By Francisco Salazar
Glyndebourne is set to perform concerts featuring the music of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.
The organization is bringing the music of Saint-Georges and Mozart featuring “The Anonymous Lover” with Mozart’s Requiem.
Instead of a traditional concert performance, director Simone Ibbett-Brown will interweave arias, extracts, and ensembles from “The Anonymous Lover” with spoken theatre to bring the opera’s plot and characters together with Saint-Georges’ own life story.
In a statement, director Simone Ibbett-Brown said ‘This piece of music theatre is a little window into the incredible life of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges; Darragh Hand, playing Joseph himself, along with singers Mariam Battistelli, Guy Elliott, Alexandra Lowe, Luthando Qave, and James Way, will be exploring how this opera came to be and Saint-Georges’ impact on the course of history.’
The second part of the evening will put the Glyndebourne Chorus in the spotlight performing Mozart’s Requiem, an emotionally-charged work, featuring some of the greatest music the composer would ever write.
The concerts will be performed from Nov. 3 through Dec. 9 in Milton Keynes, Canterbury, Norwich, Liverpool, and Glyndebourne.
By Francisco Salazar
Italian cinema icon Monica Bellucci is set to star in “Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs” at the Beacon Theatre.
The performance will be held on Jan. 27, 2023 for one night only.
Bellucci channels Greek opera legend Maria Callas in this one-woman show with text and stage direction by Tom Volf. Accompanied by the Wordless Music Orchestra, Bellucci recites Callas’s previously unpublished letters and writings to tell the opera singer’s full story in her own words.
Bellucci has performed the play since 2019 in major cities including Paris, Athens, Rome, Milan and at Her Majesty Theater in London.
“Callas’ Letters and Memoirs,” published by Volf, is a trove of unearthed material telling the singer’s life story entirely in her own words.
In a statement, Volf said, “This show is for me the result of seven years of work dedicated to Maria Callas. Maria’s letters represent the most intimate voice of the woman behind the legend. Maria speaks directly to the audience and confides in them, revealing herself—her glory and pain—as never before. For the first time she’s the one telling her own story, instead of others speaking on her behalf.”
By Afton Wooten
Austin Opera has announced the works to be featured in its Opera ATX series during the 2022-23 season.
The ATX series highlights new operas, emerging artists, and experiments with alternative venues. This season is produced in collaboration with the Consulate General of Mexico in Austin and Mexico City’s Ópera de Bellas Artes.
Opening the season is the “Bella Noche de Música” concert. The concert celebrates Latinx music and culture with performances by artists from Ópera de Bellas Artes of Mexico City, classical guitarist Arnold Yzaguirre, and mariachi group Trío Chapultepec with the Austin Opera Orchestra. Timothy Meyers conducts at the Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park.
Performance Date: April 4, 2023
Next up is Vuyani Dance Theatre’s Cion: “Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro,” a South African production reimagining Ravel’s “Bolero.” The event takes place at the Bass Concert Hall.
Performance Date: April 19, 2023
Closing the Opera ATX series is the Austin installation of “Beethoven in Virtual Reality” directed by Francesca Zambello. Viewers will experience two scenes from Beethoven’s “Fidelio” through a VR headset Soprano Tamara Wilson portrays Leonora in her Austin Opera debut performing the aria “Komm, Hoffnung, lass den letzten Stern.” Also making an Austin Opera debut is tenor Russell Thomas who will sing Gott! Welch Dunkel hier!”
Other pop-ups of “Beethoven in Virtual Reality” will appear at the Fusebox Festival and Austin Beerworks.
Performance Dates: Jan. – May, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
American violinist Angela Wee has been appointed as principal associate concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
In a statement to The Violin Channel, Wee said, “I am still processing the news. It all happened very quickly because I landed at JFK from Korea on a six-week tour with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle the day right before the audition. The jetlag made me delirious…but maybe in a way it helped.”
Wee graduated from the Juilliard School where she studied under Donald Weilerstein and Masao Kawasaki and is a recipient of the Juilliard Career Advancement Fellowship Grant.
She is the second-prize winner of the Sarasate International Competition and was a finalist in the Menuhin International Violin Competition in Beijing. She has performed with the Navarra Symphony Orchestra, Poznań Symphony Orchestra, Polish Sinfonia Luventus Orchestra, Massapequa Philharmonic and the New York Chamber Orchestra.
By Francisco Salazar
Opera Naples is set to host a Gala on Feb. 28, 2023.
The event will be chaired by Cindy Stegemann and Louise Ost, alongside honorary chair Mayor Teresa Heitmann and will feature acclaimed Spanish-inspired entertainment led by conductor and Naples Cultural Ambassador Ramón Tebar.
The event will be held at the Arthrex One after a highly successful event last year.
The evening is themed “Seville Soirée – Por Amor a la Música” (“for the love of music”), and guests will enjoy an energetic, passionate evening of Spanish music and dancing, cocktails, dinner, and a live auction. Attire for the affair will be cocktail chic with jackets requested.
