Opera and Choral Events

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Your source for classical voice, opera, and choral events

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Week of November 29 - December 6, 2012



The next Live in HD simulcast: 
December 1, 2012 ~ 12:55pm*

Mozart’s 
La Clemenza di Tito

Elīna Garanča, “sleek and beautiful, with a lustrous voice” (New York Post) is “a splendid interpreter” of Sesto; “she produces luminous sounds that seem to linger suspended in the air like shining pearls.”  (AP)

As Tito, Giuseppe Filianoti “soared to virile, commanding form,” and Barbara Frittoli “burned up the stage as the scheming Vitellia” (New York Post).

This “elegant” production (AP) is “more than the sum of its excellent parts” (New York Post).

Approximate runtime: 3:00 

Synopsis: (available in English, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish)
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=24

Read an interview with Elīna Garanča:
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/interviews/garanca-clemenza.aspx.

To hear Elīna Garanča: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fhJjY-ohBSk



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This week on Rhode Island Public television,
WSBE:  (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478) 

Le Comte Ory


Episode Information
Program Information
When To Watch
Great Performances at the Met
Saturday, December 1 -- 8:00pm; Sunday, December 2 -- 3:00am; Monday, December 3 -- 12:00am
Le Comte Ory
Rossini's comic "Le Comte Ory" stars Juan Diego Flórez in the title role, a count who competes with his page (Joyce DiDonato, in a trouser role) for the hand of a lonely countess (Diana Damrau).
DURATION: 150 MIN
DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]
GENRE: PARENTS PICKS



SYNOPSIS: HTTP://WWW.METOPERAFAMILY.ORG/METOPERA/HISTORY/STORIES/SYNOPSIS.ASPX?ID=389

Unexpected bargain! Joyce DiDonato's new recording
Click on Amazon $9.99 CD; $7.99 Mp3 download

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Sunday, Noon, December 2, 2012
at the Cable Car Cinema

The Marriage Of Figaro
(Royal Opera House)




Director:    Antonio Pappano
Genre:        Opera
Run Time: 200 Minutes
Irwin Schrott
Synopsis:   Revolution is in the air in David McVicar’s wonderfully illuminating production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro from the Royal Opera House. And with an all-star cast, it’s no surprise that The Guardian raves: “the evening is remarkable.” Erwin Schrott, “handsome of presence and gorgeous of tone, is a star” in the role of Figaro, with Dorothea Röschmann as the Countess, Gerald Finley as the Almaviva, and Miah Persson as a “sensual, feisty Susanna.”





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OPERA ON THE INTERNET 
WITH  
DAVE  D' AGUANNO

Lots of wonderful opera on tap for opera-lovers this weekend, even for those of you who may not be attending Saturday's LIVE HD-transmission from the Met of Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito."



For one thing, there are 2 Wagnerian blockbusters on Saturday's schedule: From Vienna, there's a performance that took place earlier this month of his opera "Die Meistersinger." In the cast, singing the lead tenor role is none other than Johan Botha who starred in the Met's recent (Oct. 27) HD-transmission of Verdi's "Otello."

(http://oe1.orf.at/)



The other work by Wagner is "Die Walkure" which will be broadcast on German Radio. This particular performance (from last Saturday) comes to us from Berlin.

(www.dradio.de/dkultur/)

On the other hand, there's a LIVE performance to be heard on BBC Radio 3, as Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore" gets broadcast with tenor Roberto Alagna singing the role of Nemorino. This is a Royal Opera House production, from London.
(www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/)

If you're interested in an audio preview of the Met's upcoming HD-transmission of another Donizetti work -- "Maria Stuarda" -- you don't need to look any further than the NPR broadcast this Saturday of the Houston Grand Opera performance of this work from last April, featuring none other than the same outstanding singer who will be singing this same role at the Met: Joyce Di Donato.
(www.wrti.org/)

No opera-on-internet-radio schedule would be complete, it would seem, without at least one performance of an obscure work. The "winner" this time would have to be Massenet's "Le Mage" in a performance that took place in November 9 in St. Etienne (Massenet's birthplace). It's hard to believe that this 5-act opera is never performed, especially upon learning that it was composed between "Manon" & "Werther" -- 2 of his most popular operas.
(http://sites.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/accueil/)

If there's nothing that interests you among the broadcasts I've listed so far, you might want to tune in to the Met's LIVE audio-stream (free) tonight and/or on next Tuesday evening (Dec. 4).

Tonight's offering is Mozart's "Don Giovanni," the other being Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" with many of the same singers who will be performing this work in the upcoming HD-transmission on Dec. 8.
(www.metopera.org/)

Enjoy!


