21C Media Group’s Classical Music Preview 2011/12
SEPTEMBER 2011
Sep 6 After a convocation ceremony heralding the official start of the academic year at the CURTIS INSTITUTE OF MUSIC, students, faculty, and staff will walk down Locust Street from Field Concert Hall to a public ribbon-cutting ceremony that officially opens the school’s new Lenfest Hall. [Philadelphia, PA]
Sep 10 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO presents “Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park,” a free concert with Renée Fleming, Anna Christy, Susanna Phillips, Matthew Polenzani, James Morris, and others, with Emmanuel Villaume conducting the Lyric Opera Orchestra. This is Fleming’s first free public appearance with the company since being appointed its Creative Consultant last December. [Chicago, IL]
Sep 10 – 30 American baritone THOMAS HAMPSON, who recently received the Concertgebouw Prize, creates the role of Rick Rescorla in the world-premiere production of Heart of a Soldier. The new opera, commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, features music by Christopher Theofanidis and a libretto by Donna Di Novelli, and is directed by Francesca Zambello. Based on the book by James B. Stewart, the work is inspired by the true story of Rescorla, his wife, Susan, and his friend Daniel J. Hill, culminating in Rescorla’s tragic death in the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center following his heroic evacuation of all 2700 employees of Morgan Stanley. [San Francisco, CA; Sep 10, 13, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30]
Sep 13 Deutsche Grammophon releases a new 2-CD set featuring music by Franz Liszt, composers who influenced Liszt, and those whom Liszt influenced, performed by pianist PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD. Repertoire includes works by Scriabin, Berg, Wagner, Bartók, Ravel, Messiaen, and Marco Stroppa.
Sep 17 The New York Philharmonic’s Music Director ALAN GILBERT conducts the orchestra in a special concert version of Sir William Walton’s score for a classic Sir Laurence Olivier film. Henry V – A Shakespeare Scenario features narration by the actor Christopher Plummer. [AFH]
Sep 21 – 27 ALAN GILBERT opens the New York Philharmonic’s 2011-12 season – his third as Music Director – with DEBORAH VOIGT, one of today’s leading Richard Strauss interpreters, singing Barber’s Andromache’s Farewell and the final scene from Strauss’s Salome; Gilbert and the orchestra then offer the first subscription program of their new season with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”. [AFH; Sep 21, 22, 24, 27]
Sep 22 – 25 Grammy Award-winning soprano CHRISTINE BREWER opens the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s 67th season in a program featuring the Immolation scene from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. [Atlanta, GA; Sep 22, 23, 25]
Sep 25 THOMAS HAMPSON sings music by Copland in a season-opening gala concert with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra, marking two important anniversaries: the orchestra’s 80th and the Kennedy Center’s 40th. [Washington, DC]
Sep 26 – Feb 4 Reprising a role that won her huge acclaim at the Vienna State Opera last season, superstar soprano ANNA NETREBKO makes her company role debut as Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, the doomed Tudor Queen, in the Met’s season-opening production. Fast-rising Philadelphia-born tenor STEPHEN COSTELLO performs the role of Lord Percy in the new production by David McVicar. The October 15 performance will be transmitted to movie theaters worldwide as part of the “Met: Live in HD” series. [Met; Sep 26, 30, Oct 3, 6, 10, 15, 18, 21*, 24*, 28*, Feb 1, 4; *Netrebko not performing]
Sep 30 – Oct 4 ALAN GILBERT conducts the New York Philharmonic in Dvorák’s Symphony No. 7 and the world premiere of John Corigliano’s One Sweet Morning with mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe. [AFH; Sep 30, Oct 1, 4]
OCTOBER
Oct (date TBD) Decca Classics releases The Maltese Tenor, JOSEPH CALLEJA’s third solo album for the label. Having recorded both of his previous discs while still in his 20s, the 33-year-old singer now makes his first foray into the full lyric repertoire into which he has since matured. Cavaradossi in Tosca, Adorno in Simon Boccanegra, and the title roles in Hoffmann and Faust are just a few of the characters he explores on this stellar new recording.
