Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Princeton Festival Goes Virtual in June 2020

COVID-19 may have put the kibosh on in-person events, but The Princeton Festival, like life, finds a way.

The June 2020 public performance season has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. But in its place, the Festival has announced “Virtually Yours,” a free online series of live and recorded performances of instrumental and vocal music, musical theater, opera, and poetry, with educational presentations, to be streamed every day, from June 1 to June 28.

“This online program maintains the high artistic quality Princeton Festival audiences have come to expect in a variety of genres, both classical and popular,” says Richard Tang Yuk, PF Executive and Artistic Director. “It includes totally new material prepared especially for us by leading artists, plus performances from our recorded archives. We’re confident audiences will find it to be an exciting and engaging series of events.”

Highlights of the “Virtually Yours” online festival will include the following (all times are EDT):

• Videos of four Festival opera productions, each streamed just once on Sundays at 1 pm. The operas are Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (June 7), Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (June 14), the acclaimed 2019 production of John Adams’s Nixon in China (June 21), and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (June 28).

• A “Live Musical Theater Review” (Saturday, June 20, 8 pm).

• Broadcasts of 2019 Festival concerts by Concordia Chamber Players, Van Cliburn competition pianist Rachel Cheung, and the Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, airing Fridays at 8 pm on WWFM – The Classical Network at 89.1 FM and http://www.wwfm.org.

• Videos of musical artists performing from their homes (various days).

• Latin band Fleur Seule on Saturday, June 13.

• A series of podcasts launched each Wednesday on such topics as “Women in Music” and “Costuming Operas and Musicals,” along with interviews with Shai Zohar, pianist, and Sylvia McNair, soprano.

• Twelve renowned poets from the U.S., Japan, and China, reading poems on the theme of women, in a compilation of videos made especially for the Festival. To be released on Monday, June 22.

• An Opera Workshop for people who want to learn more about the art form, starting Tuesday, June 9; and a Musical Workshop for aspiring singers beginning Monday June 15.

• Lectures by prominent experts: Professor Timothy Urban on “Why We Love Opera” (Thursday, June 4) and Professor Stacy Wolf on “Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theater across America” (Thursday, June 18).

A full roster of “Virtually Yours” events, with periodic updates to the schedule, may be viewed online at https://princetonfestival.org/virtually-yours/.

PHOTOS (counterclockwise from top): Richard Tang Yuk conducts the Princeton Festival Orchestra; pianist Rachel Cheung; Mark Delavan as “The Flying Dutchman;” and Allyson Briggs of Fleur Seule

May 19, 2020
Princeton Festival Goes Virtual

COVID-19 may have put the kibosh on in-person events, but The Princeton Festival, like life, finds a way.

The June 2020 public performance season has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. But in its place, the Festival has announced “Virtually Yours,” a free online series of live and recorded performances of instrumental and vocal music, musical theater, opera, and poetry, with educational presentations, to be streamed every day, from June 1 to June 28.

“This online program maintains the high artistic quality Princeton Festival audiences have come to expect in a variety of genres, both classical and popular,” says Richard Tang Yuk, PF Executive and Artistic Director. “It includes totally new material prepared especially for us by leading artists, plus performances from our recorded archives. We’re confident audiences will find it to be an exciting and engaging series of events.”

Highlights of the “Virtually Yours” online festival will include the following (all times are EDT):

• Videos of four Festival opera productions, each streamed just once on Sundays at 1 pm. The operas are Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (June 7), Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (June 14), the acclaimed 2019 production of John Adams’s Nixon in China (June 21), and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (June 28).

• A “Live Musical Theater Review” (Saturday, June 20, 8 pm).

• Broadcasts of 2019 Festival concerts by Concordia Chamber Players, Van Cliburn competition pianist Rachel Cheung, and the Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, airing Fridays at 8 pm on WWFM – The Classical Network at 89.1 FM and http://www.wwfm.org.

• Videos of musical artists performing from their homes (various days).

• Latin band Fleur Seule on Saturday, June 13.

• A series of podcasts launched each Wednesday on such topics as “Women in Music” and “Costuming Operas and Musicals,” along with interviews with Shai Zohar, pianist, and Sylvia McNair, soprano.

• Twelve renowned poets from the U.S., Japan, and China, reading poems on the theme of women, in a compilation of videos made especially for the Festival. To be released on Monday, June 22.

• An Opera Workshop for people who want to learn more about the art form, starting Tuesday, June 9; and a Musical Workshop for aspiring singers beginning Monday June 15.

• Lectures by prominent experts: Professor Timothy Urban on “Why We Love Opera” (Thursday, June 4) and Professor Stacy Wolf on “Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theater across America” (Thursday, June 18).

A full roster of “Virtually Yours” events, with periodic updates to the schedule, may be viewed online at https://princetonfestival.org/virtually-yours/.

Take that, COVID!

PHOTOS (counterclockwise from top): Richard Tang Yuk conducts the Princeton Festival Orchestra; pianist Rachel Cheung; Mark Delavan as “The Flying Dutchman;” and Allyson Briggs of Fleur Seule

May 19, 2020
Princeton Festival Goes Virtual in 2020

COVID-19 may have put the kibosh on in-person events, but The Princeton Festival, like life, finds a way.

The June 2020 public performance season has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. But in its place, the Festival has announced “Virtually Yours,” a free online series of live and recorded performances of instrumental and vocal music, musical theater, opera, and poetry, with educational presentations, to be streamed every day, from June 1 to June 28.

