Week of February 17 - February 24, 2012

Saturday, February 18, at 5pm, a simulcast at a theater near you
-scroll down past weekly listings for more information.


NOT OPERA, BUT MAHLER'S EIGHTH SYMPHONY WITH 1000 SINGERS!

GUSTAVO DUDAMEL

with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, and 1000 singers

"Gustavo Dudamel, the most celebrated product of this country’s [Venezuela's] extraordinary network of orchestras and teaching centers, has returned to his homeland for the first time with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which he took over as music director in 2009. Mr. Dudamel is leading a cycle of Mahler symphonies at the helm of the Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the crown jewel of the nation’s musical education program, called El Sistema.  --  The New York Times         

To read the full article, go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/arts/music/gustavo-dudamel-and-los-angeles-philharmonic-hailed-in-caracas.html?_r=2

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This week on Rhode Island Public television, WSBE:

Armida

To hear Renée Fleming sing "Dove son io," click on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdsLs-Coc0s

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Great Performances at the Met

Saturday, February 18 ~ 8:00pm; Sunday, February 19 ~ 3:00am; Monday, February 20 ~ 12:00am

36.2 - WSBE Learn. Verizon Fios 478; Cox Cable 808.

Armida

Renée Fleming stars in the title role of Rossini's "Armida" as the niece of the Damascus king during the Crusades, a sorceress who falls for a Christian soldier (Lawrence Brownlee).

DURATION: 180 MIN

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 Met radio broadcasts

This Saturday at noon:

Rossini's

IL BARBIERE DE SIVIGLIA

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

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OPERA ON THE INTERNET 

WITH  

DAVE  D' AGUANNO

Not much in the way of anything NEW for this coming Saturday, Feb. 18, except for the Met's LIVE broadcast of Rossini's perennial favorite "The Barber of Seville." Singing the role of Rosina in the Met's current production is soprano Diana Damrau whose singing of the role of the Countess in "Le Comte Ory" (also by Rossini) from last season earned her much praise from critics and audience members alike.

Actually, you can kick-start your "Barber of Seville" weekend by listening in to the Met's FREE live audio-stream this evening (Wed.) at 7:30 p.m. when this opera, with the same cast slated for Saturday's broadcast, will be performed. Just go to www.metopera.org and follow the "Watch & Listen" links to get to the audio-player at the time of the performance.

Aside from what I've already mentioned here, many European radio stations are merely offering repeats of recent radio broadcasts. So, if you'd like to listen to the Met's "Anna Bolena" or Wagner's "Gotterdammerung" (from last weekend), you're sure to find a station that will carry one of them. Simply go to www.operacast.com & click on their "List of Stations" to check a particular schedule for this Saturday.

Enjoy!

DAVE

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ONLY TWO VIEWINGS IN RHODE ISLAND:

Coming March 13, 3:00pm to The Jane Pickens Theater, Newport, RI

Encore, March 25, 12pm at the Cable Car Cinema in Providence

Live, from Gran Teatre Licou, Barcelona, Spain

(Both are single performances)

http://janepickens.com/films-events/puccinis-la-boheme-live-gran-teatre-licou-barcelona

LA BOHEME

Starring Ramon Vargas and Fiorenza Cedolins

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Coming April 17 to The Jane Pickens Theater, Newport, RI

VERDI'S RIGOLETTO LIVE FROM 

ROYAL OPERA HOusE, LONDON

APRIL 17 (ONE SHOW ONLY); Time ~ TBA

OVERVIEW

LIVE from the Royal Opera House, London, England Tuesday, April 17, 2012 Composed by Verdi, Conducted by John Eliot Ga,Starring Dimitri Platanias, Ekaterina Siurina, Vittorio Grigolo, Pablo Bemsch & Christine Rice,Sung in Italian with English subtitles,2 hrs 9 mins

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OPERA PROVIDENCE

February 24 & 26, 2012
"An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan"— Featuring —
Erin Holmes - Soprano • Desiree Maira - Mezzo • Kilian Mooney - Tenor • Nicholas LaRoche - Baritone
Leah Kenney - Soprano • Vinnie Joyce - Tenor • Eric Mazonson - Pianist

Blithewold Mansion
Bristol, RI

Concerts take place on Friday evenings at 7:00pm and Sunday afternoons at 3:00pm.Enjoy the ambiance of the beautiful Blithewold Mansion with the music of Opera Providence.
Each month features different composers, music, and superb singers!
Space is limited so reserve early.
Dessert, wine, and song.

— Tickets —$40 per person per concert $100 per person for the series (all three concerts)

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PROVIDENCE SINGERS

Benjamin Britten | War Requiem  —   

War, Pity of War, Pacifism

The 1930s in Britain was not an easy time or place for a committed pacifist. Germany was arming; peace seemed an unlikely proposition. Yet Benjamin Britten’s abhorrence of violence was deeply seated and of long standing. He sought conscientious objector status in 1942, then continued “the work I’m most qualified to do” — composing, performing, and, at war’s end, mounting concerts with Yehudi Menuhin at the liberated Bergen–Belsen concentration camp. As England’s premier composer, Britten was commissioned to write a requiem for the Coventry Cathedral reconsecration in May 1962. His treatment of war, tempered by the poetry of Wilfred Owen, two world wars, and the Cold War gloom of nuclear arms, was not celebratory. “When you hear Britten’s music — if you really hear it, not just listen to it superficially,” said Leonard Bernstein, “you become aware of something very dark. There are gears that are grinding and not quite meshing. And they make a great pain. It was a difficult and lonely time.”

3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 4, 2012, Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, Providence
News  |  About the concert  |  Read the texts  |  Buy tickets  |  Travel directions
Also performed at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 3, in Boston: Tickets and information

NO OPERA ON WGBH TV THIS WEEK!