By Chris Ruel
Photo: Andy Buchanan
Minnesota Orchestra has announced the appointment of Thomas Søndergård as Music Director. The Danish maestro will succeed Osmo Vänskä as the 11th Music Director in the Orchestra’s 120-year history. Søndergård will helm the Orchestra as Music Director Designate in the 2022-23 season before beginning his duties as Music Director in Sept. 2023.
The conductor has agreed to a five-year contract, starting in the 2023-24 season, and will lead the Orchestra in at least 12 weeks of concerts and activities a year. Søndergård also serves as music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and will remain in this role alongside his Minnesota appointment.
“My impression of the Minnesota Orchestra is that it is an ensemble with tremendous heart. There is a warmth, an openness and a cooperative spirit among the musicians that fits very well into the way that I like to make music,” Søndergård says on the Orchestra’s website.
Audiences will get to see the maestro in action over three performances between October 20-22, 2022. The conductor will lead a program that includes Lili Boulanger’s “Of a Spring Morning” and two ballet scores: Maurice Ravel’s “Mother Goose” and Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” On October 21, the Orchestra will livestream the concert on its website and social media channels.
Søndergård isn’t new to the Orchestra. The conductor first led the band in December 2021 in a program that included Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade for Orchestra, Richard Strauss’ “Ein Heldenleben,” and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23. Søndergård to the podium again in April 2022 to conduct Debussy’s “La Mer” and Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements.
“He understands the many dimensions of being a music director, including the need to curate imaginative seasons for wide audiences, to bring out the best in musicians and to galvanize the community with an artistic vision. His approach is a good fit for our collaborative leadership model. He has the qualities of a great musical leader,” Orchestra President and CEO Michelle Miller Burns states on the website.
Søndergård began as a timpanist with the Royal Danish Orchestra after graduating from the Royal Danish Academy of Music. He has led many major European orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras, among others. In 2005, he led the Royal Danish Opera in Poul Ruders’ “Kafka’s Trial” premiere. He has returned several times to the Royal Danish Opera to lead works by Rossini, Mozart, Puccini, and Janáček.
By David Salazar
The Washington National Cathedral and Cathedral Choral Society have announced their joint 2022-23 season. This is the first time that the two organizations are presenting a joint music program.
For the purposes of this article our focus will be solely on vocal performances.
The Cathedral Choral Society will join forces with The Atlanta Ballet for Berlioz’s “Roméo et Juliette.” Claudia Schreier will choreograph the showcase.
Performance Date: Oct. 25, 2022
Organist Alcee Chriss will join the Washington National Cathedral and Cathedral Choral Society for music in celebration of Thanksgiving.
Performance Date: Nov. 20, 2022
Next up is Händel’s “Messiah.”
Performance Date: Dec. 10 – 11, 2022
William Byrd’s “Mass for Five Voices” will kick off the New Year in a performance also featuring Bill Barclay and Cathedra.
Performance Date: March 5, 2023
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Cathedral Choral Society will perform music by Sergei Rachmaninoff joined with words of Edgar Allen Poe.
Performance Date: April 2, 2023
Monteverdi’s “Vespers” will take center stage in a latter performance of the season.
Performance Date: April 30, 2023
Hailstork’s “Done Made My Vow” will headline a program of African American works. The work features text from early speeches made by former President Barack Obama. The showcase will be led by Stanley J. Thurston and the Heritage Signature Chorale.
Performance Date: May 14, 2023
The season draws to a close with an Independence Day Concert.
Performance Date: July 4, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
The Nationaltheater Mannheim has appointed a new Music Director.
The company announced that Roberto Rizzi Brignoli will succeed Alexander Soddy as Generalmusikdirektor starting in the 2023-24 season.
Brignoli is the Music Director of the Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile and the Santiago Philharmonic Orchestra and is considered one of the great conductors in the Italian repertoire.
He has conducted at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, Teatro alla Scala of Milan, Rome Opera, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa, Rossini Opera Festival of Pesaro, Sferisterio Opera Festival of Macerata, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Frankfurt Opera, Semperoper of Dresden, Staatsoper of Stuttgart and Hamburg State Opera, among others.
He has recorded for Sony Classics and Warner Classics.
By Francisco Salazar
The Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe has appointed a new Intendant.
The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Art announced that Christian Firmbach will take the position starting in the 2024-25 season. The board of directors of the theater unanimously voted in favor of Firmbach, who will succeed interim director Ulrich Peters. Firmbach’s contract will run for five years.
In a statement Firmbach said, “The Badisches Staatstheater has become very dear to me for many years as a regular guest artist in the field of music education, and I appreciate its long tradition and its high artistic potential. What particularly appeals to me is trying out the contemporary and democratic theater management model of the Dreierspitze and thinking ahead.”
Firmbach is a trained singer and has been General Manager of the Oldenburg State Theater since 2014. He has also served as Artistic Director and deputy General Music Director at the Theater Bonn as well as Artistic Director and Deputy General Manager at the Hessian State Theater Darmstart.
By David Salazar
The New York Choral Society has announced its 2022-23 season.
The season opens with the Richard Tucker Foundation Gala.
Performance Date: Nov. 13, 2022
Next up is “Ellington’s Sacred Concerts.” The showcase features a wide range of music including jazz, choral music, spiritual, gospel, blues, and dance. The showcase will feature a commissioned work by artist James Little.
Performance Date: Nov. 18-19, 2022
Next up is a Christmas concert with the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra.
Performance Date: Dec. 16, 2022
Kicking off the New Year will be “Angel of Light Digital Production,” a new acapella digital piece featuring music from Kevin Siegfried’s new cantata.
