Week of July 4 -July 11, 2019

Happy Independence Day!

This week on Rhode Island Public television:

WSBE: (Comcast 294, Cox 808, Full Channel 109, and Verizon 478)

Saturday, July 6, 2019, 8:00pm

Sunday, July 7,  2019, 3:00am 

Monday, July 8, 2019, 12:00am

 Norma

The blazing title role of Bellini’s Norma has been a star-making vehicle for some of opera’s most beloved sopranos, so when Sondra Radvanovsky first took on the part at the Met in 2013, it marked a new chapter of her career. She returned four years later to reprise her riveting portrayal, this time opening the 2017–18 season in an evocative new production by Sir David McVicar. Captured live in HD, her performance is nothing less than a tour-de-force, combining dramatic commitment with true bel canto singing—Radvanovsky balances the role’s powerful intensity with moments of delicate lyricism. As Adalgisa, the young priestess torn between love and duty, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato delivers an interpretation imbued with great emotional nuance. Tenor Joseph Calleja is the aggressive Roman proconsul Pollione, with Matthew Rose as Norma’s father, the warrior Oroveso. Leading the Met Orchestra and Chorus, maestro Carlo Rizzi draws out the vibrant color of Bellini’s masterful score.

Length:  180 minutes

Synopsis:  https://www.metopera.org/user-information/synopses-archive/norma

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The Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra is pleased and excited to announce that Dr. Joshua W. Rohde has accepted the position of Music Director. 

Providence, RI, June 26, 2019

Joshua Rohde is the Director of Choral Activities at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he conducts all four of the university’s choral ensembles – Men’s Glee Club, Women’s Alden Voices, Festival Chorus, and the Chamber Choir. Joshua is also the Music Director of the Quincy Choral Society and an active professional cellist throughout the Boston area. His previous experience includes work at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel, the Harvard University Choruses, the University of Birmingham (UK), and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus (UK). He has prepared choruses to sing for conductors such as Harry Christophers, Andris Nelsons, and JohnStorgårds.  As a cello soloist, he has played cello concertos with orchestras including Elgar, Haydn, Boccherini, and Shostakovich, and regularly works as a continuo cellist playing the choral-orchestral works of Bach. 

Joshua Rohde has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting and a Master of Sacred Music in Choral Conducting degree from Boston University, a Master of Arts in Choral              Conducting from the University of Birmingham (UK), and a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from the University of Minnesota, where he also earned a Bachelor degree in Civil               Engineering.

“The RICCO Search Committee undertook a rigorous process to find the candidate who would build on our history and traditions, and we are delighted to have found Joshua Rohde,”  commented Mary Tafuri Ross, RICCO President-elect. In addition to an examination of qualifications and interviews, the final candidates conducted singer rehearsal so that the singers could contribute to deciding on the Music Director. 

Dr. Rohde is the fifth Music Director in RICCO’s 62-year history, following Dr. Edward Markward, who was awarded the honorary title of Conductor Laureate by the corporation.

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The Met: Live In HD Summer Encores

         
Wednesdays, 7 pm

·      Il Barbiere di Siviglia, July 10

·      Aida, July 17

https://www.fathomevents.com/series/the-met-live-in-hd-summer-encores?gclid=CjwKCAjw8qjnBRA-EiwAaNvhwNoIxiPs_-wsDGmoy4xZM6G4ygzInriHsjxOkIxL5tPOIx-gtY6rvBoC1p0QAvD_BwE

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THIS SUNDAY, July 7, 2013

WGBH 2 at 1:00PM 

Great Performances at the Met

La Fille du Régiment

Watch Donizetti's romantic comedy about a budding military relationship starring Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena in a feast of bel canto vocal fireworks. Special guest Kathleen Turner makes her Met debut. Enrique Mazzola conducts.

Broadcast In: English

Duration: 2 hrs. 27 min.

7 Scene-Stealing Performances in the Comic Opera “La Fille du Régiment”

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/blog/gp-at-the-met-la-la-fille-du-regiment-7-scene-stealing-performances-in-the-comic-opera-la-fille-du-regiment/

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OPERA ON THE INTERNET

WITH 

DAVE D’AGUANNO

There are actually 4 opera videos lined up on the internet schedule during the next few days. (You could say "5" since a 21st century opera was given a LIVE video-stream yesterday & is still available -- more on that later).

Two of the operas coming up in LIVE video-streams are a couple of Mozart's best! First on Thursday (for those not doing anything special for the Fourth of July, I guess), you can watch a LIVE performance of "The Marriage of Figaro" from this year's Armel Opera Festival. Then on Saturday, from this same festival, there's a LIVE video-stream of "Don Giovanni."

