Week of August 27 - September 3, 2015

All links are live!

Great Performances at the Met

This week on Rhode Island Public television,

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

 Saturday, August 29, 2015 @ 8:00pm

Sunday, August 30, 2015 @ 3:00am

Monday, August 31, 2015 @ 12:00am 

Carmen

Richard Eyre's mesmerizing production of Bizet's steamy melodrama returns with mezzo-soprano

Anita Rachvelishvili singing her signature role of the ill-fated gypsy temptress. Aleksandrs Antonenko plays her desperate lover, the soldier Don Jose, and Ildar Abdrazakov is the swaggering bullfighter Escamillo, who comes between them. Pablo Heras-Casado conducts the irresistible score, which features one beloved and instantly recognizable melody after another.

Length: 180 |

DETAILS: [CC] [STEREO]

GENRE: PARENTS PICKS

SYNOPSIS: http://www.metopera.org/uploadedFiles/MetOpera/about_the_met/Met_in_Schools/Educator_Guides/Carmen/Synopsis.pdf - See more at: http://www.metopera.org/Search/?q=synopsis%20-%20carmen#sthash.GS6qFPXj.dpuf

Carmen

SO—do you want to sing? 

Come audition for RICCO!

AUDITIONS!
New member auditions will take place on Wednesday, September 2nd, at 7:30 PM at Providence Presbyterian Church, 500 Hope St. Providence.  Our Auditions Page has more information.  Click HERE!

http://www.ricco.org/?page_id=81

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Richard Wagner's Tannhauser

Wagner's treatment of the Tannhauser story was influenced by his sense of a global disillusionment with life and the disgust he was feeling for the trivial sensuousness and hedonism of modern life.  He longed “to find satisfaction in a more elevated and noble element – something pure, chaste and inaccessible”.  Freedom in Tannhauser becomes associated not with the unbridled expression of love – Venusberg and its sexual excess-- but with asceticism.  We will examine the sources of Wagner's libretto, the musical score and Wagner's use of motifs which reaches it summit in later works.  YouTube video clips and allusions to the libretto will be used to support and emphasize our examination of the work.

The course will be offered at the URI OLLI program Tuesday afternoons, 1:30 to 3, .for six consecutive weeks beginning September 8.  It will also be offered at the Circle of Scholars program at Salve Regina College on Thursday mornings, 10  - 12 for five consecutive weeks beginning September 24.  For more information please contact the respective organizations.

Note:  The Metropolitan Opera will present its HD performance of Tannhauser on October 31.

Suggested Reading:  Ernest Newman:  Tannhauser, in “The Wagner Operas”, Princeton University

                                  Press, 1991

                                  Synopsis of Tannhauser at Wikipedia on the net

Louis Mainelli has offered courses on Wagner's operas – Lohengrin, The Ring, Tristan and Isolde and - Parsifal - for the past few years at the URI OLLI program

Jamie Barton to Replace Elina Garanca in Metropolitan Opera's 'Anna Bolena'

Sunday, August 23, 2015

By Brian Wise

The company has said that the mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton will play Giovanna Seymour in its upcoming run of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/jamie-barton-replace-elina-garanca-metropolitan-operas-anna-bolena/

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The Musician Portraits of John Singer Sargent

Monday, August 17, 2015

By Fred Plotkin

Blogger Fred Plotkin digs into a new Metropolitan Museum John Singer Sargent exhibit and discovers many of his portraits of notable musicians from the time.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/musician-portraits-john-singer-sargent/

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OPERA ON THE INTERNET 

WITH  

DAVE  D' AGUANNO

In case you missed it last week, there will be a repeat broadcast of Massenet's "Werther" on French Radio on this coming Saturday (August 29). The performance took place on August 15 as part of this summer's opera festival in Salzburg, with Piotr Beczala and Angela Gheorghiu taking on the roles of Werther and Charlotte, respectively.

(www.francemusique.fr/)

Other operas on Saturday's schedule include a number of rarities: For example, if you ever wondered what the first Ukrainian folk opera sounded like, you'll certainly want to tune in to Swedish Radio for the broadcast of "Kateryna" -- an 1890 opera by Mykola Arkas. It's a performance from Odessa that took place on November 21, 2013.

(http://sverigesradio.se/p2/)

Lully's "Armide" (from 1686) appears on the ORF schedule. The opera was performed in Innsbruck as recently as last Saturday (August 22).

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

And on Radio 3 (RAI), you can hear the performance from La Scala that took place this past March 17, the opera being Mozart's "Lucio Silla" which he wrote at the venerable old age of 16. Or -- better yet -- you can watch the video, which some kind soul generously uploaded to YouTube a few months ago.

Audio: www.radio3.rai.it/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=462Dh348usM

Enjoy!

DAVE

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The Met Saturday afternoon
 radio broadcast season starts again in November.  Watch this space!

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No opera on 
WGBH this week!