Oct (dates TBD) The CURTIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA embarks on its first tour to Asia with performances at the Beijing Music Festival and the brand new Seoul Arts Center. [Beijing, China; Seoul, South Korea]
Oct 4 Among several new releases this month from VIRGIN CLASSICS are young French pianist Alexandre Tharaud playing Bach keyboard concertos with Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie; Paavo Järvi conducting Fauré’s ethereal Requiem, with star French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky singing the Pie Jesu; and two releases from the Ebène Quartet: Mozart String Quartets and Fiction Live at the Folies Bergère on DVD.
Oct 4 “Black diamond” bass RENÉ PAPE’s 20-year journey through the roles of Wagner – from the Nightwatchman early in his career to the “Ring” cycle’s Wotans in recent seasons – is captured on his new solo album from Deutsche Grammophon, released today. Wagner Arias features Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle Orchestra.
Oct 5 – 7 ALAN GILBERT exchanges his baton for a bow as one of the soloists in Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor. Appearing as his fellow soloist with the New York Philharmonic is Frank Peter Zimmermann, who also plays Alban Berg’s Bach-infused Violin Concerto. [AFH; Oct 5, 6, 7]
Oct 10 – Nov 5 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO’s new production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor marks the Lyric directorial debut of renowned soprano Catherine Malfitano. The cast is led by Beverly Sills Award-winner Susanna Phillips in the title role and Giuseppe Filianoti as Edgardo. [Chicago, IL; Oct 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 28, Nov 1 & 5]
Oct 13 Violinist GIL SHAHAM, recent recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize, opens the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s new season at Carnegie Hall, performing Brahms’s Violin Concerto. [CH]
Oct 13 – Nov 11 The young bass-baritone LUCA PISARONI makes his company role debut as Leporello in the Met’s new production of Don Giovanni, under the direction of Tony Award-winning Michael Grandage. Of Pisaroni’s Glyndebourne performances in the role, the Times of London noted: “Most of the energy on stage comes from Luca Pisaroni’s seedy but superbly animated Leporello.” [Met; Oct 13, 17, 22, 25, 29, 31; Nov 3, 7, 11]
Oct 18 An evening of music by the award-winning American composer MICHAEL HERSCH includes the world premiere of his Sonata No. 3 for Unaccompanied Cello, performed by Daniel Gaisford, as well as two New York premieres. The composer plays the piano for some of the program. [Merkin Concert Hall]
Oct 21, 23 The CURTIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA season kicks off with a performance featuring Curtis alumnus and new faculty member Jonathan Biss, led by alumnus Michael Stern. The second concert will be followed by a gala in the school’s new Lenfest Hall. [Philadelphia, PA; Oct 21, 23]
Oct 21 – Nov 6 THE DALLAS OPERA opens its 2011-12 season with a production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. [Dallas, TX; Oct 21, 23, 26, 29, Nov 6]
Oct 26 Days after her run as Anna Bolena at the Met, ANNA NETREBKO returns to Carnegie Hall to make her New York recital debut in a program of Russian songs with pianist Elena Bashkirova. [CH]
Oct 27, 28 DANIEL HOPE, the British violinist described by the New York Times as “adventurous and brilliant,” presents “East Meets West” in New York (at the 92nd St Y) and at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The program, exploring cultural exchanges as documented by a wide range of composers, presents music by de Falla, Takemitsu, and Bartók, as well as Gaurav Mazumdar’s Hommage to Ravi Shankar and Hommage to Yehudi Menuhin, both for violin, piano, sitar, tabla, and tanpura, and featuring Mazumdar on sitar. [Oct 27, 92nd St Y; Oct 28, Washington, DC]
