(Photo Credit: Kevin Yatarola) On November 26, 2019, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall was host to the latest iteration of its Great Performers series. This installment saw Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená joined by a number of distinguished artists, including Simon Rattle, violinists Giovanni Guzzo and Rahel Maria Rilling, violist Amihai Grosz, cellist David Adorjan, flutist Kaspar Zehnder and clarinetist Andrew {…}
Legendary soprano Lucy Shelton is set to perform at the National Sawdust on Dec. 15, 2019. She will present a program formatted as a five-course meal with Shelton spontaneously selecting the order of the “courses.” Per a press release, the appetizers will feature music of Stravinsky, John Cage, and George Rochberg. “Soups” will showcase music of Stravinsky and Rochberg, while {…}
Opera composers are among the most admired artists of all time. All of them had unique personalities and letters and quotes gathered throughout the years have illuminated us about who they were and how they thoughts. So for this week’s quiz we will take a look at some of the iconic quotes from some of those great composers. Some quotes {…}
“I strive to bring out the best in myself, but I also know that perfection does not exist. And to be honest: I don’t care. Neither in myself nor in others. In my eyes, perfectionism is an unhealthy and cramped urge. Because you cannot force perfection. Compare it to lying in the water. Whoever relaxes, who dares to surrender, stays {…}
Igor Stravinsky is one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, born on June 17, 1882. Stravinsky grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia and was taken with music from an early age. He studied piano and music theory as a child, though he received a great deal of discouragement from the likes of famed composer Alexander Glazunov. He was {…}
Stravinsky wrote a number of operas, but none is more potent or famed than “A Rake’s Progress,” a Faustian tale with the simple moral that “the Devil finds work for idle hands.” The opera first premiered in Venice on Sept. 11, 1951, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as Anne Trulove. It came to the US in 1953. Short Plot Summary At the {…}
“The Rake’s Progress,” an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky, was one of the six operas performed at this year’s Festival International d’art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence. Although relatively modern, compared to the classical opera repertoire (it premiered on 11 April 1951), Simon McBurney’s visually striking and infinitely creative staging gives it an additional innovative edge. English actor, {…}
A few years ago, tenor Paul Appleby made headlines for a potent and powerful showcase in Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress.” Little did he know that that role debut would turn out to be a major calling card in his career. He is now heading into his third major production of the opera at the Festival Aix-en-Provence and is finding the {…}
Alexander Pushkin is one of the greatest authors in the history of the world. He is also one of the writers who has had the greatest impact in the world of opera. Perhaps only such authors as Victor Hugo or William Shakespeare have seen as many of their works adapted to the opera stage as has Pushkin. And while those other {…}
Conductor Daniele Rustioni is poised to change things up at the Opera de Lyon in coming seasons. The Italian maestro was presented as the newly minted Music Director of the company at a private reception in New York on Thursday at the Bar Boulud on Broadway. Along with him was Lyon Opera’s own General Director Serge Dorny to reveal the {…}
On Thursday, the Canadian Opera company has just announced its 2017-18 season which features six opera spanning from October 5, 2017 to May 26, 2018. The works selected for the new season feature mainly staples of the canonical repertoire though there is one rare work making an appearance this season. Jane Archibald is this season’s artist in residence. The announcement {…}