Week of July 21 - July 28, 2016

All links are live!

This week on Rhode Island Public television,

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

Saturday, July 23, 2016, 8:00pm

Sunday, July 24, 2016 3:00am

Monday, July 26,  2016, 12:00am

She's back!

Anita Rachvelishvili
is

Carmen

A production of Bizet's "Carmen," starring Anita Rachvelishvili in the title role, a Gypsy girl; Aleksandrs Antonenko as the soldier who loves her; and Ildar Abdrazakov as the bullfighter who comes between them.

Length: 180 minutes

Synopsis: https://www.vancouveropera.ca/whats_on/2014-2015_season/carmen/synopsis

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News from Around the World of Music

Qian Yi stars in Lincoln Center Festival's 'Paradise Interrupted.'

Review: 'Paradise Interrupted' Fuses Eastern Manners with Western Narrative

Thursday, July 14, 2016

WQXR

By David Patrick Stearns

A striking production of Huang Ruo's "installation opera" was presented with the Chinese opera star, Qian Yi. Critic David Patrick Stearns weighs in. 

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/review-paradise-interrupted-fuses-eastern-manners-western-narrative/

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Introducing "Foxy" Barihunk Scott Ballantine

http://barihunks.blogspot.com/

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Paris Opera singer Wassyl Slipak killed in Donbas war

http://euromaidanpress.com/2016/06/29/paris-opera-singer-wassyl-slipak-killed-in-donbas-war/#arvlbdata

Opera Now

The most influential opera magazine in the world 

http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/rhinegold-publishing/magazines/opera-now/

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WQXR

Notes on a Week of High Drama in London

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

WQXR

Fred Plotkin experiences theater on both London's cultural and political stages during his latest visit in which he saw the opera, a Shakespearean drama and a change of prime ministers.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/notes-week-high-drama-london/

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A Coughing Matter

Friday, July 15, 2016

WQXR

By Fred Plotkin

Are fragrances and overactive cooling systems driving audiences into hacking fits? Fred Plotkin muses on the state of air quality in our theaters.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/coughing-matter/

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Timothy Laughlin (Aaron Blake) and Hawkins Fuller (Joseph Lattanzi) in a scene from 'Fellow Travelers' at Cincinnati Opera.

Finding Opera and Freedom in Cincinnati

Monday, July 11, 2016

WQXR

By Fred Plotkin

A trip to Cincinnati to see productions of Beethoven's 'Fidelio' and Gregory Spears's 'Fellow Travelers' spurs a meditation on opera's relevance to real life.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/finding-opera-and-freedom-cincinnati/

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Matthew Shilvock is the new general director of San Francisco Opera.

Entrance Interview: Matthew Shilvock, SF Opera's Next General Director

Thursday, July 07, 2016

WQXR

By Fred Plotkin

Before he becomes the general director of San Francisco Opera on Aug. 1, Matthew Shilvock spoke to Fred Plotkin about his vision for the company.

http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/entrance-interview-matthew-shilvock-sf-opera/

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OPERA ON THE INTERNET 

WITH  

DAVE  D' AGUANNO

This coming Saturday (July 23), admirers of the singing of soprano Angela Meade and/or the music of Vincenzo Bellini will no doubt be interested in tuning in to NPR for a broadcast of "Norma" from Los Angeles Opera (November 2015), continuing the station's series of broadcasts of performances that took place in various U.S. opera companies during the 2015/2016 opera season.

(www.wrti.org/)

For those of you who simply can't get enough of Puccini's "La Boheme" you might want to check out the performance on German Radio, coming to us from Saarbrucken and originally given on June 10 of this year.

(www.dradio.de/dkultur/)

Fans of legendary soprano Joan Sutherland will get a rare opportunity to listen to one of her Met broadcasts of an opera that hasn't been performed there since around the time of this particular broadcast (December 11, 1976). It's Massenet's "Esclarmonde" (from 1889), & Swedish Radio has "rescued" it from the archives for our listening enjoyment.

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

Then on Tuesday (July 26), French Radio will be carrying a LIVE broadcast from Montpellier of Mascagni's "Iris" (1898). Since this composer's "Guglielmo Ratcliff" was broadcast a few months ago from the Wexford Festival, plus a video from Venice of his opera "L'Amico Fritz" appearing quite recently, is it possible that we may be in the middle of a Mascagni revival? And if so, can his operas "Isabeau" & "Il Piccolo Marat" be waiting in the wings at some future date?

(www.francemusique.fr/)

On the other hand, the big news for Wagner enthusiasts will undoubtedly be the forthcoming series of LIVE broadcasts from this summer's Bayreuth Festival, beginning next Monday with "Parsifal" & followed on Tuesday & Wednesday with the 1st 2 operas of his Ring Cycle ("Das Rheingold" & "Die Walkure"). The complete broadcast schedule, with links to various internet radio stations, can be found here: http://operacast.com/bayreuth_2016.htm

Enjoy!

DAVE

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The Met Saturday afternoon
 radio broadcast will return in December. 

Watch this space. Enjoy the haitus! 

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No opera on

WGBH this week!

Former NYC Mayor, Rudy Guiliani