On Today's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, guest host Paolo Pietropaolo challenged listeners to identify the three Puccini operas these musical excerpts come from.
Send your answers to opera [at] cbc.ca
You might win a copy of Michael Hammond's beautiful book, Performing Architecture: Opera Houses, Theatres and Concert Halls for the Twenty-First Century
The romantic entanglements of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream have inspired movies, novel plots, and, of course, music.
This weekend, two interpretation of the work. On SATO, it's Benjamin Britten's opera from a La Scala this past June, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis and featuring a stellar cast including American countertenor David Daniels, three Canadian singers (Gordon Gietz, Erin Wall and Daniel Okulitch) and a Canadian production team (Robert Carsen and Michael Levine).
On In Concert it's Mendelssohn's incidental music to the play, featuring the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Vancouver thespian Christopher Gaze, plus the Elektra Women's choir.
And then there's the robot version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. In a recent production by Texas A&M University, seven little robots play fairies alongside the flesh and blood performers.
The director told Wired: "The robots seem more and more like characters that have always been part of the story. To see them flying, spinning and bouncing through the air just adds to the magic and mystery of the world Shakespeare created."
What do you think -- do the wee robots add?
If you've followed the story of tenor Rolando Villazon, who underwent surgery on his vocal cords not long ago, you will be thrilled to hear that recently he posted a video on his website saying that all is well. ("My voice is back!" he says, with a small demonstration.)
That's not this video though. This video is of a duet with Vesselina Kasarova from Jules Massenet's "drame lyrique," Werther, a production of which will be broadcast today on SATO.
That's from 2004, so a goodly while before Villazon's surgery. But here's a very exuberant Villazon in that post-surgery video. Sounds like he has every reason to be exuberant now -- the problems with his voice meant he had to cancel many of his 2009 concerts -- and it was feared he would never be able to sing again.
Today, hear him singing with soprano Susan Graham at l'Opéra nationale de Paris at the Opéra Bastille, directed by Kent Nagano. And tune into In Tune today as well -- Katherine has more details about the Villazon voice saga.
If you missed the Graham interview here it is.
Or perhaps you missed last week's great Joyce DiDonato interview. That's posted below as well.
from more on the opera see below...
Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, with host Bill Richardson
Saturday November 7, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT, 2:30 - 6:30 NT) on CBC Radio 2
Beatrice would rather have nothing to do with the avowed bachelor Benedict. But love works in mysterious ways, and gets a lending hand from others, in the comic opera Béatrice et Bénédict, by Hector Berlioz. Berlioz adapted the libretto himself from William Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. On the island of Sicily, Don Pedro leads victorious soldiers home from the war. Amid much celebration couples are reunited, especially Claudio and the governor's daughter, Héro, who immediately plan their nuptials. They use their wiles to help the reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedict to recognize the true feelings within their hearts.
Sir Colin Davis leads the Orchestre National de France, sopranos Joyce di Donato (as Beatrice) and Nathalie Manfrino (Héro), tenor Charles Workman (Bénédict), Canadian baritone Jean-Francois Lapointe (Claudio) in this concert presentation, produced by Radio France.
We also present the first of a five episode serial opera by the Canadian composer Dean Burry. This CBC commission is based on the story of Baby Kintyre , the mummified infant discovered by a construction crew in the attic of a Toronto home in 2007.
If you missed the episode or would like to hear any of them again, they'll be posted each week on the CBC Commissions website.
for more on this week's feature opera (Béatrice et Bénédict) see below...
Continue reading ""Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps."" »
If you missed the news earlier this week -- you heard it here first. The Canadian Opera Company is expanding its broadcast base, recording all seven main-stage productions in the '09-'10 season with us. Us as in CBC/Radio-Canada.
General Director Alexander Neef told the press earlier this week that "Extending the COC's reach to areas of the country not presently served by opera is one of my main goals at the Canadian Opera Company. The COC has been so successful in getting people into the opera house, that now it's time for us to go to those who can't come to us."
Also in the excellent news dep't., the operas will be live streamed on the Radio 2 website, as per usual, but also go up at Concerts On Demand for a year after their first broadcast.
On Saturday Afternoon at the Opera on October 24 we spoke with Michael Hammond, Editorial Director of World Architecture News. Hammond is also author of a beautiful and fascinating look at the art of creating opera houses, concert halls and theatres - Performing Architecture - published by Merrell in 2006. The book describes many turn of the century halls that are newly opened, just completing or on the tables.
Image above: Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (opera house) in Valencia, Spain
You can listen to the interview below and we've also posted some pictures and links of some of the theatres and opera houses that Bill and Michael discuss.
Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, with host Bill Richardson
Saturday October 24, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT, 2:30 - 6:30 NT) on CBC Radio 2
That's the fate of Belmonte's beloved Konstanze and her comely maid, Blonde. But Belmonte is positive he can rescue the ladies from the seraglio (ie. the harem) of the Pasha Selim, if he can just outsmart Osmin, the famously formidable overseer, in The Abduction from the Seraglio ("Die Entführung aud dem Serail").
This comic masterwork boasts some of the most difficult and delightful arias that Mozart ever penned. The Lyric Opera of Chicago gathered an all-star cast for this new production, staged in March 2009: tenor Matthew Polenzani (Belmonte) has been described as a "Mozart tenor of exceptional beauty and finesse"; Calgary-born soprano Erin Wall (Konstanze) has a voice that "perfectly balances cream and spice"; and bass Andrea Silvestrelli (Osmin) wows audiences with his sonorous voice and larger-than-life stage personality. Sir Andrew Davis is the conductor.
The Buxbaum Family Lyric Opera of Chicago broadcasts are made possible through the generous support of the Matthew Buxbaum family, with matching funds provided by the Crown family, and Richard P. and Susan Kiphart. The broadcasts come to us through the courtesy of WMFT in Chicago.
for more on the opera see below...
Continue reading "Kidnapped by Pirates and now Prisoners in a Pasha's Palace!" »
Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, with host Bill Richardson
Saturday October 17, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT, 2:30 - 6:30 NT) on CBC Radio 2
Passion, political intrigue and parental love fuel the plot of Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra. In 13th century Genoa, an intense power struggle has erupted among scheming nobles and commoners. Assuming the title of The Doge (or chief magistrate) is a former pirate, Simon Boccanegra. Years later, as an elder statesman, Boccanegra's political past continues to clash, THIS time with his parental duties, when he is reunited with his long-lost daughter. There's both love and conspiracy in the Doge's court, in this production from the Vienna State Opera. Canadian conductor Yves Abel is on the podium, with a cast that includes Italian baritone Leo Nucci as Boccanegra, and Romanian soprano Roxana Briban, as his daughter.
Following the tpera we have several operatic excerpts including a couple of cuts from a brand new Cecilia Bartoli disc: Sacrificium
Canadian soprano Adrienne Pieczonka joined host Bill Richardson on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera this week. They spoke about, among many things, her brand new disc of Puccini opera arias out on the Orfeo label. In case you missed it, here it is again.
Last December Chicago opera goers were treated to quite a production at the Lyric of Madama Butterfly, and today SATO fans are treated to a broadcast of same. It features Patricia Racette, and as reported by Opera News, "it was a revelatory performance, one that entirely justified Racette's ownership of the role."
You'll find all of the details about today's production and about the history of Puccini's famous work in the last post, by my SATO colleagues. Right now, as a little preview, here is Racette, singing the famous Un Bel Di Vedremo from Madama Butterfly.
Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, with Bill Richardson
Saturday October 10, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT, 2:30 - 6:30 NT)
Puccini knew his 1904 opera Madama Butterfly would succeed eventually, but at its premiere he must have felt just as abandonded as his protagonist, the young geisha, Cio Cio San. A well-organized chorus of cat calls at La Scala disrupted the performance to such an extent that Puccini withdrew the score for several months. Where had his previously adoring public gone?
Today the heart-breaking story is consistently among the most popular operas. A young geisha, "Madama Butterfly," falls in love with Pinkerton, a visiting U.S. Navy Lieutenant. But their “marriage” proves to be a brief port-of-call as he sails away. Though she's been abandoned, Butterfly raises Pinkerton's child and believes that he'll return, one fine day. Three years later, she faces shame and disgrace when Pinkerton reappears - with his American wife.
In March 2009 soprano Patricia Racette appeared (on relatively short notice) in The Met's HD broadcast of this opera. She was well prepared, having just performed what she describes as one of her favourite roles just a couple of months earlier in this Lyric Opera of Chicago production. Tenor Frank Lopardo appears as Pinkerton in this production, and Canadian tenor James Westman is Sharpless, the American Consul. The performance is conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
see below for more...
Computer Gremlins caused many timezones to miss a portion of today's opera. Our apologies for that, and for those who may have missed our post opera interview with Evelyn Lear, it is available below
Post opera (Oct. 3) Bill Richardson interviewed one of the greats of the opera world, soprano Evelyn Lear.
At 83 years of age, she's still going strong - teaching, giving masterclasses and living it up on the Golf Course! Here's that interview in its entirety.
Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, with host Bill Richardson
Saturday October 3, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT, 2:30 - 6:30 NT) on CBC Radio 2
...in the delightfully comedic opera Ariadne auf Naxos, by Richard Strauss. First performed in Stuttgart in 1912 this 'opera within an opera' tells the tale of the Greek mythological figure, Ariadne, who has awoken after a long sleep to discover that she has been abandoned by her lover on the island of Naxos. However, the more "serious" proceedings are interupted by the arrival of Commedia del Arte troupe, whose jesting characters are keen to put their own "spin" on the proceedings. When the characters in Ariadne auf Naxos are put to the task of telling Ariadne’s story, High Art meets High Jinx and the the end result is a delightful union of the opera seria and opera buffa traditions, as both come together on one stage for a raucous and entertaining presentation.
Calgary Opera welcomes an all-star cast that includes soprano Wendy Nielsen as The Prima Donna / Ariadne; the spectacular coloratura of Tracy Dahl as Zerbinetta; Mezzo-soprano Stacey Rishoi (a winner of the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions) as The Composer; and the golden voice of Richard Margison, as The Tenor / Bacchus.
Shades Of Schade concludes today with a laugh. Or at least, an opportunity for a laugh, since it features tenor Michael Schade in the Richard Strauss comic opera Die Schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman).
An opera within an opera, it's about a crusty retired Admiral (bachelor, of course) and a chatterbox housekeeper. He dreams of peace and quiet...and a silent wife (young, of course).
Enter Michael Schade (as crusty bachelor's nephew) with an opera troupe, and a comic scheme to provide peace and quiet and, as a byproduct, inherit the crusty retired Admiral's money. Comedy ensues. (It's a little more complicated than that -- but that's why the synopsis is below.)
As the Admiral sings by the opera's end: "How beautiful music is, but how really beautiful when it is over. How beautiful is life, but how beautiful only when one is no fool!"
We all (Bill, the producers, yours truly) hope you've enjoyed Shades Of Schade, and if you have, please let us know. Either here on the blog, or by email.
Shades of Schade continues today, with the second of four weeks celebrating the marvel that is Canadian tenor Michael Schade. Today, it's the COC production of Dvorak's Rusalka, which also features soprano Julie Makerov. (One review refers to them as "the swaggering Schade and the fearless Makerov.")
For Schade, who spends much of his time performing around the world, it was something of a homecoming. As he told John Terauds in The Star:
"Birds can fly great distances as long as they know in their heads where they can land. You can fly all around the world as a singer, yet it's a phenomenally important thing to know you have a landing pad. This country has provided me with that."
(Did I mention that Schade is also an enthusiastic amateur ornithologist? He is.)
The story of Rusalka, as you may well know, is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid. (Mermaids, in German ondines, and to the Slavic peoples of Eastern and Central Europe, rusalki -- thus the name.) The story is that Rusalka falls in love with a mortal prince, and to be with him she sacrifices her immortality and her voice. Heartbreaking!
For the full synopsis, scroll on down past the cast and character details.
And one final note --if you missed Michael Schade hosting This Is My Music last week, that programme is now available online at Inside The Music Listen Again.
Are you a Facebook addict? Let me rephrase that. Is Facebook a regular part of your well-balanced, carefully considered online life?
Either way, if you're also a fan of Radio 2 you will want to join the brand spankin' new CBC Radio 2 (Official) Fan Page. (And if you're not on Facebook maybe this will be what it takes for you to become an addict a thoughtful user of social media too.)
But seriously, it's a great way to connect with other fans of Radio 2, keep on top of what's going on at R2, chat about music, gander at the odd photo or video (not that odd, actually) as they appear. And since we're on the subject of social networking, this seems like the perfect moment to remind you that Radio 2 also Twitters. Enjoy!
Shades of Schade, a month-long celebration of Canadian tenor Michael Schade begins with Mozart's Magic Flute.
Michael Schade was born in Germany and grew up in Toronto. His early career path led him to pre-medical studies at the University of Western Ontario, but it was clear he was destined for the operatic stage. In 1988 he enrolled in the famed Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. By 1993 he'd made his Met debut and was in demand throughout Europe.
This week's production of Mozart's Magic Flute is an Archive CD recording from 1996. The English Baroque Soloists are led by John Eliot Gardiner.
Bill Richardson interviews Michael Schade in our Toronto studio. Here's part of that interview.
