Week of May 12-May 19, 2011

Deborah Voigt is Brünnhilde

 in

Die Walküre 

Die Walküre is the second of four operas

Anna Russell mugging for the camera

that make up Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungen). The plot of  the Ring cycle is notoriously complicated so we will not attempt to relate it here.  May we suggest a comic yet accurate tutorial by Anna Russell. Die Walküre is in part 2.
PART 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv7G92F2sqs

PART 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WduYrwAGews&feature=related

PART 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypisVrbqDqE&feature=related

 

For a more famous parody, check out 

"What's Opera, Doc?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQlmXU1zqfc

 SYNOPSIS: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=406

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WGBH

Journey of 
"The Bonesetter's Daughter"

Amy Tan

Noted Chinese-American novelist, Amy Tan, published "The Bonesetter's Daughter" in 2001. She has transformed the essence of her novel into the libretto for the opera by Stewart Wallace. Like all of her novels,  "The Bonesetter's Daughter" explores the difficulties between Chinese-American daughters and their Chinese-born mothers.

http://www.wgbh.org/programs/-1461/episodes/-28538

Thursday 5/12/11 9:00 PM WGBH 2/HD	Friday 5/13/11 3:00 AM WGBH 2/HD	Friday 5/13/11 2:00 PM WGBH 44	Saturday 5/14/11 2:00 PM WGBH 44

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La Fille du Régiment

Natalie Dessay

Juan Diego Flórez

WSBE (36.2) (RI Cox Cable 808) (RI Fios 478) (In Massachusetts, Comcast 294)

Saturday, May 14 -- 8:00pm; Sunday,  May 15 — 3:00 am; Monday, May 16  — 12:00 am

Coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay stars as Marie, an orphan adopted by French troops in this production of Donizetti's comedic "Fille du Régiment," which updates the setting from the Napoleonic era to World War I. Tenor Juan Diego Flórez costars as Tonio.

duration: 150 min

Synopsis:  http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=207

Juan Diego Florez sings "A Mes Amis" in concert. Click on "Week of..." above.

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SUMMERTIME...and the living is easy....

THIS SUMMER'S MET SIMULCAST 

ENCORE SCHEDULE IS OUT!

 

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly – Wednesday, June 15, 2011
6:30 PM

Donizetti’s Don Pasquale – Wednesday, June 22, 2011
6:30 PM

Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra – Wednesday, June 29, 2011
6:30 PM

Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment – Wednesday, July 13, 2011
6:30 PM

Puccini’s Tosca – Wednesday, July 20, 2011
6:30 PM

Verdi’s Don Carlo – Wednesday, July 27, 2011
6:30 PM 

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Elina Garanča and 

Karel Mark Chichon

Mezzo-soprano Elina Garanča and her husband, conductor, Karel Mark Chichon

are expecting their first child in October. That's good news for them but alas, not for the Met, where Garanča was due to perform in Anna Bolena with Anna Netrebko for opening night at the Met on October 15. Congratulations to the happy couple! 
And best of luck to the Met Opera's manager, Peter Gelb who now has to find a comparable mezzo who is available on short notice...

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OPERA ON THE INTERNET 

WITH  

DAVE D'AGUANNO

This Saturday (May 14) will see the 2nd installment of the Met's new Ring cycle. "Die Walkure" (heard at 12 noon) will be broadcast on most internet radio stations, and will be shown in area movie theatres (Warwick, Swansea, Foxboro, Bellingham). Starring Deborah Voigt, Bryn Terfel, Jonas Kaufmann,  & Stephanie Blythe (among others), it's bound to be a wild ride (as in "Ride of the Valkyries").

If you're not willing to take on Wagner this Saturday, there's a performance of "Elektra" by Richard Strauss -- the opera that gives new meaning to the term "family values" -- as originally heard in Geneva last November.

(http://radio.klara.be/radio/10_home.php)

In a lighter vein, there's Nicolai's "Merry Wives of Windsor" as performed in Vienna on December 18, 2010.

(www.radio4.nl/)

Once again, Swedish Radio digs way down deep into the archives for a March 27,1940, performance of Gounod's "Romeo & Juliette" starring one of Sweden's greatest tenors -- Jussi Bjoerling -- in a role that fit his beautiful, lyrical voice like a glove.

(http://sverigesradio.se/p2/)

Enjoy!

DAVE 

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This week's Met radio broadcast :

DIE WALKURE

You  can listen to the Met Opera Saturday afternoon broadcasts at 1pm on Harvard Radio, 95.3 in the Boston area or live-streaming online at http://www.whrb.org
 

Synopsis of Die Walkure:

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=28