By Chris Ruel
Photo: Webster University
Webster University Alumni choral conductor Trent Patterson has announced a presentation of Duruflé’s Requiem. The benefit concert supports the longstanding St. Louis nonprofit Unleashing Potential, an organization dedicated to increasing economic equity through educational programs.
Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church in St. Louis will host the concert on July 31, 2022.
Soloists baritone Jacob Lassetter and mezzo-soprano Katherine Menke will perform with the Webster University Chamber Singers, the university’s premier choral ensemble, featuring alumni and current members.
“I believe Webster University students are passionate and have a heart for bettering our world and serving others, making a positive impact on our global community,” Patterson said in an official press statement. “We are excited to be championing the mission of Unleashing Potential and providing an opportunity for members of the community to learn about what the organization is doing.”
The concert will conclude with a commissioned arrangement by 2022 music composition alumna Addison Struckman.
Since 1913, Unleashing Potential has helped children, youth, and families reach their full potential through educational programs, which include early childhood education, after-school programs, and enrichment camps.
By Afton Wooten
The Pacific Chorale will present a free choral festival concert on August 14 at 5:00 p.m. in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.
The 265-voice community choir will offer works by National Medal of Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen including “Prayer (On a Poem by Dana Gioia)” from “Two Songs on American Poems” and “Sure on This Shining Night” from “Nocturnes,” as well as pieces by Jung-A Lee.
The chorale is joined by soloists soprano Rebecca Hasquet and baritone Jared Daniel Jones, organist Jung-A-Lee, and pianist David Clemensen. Artists Director Robert Istad conducts.
Istad stated in a press release that “We are delighted to throw open our doors to the public to showcase the Pacific Chorale Festival Chorus. It provides a vital opportunity for Pacific Chorale to engage with the broader community in an impactful way to share the power and artistry of the human voice raised in song. We welcome people of all ages to the concert hall, especially those who may not have previously had the opportunity to hear live music in the extraordinary Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.”
By Afton Wooten
Les Talens Lyriques announced its 2022-23 season which begins this August. This season marks the company’s 30th anniversary.
Listed below are the vocal and operatic parts of the season, which is led by Christophe Rousset.
Soprano Sandrine Piau and Les Talens Lyriques ensemble will open the season with “Cantates arcadiennes de Rome à Paris” at the Festival de Musique de Menton. This concert is inspired by the 1690 Roman Arcadian Academy, featuring the works of Handel, Montéclaire, and Scarlatti.
Performance Dates: August 3, 2022
Following its theme of “magic and enchantment,” the first opera in season is Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.” The cast includes Sandrine Piau as Pamina, Jeremy Ovenden as Tamino, Rocio Perez as Queen of the Night, Alexander Köpeczi as Sarastro, Georg Nigl as Papageno, Daniela Skorka as Papagena, and Nicholas Mulroy as Monostatos.
Performance Dates: August 27 & 29, 2022
Next up is a concert version of Händel’s “Alcina.” Karina Gauvin sings the title role.
Performance Date: October 25, 2022
Soprano Marie Lys and mezzo-soprano Teresa Iervolino will sing Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” at the Oslo Festival Church Music Festival.
Performance Dates: September 11, 2022
Ian Bostridge and Veronique star in a new production of Gluck’s “Armide.” Acclaimed theatre director Peter Brook directs.
Performance Dates: November 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, & 15, 2022
Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” will be performed on the six-city Dutch tour featuring soprano Johanna Winkel, alto Sophie Harmsen, tenor Zachary Wilder, and bass Krešimir Stražanac. They are joined by the Nederlands Kamerkoor.
Performance Dates: December 12 – 22, 2022
“Thésée” by Jean-Baptiste Lully will be performed in a concert setting in Vienna, Brussels and Paris. Mathias Vidal sing Thésée and Karine Deshayes sings Médée. This will be Les Talens Lyriques’ 12th recording in their Lully opera cycle.
Performance Dates: March 1, 12 & 22, 2023
Mezzo-soprano Ambroisine Bré will star in “Tragic Handelian Figures” featuring the dramatic arias from Handel’s “Giulio Cesare,” “Arianna in Creta,” and “Agrippina” at London’s Wigmore Hall.