Oct 27 – Nov 5 DEBORAH VOIGT continues her star turn as Brünnhilde in the Metropolitan Opera’s new Robert Lepage production of the epic “Ring” cycle when she makes her role debut in the tetralogy’s third installment, Siegfried. [Met; Oct 27, Nov 1, 5]
Oct 28 – Nov 8 GIL SHAHAM plays Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin on a four-city tour. [Oct 28, Chapel Hill, NC; Oct 30, Bethesda, MD; Nov 6, Stanford, CA; Nov 8, Santa Fe, NM]
Oct 29, 30 Gilmore Artist KIRILL GERSTEIN joins the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, conductor Oliver Knussen (who wrote the Gilmore-commissioned Ophelia’s Last Dance for Gerstein), and violinist Leila Josefowicz for two performances of Berg’s Chamber Concerto for piano, violin, and 13 winds. [Oct 29, St. Paul, MN; Oct 30, Arden Hills, MN]
Oct 30 – Nov 19 Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano SUSAN GRAHAM stars in Handel’s Xerxes at the SFSO War Memorial Opera House, in a production that boasts Olivier Award–winning staging by film and theater director Nicholas Hytner. [San Francisco, CA; Oct 30, Nov 4, 8, 11, 16, 19]
Oct 31 Now in its 76th season, the METROPOLITAN OPERA GUILD assembles a dazzling array of operatic, social and cultural luminaries for its annual luncheon, which this year honors a living legend: mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne. [Waldorf=Astoria]
NOVEMBER
Nov 1 EMI CLASSICS releases Homage to Maria Callas, a new album from Angela Gheorghiu. This is a personal collection of songs that reflects the soprano’s rise to stardom as well as how the legendary Maria Callas impacted her life and career. Other highlights from the label this month include Storyteller, the debut release from the charismatic young Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, and Antonio Pappano conducting Mahler’s Symphony No. 6. From EMI’s sister label, VIRGIN CLASSICS, comes a recital album from Diana Damrau featuring songs by Franz Liszt.
Nov 2 – 13 KIRILL GERSTEIN joins his frequent collaborator Semyon Bychkov and the San Francisco Symphony for performances of Strauss’s rarely heard Burleske for piano and orchestra. Shortly afterwards, the pianist makes his Seattle Symphony debut when he joins conductor Robert Spano for performances of Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini. [Nov 2, 3, 4, San Francisco, CA; Nov 10, 11, 12, 13, Seattle, WA]
Nov 25, 27 LEIF OVE ANDSNES, the Norwegian pianist named one of the “Best of the Best” by Vanity Fair, will perform Beethoven’s five piano concertos extensively throughout the coming seasons, including a major recording project with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for Sony Classical. This month, he performs the Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Manfred Honeck – marking the first time Andsnes will play the work in the US. [Pittsburgh, PA; Nov 25, 27]
Nov 29 – Dec 23 RENÉ PAPE descends again to the devilish role of Méphistophélès in a new production of Gounod’s Faust at the Met. When Pape made his debut in the role there, the New York Times wrote, “He already owns the role. His singing is robust, incisive and chilling.” [Met; Nov 29, Dec 3, 6, 10, 13, 17, 20, 23]
DECEMBER
Dec 3 Pianist JEREMY DENK returns to New York’s 92nd Street Y for a solo recital featuring Beethoven’s 15 Variations and a Fugue on an Original Theme in E-flat. The recital also features works by Ligeti. [92nd St Y]
Dec 6 VIRGIN CLASSICS recording artist Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata have made waves marrying early music performance practice with improvisation. This month they are heard on a new South American-themed album from the label, and in March they come to New York for a four-concert residency (Mar 14 – 17) at Carnegie Hall, marking the first time an early music group has been given a coveted “Perspectives” series at the venue.