DAVE
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OPERA GOSSIP from the opera blogs

If you love opera gossip, there are some great snarky blogs out there to revel in; here is a taste of their offerings. Click on the links to discover more...


Let's Hear it for the Girls: The Racette-Clayton Santa Fe Dreamhouse

Hills 01
(photo: Jen Judge for The Wall Street Journal)

This isn't your average Barbie Dreamhouse, but it's pretty close. The WSJ profiles the modernist mansion of Patricia Racette and Beth Clayton in the desert outskirts of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The minimalist, one-bedroom house sits on 12 acres and boasts a separate, two-bedroom guesthouse. The American soprano/mezzo couple built the home with acoustically-solid architecture and a humidification system to keep them well-tuned & toned. We love our fireplace-warmed suite at the Inn of the Anasazi, but the next time we're in SF, we're staying with them!


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RICCO CHAMBER CHOIR
Christmas Program

  • Sunday December 9th, 3:00 PM at the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport, RI    50 Bellevue Avenue  Newport, RI 02840
  • Sunday December 16th, 4:00 PM at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Cranston, RI.  237 Garden Hills Drive  Cranston, RI 02920
All concerts conducted by
Edward Markward, Music Director    


Please visit our web page : http://www.ricco.org/

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UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS


Thursday, December 6, 2012"Fa-la-la and Opera"
 Dinner/Concert to Celebrate the Holiday Season
Metacomet Country Club
500 Veterans Memorial Parkway
East Providence, RI
Tickets: $60 per person
Includes a four course dinner with wine pairings.
For tickets, please call the Opera Providence office at 401-331-6060.

Opera Providence
585 Elmgrove Avenue
Providence RI 02906
401-331-6060

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December 8, 2012


George Frideric Handel’s Messiah

Holly
Two hundred and seventy years after its first performance, Handel’s masterwork remains the most frequently performed, most beloved work in the choral canon. For the sixth consecutive holiday season, the Providence Singers and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra join forces for a December performance at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Betsy Burleigh conducts.


7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012, The Vets, Providence
Tickets online or by phone: 401-248-7000  
|  More about the concert  |  More about our season


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The 2012-13 Radio broadcasts begin, finally,
December 8, at 12:55pm with Verdi's 
Un Ballo in Maschera 

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



RIC Symphony Concert to Feature Three RIC Faculty Soloists, Dec. 3


RIC Symphony Orchestra


The Rhode Island College Symphony Orchestra, led by Edward Markward 
in his 40th year as conductor, will present works by J.S. Bach, Claude Debussy and Robert Schumann in a concert spotlighting three RIC faculty members as soloists.
The concert, the orchestra’s second of the season, will be held Monday, Dec. 3, at 8 p.m. in the Auditorium at Roberts Hall on the RIC campus.
http://www.ric.edu/whatsnews/media/photos4/music/markward_casual350.jpg
Edward Markward
“Three of our outstanding music faculty will be featured as soloists in J.S. Bach’s stunning ‘Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major,’” Markward said. The six Brandenburg concertos, dating from 1721, are among Bach’s “most treasured” compositions, he noted.
Soloists are flautist Mary Ellen Kregler, a member of the R.I. Philharmonic Orchestra who teaches flute and music theory at RIC; John Sumerlin, violinist, founder and leader of Proteus, the faculty string quartet, who teaches violin and chamber music at the college; and Stephen Martorella, harpsichordist, an adjunct professor of music at RIC and minister of music at the First Baptist Church, Providence.
In other works, the orchestra will perform “Nuages (Clouds)” and “Fetes (Festivals)” from Debussy’s “Nocturnes,” “an evocative and impressionistic set” long a staple of the modern symphony orchestra, Markward said.
Rounding out the program will be what Markward called Schumann’s “endearing and enduring paean” to the people of the Rhine Valley, Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major (“Rhenish”). The symphony and its five-movement scheme, Markward noted, “capture Schumann’s response to the Rhineland at its most euphoric.”
Tickets for the concert are $10, with discounts for seniors and non-RIC students; free for RIC faculty, alumni, students and staff. For your convenience, tickets can be purchased as follows: in advance via Visa, MasterCard or Discover by calling (401) 456-8144 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays; or in person at the Nazarian Center Box Office in Roberts Hall. The Box Office is also open for sales two hours prior to performance start time in the





















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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Week of November 22 - November 29, 2012

This week on Rhode Island Public television,
WSBE:  (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478) 


Lucia di Lammermoor


Great Performances at the Met
Saturday, November 24 -- 8:00pm, Sunday November 25 -- 3:00am; Monday, November 26 -- 12:00am
Lucia di Lammermoor
Natalie Dessay stars in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" as the fragile title character, whose brother (Ludovic Tézier) forces her into an arranged marriage due to his hatred for the family of the man (Joseph Calleja) she loves. Host: Renée Fleming.
DURATION: 150 MIN
DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]
GENRE: PARENTS PICKS
Synopsis: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=55

