English Touring Opera are delighted to announce a season of lyric monodramas to tour nationally from October to December. The season features music for solo singer and piano by Argento, Britten, Tippett and Shostakovich with a bold and inventive approach to making opera during social distancing.
This tenth of ten Live from London concerts was in fact a recorded live performance from California. It was no less enjoyable for that, and it was also uplifting to learn that this wasn’t in fact the ‘last’ LfL event that we will be able to enjoy, courtesy of VOCES8 and their fellow vocal ensembles (more below …).
Ever since Wigmore Hall announced their superb series of autumn concerts, all streamed live and available free of charge, I’d been looking forward to this song recital by Ian Bostridge and Imogen Cooper.
Although Stile Antico’s programme article for their Live from London recital introduced their selection from the many treasures of the English Renaissance in the context of the theological debates and upheavals of the Tudor and Elizabethan years, their performance was more evocative of private chamber music than of public liturgy.
Evidently, face masks don’t stifle appreciative “Bravo!”s. And, reducing audience numbers doesn’t lower the volume of such acclamations. For, the audience at Wigmore Hall gave soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn and pianist Simon Lepper a greatly deserved warm reception and hearty response following this lunchtime recital of late-Romantic song.
For this week’s Live from London vocal recital we moved from the home of VOCES8, St Anne and St Agnes in the City of London, to Kings Place, where The Sixteen - who have been associate artists at the venue for some time - presented a programme of music and words bound together by the theme of ‘reflection’.
'Such is your divine Disposation that both you excellently understand, and royally entertaine the Exercise of Musicke.’
‘And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven … that old serpent … Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’
There was never any doubt that the fifth of the twelve Met Stars Live in Concert broadcasts was going to be a palpably intense and vivid event, as well as a musically stunning and theatrically enervating experience.
‘Love’ was the theme for this Live from London performance by Apollo5. Given the complexity and diversity of that human emotion, and Apollo5’s reputation for versatility and diverse repertoire, ranging from Renaissance choral music to jazz, from contemporary classical works to popular song, it was no surprise that their programme spanned 500 years and several musical styles.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields have titled their autumn series of eight concerts - which are taking place at 5pm and 7.30pm on two Saturdays each month at their home venue in Trafalgar Square, and being filmed for streaming the following Thursday - ‘re:connect’.
The London Symphony Orchestra opened their Autumn 2020 season with a homage to Oliver Knussen, who died at the age of 66 in July 2018. The programme traced a national musical lineage through the twentieth century, from Britten to Knussen, on to Mark-Anthony Turnage, and entwining the LSO and Rattle too.
With the Live from London digital vocal festival entering the second half of the series, the festival’s host, VOCES8, returned to their home at St Annes and St Agnes in the City of London to present a sequence of ‘Choral Dances’ - vocal music inspired by dance, embracing diverse genres from the Renaissance madrigal to swing jazz.
Just a few unison string wriggles from the opening of Mozart’s overture to Le nozze di Figaro are enough to make any opera-lover perch on the edge of their seat, in excited anticipation of the drama in music to come, so there could be no other curtain-raiser for this Gala Concert at the Royal Opera House, the latest instalment from ‘their House’ to ‘our houses’.
"Before the ending of the day, creator of all things, we pray that, with your accustomed mercy, you may watch over us."
The doors at The Metropolitan Opera will not open to live audiences until 2021 at the earliest, and the likelihood of normal operatic life resuming in cities around the world looks but a distant dream at present. But, while we may not be invited from our homes into the opera house for some time yet, with its free daily screenings of past productions and its pay-per-view Met Stars Live in Concert series, the Met continues to bring opera into our homes.
Music-making at this year’s Grange Festival Opera may have fallen silent in June and July, but the country house and extensive grounds of The Grange provided an ideal setting for a weekend of twelve specially conceived ‘promenade’ performances encompassing music and dance.
There’s a “slide of harmony” and “all the bones leave your body at that moment and you collapse to the floor, it’s so extraordinary.”
“Music for a while, shall all your cares beguile.”
The hum of bees rising from myriad scented blooms; gentle strains of birdsong; the cheerful chatter of picnickers beside a still lake; decorous thwacks of leather on willow; song and music floating through the warm evening air.
![Cunegonde Katrina Galka and Candide Miles Mykkonen [Photo by Tim Trumble]](http://www.operatoday.com/Candide_Tim%20Trumble_04.png)
On Friday February 2, 2018, Arizona Opera presented Leonard Bernstein’s Candide to honor the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Although all the music was Bernstein’s, the text was written and re-written by numerous authors including Lillian Hellman, Richard Wilbur, Stephen Sondheim, John La Touche, and Dorothy Parker, as well as the composer.