Performance Date: February 2023
That will be followed up by the company’s annual spring gala.
Performance Date: March 30, 2023
The company will then join forces once more with the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra for Mozart’s Coronation Mass.”
Performance Date: April 2, 2023
In May, the organization collaborates with the New York Youth Symphony for Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.”
Performance Date: May 28, 2023
The season draws to a close with the New York premiere of Hailstork’s “A Knee on the Neck.” The work will be paired with Vaughn Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem.”
Performance Date: June 13, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
Mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb has canceled her participation in the upcoming Rossinimania! concert at the Festival de Lanaudière.
The mezzo took to social media and said, “I am sad to say that due to health reasons, I have to withdraw from my much expected concert at @festivaldelanaudiere this weekend. I am devastated but I know this is the best recourse for me to get back on my feet swiftly. Hopefully, the talented Meagan Sill is taking over with force and might! Thank you, Meagan!”
She added, “Physical and mental health is paramount in this business and they often go together. I hope you’ll forgive me while I get some TLC for the next few days.”
Sill will join the Orchestre Métropolitain and conductor Ariane Matiakh. Soloists will also include Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres in a program of Rossini works. The concert will be held on July 31.
By Francisco Salazar
George Gagnidze has canceled the BBC Proms performance of “Il Tabarro.”
The baritone took to social media and said, “I am very sad to announce that I’m forced to cancel tomorrow’s ‘Il Tabarro’ at the BBC Proms due to bronchitis. This is my first cancellation in a very long time and it was a difficult step to take. I was so much looking forward to returning to London and to the Royal Albert Hall, singing for the first time under the baton of the great Maestro Sir Mark Elder. But health must come first now. Wishing everyone Toi Toi Toi for tomorrow’s show!”
This is the fourth cast change for the performance which saw Daniela Barcellona, Ivan Gyngazov, and Jung Soon Yun withdraw and be replaced by Annunziata Vestri, Adam Smith, and Shengzhi Ren.
Lucio Gallo will replace Gagnidze in the role of Michele and Sir Mark Elder will conduct his orchestra the Halle and the Philharmonia Voices. The opera will also star Alasdair Elliott, Simon Shibambu, and Natalya Romaniw
The Prom 19 program will also include Paul Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and Ottorino Respighi’s “Fountains of Rome.”
By Francisco Salazar
Italian conductor Lorenzo Coladonato is set to appear at the Opera På Skäret in Sweden.
The conductor first appeared at the Opera På Skäret opera festival in 2019 conducting a production of “Die Zauberflöte” and was expected to return in 2020 to conduct “Turandot.” However, the pandemic put that on hold.
The conductor will now return on July 30 to conduct the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and an international cast in “Un Ballo in Maschera.”
The performance will mark the first show by Opera På Skäret since the pandemic struck.
The production is directed by Opera På Skäret’s artistic director Alexander Niclasson and will star Paolo Lardizzone, Richard Bauer, Hedvig Haugerud, Kseniya Bakhritdinova-Kravchuk, Valdis Jansons, Stanislav Kuflyuk, Siv Misund, and Susanna Sundberg.
By Francisco Salazar
Sally Matthews has signed with OWL Artist Management for General Management.
The British soprano is recognized as one of the foremost lyric sopranos of her generation with her international career encompassing the opera, concert and recital stages.
Next season Matthews is set to perform at La Monnaie, Brussels as the Marschallin in “Der Rosenkavalier,” and as Tatyana in “Eugene Onegin.” She is also set to appear with the Dresden Philharmonie and Juanjo Mena in a Mozart and Mahler program as well as with the L’Orchestra Symphonique de la Monnaie and Alain Altinoglu in Strauss’s”Vier Letze Lieder.”
Further engagments include with the Orchestra of Opéra de Rouen and Ben Glassberg in Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder and the lead role of “Das Paradies und die Peri.”
Matthews has appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival, La Monnaie, the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, Wiener Staatsoper, and Carengie Hall, among others. She is a former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and she was also a part of the BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists Scheme and a participant of the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
By Afton Wooten
Damien Geter and Lila Palmer’s new opera “Holy Ground” will make its world premiere at the 2022 Glimmerglass Festival.
“Holy Ground” is a reimagining of the biblical story of Mary and the choice to become a mother. Although the subject matter of the work is heavy and relevant to current events, the opera is set as a comedy. Palmer remarks, “the world has felt like a pretty dark place lately, and part of writing “Holy Ground” was actually wanting to inject some lightness into a world and an art form that tends heavy.”
Both Palmer and director Chloe Treat are mothers of young children. Their experiences play a huge part in the process of making this opera. “Holy Ground” shares thoughts on motherhood, choice, and proposes questions the two have in their own lives as working mothers.
The piece was commissioned by Francesca Zambello with the charge of being related to faith. Palmer began writing “Holy Ground” while pregnant, which she kept secret because of the pressure put on women. Her post-partum hemorrhage caused a near-death experience and led her to realize the opera “had to be a life death dance.”
The production stars Alyson Cambridge, Carly R. Carillo, Taylor-Alexis DuPont, Joseph Goodale, Jasmine Habersham, Helen Zhibing Huang, Mary-Hollis Hundley, Jacquelyn Matava, Michael Mayes, Jonathan Pierce Rhodes, and Jeremiah Tyson. Lidiya Yankovskaya conducts and Treat leads the stage direction.
The premiere will be performed as part of a “Double Bill” along with Kamala Sankaram and Jerry Dye’s “Taking Up Serpents” also directed by Treat. Shows will be held at the Alice Busch Opera Theater, beginning Friday, July 29 through Saturday, August 20.
