Opera and Choral Events

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Your source for classical voice, opera, and choral events

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Week of April 24 - May 1, 2014


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~ALL LINKS ARE LIVE~

THIS WEEK!!

In Met HD on April 27, 2014*

Così fan tutte

Music Director James Levine makes his long-awaited return to the Met podium to conduct Mozart’s beloved opera about testing the ties of love. The cast is filled with youthful Met stars: Susanna Phillips and Isabel Leonard are the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella, Matthew Polenzani and Rodion Pogossov are their lovers, with Danielle de Niese as the scheming Despina.
DURATION: 3 hrs. 40 MIN
DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]
GENRE: PARENTS PICKS

JAMES LEVINE RETURNS


Due to popularity of broadcasts, I urge you to get your tickets in advance, online; they DO sell out on occasion. It only takes a few minutes: 

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/unitedstates.aspx
This week on Rhode Island Public television,
WSBE:  (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478)

ERNANI
MARCELLO GIORDANI as ERNANI

Saturday, April 26 -- 8:00pm; Sunday, April 27 -- 3:00am; Monday, April 28 -- 12:00am
ERNANI
ERNANI - Angela Meade takes center stage in Verdi's thrilling early gem. Marcello Giordani is her mismatched lover, and all-star Verdians Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ferruccio Furlanetto round out the cast.
DURATION: 150 MIN
DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]
GENRE: PARENTS PICKS


OPERA ON THE INTERNET 
WITH  
DAVE  D' AGUANNO

With the current opera season beginning to wind down a bit, the Met still has some interesting offerings on hand for us. In addition to thiscoming Saturday afternoon's LIVE HD-transmission of Mozart's "Cosi fan Tutte" (starring tenor Matthew Polenzani, among others), an additional LIVE broadcast is scheduled for Tuesday evening (April 29) when the Met's free LIVE audio-stream will bring us yet another performance of Bellini's "I Puritani."

Some opera fans may prefer to tune in to Swedish Radio this Saturday afternoon for a LIVE broadcast of "Der Rosenkavalier" by Richard Strauss. The performance is being transmitted from the Malmo Opera in Sweden.

For those of you who enjoy every performance of Beethoven's "Fidelio" which comes your way, there's a September 27, 2013 performance of the work scheduled on German Radio, via the opera company in Bonn.


Enjoy!


DAVE





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The Met 
Saturday afternoon radio broadcast 


Mozart's
COSI FAN TUTTE

April 26, 2014 1:00 pm ET
Levine; Phillips, Leonard, de Niese, Polenzani, Pogossov, Muraro

Synopsis: 


COMING SOON!




THIS WEEK!!


Rhode Island Civic Chorale Chamber Choir: 

Intimate Songs of the Heart

Sunday, April 27, 2014 3:00 PM, Redwood Library and Athenaeum: 50 Bellevue Avenue Newport, RI 02840

Sunday, May 4, 2014 7:00 PM, First Baptist Church in America: 75 North Main Street Providence, RI 02903

Featuring the music of Bolcom, Brahms and Lauridsen 
Tickets are $12 at the door. Call (401) 521-5670 to reserve. 
Note: tickets will not be sold for the Sunday May 4, 2014 concert. 
A free will offering will be taken.
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ELIJAH
Felix Mendelssohn’s Masterpiece
Dear Friends,
Please join us on Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 7:30 PM for our next concert at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul, Providence.  We invite you to hear our presentation of Felix Mendelssohn’s masterpiece, Elijah, featuring our chorus, orchestra, four distinguished, internationally acclaimed soloists and members of the Chorus of the Community College of RI, Dr. Joseph Amante, Conductor.  Completed in 1846, one year before his untimely death, Mendelssohn had begun work on the oratorio ten years earlier, but it might never have been written except for the close ties he had with the English musical community. He established that relationship in 1829 when, at the age of 20, he visited London as both pianist and composer.  The success of his St. Paul, in 1836, prompted Mendelssohn to contemplate another oratorio.  In 1845, the director of the Birmingham Music Festival proposed that Mendelssohn write a new oratorio for presentation the following year.  Large choral works such as oratorios were staples at the festival.  He went to England himself to conduct the work, presented in a quickly written English translation (later revised).  The performance provided one of the great triumphs of his career and ensured Elijah’s position as one of the great oratorios of the 19th century.  Elijah has no unbroken narrative thread but is, rather, a series of tableaux depicting scenes from the prophet’s life interspersed with prayers or prayer-like meditations.  Mendelssohn described the process this way, “With a subject such as Elijah, the dramatic must predominate…and the contemplative, moving aspect…must be conveyed through the words and moods of the characters.”  Dramatic scenes, such as God’s appearance to the prophet, provide many of the musical highpoints, and the opportunity to set these events to music was what most attracted Mendelssohn to the subject of Elijah.  I will, in future notes leading up to our performance on May 17, comment on various aspects of Mendelssohn’s great oratorio and his religious beliefs, as well as include short bios of our wonderful solo artists: Diana McVey, Soprano; Teresa Buchholz, Mezzo-soprano; Kirk Dougherty, Tenor and Stephen Bryant, Bass-baritone, who portrays the title role.
 Stephen Bryant
Stephen Bryant, Elijah

My association with my good friend and colleague, Stephen Bryant, goes back to our graduate school days at the University of Michigan.  Since then, Stephen has gone on to have a stellar career as a performer here and abroad and a much sought-after voice teacher.  His distinguished career in opera Stephen Bryanthas taken him around the world, with acclaimed performances in the US, Europe and Asia. He has sung with the New York City Opera and the Santa Fe Opera, and with orchestras such as the New York and Japan Philharmonics. He was nominated for a Grammy® in 2009 for "Best Opera Recording" in Tan Dun's Marco Polo. He has performed roles such as Colline in La Bohème, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Figaro in La Nozze di Figaro.  Recent concert appearances include Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra; Handel’s Messiah with the Indianapolis Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony; Mozart’s Requiem with Princeton Pro Musica; and Verdi’s Requiem with the Washington National Opera Orchestra under the auspices of the Defiant Requiem Foundation.
On the opera stage he has appeared in numerous roles with New York City Opera, most recently in productions of A Quiet Place and Intermezzo during the 2010-11 Season. Other opera performances include Mr. Gobineau in The Medium at the Spoleto Festival USA; Robert Gonzales in Stewart Wallace’s Harvey Milk and the Bonze in Madama Butterfly with San Francisco Opera; Capulet in Roméo et Juliette with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Michigan Opera Theatre, Chautauqua Opera, and Toledo Opera; George Milton in Of Mice and Men with Arizona Opera; and Indiana Elliot’s Brother in Thomson’s The Mother of Us All with Santa Fe Opera.

Mr. Bryant holds a Master's degree from the University of Michigan, and is on the voice faculty at William Paterson University.

I hope to see you at our concert on May 17. This will be the RI Civic Chorale & Orchestra’s first performance of Elijah since the spring of 1987.  I promise you a spectacular evening!

Yours truly,

Edward
Edward Markward, Music Director
Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra

The Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra
ELIJAH
Edward Markward, Music Director
Diana McVey, Soprano
Teresa Buchholz, Mezzo-soprano
Kirk Dougherty, Tenor
Stephen Bryant, Bass-baritone as Elijah
Members of
Chorus of CCRI
Dr, Joseph Amante, Conductor
Saturday, May 17, 2014
7:30 PM
Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul
30 Fenner Street 
Providence, RI 02903









NO OPERA ON WGBH TV 
THIS WEEK!

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