The annual gala will serve as the company’s major fundraising event of the year, supporting diverse opera productions as well as educational programming provided to over 3,000 students each year at no cost. This year, proceeds from the gala will also support the Opera Naples Rebuilding Fund and efforts to recover and rebuild the first floor of the theater following the devastating damage from Hurricane Ian that has impacted the Wang Opera Center.
By Francisco Salazar
The Pittsburgh Opera is set to present “The Marriage of Figaro” in a revival production.
The opera, which is set to take the stage between Nov. 5 and 13, will star Natasha Te Rupe Wilson, Michael Sumuel, Nicole Cabell, Jarrett Ott, Ricardo Lugo, Daniel O’Hearn, and Jazmine Olwalia.
Antony Walker conducts the revival production by Stephanie Havey, which is jointly owned by Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Philadelphia, San Diego Opera, and Palm Beach Opera.
In addition, Pittsburgh Opera’s annual Student Matinee will introduce 2,500+ school students grades 3-12 to this lively, colorful opera on Nov. 10 at the Benedum Center. Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artists take lead roles in the Student Matinee and are accompanied by the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra.
By Francisco Salazar
On Sept. 29, 2022, British violinist John Ludlow died in his home near Shrewsbury.
Born in Birmingham in 1931, Ludlow came from a musical family. His father was a conductor for the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother was a viola player.
During his early years, he studied at the King Edward’s School in Birmingham and later pursued music at RCM, with Henry Holst and Manoug Parikian.
In 1948, he founded the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, which was an ensemble he supported throughout his life. He was then recruited and ordered to serve in the Army. Following his National Service, he joined the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Sir Thomas Beecham and was later appointed leader of the Sadler’s Wells Opera Orchestra.
In the 1960s, he joined the BBC Symphony Orchestra and later became the co-leader of the Royal Opera House Orchestra. However, he left his position in a few years later and became a freelancer. He performed with Yehudi Menuhin’s Bath Festival Orchestra and London Mozart Players as well as the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Concert Orchestra,, and the English National Orchestra.
Ludlow is survived by his wife Marilyn, daughters Erica, and Anna from his first marriage to violinist Katie, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
In a statement the National Youth Orchestra said, “John continued to support NYO throughout his life, not only as a donor, but also through helping Roberto Ruisi, the youngest ever leader of NYO from 2012-14, who was recently announced as the new leader of the Halle. Roberto and John attended the same school in Birmingham and John saw a lot of his own style and musicianship in Roberto’s playing, loaning him his Stradivarius violin.”
By Afton Wooten
American composer and conductor Thomas Sleep (1956-2022) passed away on Oct. 15.
Sleeper’s passing was due to complications with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) which he was diagnosed with in 2019.
The accomplished musician produced a large body of works. His most notable works include the “One Water” film score, his eight-part opera “Einstein’s Inconsistency,” and “Symphony No. 5 ‘chamber symphony.'” He is also featured on many classical music recordings.
Sleeper was a faculty member at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and conductor of the Frost Symphony Orchestra. He was a guest conductor at the Central Philharmonic of China, San Juan (Argentina) Symphony Orchestra, Ruse State Philharmonic, and the China-Wuhan Symphony where he served as Artistic Advisor from 1993-2020.
Sleeper was a member of the Cherokee Tribe (Blind Savannah Clan). He is survived by his wife and four children.
By Francisco Salazar
The National Philharmonic is set to present the National Philharmonic Chorale in Louis-Hector Berlioz’s Requiem.
The program will celebrate conductor Stan Engebretson’s storied tenure as Artistic Director of the Chorale.
The concert will be held on Nov. 12 at Strathmore.
In a statement, Engebretson said, “I am thrilled to lead the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale in what is one of the most unique works in the choral-orchestral repertoire. NatPhil will share the stage with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, guest artist Norman Shankle, and our full orchestra, including four antiphonal brass choirs to create massive sound. Berlioz’s Requiem is a tremendous celebration of life and, as such, the perfect piece to mark my time with this outstanding organization. While it won’t be my last performance with NatPhil this season, it will offer a special moment to commemorate our work together over the years.”
Berlioz’s Requiem was composed in 1837 and it boasts a masterful orchestration for a very large orchestra. The piece is one of Engebretson’s favorite pieces and this season will be his last with the chorale.
He first took helm of the Chorale in the 1992-1993 season and subsequently became part of the NatPhil family when the Chorale merged with the National Philharmonic in the 2003-2004 season. In his role as Artistic Director, Engebretson leads weekly choir rehearsals, conducts four classical concerts each season, and prepares the choral mass for other season performances.
By Francisco Salazar
(Credit: Gillian Riesen)
The Metropolitan Opera has announced a cast change for its production of “Peter Grimes” on Oct. 29.
The company said that the role of Ellen Orford will be sung by Laura Wilde, making her Metropolitan Opera debut. She will replace Nicole Car.
Wilde has performed at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Scottish Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, the Opéra national de Paris, Nashville Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Arizona Opera, among others.
Wilde joins a cast that includes Allan Clayton and Adam Plachetka. Nicolas Carter conducts.
Wilde will also perform the Nov. 2 performance and Nicole Car will return for the Nov. 5, 9, and 12 performances.