Bernstein’s wife, Felicia Cohn Montealegre, also worked with him on the text of The Old Lady’s tango, “I Am Easily Assimilated.”
Candide is based on a work by Voltaire, who wrote about the French Enlightenment’s progressive ideas. In his 1759 novel, Candide, he attacked intolerance, corruption, and established religion. Early in the 1950s, playwright Lillian Hellman approached Leonard Bernstein with the idea of making the Voltaire novel into a Broadway play for which Bernstein would supply the incidental music. Bernstein loved the subject and suggested that it be turned into an operetta. With song lyrics by Hellman, Bernstein, Richard Wilbur, and John LaTouche, Candide opened on Broadway on December 1, 1956, and ran for 73 performances. Later versions of the show have had much longer runs.
Although this sprawling work of musical genius takes place in various parts of Europe and South America, director Christopher Mattaliano turned its many wide-ranging scenes into a performable and memorable show. Jerome Sirlin’s projections and Robert Wierzel’s lighting designs turned the scenery into backgrounds that actively suggested the show’s myriad settings. James Scott’s colorful and functional costumes reminded patrons that the story took place in the eighteenth century. Because this work is a modern show rather then an opera, it included sound design by theatrical veteran Lew Mead.
In Phoenix, Miles Mykkanen was Candide, the man who originally believed he lived in the best of all possible worlds. He sang with a pleasant resonant sound and seemed to be enjoying the part immensely. The star of the show was Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist Katrina Galka as Cunegonde. Although she is still at the beginning of her career, the charismatic Galka has a silvery voice that maintains its continuity from top to bottom and on Friday evening she seemed to hold the audience in the palm of her hand. Beginning with the sad story of her fall into prostitution, Galka’s Cunegonde showed that she would never allow her situation to dull her sparkling personality. Her aria, “Glitter and Be Gay” was the highlight of the evening.
Curt Olds was a fatherly Pangloss who morphed into multiple smaller parts as called for in the wide spread tale. Catherine Cook, who was scheduled to sing The Old Lady, was ill, so Ann McMahon Quintero was a last minute substitute who sang her Klezmer-infused tango with smoky tones and garnered quite a few laughs with her antics. Her dance to Amy Beth Frankel’s capable choreography was most amusing.
Jarrett Porter was an outstanding Maximilian and a commanding Captain while Stephanie Sanchez was a smooth-toned and sexy Paquette. Anthony Ciaramitaro proved his versatility with capable portryals of the Governor, Vanderdendur, the Grand Inquisitor, and Ragotski. Dale Dreyfoos excelled as the multiple characters of the Baron, the Bulgar King, Don Issachar, and a few more ordinary folks. Thomas Strawser, Kathleen Berger and Studio Artist Zachary Owen all showed their mettle in multiple small parts.
Henri Venanzi’s most excellent choral ensemble easily handled all the varied styles of music that Bernstein chose to write in this fascinating work. Conductor Joseph Colaneri’s tempi propelled the story forward and his wide range of dynamics underscored the dramatic conflicts. His interpretation of the Candide score, which includes everything from Gregorian Chant to tango, was most impressive. It was an unusual production and Arizona Opera made it truly memorable.
Maria Nockin
Cast and production information:
Candide, Miles Mykkanen; Pangloss, Voltaire, Cacambo, Martin, Curt Olds; Cunegonde, Katrina Galka; The Old Lady, Ann McMahon Quintero; Maximillian, Captain, Jarett Porter; Governor, Vanderdendur, Grand Inquisitor, Ragotski, Anthony Ciaramitaro; Paquette, Stephanie Sanchez; Baron, Bulgar King, Lisbon Man, Don Issachar, Waiter, Aide, Native, Dale Dreyfoos; Painter, Officer, James, Informer, Waitress, Archbishop, Father Bernard, Native, Sailor, Zachary Owen; Officer, Sailor, Informer, Waiter, Slave Driver, Native, Crook, Attendant, Wise Man, Thomas Strawser; Baroness, Lisbon Woman, Waitress, Guest, Kathleen Berger; Señores, Francisco Renteria and Sergio Celis; Inquisitors, Judges, Dennis Tamblin, Ronald Eldridge, Jeffrey Stevens; Conductor, Joseph Colaneri; Stage Director, Christopher Mattaliano; Chorusmaster, Henri Venanzi; Choreographer, Amy Beth Frankel; Scenery and Projection Designer, Jerome Sirlin; Costume Designer, James Scott; Lighting Designer, Robert Wierzel; Sound Designer, Lew Mead.