Continue reading "Month of Schade begins with a Magic Flute" »
Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, with Bill Richardson
Saturday August 29, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT, 2:30 - 6:30 NT) on CBC Radio 2
In 1821 Carl Maria von Weber found overwhelming success with his opera Der Freischütz. As a result he became an international celebrity and the leading exponent of German opera in the 1820s, influencing composers as diverse as Marschner, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Meyerbeer, Berlioz and Liszt.
Der Freischütz ("The Freeshooter" or "Marksman") is a "Singspiel," a type of dramatic work, partly in dialogue and partly in song, that was popular in Germany in the late 18th and 19th century. It was often comic, had modern characters, and patterned its music on folk song. Other examples stretch from Mozart's Magic Flute to Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel. Weber's success was due in part to the exceptional drama conveyed through his music. He captured the emotional content of a tale in his music, in much the same way that film composers do today. The audiences of the day had a morbid appetite for the macabre, a real hankering for a good horror story. So think of this drama as a precursor of a Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi film!
Der Freischütz is based on an old German folktale that seven unerring bullets may be obtained by selling one's soul to the Demon Hunter. Redemption can only be achieved by providing another victim within the appointed term. The overture sets the scene for the opera, with horns conjuring up a vision of forests and hunting, and the shifting tonality foreshadowing a contest of good vs. evil. The haunting scene in the "Wolf's Glen" contains some of the spookiest music around.
Today's production comes from the Grand Théâtre in Geneva and stars tenor Nikolai Schukoff as Max, the game keeper who is gunning for the hand of Agathe (sung by soprano Ellie Dehn). Jaco Huijpen, bass, sings the role of Caspar, a fellow hunter whose "magic bullets" fire the action. Conductor John Nelson leads L'orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
A controversial production always piques the curiosity. Did the reviewers get it right? Today's production of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin, with Finnish conductor Leif Segerstam leading the Vienna State Opera, is case in point.
An AP story that ran all over the place, including USA Today, called it "mostly a study in darkness and light," which probably gives you an immediate sense of "uh oh." But after a mildly snappish remark about the literal black and white costuming and lighting, it isn't that bad.
"The orchestra shone. So did most of the singers. But some of the luminance that this opera demands was darkened by smaller than required voices and a staging that remains perplexing nearly three years after it debuted in Vienna."
Amidst a flurry of other criticisms, interestingly the two primary roles (tenor Robert Dean Smith as Lohengrin and soprano Camilla Nylund as Elsa) receive some high praise: "Smith and Nylund were the ideal pair vocally and physically, his tenor effortless and Wagnerian and blending with her light but powerful and perfectly pitched soprano."
In the end a fair bit of the wrath in this review (and others) is in large part due to the staging, always an area that can send audiences and reviewers alike. Not a problem on radio though! So see what you think of the singing, small, medium, or otherwise.
Note: Broadcast 1:00 - 5:15 PM (2:00 - 6:15 AT, 2:30 - 6:45 NT), preempting the news and part of Deep Roots with Tom Power.
For full details on today's production, please keep reading:
The SAATO/SAIC team received this letter from a listener and we thought we'd enlist our listener's help. Adam Fysh writes:
I am a Canadian and great fan of the show and am currently living in Switzerland. My fiancee and I will be getting married on the seaside in Italy in one month and I'm now on the hook to provide some music (I'd say 5 cd's worth) for the dinner and that's where you come in. I'm seeking your recommendations to suit the occasion. It'll be late summer on the seaside in Italy... and we're Canadians. Oh, and it'll be played over a very long dinner full of wine. I really appreciate any help you can offer.
So in keeping with the Czech theme of this week's opera show, we suggested music from Smetena's Barbered Bride. What would you suggest? What CD's would be the perfect accompaniment to a wedding dinner. Add your suggestions below and help Adam out at what promises to be a fantastic wedding.
It's been described as a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, enclosed in an enigma. If you held the key to immortality, would you have the same love for life? Emilia Marty is an opera singer of great reknown - seemingly ageless and enticing to countless men. In Leos Janacek's opera The Makropulos Case, she holds the key to more than one mystery.
The ‘Case’ in the opera is a longstanding lawsuit between two branches of a family – one legitimate and the other not. The real heir will be identified and the dispute resolved when an authentic will is produced. The person who can answer these questions is the diva, Emilia Marty. But her own motivation is even more mysterious. What she is seeking is not the will, but the ancient formula secreted along with it - an elixir which has kept her alive for 337 years (in various guises, but always with the initials E.M.). And as beautiful and fascinating as she may be on the outside, her spirit within has decayed to an emotionally empty shell. What resolution can lead to fulfillment?
The production heard today features soprano Gun-Brit Barkmin, and conductor Tomás Hanus and the Prague National Opera Orchestra.