Performance Dates: February 5, 2023
In part of its Easter Festival, Ian Bostridge as Evangelist, Benjamin Appl as Christ, and soprano Anna El-Khashem will present Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” at the Philharmonie de Paris and the Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence.
Performance Dates: April 4 & 7, 2023
Performances of “Pygmalion” by Rameau and “Almasis” by Pancrace Royer will take place at the Prague Spring International Music Festival at Rudolfinum.
Performance Date: May 9, 2023
“Mozart & Friends” featuring guest baritone Benjamin Appl will take place in Krakow, Poland. The program includes works by Martin y Soler, Sarti, and Salieri, who were influenced by Mozart.
Performance Date: April 9, 2023
The ensemble returns to Wigmore Hall with “Bach Dynasty.”
Performance Date: May 16, 2023
On another leg of the international tour, mezzo-soprano Ambroisine Bré and the ensemble will present “Paris-Rome: Amor-Haine” in Basel, Switzerland.
Performance Date: June 4, 2023
Louise Bertin’s lost opera, “Fausto” will be performed at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. The orchestra score was recently rediscovered by Palazzetto Bru Zane de Paris and will be recorded by the record label.
Performance Date: June 20, 2023
Closing out the season is a reprise of the “Mozart & Friends” in Paris at La Seine Musicale.
Performance Date: June 207, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
On Oct. 16, 2022, Plácido Domingo is set to make his debut in Paraguay.
The concert is being organized by Garzia Group with support from Hard Rock Café and el Banco Itaú and will be held at the court central del Yacht y Golf Club Paraguayo.
The debut will come after a concert at the Teatro Colón de Argentina, where he will return for the first time since 1998.
Tickets will be on sale on July 25.
Domingo recently returned to the Teatro Real in Madrid after a three-year absence and is headed to perform a concert in Malta for Joseph Calleja’s 25th anniversary. He is also slated for performances at the Arena di Verona, Mexico, Spain, Germany, Turkey, Bolivia, and Croatia, among others.
By David Salazar
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra is set to open its 2022-23 season with a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Royce Hall and Alex Theatre on Oct. 15 and 16, 2022.
Jaime Martin will conduct the performance which will star singers from a constellation of Southland Choirs.
The showcase will also feature the West Coast premiere of Shelley Washington’s “Both.” Washington is the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s 2021-22 Sound Investment Composer. Her new work was commissioned by a number of organizations including the Aspen Music Festival and School, which premiered Both in July 2022, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony; each ensemble will present the regional premiere of “Both.”
The season will also feature such artists as Gil Shaham, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Jeffrey Kahane, Hyejin Kim, Masumi Per Rostad, and Anoushka Shankar.
By David Salazar
The three new board members include renowned bass Morris Robinson, composer Kamala Sankaram, and composer Gregory Spears. Finally, Sam Linden will be the Executive Director.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the BMP team at such an exciting time for the company, and the field as a whole,” Linden said in an official press statement. “I am deeply inspired by Beth’s extraordinary artistic vision and am honored to have the opportunity to support BMP’s industry-leading innovation.”
Linden joins the company from TDC, a nonprofit consulting firm working across the arts and culture sector. In addition to all of his work in business, marketing, strategy, and other related disciplines, he is a former saxophonist and a singer in the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus.
Spears is the composer of such works as “Castor and Patience” and his work has been commissioned by such companies as The New York Philharmonic, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cincinnati Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seraphic Fire, The Crossing, Volti, BMI/Concert Artists Guild, Vocal Arts DC, New York Polyphony, The New York International Piano Competition, the JACK Quartet, and The New York Youth Symphony, to name just a few.
Sankaram has composed such works as “Thumbprint,” “A Rose, Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers,” and “Jungle Book,” among many others. Her works have been commissioned by the Glimmerglass Festival, Washington National Opera, PROTOTYPE Festival, and Creative Time, among others.
Robinson has performed with several notable companies, some highlights of which include the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Teatro alla Scala, Volksoper Wien, Opera Australia, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
By David Salazar
The Gran Teatre del Liceu has extended the contract of Artistic Director Víctor García de Gomar.
