Week of January 24 - January 31, 2013

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

Joyce DiDonato

THE ENCHANTED ISLAND

Placido Domingo as Neptune

Saturday, January 26 -- 8:00pm; Sunday, January 27 -- 3:00am; Monday, January 28 -- 12:00am
In one extraordinary new work, lovers of Baroque opera have it all: the world’s best singers, glorious music of the Baroque masters, and a story drawn from Shakespeare. In The Enchanted Island, the lovers from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are shipwrecked on his other-worldly island of The Tempest. Inspired by the musical pastiches and masques of the 18th century, the work showcases arias and ensembles by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, and others, and a new libretto by Jeremy Sams. Eminent conductor William Christie leads an all-star cast with David Daniels (Prospero) and Joyce DiDonato (Sycorax) as the formidable foes, Plácido Domingo as Neptune, Danielle de Niese as Ariel, and Luca Pisaroni as Caliban. Lisette Oropesa and Anthony Roth Costanzo play Miranda and Ferdinand. The dazzling production is directed and designed by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (Satyagraha and the Met’s 125 anniversary gala). 
Synopsis: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?customid=437
Duration: 210 min.

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Statue of Giuseppi Verdi in
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

NEWS FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO OPERA
The Secret Garden

We can’t wait for the world premiere of The Secret Garden at Cal Performances in March. Just how will this beloved story be brought to life on stage? Visual designer Naomie Kremer shares her design process and some of her storyboards with us in today’s blog post! http://bit.ly/TWpjRj

TENOR TIME

Villazón Sings Verdi

Homage to the Genius of Opera

Rolando Villazón pays tribute to the incomparable Italian genius on his 200th birthday. This brand new album contains Rolando Villazón’s personal selection of repertoire, including the following four compositions:"In solitaria stanza,"“Eccomi prigioniero,” “La donna è mobile…”“Dal labbro il canto estasiato vola…”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lx8a-BHx5V8

Jonas Kaufmann talks about Wagner and Lohengrin

and his new release CD forthcoming from Decca in February. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4U-BWUZvV8

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OPERA ON THE INTERNET 

WITH  

DAVE  D' AGUANNO

What better way of spending an icy-cold Saturday afternoon than to cuddle up with some wonderful opera music? Many opera stations on the internet this Saturday (January 26) will be broadcasting Puccini's operetta-like "La Rondine" which is being performed at the Met in New York City. Puccini fans who love "La Boheme" will want to tune in as Magda & Ruggero fall in love ALMOST as quickly as Mimi & Rodolfo do in the more famous Puccini opera!

(www.wrti.org/)

Also in a relatively lighter vein, there's Mozart's "Magic Flute" which can be heard on the Belgian radio station Klara. The performance being broadcast originated earlier this month, courtesy of the Flemish Opera (Ghent).

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

Another "light" opera coming our way this Saturday is Rossini's take on the Cinderella story -- "La Cenerentola" -- as ORF brings us a LIVE performance of the work, direct from the Vienna State Opera.

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

Then there's an operetta (in the truest sense of the word, one might say) on tap on German Radio, as listeners will be given a rare opportunity to listen to Leo Fall's "Madame Pompadour" as performed LIVE in Cottbus.

(www.dradio.de/dkultur/)

Well, that ought to be enough comic opera to satisfy most listeners, but what about those of us who prefer listening to people suffer endlessly -- operatically speaking, that is? Thanks to BBC Radio 3, an opera that is tragic enough in its own right -- Britten's "Billy Budd" -- can be heard in a performance from the English National Opera, stemming from last June 2012. According to their website, the BBC plans on broadcasting a series of Britten operas, meaning that even MORE tragic operas may be on hand in coming weeks ("Peter Grimes" -- "Rape of Lucretia" -- "Death in Venice" -- etc.)

(www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/)

In addition, the Met's FREE live audio-stream will be delivering two Verdi masterpieces between now & next Wednesday:

First up, tomorrow evening (Thursday) at 7:25, listeners will get another chance to hear "Il Trovatore." Then on Monday (the 28th) at 7:55, "Rigoletto" can be heard, featuring the same cast that will be seen & heard in the upcoming HD-transmission next month.

(www.metopera.org)

Enjoy -- & Keep Warm !!!

DAVE

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HILDE ZADEK: HOW OPERA'S DARLING STOOD UP TO THE NAZIS

Log in to the Jewish world at Jspace.com.

In 1945, famed Jewish opera singer Hilde Zadek was invited to perform in Austria, a nation still reeling with Nazism and Nazi supporters. “I had to show that Jews don’t stink, that they don’t have hunched backs, long noses or anything else,” she said. So Zadek accepted the invitation, though rumors swirled that Nazi attendees planned to heckle and disrupt the performance.

Read more about the opera singer: http://www.jspace.com/news/articles/hilde-zadek-how-opera-s-darling-stood-up-to-the-nazis-video/12470

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Some interesting articles:

Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, and Francesca Zambello discuss the revival of Berlioz's epic Les Troyens.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/features/troyens.aspx?src=nfbuc

"Einmal möcht' ich wieder tanzen!" - Watch an excerpt of "Happy New Year - Die Operettengala aus Dresden", featuring Piotr Beczała, Ingeborg Schöpf and the Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of Christian Thielemann. Purchase/pre-order your copy of popular operetta repertoire now: http://bit.ly/HappyNewYear_2013

Watch Daniel Hope in conversation with Gabriel Prokofiev and Simon Halsey about his new album "Spheres". Learn more and pre-order "Spheres" here: http://bit.ly/HopeSpheres

Aspiring singers take stage at Met Opera auditions

http://seattletimes.com/html/thearts/2020188135_metauditionxml.html?prmid=head_main

Sin City Duke: Metropolitan Opera moves Verdi’s ‘Rigoletto’ to light-splashed Las Vegas

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/sin-city-duke-metropolitan-opera-moves-verdis-rigoletto-to-light-splashed-las-vegas/2013/01/23/6b2d44e2-6588-11e2-889b-f23c246aa446_story.html

People & Places: District auditions for Metropolitan Opera held in Tulsa

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/scene/article.aspx?subjectid=42&articleid=20130123_209_D2_CUTLIN674119

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The Met radio broadcast,

January 26, 2013 @ 1:00pm

Giacomo Puccini's

LA RONDINE

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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Trombone Alpine Skiing AKA The Slide of the Valkyries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5QNhWencQ&feature=youtu.be

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NO OPERA ON WGBH TV 

THIS WEEK!