ YUSIF EYVAZOV, tenor DMITRI HVOROSTOVSKY, baritone World Premiere Appearance of Magnificent Trio of Opera Stars! JADER BIGNAMINI, conductor Ÿ CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY ORCHESTRA TUESDAY, APRIL 25 AT 7:30PM Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto ON SALE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20 AT 10:00 AM Toronto, October 11, 2016 … Svetlana Dvoretsky of Show One Productions in collaboration with the Canadian Opera Company, Alexander Neef, General Director, is proud to present the world premiere appearance of a trio of today’s most remarkable opera…

Jean-Philippe Tremblay, Photo: Alain Lefort

Industry News: October 2016

By Shira Gilbert on 1 October 2016 Arts Industry, La Scena Spotlight, Opera, Orchestral

by: Shira Gilbert and Kiersten van Vliet Orchestral Changeups Conductor Jean-Philippe Tremblay is the new Music Director of Montreal’s Orchestre de chambre Appassionata. Daniel Myssyk, also an associate professor and orchestra conductor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, has stepped down from the post after founding the orchestra 15 years ago. Tremblay also remains at the helm of Orchestre de la francophonie. Education News Tim Price is the new Chair of the Board of Directors at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Price is currently also active on two corporate boards, Canadian Tire Corporation and Fairfax Financial Holdings Inc.…

Suor Angelica, Photo: Tam Lan Truong

Quebec Previews: October 2016

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 October 2016 Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Contemporary, La Scena Spotlight, Opera, Strings

Les Caprices de la Nuit with Les Violons du Roy On October 13, join violinist and conductor Anthony Marwood and Les Violons du Roy for an evening of exceptional chamber music for strings. The concert includes the String Sextet from Richard Strauss’s final opera Capriccio, Mozart’s charming String Quintet in G minor, and Schoenberg’s late-Romantic Verklärte Nacht. October 13, 8PM, Salle Raoul-Jobin, Palais Montcalm. www.violonsduroy.com James Ehnes @ 40 Continue the celebration of James Ehnes’s 40th birthday as he stops in Quebec City on his way across Canada. With longtime collaborator Andrew Armstrong, Ehnes will play chamber music by Handel,…

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