We'll also hear from Patrick Eakin Young and Ashiq Aziz of Toronto's Opera Erratica about their upcoming performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.
Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell
With The Classical Music Consort conducted by Ashiq Aziz
Directed and Designed by Patrick Eakin Young
August 19 - 29, 2009 At the Winchester Street Theatre, 80 Winchester St, Toronto
It's week 2 of our operaplot competition. We're working in conjunction with popular music blogger, the Omniscient Mussel.
We're asking you to twitter (or tweet) the plot to the upcoming opera on SATO. A "tweet" is a message in 140 characters. This week, tweet the operaplot to Janacek's Makropulos Case. We want you to describe the plot of The Makropulos Case in a 140 character (maximum) tweet. The twitterer of the best tweet receives a fabulous prize.
Below are the instructions on how to sign up to twitter and the rules for our contest. This week's prize is a package of 12 DVD's (11 classic operas in total) from the La Scala Archives. These include Mozart's Don Giovanni, Rossini's Guglielmo Tell and La donna del lago, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Puccini's La Fanciulla del West, Pergolesi's Lo frate 'nnamorato, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Verdi's I due Foscari, I vespri Siciliani and Attila and Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur.
In total, over 30 hours of music and video.
What you need to do:
1) Summarize next week's (August 15) opera (Janacek's Makropulos Case) in 140 characters or less.
2) Go to twitter.com and click signup. It's free and you don't have to stay a member, however you do have to enter this way. E-mails and blog postings won't be accepted.
Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites
The deadline for sending in your Tweet is Tuesday the 11th of August at 12 NOON EST (9 AM PST).
3) All entries MUST INCLUDE the hashtag #operaplot as part of the character count. So when you write your entry in the tweet window, begin it like this:
#operaplot
then write your Makropulos operaplot after the hashtag.
Good luck. If you have any questions, blog below and we'll do our best to help you out.
Oh, and once you're on twitter, follow us! We're @satopera
- SATO team
the fine print...
Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, with guest host Doug Tuck
Saturday August 8, 2009, 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT, 2:30 - 6:30 NT) on CBC Radio 2
This week on SATO it's Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera - A Masked Ball. It started out as a fictionalized version of the assassination of Gustav III, King of Sweden, but by the time of its premiere in 1859 the locale had shifted to the English colonies in the New World.
In Verdi's day, Italy was made up of city states, and much of the country was dominated by foreign governments. Verdi was a well-recognized supporter of the nationalist uprising, the Risorgimento. (The chant of Viva Verdi was raised in support of the composer's patriotic views.)
Naturally, in such a politically charged atmosphere, civil authorities and opera impressarios were reluctant to stage an opera in which a reigning monarch was to be killed and overthrown. Verdi had to make numerous concessions and plot changes to satisfy their concerns. The character's names were changed, and thus the locale shift to 16th century Boston. (In today's performance the setting is further "time-shifted", to the 19th century, Civil War era.)
In this Teatro Real production from Madrid, tenor Marcelo Alvarez stars as Riccardo, the Governor of Boston, and soprano Violeta Urmana is the woman he loves, Amelia. Just one problem - she is already married to his best friend....!
We're launching a new contest here at Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. It's running for the next couple of weeks and it's in conjunction with popular music blogger, the Omniscient Mussel. It's called Operaplot.
We're asking you to twitter (or tweet) the plot to the upcoming operas on SATO. A "tweet" is a message in 140 characters. The opera to tweet this week is Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera. We want you to describe the plot Un Ballo in Maschera in a 140 character (maximum) tweet. The twitterer of the best tweet receives a fabulous prize.
Below are the instructions on how to sign up to twitter and the rules for our contest. This week's prize is a package of six DVD's from the Metropolitan Opera 2008 series. These include Macbeth, Hansel and Gretel, Manon Lescaut, Peter Grimes, The First Emperor and La Boheme. Next week's prize is even tweeter, I mean sweeter!!
What you need to do:
1) Summarize next week's (August 8) opera (Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera) in 140 characters or less. (Next week, you'll be asked for plot summaries of Janacek's Makropulos, just in case you need a head start.)
2) Go to twitter.com and click signup. It's free and you don't have to stay a member, however you do have to enter this way. E-mails and blog postings won't be accepted.
Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - link will open in new window
The deadline for sending in your Tweet is Tuesday the 4th of August at 12 NOON EST.
3) All entries MUST INCLUDE the hashtag #operaplot as part of the character count. So when you write your entry in the tweet window, begin it like this:
#operaplot
then write your Un Ballo operaplot after the hashtag.