Dec 7 – 23 ANNA NETREBKO makes her eagerly awaited La Scala debut as Donna Anna in a new Robert Carsen production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. The performance will be transmitted live in high definition to movie theaters in the U.S. as part of Emerging Pictures’ “Opera in Cinema” series. [Milan, Italy; Dec 7, 13, 16, 20, 23]
Dec 8 JOSEPH CALLEJA is the soloist in this year’s Nobel Prize Concert. Presented by Nobel Media AB in association with the Stockholm Concert Hall, the performance honors the year’s Nobel laureates, who will attend along with members of the Swedish Royal Family and guests of the Nobel Foundation. The concert will be broadcast live on SVT, and will be distributed internationally and online. [Stockholm, Sweden]
Dec 8 JEREMY DENK makes his Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. [Chicago, IL]
Dec 16, 17 ALAN GILBERT and the New York Philharmonic continue their “Contact!” series with a program featuring the world premiere of a New York Philharmonic commission from Alexandre Lunsqui titled Fibers, Yarn, Wire; Magnus Lindberg’s Gran Duo; and H.K. Gruber’s Frankenstein, a Pan-demonium for Chansonnier and Ensemble after Children’s Rhymes (1976-1977). [Dec 16, Met Museum; Dec 17, Symphony Space]
Dec 19 Under the direction of Trinity Wall Street’s Director of Music and the Arts, Julian Wachner, the critically acclaimed TRINITY CHOIR and TRINITY BAROQUE ORCHESTRA make their Alice Tully Hall debut when they perform Handel’s holiday masterpiece, the Messiah. [ATH]
Dec 31 ALAN GILBERT and the New York Philharmonic serve up a festive and stylish New Year’s Eve concert, broadcast on PBS in the Live From Lincoln Center series, featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F. [AFH]
Dec 31 – Jan 30 LUCA PISARONI is part of the starry cast in the world premiere of The Enchanted Island, a Baroque pastiche featuring works by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, and others. [Met; Dec 31, Jan 4, 7, 12, 14, 17, 21, 25, 28, 30]
2012
JANUARY
Jan 2 – 20 STEPHEN COSTELLO makes his company role debut as Alfredo in La traviata at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. [London, UK; Jan 2, 6, 9, 17, 20]
Jan 5 In keeping with the holiday spirit, the TRINITY CHOIR and TRINITY BAROQUE ORCHESTRA perform Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at the legendary Trinity Church. [Trinity Wall Street]
Jan 5 – 19 JOSEPH CALLEJA, who won raves for his portrayals of three leading Italian roles at the Metropolitan Opera last season, now turns his focus to the French composer Gounod. Calleja is one of three star tenors to take on the title role in the company’s new production of Faust. [Met; Jan 5, 9, 13, 16, 19]
Jan 5 – 22 Over the course of a special three-week festival celebrating Rachmaninoff, Houston Symphony Orchestra artist-in-residence and “top Rachmaninoff interpreter” (Nashville Scene) KIRILL GERSTEIN performs all four Rachmaninoff piano concertos. [Houston, TX; Jan 5, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22]
Jan 7 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO presents a star-studded Subscriber Appreciation Concert with Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, honoring General Director William Mason, who is retiring after more than four decades with the company. The Lyric Opera Orchestra is conducted by its Music Director, Sir Andrew Davis. [Chicago, IL]
Jan 12 – 17 LEIF OVE ANDSNES continues his “Beethoven Journey” at Boston’s Symphony Hall with a performance of the first piano concerto, led by David Zinman. [Boston, MA; Jan 12, 13, 14, 17]
Jan 13, 14 CHRISTINE BREWER, a “superlative Strauss singer” (New York Times), sings the German composer’s Four Last Songs at the St. Louis Symphony, conducted by David Robertson. [St. Louis, MO; Jan 13, 14]
Jan 22 THOMAS HAMPSON continues his celebrated “Song of America” project with a recital of American song at New York’s Metropolitan Museum. As the Financial Times observed, “The ‘Song of America Project’ reaffirms Hampson’s talent for fusing a searing intellect with artistry of the highest order.” [Met Museum]
Jan 27 – Feb 11 DEBORAH VOIGT sings Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung for the first time in her career, in the final installment of the Met’s new Robert Lepage production of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle. [Met; Jan 27, 31, Feb 3, 7, 11]