HEAR NATALIE DESSAY IN THE MAD SCENEHTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=Q3KZQZXHP2A

2012-2013 SEASON

All Concerts are at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Providence, RI


Holiday Concert -
Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 8 PM

Pre-concert talk by Dr. Samuel Breene - 7:00 PM
  • Antonio Vivaldi - Gloria  with Jean Danton, soprano & Megan Roth, mezzo-soprano
Jean Danton
Megan Roth
  • Benjamin Britten - St. Nicolas with Kirk Dougherty, tenor and the North Smithfield High School Women's Choir, Regina McAdam conductor
Kirk Dougherty
Regina McAdam

All concerts conducted by
Edward Markward, Music Director    


Please visit our web page : http://www.ricco.org/



RICCO CHAMBER CHOIR

  • Sunday December 9th, 3:00 PM at the Redwood Library & Athenaeum in Newport, RI
  • Sunday December 16th, 4:00 PM at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Cranston, RI.

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OPERA ON THE INTERNET 
WITH  
DAVE  D' AGUANNO


Opera-lovers certainly have a lot to be thankful for during this weekend after Thanksgiving.

New York's Metropolitan Opera has even given us a chance to kick things off a little bit early, by featuring a LIVE performance of Verdi's "Aida" on their free audio-stream on Friday evening at 7:25. Tenor Roberto Alagna, however, will not be singing on Friday, although he IS scheduled to take the role of Radames when the HD-transmission is given on December 15.
(www.metopera.org)

Verdi enthusiasts get another enticing offering on Saturday, when NPR broadcasts the Houston Grand Opera's performance of "Don Carlos" (from last season in April).
(www.wrti.org/)

More Verdi comes to us via Swedish Radio when his slightly earlier opera "Un Ballo in Maschera" may be heard in a recent performance from Stockholm.
(http://sverigesradio.se/p2/)

From Verdi to Bellini: French Radio is broadcasting a performance that took place in Paris on November 16, the opera in question being "I Puritani."
(http://sites.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/accueil/)

Moving briefly into 20th century territory, English National Opera's current production of "Pilgrim's Progress" (which composer Ralph Vaughan Williams completed in 1951) can be heard LIVE on BBC Radio 3.
(www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/)

Your Obscure Opera of the Week comes, courtesy of Klara (in Belgium) with a performance that took place in Liege this past September, the opera being an early piece (from 1837) by composer Cesar Franck who's usually not known for his operatic works, although he went on later in life to write two others ("Hulda" & "Ghiselle"). As incredible as this may sound, a video of this performance may soon become available on DVD.
(http://radio.klara.be/radio/10_home.php)

Last but not least: If anyone out there is wild about Wagner's "Das Rheingold," you're going to have to make a tough decision this Saturday: the performance from Amsterdam on Radio 4 (the Netherlands)? Or the same opera but with a different cast, etc. as given in Berlin (actually tomorrow night's performance in a delayed broadcast on Saturday)?
(www.radio4.nl/) or (www.dradio.de/dkultur/)

In the meantime, here's hoping that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving !!!


DAVE



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UPCOMING PRODUCTIONS


Thursday, December 6, 2012"Fa-la-la and Opera"
 Dinner/Concert to Celebrate the Holiday Season
Metacomet Country Club
500 Veterans Memorial Parkway
East Providence, RI
Tickets: $60 per person
Includes a four course dinner with wine pairings.
For tickets, please call the Opera Providence office at 401-331-6060.


Opera Providence
585 Elmgrove Avenue
Providence RI 02906
401-331-6060

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




December 8, 2012


George Frideric Handel’s Messiah

Holly
Two hundred and seventy years after its first performance, Handel’s masterwork remains the most frequently performed, most beloved work in the choral canon. For the sixth consecutive holiday season, the Providence Singers and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra join forces for a December performance at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Betsy Burleigh conducts.


7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, 2012, The Vets, Providence
Tickets online or by phone: 401-248-7000  
|  More about the concert  |  More about our season


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JOYCE DI DONATO
Opera Queens on the Road!
View the slide show...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151121267022441.431851.207466962440&type=1

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MET RADIO BROADCAST
Autumn is here it and the Met opera season started with a new production of L'Elisir d'Amore!
Alas, there are no radio broadcasts until 
after the leaves have fallen. 

The 2012-13 Radio broadcasts will begin 
December 8, at 12:55pm with Verdi's 
Un Ballo in Maschera 

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





















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