García de Gomar is set to remain with the company from 2023 through 2026. He took over in 2019 for Christina Scheppelmann after being selected from amongst 16 top candidates.
Under his new mandate, García de Gomar will be tasked with “establishing the way for the Liceu to continue on its path toward being one of the top theaters in Europe” so that it can establish “quality, prestige, and social service while sustaining economic equilibrium.” He will continue to bring in the top singers as well new co-productions with international theaters.
García de Gomar sang for 10 years in the Orfeó Català and was a baritone with small opera productions. In 2000, he was hired by La Caixa Foundation. He then began working at the Girona Festival of Religious and World Music. He was appointed artistic director of the Girona Auditorium and then the deputy Artistic Director of the Palau de la Música.
By Francisco Salazar
The New York City Opera is set to present an abridged version of “La Traviata” at Bryant Park as part of the park’s Picnic Performances presented by Bank of America.
The concert will take place on August 12 with Michael Capasso, General Director of New York City Opera, noting “‘The People’s Opera’ is thrilled to return to our summer home at Bryant Park, where we can continue our mission of free performances for New York audiences.”
The abridged version of Verdi’s classic that inspired “Moulin Rouge” will star soprano Ekaterina Siurina and tenor Charles Castronovo appear with Michael Chioldi. City Opera Music Director Maestro Constantine Orbelian will conduct. The cast also features Melanie Long as Flora, Tatev Baroyan as Annina, Adam Cioffari as Barone Douphol, Walter Du Melle as Dottore Grenvil, Christopher Nazarian as Marchese d’Obigny, and Drew Seigla as Gastone de Letorières.
When Castronovo and Siurina performed the opera at the Wiener Staatsoper, OperaWire said they gave “a solid and memorable performance.”
By Francisco Salazar
Merola Opera Program is set to present a fully staged production of Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte.”
The production will be conducted by Kelly Kuo, Associate Director of American Lyric Theatre and Music Director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra. Director Gina Lapinski directs this production, bringing the work’s colorful characters to life and will feature costumes created by Dame Zandra Rhodes for San Diego Opera, in a vivid setting brought to life with projections by designer Ian Winters, enhancing the setting by designer Stephen D. Mazzeno.
The young artists featured in “Die Zauberflöte” include: soprano Chelsea Lehnea as Pamina, tenor Sahel Salam as Tamino, baritone Scott Lee as Papageno, bass Edwin Jhamaal Davis as Sarastro, soprano Maggie Kinabrew as the Queen of the Night, tenor Chance Jonas-O’Toole as Monostatos, soprano Adia Evans as the First Lady, mezzo-soprano Erin Wagner as the Second Lady, mezzo-soprano Veena Akama Makia as the Third Lady, bass-baritone Le Bu as the Speaker, soprano Ashley Marie Robillard as Papagena, soprano Olivia Prendergast as the First Spirit, countertenor Cody Bowers as the Second Spirit, mezzo-soprano Maggie Reneé as the Third Spirit, tenor Daniel Luis Espinal as the First Priest, baritone Andres Cascante as the Second Priest, tenor Moisés Salazar as the First Armored Man, and bass-baritone Seungyun Kim as the Second Armored Man
“Die Zauberflöte” will be presented on August 4 and August 6 at the Blue Shield of California Theatre.
By Francisco Salazar
Opera singer Kristin Starkey has begun a career as a heavy metal singer.
The Swedish-based singer is developing a cult following as a heavy metal singer and in the last year and a half, she has released a series of stunning cover versions of heavy metal tracks on YouTube.
Starkey has been a heavy metal fan since she was 11 but had not previously sung in the genre. However, since moving to Sweden during the first year of the pandemic, she found herself with more time on her hands than normal and decided to try her hand at collaborating with a string of well-known power metal bands and musicians using the internet and recording at home.
In a press release, Starkey said, “I find it frustrating when these two dynamic and versatile genres are met with reserve and hesitation from fans on either side. One of the greatest ambitions of my career is to legitimately blend the opera and metal worlds in a way that is accessible for all.”