FEBRUARY
Feb 1 SUSAN GRAHAM returns to Carnegie Hall for a solo recital with her frequent collaborator pianist Malcolm Martineau in a program that includes Bizet’s “Chanson d’avril”. [CH]
Feb 9 – 19 LEIF OVE ANDSNES returns to the U.S. for a major solo recital tour whose program includes works by Debussy and Chopin. The pianist plays at the Herbst Theatre, Spivey Hall, Carnegie Hall, Carolina Performing Arts, and Chicago’s Symphony Center. [Feb 9, San Francisco, CA; Feb 11, Morrow, GA; Feb 12, North Bethesda, MD; Feb 15, New York, CH; Feb 17, Chapel Hill, NC; Feb 19, Chicago, IL]
Feb 12 DANIEL HOPE pays tribute to one of the greatest violinists of the 19th century with “Inspired by Joachim,” a program Hope has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon and which he now plays with the musicians of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Hope will talk about the great Austro-Hungarian violin virtuoso, a friend and trusted collaborator of Brahms and the first interpreter and dedicatee – and reviser/editor – of works by Bruch and Dvorák, in a pre-recital conversation at the Rose Studio. [ATH]
Feb 12 – Mar 17 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO presents a seminal masterpiece of American musical theater – Jerome Kern’s Show Boat – for the first time, in a brand new production directed by Francesca Zambello. Nathan Gunn, one of People’s sexiest men alive, stars as Ravenal opposite Broadway star Ashley Brown as Magnolia. Alyson Cambridge is Julie; Angela Renée Simpson and Morris Robinson make their Lyric debuts as Queenie and Joe respectively. [Chicago, IL; Feb 12, 13, 17, 18, 22, 25, 28, March 1, 2, 7, 9, 14, 17]
Feb 16 JEREMY DENK plays Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Sir Roger Norrington, at Carnegie Hall. [CH]
Feb 16 – 18 Legendary Bartók interpreter PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD, described by Stuart Isacoff in the Wall Street Journal as “a brilliant musician and an extraordinary visionary,” performs the Hungarian composer’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by his frequent collaborator Pierre Boulez. [Cleveland, OH; Feb 16, 17, 18]
Feb 16 – 25 THE DALLAS OPERA has assembled an extraordinary cast for a unique concert presentation of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, featuring projections by Elaine McCarthy, who created the special video effects for the critically acclaimed world premiere of Moby-Dick. [Dallas, TX; Feb 16, 19, 22, 25]
Feb 17 – 26 The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra plays a world premiere by its “Composer of the Year,” Pulitzer Prize-winner STEVEN STUCKY, conducted by Manfred Honeck. Stucky’s work was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a book that helped launch the environmental movement in the early ‘60s. A week later, the same forces present the New York premiere of the work at Lincoln Center. [Feb 17, 18, 19, Pittsburgh, PA; Feb 26, AFH]
Feb 23 – 28 ALAN GILBERT conducts a seductive program featuring Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; Son et lumière, an orchestral work by STEVEN STUCKY; and Ravel’s orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. [AFH; Feb 23, 25, 28]
Feb 24 – Mar 3 PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD plays Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony conducted by Pierre Boulez; he also joins members of the orchestra to play the same composer’s Pierrot lunaire – in the seminal work’s 100th anniversary year. [Chicago, IL; Feb 24, 25, 26, 28, Mar 1, 2, 3]
Feb 29 – Mar 24 In its third new production of the season, LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO presents Handel’s Rinaldo (company stage premiere), starring David Daniels in the title role. LUCA PISARONI, whose “lightning vocal attack…nimble upper range…and ringing vivacity” have been praised by Opera News, makes his Lyric debut as Argante. [Chicago, IL; Feb 29, Mar 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24]
MARCH
March 4 JEREMY DENK will join Steven Isserlis and others for the cellist’s family program, “The Prodigy with the Ponytail: The Life and Music of Mozart” at the 92nd St Y. [92nd St Y]
