Browsing: Vocal

by Paul E. RobinsonTalbot: Path of MiraclesConspirare: Company of Voices/Craig Hella Johnson, conductorSt. Martin’s Lutheran ChurchAustin, TexasFriday, January 20, 2012Now in the middle of its 19th season, Conspirare’s 24-member Company of Voices continues to be innovative and inspiring. Its latest presentation was the regional premiere of Path of Miracles,a 70-minute work by British composer Joby Talbot; a beautiful work, it was given a superb performance on this occasion by Craig Hella Johnson & Company.Path of Miracles depicts the famous medieval Christian pilgrims’ walk from France to Santiago, in homage to St. James, one of Jesus’ disciples, and the patron saint of…

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By Michèle-Andrée Lanoue Erreur de type 27The ensemble Erreur de type 27, the “presence of contemporary music” in Quebec City incarnate, is collaborating with Oktoécho for a reading where theatre and music collide for the presentation of Chants du prophète. Part improvised and part written, the performance draws on the philosophical/poetic anthology Le Prophète by Khalil Gibran. This premiere from composer Katia Makdissi-Warren and playwright-director Hanna Abd El Nour will be performed at the Palais Montcalm on March 31 at 8 p.m. www.erreurdetype27.comOrchestre symphonique de QuébecTwo orchestras, from the Conservatoire de musique de Québec and the music faculty of Université…

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by Paul E. RobinsonMozart: The Magic Flute Austin Lyric Opera (ALO)Director: James MarvelConductor: Richard BuckleyThe Long Center Austin, TexasSaturday November 5, 2011Congratulations are in order for the Austin Lyric Opera on the occasion of its 25th Anniversary. The organization also deserves enormous credit for dealing quickly and apparently effectively with a serious financial crisis that came to a boil last spring. Changes since then have included the resignation of General Director Kevin Patterson, the listing of ALO’s office building for sale, and major program cuts to the 2011-2012 season. Kevin Smith was appointed interim General Director and principal conductor Richard…

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Par Julie Berardino Le très attendu Festival Opéra de Québec se déroulera cet été (du 25 juillet au 6 août) à Québec avec une version modeste du Rossignol et autres fables de Stravinsky et de la Flûte enchantée de Mozart. Tel que prévu, Robert Lepage, originaire de Québec, sera à l’honneur dans la production qu’offre sa compagnie Ex Machina de l’opéra de Stravinsky, qui fut créée par le Canadian Opera Company et a récemment complété une tournée à New York. La production amène chanteurs et marionnettiste à évoluer dans un grand bassin d’eau sur scène (salle Louis-Fréchette du Grand Théâtre de Québec)…

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by Paul E. RobinsonEvery summer Marita and I drive from Austin, Texas back to our native Canada, varying our route each year according to events of particular interest on the road and the availability of friends we enjoy visiting.This year we decided to make a stop in Charlottesville, Virginia, a favourite place we hadn’t visited in too many years. This charming, lively, petite (pop: 40,000) mountain town is home to the University of Virginia where we fondly recalled once having inspected the tiny room inhabited by Edgar Allen Poe during his short tenure as a student here. The literary stature…

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By Rona NadlerThe Canadian Music Competition has announced its 2011 Grand Prize winners. Over two hundred young musicians from all over the country competed in the finals, held in Montreal from June 20-July 4. Grand Prizes for each age category were awarded to Kirsten MacKinnon, soprano (Burnaby, BC), Jason Kangsan Lee, piano (Missisauga, ON), Nicole Li, violin (Toronto, ON), Stephen Nguyen, piano (Calgary, AB), and Tiffany Yeung, violin (Richmond Hill, ON). The winners will give three performances with the Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Alain Trudel: a gala concert on July 14 at Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, at Parc La Fontaine…

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by Paul E. RobinsonRoberto Sierra (photo: above) was born in Puerto Rico and studied with György Ligeti in Germany. Since 1992 he has been a member of the faculty of music at Cornell University, and is widely recognized as one of the leading composers of his generation.Sierra’s Missa Latina “Pro Pace” (For Peace) was commissioned by Washington’s National Symphony and the Choral Arts Society, and Leonard Slatkin conducted the premiere with those combined ensembles in 2006. Since that time the work has been performed in major cities around the United States, each time with great success.Craig Hella Johnson (photo: right)…

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Stephanie Novacek (Jo), Joyce DiDonato (Meg), Chad Shelton (Laurie), Stacey Tappan (Beth), Margaret Lloyd (Amy), Daniel Belcher (John Brooke) Houston Grand Opera Orchestra/Patrick Summers Mise en scène : Peter Webster Décors : Christopher McCollum; Costumes : Melissa Graff Naxos 2.110613 (114 min 53 s) **** Little Women a été créé en 1998 au Houston Grand Opera et est devenu depuis l’un des opéras les plus souvent montés sur les scènes internationales. L’histoire est une adaptation du roman de Louisa May Alcott qui raconte la vie des quatre filles March (Jo, Meg, Amy et Beth), vivant dans la demeure familiale lors…

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by Paul E. RobinsonThe news just keeps getting worse from opera companies across the United States. As the economy ever so slowly rights itself after a devastating recession, ticket buyers and generous donors are hard to find. Endowments have taken a tremendous hit from the stock market collapse. The New York City Opera has been struggling for years and recently announced that it would have to leave Lincoln Center in order to cut costs and remain in business. David Gockley, the San Francisco Opera’s highly-regarded General Director, said that his company was feeling the heat and needed to do some…

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by Paul E. RobinsonWhile opera fans are notoriously old-fashioned when it comes to stage directors bringing overarching new ideas to their favourite works, it is clear that if opera is going to have any future, it must be open to creative re-thinking.Wieland Wagner successfully updated his grandfather’s Ring cycle at Bayreuth in the 1950s, and Karajan and Schneider-Siemssen used cutting edge projection technology to add a new dimension to the Ring cycle at Salzburg in the 1960s. In 1976, Patrice Chereau gave us something to think about with his radical new Ring at Bayreuth. In 2011, we have Robert LePage…

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