Opera Suggestions, II

kwanfan1818

kwanfan1818

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San Francisco Opera is streaming video from its 2018 Ring Cycle, one opera each weekend, starting with this weekend's Das Rheingold, all free:

Ring Festival | Celebrate Wagner's Ring Cycle

RING FESTIVAL CELEBRATING WAGNER’S THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG This March, delve into Wagner’s Ring cycle from the comfort of your own home through curated talks and educational events. The Ring Festival is a series of interactive events including lively panel discussions and lectures about...
sfopera.com

They also are having interviews, panel discussions, and lectures via Zoom all month, but these are paid. They have a pass to access all live all as well as on demand, plus on demand streaming of the Ring operas as they release them through May 2, or individual events for.$15/ea. The first two have been about an hour and include Q&A's.

Next up this coming Tuesday is a discussion between author-critic Alex Ross and Tony Kushner, author of Angels in America, to discuss Ross' latest book, Wagnerism. It can be as immersive as you want, even giving the option of saving it all up for a week in April, as if you've taken a week off.
 
canbelto

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I;m also watching the La Traviata from Vienna. I really like Pretty Yende as Violetta. I've always been a big fan of JDF but Yende is great too.
 
BlueRidge

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canbelto said:
I;m also watching the La Traviata from Vienna. I really like Pretty Yende as Violetta. I've always been a big fan of JDF but Yende is great too.
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yeah already knew Juan Diego Flores is wonderful inn this role; I love Pretty Yende and wondered how she would be as Violetta; I think she's really good!

What did you think of the production?
 
canbelto

canbelto

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BlueRidge said:
yeah already knew Juan Diego Flores is wonderful inn this role; I love Pretty Yende and wondered how she would be as Violetta; I think she's really good!

What did you think of the production?
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I liked it. I think this is one of those operas where modern dress works well because the "business" is still very active. I didn't really like the countryside act but thought the other acts were on point.
 
BlueRidge

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canbelto said:
I liked it. I think this is one of those operas where modern dress works well because the "business" is still very active. I didn't really like the countryside act but thought the other acts were on point.
Click to expand...

Yes same here. I thought they should have used some green projections or something for the countryside, it didn't contrast enough. But the first act particularly worked really well; I really enjoyed how they did it.
 
kwanfan1818

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Vienna State Opera is airing a repeat of yesterday's La Traviata this coming Friday, March 12, followed by back-to-back performances of Don Carlos/Don Carlo this coming Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's production is by Peter Konwitschny, from 2020, a modern dress production of the French version with Jonas Kaufmann (Don Carlos), Malin Byström (Elisabetta), Eve-Maud Hubeaux (Princess Eboli), Igor Golovatenko (de Posa), and probably Michele Pertusi (Phillip II), not listed in the email. Sunday's is an earlier production from 2015 of the Italian by Daniele Abbado with Stefano Secco (Don Carlo), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (de Pos), Maria Pia Piscitelli (Elisabetta), Béatrice Uria-Monzon (Princess Eboli).
 
Wyliefan

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Did anyone else watch the stream of Tosca from Vienna? The singing and production were beautiful, but Anna Netrebko made a surprisingly anxious and subdued Tosca. Not a bad interpretation at all, but not what I expected from such a fiery performer. I wonder if the lack of audience/general atmosphere was difficult for her, or if she always plays it that way, or if she just thought she would try something different!
 
canbelto

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Wyliefan said:
Did anyone else watch the stream of Tosca from Vienna? The singing and production were beautiful, but Anna Netrebko made a surprisingly anxious and subdued Tosca. Not a bad interpretation at all, but not what I expected from such a fiery performer. I wonder if the lack of audience/general atmosphere was difficult for her, or if she always plays it that way, or if she just thought she would try something different!
Click to expand...

Anna had a bad case of C19 this past fall and I don't think she's sounded as good in the few outings I've heard her.
 
Wyliefan

Wyliefan

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To me her voice sounded great this time out (and I was relieved because I'd heard about the C19). It was just the way she chose to play the role that was unexpected. Moving but unexpected. I had been expecting her to tear it up. :)
 
canbelto

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Wyliefan said:
To me her voice sounded great this time out (and I was relieved because I'd heard about the C19). It was just the way she chose to play the role that was unexpected. Moving but unexpected. I had been expecting her to tear it up. :)
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She was a bit subdued at the Met too when I saw her as Tosca. I think she said she doesn't like the role, she just kept getting asked to do it.
 
kwanfan1818

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The webinar happening now as part of the SFO Ring Cycle series is a discussion by Jane Eaglen, Irene Thoerin, and Nina Stemme about singing Brunnhilde.

Eaglen looks fabulous.

ETA: And I just learned that Flagstad was the first to sing Brunnhilde at SFO.
 
kwanfan1818

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For $20 I just rented and watched Opera Philadelphia's "The Drama of Tosca," an abridged, highlights concert version of the opera, punctuated by hokey narration, and with Vissi d'arte at the end. It was from a performance in May. Ana Maria Martinez and Quinn Kelsey were terrific. Rental is for seven days:

Opera Philadelphia Channel

www.operaphila.tv www.operaphila.tv
 
kwanfan1818

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I just recital binged :cheer2:

Mahler is one of my very favorite composers for vocal music, so Caroline Tye and Lenora Eve had me in a very, very happy place :swoon:

The Pain section of Andrew Egbuchiem's recital was especially beautiful. I could see him singing one of those long Handel laments that bring the curtain down at the end of an act and where you can hear a pin drop after it.

Alexandria Critchlow sang everything except Russian -- what a collection of material and versatility! I would go to hear her Liu, like yesterday.
 
kwanfan1818

kwanfan1818

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Not all opera, but the jury has chosen the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World:

Plus the audience has chosen the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize.

