Week of December 30, 2010-January 6, 2011

2011

This week on WSBE: 36.2 - WSBE Learn

  (RI Cox Cable 808) (RI Fios 478) (In Massachusetts, Comcast 294)

Saturday, January 1 -- 8:00pm, Sunday, January 2, 3 am; Monday, January 3, 12 am

Roméo et Juliette

A production of "Roméo et Juliette," starring Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna as the star-crossed lovers. Placido Domingo conducts the orchestra and chorus for the opera. Tybalt: Marc Heller. Paris: Louis Otey. Capulet: Charles Taylor.

duration: 180 min
Synopsis:  http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=136

Happy New Year!!

Giuseppe Verdi statue - Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

January 2, 8 pm, Giuseppe Verdi's 

AIDA

streaming from San Francisco KDFC 

http://www.kdfc.com/pages/5805657.php

Click on LISTEN LIVE 

Synopsis: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=3

        

The grandest of grand operas, a brilliant balance of spectacular pageantry and emotional intimacy, returns to San Francisco Opera for the first time in nearly a decade. A bitter love triangle plays itself out against a backdrop of war and cultural oppression in this compelling tale of conflicting loyalties and forbidden passion.

Marcello Giordani and Micaela Carosi

Music Director Nicola Luisotti, the Company’s "ideal new maestro" (The New York Times), leads the first of two extraordinary casts in an "eye-popping production" (Houston Chronicle) created by legendary British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes.

The September cast features soprano Micaela Carosi, "a noble, full-hearted diva of considerable power" (The Times of London) in the title role, along with Marcello Giordani, "arguably the greatest leading tenor of his generation" (Opera News) and mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick, who is "unequaled in major Verdi roles" (Washington Post). Baritone Marco Vratogna, whose “striking infusion of vocal power and theatrical electricity” as Iago (San Francisco Chronicle) thrilled San Francisco audiences in 2009’sOtello, sings Amonasro. Bass Hao Jiang Tian sings Ramfis, returning to San Francisco Opera after his triumphant debut as Chang the Coffin Maker in The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2008).

The November cast is led by Michele Capalbo, "a world-class Aida, passionate, subtle and vocally satisfying" (Opera News); tenor Carlo Ventre, a riveting performer who projects "unalloyed passion" (Washington Post); baritone Quinn Kelsey, who "boasts a rare and welcome gift, an enormous vocal sound that he deploys with the lightness of an acrobat" (San Francisco Chronicle); and bass Eric Owens who sang to sold-out crowds as Porgy in Porgy and Bess (2009).

OPERA ON THE INTERNET WITH 

DAVE D'AGUANNO

December 31, 2010: What better way to ring in the New Year than to catch the Met's free LIVE performance at 7 o'clock of Verdi's "La Traviata" starring Marina Poplavskaya, a.k.a. Elisabeth in the recent "Don Carlo" HD-transmission? Well, if you're not an opera fanatic, you just MIGHT have other plans, I guess.

The Met is also offering a free LIVE performance on Monday night at 8 p.m. of Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West" with Deborah Voigt & others in the cast who are expected to appear in the January 8, 2011 LIVE HD-transmission.

For these 2 LIVE Met Opera performances, just go to www.metopera.org & click on "Watch & Listen" which will then direct you to their free player.

This Saturday, January 1, 2011, most radio stations on the internet will be airing the Met's LIVE broadcast at 1 o'clock of Debussy's "Pelleas & Melisande." One point of interest may lie in the fact that the singer taking the role of Melisande -- Magdalena Kozena -- is married to the man who will be conducting the opera: Sir Simon Rattle.

The Dutch station Radio 4 is one of the few remaining stations that won't be broadcasting from the Met this Saturday. Instead, they'll be bringing us the November 20, 2010 performance of Handel's "Alcina" from the Vienna State Opera.

(www.radio4.nl/)

Happy Listening -- & HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

DAVE

And on WGBH

SPECIAL TONIGHT, WEDNESDAY, 12/29, ON WGBH 2:*

Tavis Smiley Reports   

Dudamel: Conducting a Life

A profile of 29-year-old L.A. Philharmonic music director Gustavo Dudamel, whose passion for music was fostered by El Sistema, an intensive music-education program in his native Venezuela. The report also examines El Sistema-like programs in the U.S.

Tavis Smiley

 

Gustavo Dudamel

*Wednesday 12/29/10 8:00 PM WGBH 2/HD	Thursday 12/30/10 1:00 AM WGBH 2/HD	Friday 12/31/10 5:00 AM WGBH 44	Friday 12/31/10 1:30 PM WGBH 44

For a preview:

http://www.wgbh.org/programs/Tavis-Smiley-9/episodes/Dudamel-Conducting-a-Life-preview-22843

Tonight and this weekend:

Juan Diego Florez

Great Performances spotlights the October 7 opening night concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Director Gustavo Dudamel featuring renowned Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Actress Eva Mendes hosts the broadcast.The program will air Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings); Thursday, 12/30/10 1:00 AM WGBH 44; Thursday, 12/30/10 1:30 PM, WGBH 44.

Other classical music on WGBH for New Year's  (Not opera)

Dec. 30, 2010

A Lincoln Center Special: New Year's Eve with Lang Lang Friday, Dec. 31, 8:30pm, WGBH 2 Live from Lincoln Center rings in the new year with the New York Philharmonic in an all-Tchaikovsky program, featuring pianist Lang Lang.

New Year's Day from Vienna Saturday, Jan. 1, 11am and Sunday, Jan. 2, 3pm, 99.5 All Classical Saturday, Jan. 1, 8pm, WGBH 2 Join host Cathy Fuller for a festive entry into 2011 with the annual celebration concert by the Vienna Philharmonic, featuring the waltzes, marches, and gallops of the Strauss family, and much more. This year's conductor is Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst.

Live from Fraser: Imani Winds  Thursday, Dec. 30, 7pm, 99.5 All Classical The Grammy-nominated Imani Winds performs Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, a new piece by Jason Moran, and music by ensemble member Valerie Coleman.