Mar 15, 17 The Cleveland Orchestra performs the world premiere of MICHAEL HERSCH’s Night Pieces for trumpet and orchestra, with the orchestra’s principal trumpet, Michael Sachs, as soloist, and Giancarlo Guerrero on the podium. [Cleveland, OH; Mar 15, 17]
Mar 15 – 20 GIL SHAHAM continues his exploration of great violin concertos written in the 1930s with a performance of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Concerto funèbre (1939) with the New York Philharmonic. [AFH; Mar 15, 16, 17, 20]
Mar 15 – Apr 9 THOMAS HAMPSON is Verdi’s Macbeth at the Metropolitan Opera, marking his company debut in the role. Reviewing one of his previous performances as the Shakespearian king, the Financial Times observed, “His Macbeth was fascinating, delving into the subconscious to the point where every nerve-ending of the character was sliced open to view.” [Met; Mar 15, 20, 24, Apr 2, 5, 9]
Mar 16 – 18 THE DALLAS OPERA launches its new Chamber Opera Series with The Lighthouse at the Wyly Theatre. A landmark artistic collaboration between the Dallas Opera and the Dallas Theater Center, this new series is designed to complement the main-stage opera performances in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House and gives the Dallas Opera opportunities to produce lesser-known contemporary works, experimental pieces, captivating orchestrations, and opera rarities in intimate “jewel-box” venues. No other American opera company is currently committed to producing a separate chamber opera series. [Dallas, TX; Mar 16, 17, 18]
Mar 22 – 27 PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD plays recitals in Denver and Santa Barbara for the first time during a four-city tour whose programs feature works by Debussy and Liszt. [Mar 22, Denver, CO; Mar 24, Detroit, MI; Mar 26, Santa Barbara, CA; Mar 27, San Francisco, CA]
Mar 22 – Apr 7 DANIEL HOPE both curates and performs at the Savannah Music Festival, where the British violinist has served as Associate Artistic Director since 2005. [Savannah, GA; Mar 22 – Apr 7]
Mar 26 – Apr 23 New York audiences will witness for the first time ANNA NETREBKO’s signature portrayal of Massenet’s Manon in a new-to-the-Met production by Laurent Pelly, which premiered at London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden last season to rave reviews – both for Pelly’s direction and for Netrebko’s interpretation of the opera’s heroine. The April 7 Met performance will be transmitted to movie theaters worldwide as part of the “Met: Live in HD” series. [Met; Mar 26, 31, April 3, 7, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23]
APRIL
April 5 The New York premiere of MICHAEL HERSCH’s first string quartet, Images From a Closed Ward (2010), is performed by the Blair String Quartet at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. [WH]
April 21 KIRILL GERSTEIN returns to New York’s 92nd Street Y in a solo recital that includes the Gilmore-commissioned Ophelia’s Last Dance by Oliver Knussen, as well as works by Busoni, Weber, Schumann, and Liszt. [92nd St Y]
April 21 PIERRE-LAURENT AIMARD gives a recital at Lincoln Center in a program featuring works by Liszt, Ravel, Bartók, Messiaen, and the contemporary Italian composer Marco Stroppa. [ATH]
MAY
May 1 LEIF OVE ANDSNES returns to Carnegie Hall for the second time this season when he joins German baritone Matthias Goerne for a recital featuring songs by Mahler and Shostakovich. [CH]
May 11 The day before embarking on its first European tour in more than ten years, the CURTIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, led by Curtis alumnus Rossen Milanov, revels in a program of Bernstein and Brahms at Philadelphia’s Mann Center. [Philadelphia, PA]
May 12 – June 2 STEPHEN COSTELLO embodies Rodolfo, and his wife, soprano Ailyn Pérez, is Mimì, in Los Angeles Opera’s production of La bohème. [Los Angeles, CA; May 12, 20, 23, 26, 31, June 2]
May 13 CHRISTINE BREWER is joined by her frequent collaborator Craig Ruttenberg in a recital featuring works by Strauss, Marx, Thomson, Ives and Smith at New York’s Alice Tully Hall. [ATH]
May 18 Shai Wosner joins the Seattle Symphony, conducted by Gerard Schwarz, for the world premiere of MICHAEL HERSCH’s new work along the ravines (Piano Concerto No. 2). [Seattle, WA]