Good luck. If you have any questions, blog below and we'll do our best to help you out.
Oh, and once you're on twitter, follow us! We're @satopera
- SATO team
the fine print...
This Saturday's operatic offering is Faust by Charles Gounod in a production from the Vienna State Opera. It features what can safely be called opera's "it" couple, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu. This operatic couple have really sparked a great deal of interest both in opera circles and beyond. So we began to think of some of the other operatic power couples past and present. We'll play duets featuring these great pairs on our show. Here's just a short list. Feel free to comment or to make your own suggestions below.
Nathalie Dessay and Laurent Naouri - french powerhouse. They don't often appear together but they did in this marvelous production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.
Legendary Canadians tenor Leopold Simoneau and soprano Pierrette Alarie. They met in Montreal as students and retired to Victoria together.
Another of the big legends of the twentieth century would be the Americans bass-baritone Thomas Stewart and soprano Evelyn Lear.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and soprano Julia Varady were married in 1977. We found this rather fascinating German version of Puccini's Il Tabarro on youtube. Well worth a listen.
And a twist on the formula is a singer who couples with a conductor. A modern example would be soprano Magdalena Kozena and Sir Simon Rattle. A past example, Dame Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge. Bonynge was the first conducter of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.
Love duets and more from these celebrated singing pairs on SAATO this week.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA, with guest host Doug Tuck
SATURDAY AUGUST 1, 2009 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT 2:30 - 6:30 NT)
The Devil offers an aging scientist wealth, knowledge, good times...and a pretty girl (but no shiny solver briefcase) in exchange for his soul!
Charles Gounod's opera FAUST is heard this week in a production from the Vienna State Opera. It stars the celebrated operatic couple of tenor Roberto Alagna (Faust) and soprano Angela Gheorghiu (Marguerite), along with bass Kwangchoul Youn as the wheeling, dealing Méphistophélès.
Guest host for this broadcast (and for the folowing two weeks) is the marketing guru for Vancouver Opera, Doug Tuck. He's found many innovative new ways for opera companies to connect with audience members, and we'll look at some of the social networking trends such as Twitter.
And if you want, you can follow us on Twitter.com at satopera
"There are three questions that turn every composer into an inarticulate boob: How do you write music? What kind of music do you write? How do you earn a living? Sorry, none of us has the faintest idea. The sensory overload of opening night can trigger amnesia."
So joked James Rolfe to the National Post before the premiere of Inês, his new opera, broadcast today on Saturday Afternoon At The Opera. It's inspired musically by fado, sometimes called the Portuguese blues. How fado is it? Robert Everett-Green, writing in the Globe after the premiere said it's "mostly through the harmonic character, strophic shape and ornamentation of his first number for Inês" and that it's "less a musical presence than a guiding spirit of sadness and fatality."
The story of the opera is certainly the stuff of pure fado. It's based on the famous medieval Portuguese tale of Inês de Castro, illegitimate daughter of a Galician nobleman, transplanted to Portugal where she then had an affair with the husband of her cousin -- King Peter I. Long story short, it all ended badly.
Continue reading "Old Portuguese Fado...New Canadian Opera" »
Despite our technical dilemna outlined below in the previous blog, sometimes technology can be downright amazing.
Take for instance our conversation with the lead in James Rolfe's opera Ines. If you'd like a preview, it's up on Concerts on Demand. When Queen of Puddings were looking for a lead in this opera, they headed to Lisbon to find the perfect singer. It must have been a little surprising to find out the lead for Ines turned out to be a singer with the very same name. Ines Santos is quite a star in her native Portugal but this was her first time singing in an opera. She was only 15 when she when a big TV talent competition on Portuguese TV singing Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U.
We thought we'd better speak to her, so we hooked up with the public broadcaster in Portugal, RTP. A place she seems to be familiar with.
RTP was most accomodating and presto, a beautifully crisp line to Portugal was secured and Ines was on the line with Bill. She's funny, quirky and her English is wonderful. We'll have that interview for you on Saturday's show. If your Portuguese is up for it, here's the Wikipedia entry on Ines Santos. Here's a link to her myspace page as well.
As technology moves us forward, every now and then we end up losing something. In today's case, we've managed to lose our schedule. Actually, it's not lost, it's just very difficult to find. We're working on getting the schedule up on this page, but in the meantime here's what's on tape for the next few months.
This week, a double bill of Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires and the Canadian production of Ines. You can read more about that in an earlier blog below.
