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Metropolitan Opera Guild news: April 2010

2010-03-09

On Tuesday, April 20, two days before bidding farewell to her New York fans in a concert at Carnegie Hall, the beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade will be honored at the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s 75^th Annual Luncheon. With “Flicka and Friends – A Loving Tribute to Frederica von Stade,” the Guild will gather together colleagues and friends to salute the legendary artist in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel, with a musical tribute by baritone Thomas Hampson and a spoken tribute by one of Flicka’s long-time colleagues and friends, soprano Evelyn Lear. Among the many artists who be there to help celebrate Flicka will be Martina Arroyo, Rockwell Blake, Dave Brubeck, Chris Brubeck, Vladimir Chernov, Tyne Daly, Angela Gheorghiu, Marilyn Horne, Kristine Jepson, John Macurdy, Terrence McNally, Mildred Miller, Paul Plishka, Regina Resnik, Julius Rudel and Richard Stilwell. The afternoon will include the screening of a new video biography of the honoree, video performances and many more surprises.

EMI Classics & Virgin Classics March 2010 releases

2010-03-08

New Album of Works by British Composer Thomas Adès Features Three World-Premiere Recordings, Including Orchestral Work Tevot and Violin Concerto; Performances Led by Adès as well as Sir Simon Rattle. Another Highlight from EMI Classics in March Is New Reissue Series, EMI Masters, Featuring Landmark Performances Recorded Exclusively at Famed Abbey Road Studio. Young Danish Cellist Andreas Brantelid, Heard Recently on First Solo EMI Classics Release As Well As All-Chopin Chamber Music Collection, Gives NYC Recital Debut at Carnegie’s Weill Hall Mar 12.

Curtis On Tour comes to New York City on March 10

2010-03-07

On March 10, New Yorkers can witness the extraordinary artistry of the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music when Curtis On Tour makes a special appearance at the Allen Room in Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In this elegant setting, distinguished Curtis faculty members Ida Kavafian and Peter Wiley (’74) will be joined by three of tomorrow’s leading musicians, all Curtis students, to perform a variety of chamber works.

Iván Fischer conducts Beethoven cycle in NYC

2010-03-03

Over four consecutive days in early spring, conductor Iván Fischer – the founder and music director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra – will lead two remarkable ensembles in performances of all nine Beethoven symphonies in New York City. “Beethoven: Then and Now” takes place between March 25 and 28 at Lincoln Center and features Fischer’s celebrated Budapest Festival Orchestra – now in its 26^th season – sharing the spotlight with one of the world’s leading period-instrument ensembles, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE).

Metropolitan Opera Guild co-hosts Curtain Call Awards

2010-03-01

The Metropolitan Opera Guild and Montclair State University (MSU) have partnered to host the first Curtain Call Awards. The Curtain Call Awards, an opera vocal competition, is available to talented high school juniors and seniors in New Jersey. They will start accepting submissions now for a March 29 deadline, and finals for the top five high school singers will take place at the new Jed Leshowitz Recital Hall at Montclair State in June.

Anna Netrebko’s Met Bohème and new live recital album for DG

2010-02-28

Over the past several months, American audiences have witnessed Anna Netrebko’s signature portrayal of Mimì in Robert Dornhelm’s feature film version of Puccini’s La bohème. The movie was released in theaters in September, shown as part of PBS’s “Great Performances” series in December, and recently released on DVD. Now the Russian soprano takes the role to the stage for her first run of performances in the Met’s iconic Franco Zeffirelli production of the opera, opening February 20. In April, shortly after Netrebko’s final appearance in the production, Deutsche Grammophon releases the versatile singer’s new feature recording, a live recital album titled In the Still of Night, made with acclaimed pianist Daniel Barenboim at the Salzburg Festival in August 2009. With this disc, her first piano-vocal recording, the Russian soprano focuses on two of her homeland’s principal exponents of art song, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky.

Metropolitan Opera Guild news: March 2010

2010-02-23

The March issue of Opera News celebrates two upcoming Metropolitan Opera productions, both new to New York City’s opera-goers: Ambroise Thomas’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet – last staged at the Met in 1897 – and the company’s premiere presentation of The Nose by Dmitri Shostakovich. British baritone Simon Keenlyside, who returns to the Met in the title role of Hamlet, is the subject of the March issue’s cover story, while an additional feature examines how well the opera has stood the test of time. Opera News investigates Shostakovich’s black comedy in The Nose, profiles the opera’s star, baritone Paulo Szot, and boasts an interview with William Kentridge, who takes on the challenge of directing and designing the opera’s Met premiere.

The Metropolitan Opera Guild's "Opera Boot Camp"

2010-02-23

For more than 70 years, the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s educational programs have enriched the lives of children and adults throughout the country by making opera accessible to people of all ages and experience levels. One of the Guild’s most popular series for adults, Opera Boot Camp is a casual yet comprehensive introduction to the art form that appeals to all levels of operatic knowledge and experience, from newcomer to connoisseur. Due to the success of this program, which has offered two courses during the 2009-10 season, the Guild is adding a third Opera Boot Camp course.

Gil Shaham: winter/spring 2010

2010-02-22

Continuing his exploration of the many great violin concertos written in the 1930s, in the coming months Gil Shaham presents examples by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Walton, Berg, and Samuel Barber, whose 1939 masterpiece Shaham performs with the New York Philharmonic under David Robertson. The three performances on February 25-27 come just days before the centenary of the composer’s birth (Barber was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on March 9, 1910, and died in 1981). To hear Shaham discuss Barber’s work – and perform selections from his own recent all-Sarasate album – New Yorkers can also attend the violinist’s “Offstage at Barnes & Noble” appearance on February 23.

eighth blackbird flies high with Curtis recital and Slide tour

2010-02-18

To crown its residency at Philadelphia’s distinguished Curtis Institute, eighth blackbird joins forces with the school’s own contemporary music ensemble, Curtis 20/21, for a recital on February 24. Three of the works on the program, including its centerpiece – Steve Reich’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Double Sextet – were written especially for eighth blackbird. Also created for the Grammy Award-winning sextet is Rinde Eckert and Steve Mackey’s new music-theater piece, Slide, which the group premiered last summer and to which it now devotes a U.S. tour, with performances in Richmond, VA (March 3), Chicago’s Harris Theater (March 24), and College Park, MD (April 9-10).