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“La voix, espace public”: Visual and sound art, concerts and public lectures inspired by the human voice

By Newswire on 19 July 2018 Arts Industry, Newswire, Vocal

Montreal, July 19, 2018 – André Pappathomas, well-known composer, choir director, and interdisciplinary artist, is launching an ambitious new project : La voix, espace public. Works of visual and sound art, concerts and public lectures dedicated to exploring and celebrating the human voice will be presented from August 30 to September 23, 2018. For the first time in the history of the Maison de la culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal, both the gallery and concert spaces will be occupied by the same artist. “Visitors will have the opportunity to engage with and reflect on the unique communicative and expressive capacities of the human…

Bernstein: The 3 symphonies (Warner Classics)

By Norman Lebrecht on 19 July 2018 Lebrecht Weekly, Orchestral, Piano, Vocal

Numerous bids are being made in this centennial year to redeem Leonard Bernstein’s three symphonies from their fatal flaws. None that I have heard makes a better fist of it than Antonio Pappano’s new set with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Pappano, who met Bernstein as his would-be repetiteur on an opera production, has a keen empathy for the composer’s melting-pot background. From first note to last, he tones down gestural excesses and desperate self-borrowings. The Rome orchestra plays like a Broadway pick-up band – Broadway usually recruited the best players in New York – and the soloists…

The Grisettes from THE MERRY WIDOW; photo by Gary David Gold

Opera Saratoga 2018, in Plain English

By Charles Geyer on 12 July 2018 Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight, Musical Theatre, Opera, Theatre, Vocal

REVIEW/PROFILE: of the Opera Saratoga 2018 mainstage production season: Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow, David T. Little’s and Royce Vavrek’s Vinkensport, Gareth Williams’ and Anna Chatterton’s Rocking Horse Winner, and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul; at the Spa Little Theater, Saratoga Springs, New York, through July 15. You’ve still got all of August for those good pulpy beach reads. Why not set aside a bit of July to savor a different delectus of juicy plotlines during the all too brief lyric holiday afforded by Opera Saratoga’s summer 2018 season, running only through July 15? This year’s programming is (almost) completely…

Georg Friedrich Händel: Johannes-Passion (CPO)

By Norman Lebrecht on 6 July 2018 Baroque and Early, Choral, Lebrecht Weekly

Did you know Handel wrote a St John’s Passion? Me, neither, and I’m still not convinced. This score was discovered in the Berlin Royal Library in the mid-19th century by the authoritative Friedrich Chrysander and included in the even more authoritative Halle Handel Edition. But there have always been doubts about dates and style. The credited librettist, Christian Heinrich Postel, died of consumption in Hamburg in 1705, when Handel was 20. Handel knew Postel’s work and may have asked for a text, but Postel worked mostly for Telemann and if he found time at all for Handel it would have…

Leonard Bernstein's MASS well received deep in the heart of Texas

Bernstein’s MASS a Dream Realized for ASO Conductor Peter Bay

By Paul E. Robinson on 4 July 2018 Concert Reviews, Opera, Uncategorized

Leonard Bernstein: Mass. Jubilant Sykes (Celebrant). Jacob Baird (Boy Soprano Soloist). Street Chorus Soloists (22 members). Bernstein100 Chorus. Bernstein100 Youth Chorus. University of Texas Butler School of Music Wind, Brass and Percussion Division. Members of Ballet Austin. Austin Symphony Orchestra/Peter Bay, conductor. Long Center for the Performing Arts Austin, Texas June 30, 2018 Jamie Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein’s eldest daughter, was a special guest for this Austin production of her father’s Mass, attending both performances and talking about the piece at pre-concert events. During her visit to Austin, Ms. Bernstein also made an appearance at Book People – far and away…

Dame Sarah Connolly: Come to me in my Dreams (Chandos)

By Norman Lebrecht on 29 June 2018 Art Song, Lebrecht Weekly

What are we to make of songs that were written for people to sing and play at home, when nobody plays at home any more? The great canon of so-called ‘art song’ (horrible term) has shifted from the drawing room to the public stage and, in doing so, has lost something of its intended intimacy and improvisation. It seems to be that English song suffers more in this transition than French or German. All too often, in a concert setting, the singer feels obliged to pop a peach in his/her mouth for declamatory purpose. The English mezzo Dame Sarah Connolly…

Brott Music Festival: National Academy Orchestra Turns 30

By Gregory Finney on 8 June 2018 Classical Music, Opera

The National Academy Orchestra is celebrating its 30th year. This mentor-led training school founded by Boris Brott prepares emerging musicians by “bridging the gap between theoretical excellence and practical employment in professional careers.” That means following an innovative curriculum under the guidance of a highly accomplished and professional staff. Participants are chosen through auditions at universities, conservatories and academies across the country. The program, which has been recognized by all three levels of government, has played host to mentors like the violinist, violist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman; cellist Rachel Mercer; and Toronto Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Jonathan Crow. Other mentors include…

Roddy Ellias: Sleeping Rough, Going Strong

By Charles Geyer on 8 June 2018 Opera

Sleeping Rough: in urban vernacular, it’s code for homelessness; and it’s now the apt title of composer Roddy Ellias’s first opera, which will premiere this summer at Ottawa’s 2018 Music and Beyond Festival (July 10, 11 and 12). “When I was a student in downtown Ottawa,” recalls Ellias, “I was across the street from the men’s mission. I got to talk to those guys every day. I’d see them slowly, day by day, degenerate.” It’s an experience that haunted Ellias, burrowing deep, only to emerge decades later, compelling him toward operatic form. “The palette it gives you as a composer…

CMIM 2018: John Brancy wins in the Art Song division and Mario Bahg in the Aria division.

By Newswire on 8 June 2018 Art Song, Music Competition, Opera

THE WINNERS OF THE 2018 VOICE EDITION: A SPECTACULAR EVENING AT THE CONCOURS MUSICAL INTERNATIONAL DE MONTRÉAL John Brancy wins in the Art Song division and Mario Bahg in the Aria division. Canadian Emily D’Angelo wins Second Prize in the Aria division Montreal, Thursday, June 7, 2018 – Earlier this evening, it was full house at Maison symphonique as the audience and international jury of the 2018 Voice edition witnessed the Aria Grand Finale of the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM). After this final round sponsored by Power Corporation of Canada, the jury members gathered to deliberate and determine the…

Eighth Festival d’Opéra de Québec: Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Revisited by Robert Lepage

By Justin Bernard on 7 June 2018 Classical Music, Opera

Over the years, the Festival d’opéra de Québec has gained an enviable reputation earned several honours, including the 2012 Opus Awards in three categories. This year, the main production will be The Magic Flute by Mozart as directed by Robert Lepage. One of Mozart’s later masterpieces, composed in 1791 and staged only a few months before his death, this initiatory opera is one of the most popular works in the world. It will showcase the originality of Robert Lepage, who is particularly known in the world of opera for his Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner’s Ring. “Robert Lepage proposed himself…

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