Here's a look at what's lining up to hit the radio waves in the week's to come.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA, with Bill Richardson
SATURDAY JULY 25, 2009 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT 2:30 - 6:30 NT)
In February 2009, Toronto's Harbourfront Centre was the site of a new operatic premiere: Inês. Written by James Rolfe (composer of Beatrice Chancey) with a libretto by Paul Bentley, the opera is based on the famous medieval Portuguese story of Inês de Castro, updated to 1960s Toronto. In the Queen of Puddings Music Theatre production Pedro, a young immigrant doctor, is married to Costanza. But he falls fatally in love with the beautiful fadista Inecirc;s. When the pregant Inês is murdered by Pedro's parents, he lures them to a church for a shockingly macabre dénoument...
The opera unfolds against a backdrop of Portugal's war in Angola, the Salazaar dictatorship and the Portuguese immigrant experience in Canada. And musically it draws inspiration from the bitterseet and soulful traditions of Portuguese song genre known as Fado (literally translated as destiny or fate)
Production photos, the program and libretto are available online at the Radio 2 Concerts on Demand website
Inês will be introduced from approximately 2:45 PM (3:45 AT, 415 NT), and will be preceded by an "operita" drawing on another popular music form - the tango.
Astor Piazzolla's score Maria de Buenos Aires is all about the ill-omened María, born "one day when God was drunk" in a poor suburb. Maria heads to the center of Buenos Aires, where she is seduced by the music of the tango and becomes a streetwalker. Thieves and brothel keepers, gathered at a black mass resolve her death. After her death, she is condemned to a hell which is the city itself: her Shadow, now walks the city. She has returned to virginity, is impregnated by the word of the goblin poet, and — witnessed by three Construction Worker Magi and The Women Who Knead Pasta — gives birth to a Child María, who may be herself.
Continue reading "A Tango-infused Operita & a Fado-inspired Opera" »
Besides the opera (which is this week's SATO offering) Mazeppa is a lot of things. Here's a list:
It's a town (nearly a ghost one) in Alberta.
It was a ferry on Lake Erie.
One of the strippers in Gypsy.
A character played by a character played by Sofia Loren.
It's a Liszt Transcendental Etude (and Symphonic Poem to boot!)
It's a word that describes being tied helplessly to a moving object. As in Moby Dick.
We'll speak with Professor Denis Hlynka on this week's show and find out more about all things Mazeppa.
Have any Mazeppa stories of your own? Share them with us below!
SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA, with Bill Richardson
SATURDAY JULY 18, 2009 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT 2:30 - 6:30 NT)
Three hundred years ago, a Ukranian Hetman, Ivan Mazeppa, sided with King Charles XII of Sweden against Imperial Russian forces in the Battle of Poltava. Though he lost the war, Mazeppa has became something of a figurehead for Ukranian independence. As a literary subject he's been both celebrated and reveilled by figures such as Lord Byron, Alexander Pushkin, Victor Hugo, and Taras Shevchenko. Pyotr Il'ych Tchaikovsky’s seventh grand opera, Mazeppa, uses Pushkin's poem "Poltava" to depict the conflict between tradition and revolution, and between reality and utopia.
The hetman (general) Mazeppa dreams of a great future for his oppressed country of Ukraine. He is the representative of the modernity that gives short shrift to tradition. His friend, the landowner Kochubei, mistrusts Mazeppa’s plans to go against traditional values. When Kochubei’s young daughter, Maria, falls in love with Mazeppa, the friendship between the two old men turns into hatred, and what began as a private conflict soons escalates. In the bitter battle that is played out, Maria is driven to another world, that of madness. For Andrei, the young Cossack who also loves Maria, there is no future. His generation was promised everything but now everything is being taken away.
Tchaikovsky’s disturbingly emotional masterpiece received its Belgian premiere in the hands of the director Tatyana Gürbaca, the first of four Tchaikovsky works that the young German director will produce with the Flanders Opera. The conductor is Dmitri Jurowski (whose father Michail and brother Vladimir are also conductors) and the soloists include many stars from Valery Gergiev’s Mariinsky Theatre.
Continue reading "A May-December Romance...with political overtones" »
Rufus Wainwright's new opera "Prima Donna" opens tonight (July 10) at the Manchester Festival in England. Tomorrow on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, we'll get a review from Sunday Times writer Dan Cairns. He's written an extensive article on the Wainwright opera so it will certainly be interesting to hear his reaction.
We'll hear a short extract from this week's rehearsal tomorrow on the show to wet one's appetite for a Canadian run. Next year, the opera is presented in Toronto as part of the Luminato Festival.
And a quick glance at youtube, turns up Rufus singing one of the arias at a show in Paris.