Jury was Aidan Lang, now General Director of the Welsh National Opera, who, until a couple of years ago, was General Director of Seattle Opera, John Gilhooly, Director of Wignmore Hall and head of the Song Jury, and singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Roberta Alexander, and Neal Davies, past winner of the Lieder Prize, before it became the Song Prize?

I only listened to the Final, none of the prelims or the Song Prize rounds.

I understand why the jury made the choice it did. I would have chosen differently. There were two singers whose best was as good as anyone else's best, but two singers whose every selection I liked equally well. The fifth was terrific; I just think they were a bit behind the others.
 
SaSherka

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Popping in to see if anyone is ready for live, in-person performances or has attended any in the last year+?
I admit I haven't been streaming anything, with a couple exceptions.
I attended arias and scenes @ Boston Midsummer Opera last month and I am eager to come to Philadelphia for Amici e Rivali concert at the Mann Center for the tenorial duo of Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres. Anyone else in the area??

www.operaphila.org

Amici e Rivali - Amici e Rivali

Two of opera’s most thrilling tenors, Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres, come together for an evening of vocal pyrotechnics, picnics under the stars, and a dazzling fireworks display! Part of the Mann’s Summer Picnic Series.
www.operaphila.org www.operaphila.org
 
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kwanfan1818

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No, I'm planning on continuing to stream until 2022 the earliest for indoor theater. Amici and Rivali sounds wonderful, though.

I am planning to go to the outdoor, socially distanced, masks required concert performance of Die Walkure that Seattle Opera is producing at the end of the month, with Owens (Wotan), Jovanovich (Siegmund), Meade (Sieglinde), LoBianco (Brunnhilde), and Aceto (Hunding).

Bayreuth has been streaming mostly archival performances from the last five years, courtesy of DG. All are free with registration, but only up for a few days, which is how I missed Tristan and Parsifal. But Siegfried from 2016 is coming up soon, and I've thoroughly enjoyed the premise of oil as gold in Das Rheingold and Die Walkure.

The only paid one was the live Flying Dutchman, and Asmik Gregorian's Senta stole the show.
 
BlueRidge

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I have been hoping for live performances and Live in HD in the theaters but I'm getting a little worried.

I did not re-subscribe to the Washington National Opera, not because of the pandemic but because I just was not interested in their productions this season, only two of which are full operas, and not ones I am interested in.

I have continued my subscription to Washington Concert Opera, they usually do two productions (once performance each) per year, this year they have three, one is postponed from last year. And they have Elizabeth DeShong, Kate Lindsay, and Erin Morley among others in the three. I'm really excited about those so I sure hope they happen. Two aren't until next spring and they haven't guaranteed the venue even.

I hope the Met season doesn't get interrupted. I want live on the radio, and Live in HD! I'm interested in live streaming but not much interested in seeing recorded stuff from the past at this point.
 
kwanfan1818

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The Washington Concert Opera season looks great, with interesting rep and great singers.

Granted that I'm six weeks behind in my podcast schedule, but in the ones from July, Aria Code and the Met Opera Guild podcasts are still talking up the upcoming season opener. I'm more concerned about the unions, whom Gelb blamed for financial woes which were significant before cv.
 
BlueRidge

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kwanfan1818 said:
The Washington Concert Opera season looks great, with interesting rep and great singers.

Granted that I'm six weeks behind in my podcast schedule, but in the ones from July, Aria Code and the Met Opera Guild podcasts are still talking up the upcoming season opener. I'm more concerned about the unions, whom Gelb blamed for financial woes which were significant before cv.
Click to expand...
I thought they had settled with them all? Maybe not the orchestra?
 
kwanfan1818

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The Castorf Siegfried from 2016 Bayreuth is streaming now if you register on the Deutsche Grammophon site until Tuesday, August 17 at 4pm CET:
https://www.dg-premium.com/dg-stage/

No reptiles were hurt in the filming of this opera, which was set in an alternate universe Mt. Rushmore -- Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao -- where Mime had his trailer -- all Mimes in modernized versions seem to raise Siegfried in trailers -- and the Berlin Alexanderplatz Ubahn station.

I nominate John Lundgren to play Captain Picard when someone makes an opera out of Star Trek: The Next Generation. :grope:
 
alexikeguchi

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I'm pumped! After over two years since my last live opera experience, I just got tickets to attend Boris Godunov at the Met Opera! I haven't heard Rene Pape live before but enjoyed him as Gurnemanz in the recorded performance of Parsifal. Ryan Speedo Green, who impressed me live in Vienna as Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni, is also in the cast. I'm taking my mom on her 85th birthday, so it should be a great occasion!
 
kwanfan1818

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This is probably only available for another few hours, but Joyce DiDonato gave a recital with Il Pomo d'Oro in Bucharest earlier today (yesterday for her) at the Enescu Festival:
https://www.festivalenescu.ro/en/events/recital-joyce-didonato-and-ensemble/


The festival programs list whether there's streaming, and, if so, they're streamed live and then available for 12 hours afterwards. Here's the list through September 26:
https://www.festivalenescu.ro/en/festival-2021/program/

Some vocal highlights:
  • Tomorrow (September 15), the Radio Romania National Orchestra performs Zelinsky's "Der Zwerg" with seven singers.
  • Sonya Yoncheva and Malcolm Martineau are performing a recital next Wednesday, September 22.
  • Georg Enescu Philharmonic will perform Enescu's Strigoii with soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists on September 23.
  • Transylvania Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra of Cluj-Napoca performs Berg's "Lulu" on Friday, September 24.
  • Les Arts Florents are performing Handel's "Partenope" on Sunday, September 26. (SFO had a well-known production of this little performed opera).
 
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