("Figaro"- https://www.worldconcerthall.com/en/schedule/mozarts_le_nozze_di_figaro_with_pataki_kaszei_fodor_kendi_and_mester_from_vienna/49426/)
("Giovanni" - https://www.worldconcerthall.com/en/schedule/mozarts_don_giovanni_with_rodriguez_regalado_dai_panela_and_van_arsdale_from_budapest/49428/)

On Saturday afternoon, OperaVision will be presenting a video-stream from Madrid of Verdi's "Il Trovatore" which will be available for several months afterwards.

(https://operavision.eu/en/library/performances/operas/il-trovatore-teatro-real)

At the same time, from Munich, there's a LIVE video-stream of "Salome" (Richard Strauss) as performed with the same cast that was heard in last week's audio broadcast.

(https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsopertv.html?no_cache=1#c13145)

Aside from the video presentations listed above, yet another Mozart opera appears on the schedule on Saturday. It's a performance from Vienna that took place this past February. The opera: "Idomeneo."

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

On Radio 3 (RAI), there's a rarity to be heard. Most opera-goers are familiar with Ruggero Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci" but may not have ever heard his final opera "Edipo Re" which, as the title indicates, is based on the Sophocles tragedy "Oedipus Rex." As the Sophocles play is quite concentrated, so is Leoncavallo's opera which is actually shorter in length than "Pagliacci" and is possibly even more dramatic than that famous work. The performance to be heard took place in Pisa on March 1st of this year.

(www.radio3.rai.it/)

As mentioned in the opening paragraph, the LIVE video-stream from yesterday (also from the Armel Opera Festival) is still available. If you're interested in 21st century opera, you'll probably enjoy this one: Icelandic composer Daniel Bjarnason"s 2017 opera "Brothers" -- sung in English.

(https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/089149-001-A/brothers-de-daniel-bjarnason-au-armel-opera-festival/)

Enjoy!

DAVE

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Remembering Franco Zeffirelli 
(1923–2019)

Fred Plotkin honors Zeffirelli's life and work, from his time at the Met to his time in Italian parliament. Jun 17, 2019

https://www.wqxr.org/story/remembering-franco-zeffirelli-19232019/

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NEWS FROM AROUND

THE WORLD OF MUSIC

Must-See Classical Concerts This July

Notable performances in and out of town this month. Jun 27, 2019

https://www.wqxr.org/story/must-see-classical-concerts-july/

 San Francisco Opera

Romeo and Juliet Are Heading to the Ballpark

30,000 Opera Lovers Gather at Oracle Park

https://www.kdfc.com/2019/07/romeo-and-juliet-are-heading-to-the-ballpark/

Renée Fleming | Greatest Soprano Arias Of All Time | Classic FM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8aJv9tyz5Q&fbclid=IwAR2JsiBdxQZhoGLV0ibBLQAvso0Yw21mPKK6mvBqt_kq6bSWo02pa_QOWOg

Met Opera’s Float and Chorus Photos at 2019 Pride Day in NYC

For the first time in its history The Metropolitan Opera has a float in NYC's #PrideMarch! It's especially exciting that it coincides with both the #WorldPride celebration and the 50th Anniversary of the #Stonewall Riots, a seminal moment in the gay civil rights movement. The chorus and the entire #MetOperaFamily has always been supportive of our LGBTQ members, but it's powerful (and fun) to share it with the world!

https://www.facebook.com/MetOperaChorus/posts/2195431983866012

https://www.facebook.com/MetOperaChorus/posts/2193521944057016

Stonewall Goes to the Opera: Why? How? Do They Still Throw Things?

Investigating the choice of opera as the medium to dramatize the emotions of the 1969 uprising.  Jun 25, 2019

https://www.wqxr.org/story/stonewall-goes-opera-why-how-do-they-still-throw-things/

In Memoriam: Lewis Cullman

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/blog/in-memoriam-lewis-cullman/

The San Francisco Opera's first simulcast in 2006 drew about 8,000 spectators. Since moving to the ballpark the following year, the audience has grown each year, now up to 30,000!

Find out more about this year's Opera at the Ballpark...

From 2010—infuriating but distracting, if you need a distraction

How I fell out of love with opera

Writer Robert Thicknesse has long been an evangelist for opera, the most maligned of art forms. But, he's beginning to wonder, what's the point of it all? Has he been defending the indefensible?

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/may/27/falling-out-of-love-opera

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THE MET SATURDAY AFTERNOON MATINEE IS ON HIATUS UNTIL DECEMBER.  TUNE IN TO WQXR TO HEAR OTHER OPERA COMPANIES PERFORM AT  1:00PM 

  

                                          GO  TO    HTTP://WWW.WQXR.ORG/STREAMS                                                               THEN CLICK ON WQXR 105.9 FM                                       

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OPERA ON 

WGBH THIS WEEK!

"La Fille du Régiment"