Here's a short synopsis off of the Manchester Festival website.
Paris. Bastille Day. 1970. Régine Saint Laurent, once the world's most revered operatic soprano, is preparing for her return to the stage after six years of silence. But in doing so, Régine is forced to confront the ghosts of her past. Can she defeat the demons that destroyed her career, and emerge triumphantly once more into the spotlight?
SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA, with Bill Richardson
SATURDAY JULY 11, 2009 1:00 - 5:00 PM (2:00 - 6:00 AT, 2:30 - 6:30 NT)
An opera to set up your Bastille Day celebrations: With the French Revolution as a backdrop, Ottorino Respighi's long-forgotten opera Marie Victoire presents a heartfelt response to the threat of the guillotine. Marie Victoire and her husband Maurice have enjoyed a life of privilege as landed gentry in Brittany. But their onetime gardener becomes their jailer, as radical Republicans punish the ruling class. Believing Maurice to be dead and facing execution herself, Marie seeks comfort in the arms of her husband's best friend, Clorivière, who is also sentenced to die on the guillotine.
When Robespierre's Reign of Terror suddenly ends, Marie's life is spared. To make ends meet, she takes work as a milliner in Paris, and dedicates herself to the child she has born from her night of passion with Clorivière. Some year laters she discovers that the two men she loved and thought lost, have in fact survived. Love, loyalty and devotion to a cause will be called into question.
Respighi's fourth opera was written in 1912-1913, but its 1915 premiere was cancelled due to the World War. In the neutral Kingdom of Italy, scenes of raging mobs and attempted assassinations of ruling figures were not to be encouraged on stage. So the score was put aside for an unexplainable 89 years, and was only premiered in Rome in 2004. Deutsche Oper Berlin mounts this performance, starring American soprano Takesha Meshé Kizart, German baritone Markus Brück and Spanish tenor Germán Villar.
Judging from several emails received recently, listeners need to be reminded where they will find the longer term listings of what operas will be carried on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.
All of the operas through the return of The Met season in December can be found at the SATO website.
From there click on schedules, and then on the right side of the page, click the particular month you want to view (July, August September, etc)
For all that people used to argue about whether or not Gershwin's Porgy And Bess was a "real" opera, no one would question the power of some of its songs: Summertime, It Ain't Necessarily So, I Got Plenty Of Nothing (or "Nuttin" as the case may be). But most of all, Summertime.
You'll find full details on this weekend's broadcast of a production by Lyric Opera of Chicago of Porgy And Bess right here on the Saturday Afternoon At The Opera blog. But for three spectacular treatments of Porgy And Bess's biggest hit, watch and listen on...
Leontyne Price...and the livin' is ovation-worthy:
Hailed by many critics as the greatest American opera, Porgy and Bess is the featured work for July 4th, in honour of Independence Day in the United States. The now classic score by George Gershwin premiered in 1935, and sixty-seven years later, Lyric Opera of Chicago mounted a production for the first time, to overwhelming response.
For much of its early history, a debate stirred as to whether Porgy and Bess was a) a folk opera; b) a musical comedy; c) a jazz drama; or perhaps d) an operetta. When conductor Lorin Maazel made the first uncut recording of the score in 1976, he was enthusiastic in his praise, saying "Gershwin's compassion for individuals is Verdian, his comprehension of them, Mozartean. His grasp of the folk-spirit is as firm and subtle as Mussorgsky's, his melodic inventiveness rivals Bellini's....". From that point forward, Porgy and Bess has been embraced by opera companies the world over.
The story was drawn from "Porgy," a novel (1924) and subsequent Broadway play (1927) by Dubose and Dorothy Heyward. It is set in the fictitious tenement of Catfish Row, in Charleston, South Carolina. It is there that the lame Porgy (baritone Gordon Hawkins) meets and falls in love with the sultry Bess (soprano Morenike Fadayomi). Bess however is already involved with the hulking stevedore, Crown (baritone Lester Lynch). After she leaves Crown to live with Porgy, she's pulled back by her former habits, including her vulnerability to the "happy dust" offered her by the devious drug dealer Sportin' Life (tenor Jermaine Smith). Will Porgy be able to rescue Bess from her demons?
The Production was originally created for Washington National Opera by stage director Francesca Zambello. The performance by the Lyric Opera of Chicago is conducted by John DeMain, and comes from WFMT in Chicago. The Bucksbaum Family Lyric Opera Broadcasts are made possible by a generous and much appreciated gift from the Matthew Bucksbaum Family with matching funds provided by The Crown Family and Richard P. and Susan Kiphart.