“This online program maintains the high artistic quality Princeton Festival audiences have come to expect in a variety of genres, both classical and popular,” says Richard Tang Yuk, PF Executive and Artistic Director. “It includes totally new material prepared especially for us by leading artists, plus performances from our recorded archives. We’re confident audiences will find it to be an exciting and engaging series of events.”

Highlights of the “Virtually Yours” online festival will include the following (all times are EDT):

• Videos of four Festival opera productions, each streamed just once on Sundays at 1 pm. The operas are Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (June 7), Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (June 14), the acclaimed 2019 production of John Adams’s Nixon in China (June 21), and Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (June 28).

• A “Live Musical Theater Review” (Saturday, June 20, 8 pm).

• Broadcasts of 2019 Festival concerts by Concordia Chamber Players, Van Cliburn competition pianist Rachel Cheung, and the Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, airing Fridays at 8 pm on WWFM – The Classical Network at 89.1 FM and http://www.wwfm.org.

• Videos of musical artists performing from their homes (various days).

• Latin band Fleur Seule on Saturday, June 13.

• A series of podcasts launched each Wednesday on such topics as “Women in Music” and “Costuming Operas and Musicals,” along with interviews with Shai Zohar, pianist, and Sylvia McNair, soprano.

• Twelve renowned poets from the U.S., Japan, and China, reading poems on the theme of women, in a compilation of videos made especially for the Festival. To be released on Monday, June 22.

• An Opera Workshop for people who want to learn more about the art form, starting Tuesday, June 9; and a Musical Workshop for aspiring singers beginning Monday June 15.

• Lectures by prominent experts: Professor Timothy Urban on “Why We Love Opera” (Thursday, June 4) and Professor Stacy Wolf on “Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theater across America” (Thursday, June 18).

A full roster of “Virtually Yours” events, with periodic updates to the schedule, may be viewed online at https://princetonfestival.org/virtually-yours/.

PHOTOS (counterclockwise from top): Richard Tang Yuk conducts the Princeton Festival Orchestra; pianist Rachel Cheung; Mark Delavan as “The Flying Dutchman;” and Allyson Briggs of Fleur Seule

May 19, 2020
Free Met Opera Streams This Week

Even during a pandemic, life can be so… operatic.

Here’s this week’s schedule of Metropolitan Opera “Live in HD” encores. You know the drill. The operas stream free, for approximately 23 hours, beginning each day around 7:30 p.m. EDT at metopera.org. Though I have noticed that the switch more often takes place around 6:00. That said, once you hit play, even if it’s 5:00 or 5:30, it’s been my experience that you can watch until the end, provided you don’t try to break. “Nabucco” is available, allegedly, through 6:30 this evening.

Here’s a complete schedule of this week’s offerings. You’ll find teasers and bonus materials when following the link.

https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/week-10/

Monday, May 18
Mozart’s Idomeneo
Starring Nadine Sierra, Elza van den Heever, Alice Coote, and Matthew Polenzani, conducted by James Levine. From March 25, 2017.

Tuesday, May 19
Wagner’s Lohengrin
Starring Eva Marton, Leonie Rysanek, Peter Hofmann, Leif Roar, and John Macurdy, conducted by James Levine. From January 10, 1986.

Wednesday, May 20
Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera
Starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From December 8, 2012.

Thursday, May 21
Puccini’s Turandot
Starring Christine Goerke, Eleonora Buratto, Yusif Eyvazov, and James Morris, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From October 12, 2019.

Friday, May 22
Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Starring Joan Sutherland, James Morris, and Gabriel Bacquier, conducted by Richard Bonynge. From March 16, 1978.

Saturday, May 23
Gounod’s Faust
Starring Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, and René Pape, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. From December 10, 2011.

Sunday, May 24
Massenet’s Manon
Starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, and Paulo Szot, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From April 7, 2012.

May 18, 2020
Beethoven’s Dedication Disaster

How to spoil your shot at a dedication!

Ludwig van Beethoven had recently completed his Symphony No. 3 under the giddy influence of an idealized Napoleon Bonaparte. As a statesman and military leader who was well on his way to conquering (or as Beethoven may have seen it, liberating) most of Europe, Napoleon was deemed by the composer to be on equal footing with the greatest consuls of Ancient Rome.

The egalitarian-minded Beethoven may have been blinded by his revolutionary fervor, but once he learned that Napoleon had been proclaimed Emperor on this date in 1804, the scales dropped from his eyes and his affection curdled. He is alleged to have said, “So he is no more than a common mortal! Now, too, he will tread under foot all the rights of Man, indulge only his ambition; now he will think himself superior to all men, become a tyrant!” In a fury, he scratched out the symphony’s original dedication.

Later, once he had cooled, Beethoven confided to his publisher that the proper title of the symphony should be “Bonaparte.” Instead, it was released under the name “Sinfonia Eroica” – “Heroic Symphony.” The revised dedication reads, “Composed to celebrate the memory of a great man.”

Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony is regarded as one of the most significant works of the early 19th century. With its structural breadth and emotional scope, the work exploded the boundaries of symphonic form as it was recognized at the time. In his way, Beethoven managed to win as much new ground as Napoleon. Unlike Napoleon, however, he was able to keep it. And he holds it still.

May 18, 2020

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