Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

  • Met Opera Streams: Why Cendrillon is a Must-See

    Met Opera Streams: Why Cendrillon is a Must-See

    My pick of the week from the current batch of Metropolitan Opera HD encores may seem like a slight one – especially in a week full of notable diversions – but I’m going with Jules Massenet’s “Cendrillon.”

    This Cinderella springs from the page, with literal writing on the walls and a team-and-carriage rendered in typeset. Also, a playfully-imagined gallery of fairy tale grotesques in the supporting cast. There is a charm to Laurent Pelly’s staging that I find refreshing in an era when seemingly everything has to trend toward the dark. If you’re a fan of classic children’s book illustrations, don’t miss this one. With Joyce DiDonato in the lead – and Stephanie Blythe as the wicked stepmother – it’s difficult to resist.

    Massenet is star of the week, apparently, since there also happens to be a “Manon” – admittedly side-by-side with John Adams’ “Doctor Atomic,” and Pavarotti and Kathleen Battle in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore.”

    The Met has pledged to stream free opera for the duration of the house’s shutdown. Each opera is accessible for approximately 23 hours, starting every day around 7 p.m. EDT. Philip Glass’ “Satyagraha” streams through 6 p.m. today, at metopera.org.

    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-15/

    Monday, June 22
    Verdi’s La Traviata
    Starring Sonya Yoncheva, Michael Fabiano, and Thomas Hampson, conducted by Nicola Luisotti. From March 11, 2017.

    Tuesday, June 23
    John Adams’s Doctor Atomic
    Starring Sasha Cooke, Thomas Glenn, Gerald Finley, and Richard Paul Fink, conducted by Alan Gilbert. From November 8, 2008.

    Wednesday, June 24
    Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila
    Starring Elīna Garanča, Roberto Alagna, Laurent Naouri, Elchin Azizov, and Dmitry Belosselskiy, conducted by Sir Mark Elder. From October 20, 2018.

    Thursday, June 25
    Massenet’s Manon
    Starring Lisette Oropesa, Michael Fabiano, Carlo Bosi, Artur Ruciński, Brett Polegato, and Kwangchul Youn, conducted by Maurizio Benini. From October 26, 2019.

    Friday, June 26
    Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore
    Starring Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti, Juan Pons, and Enzo Dara, conducted by James Levine. From November 16, 1991.

    Saturday, June 27
    Massenet’s Cendrillon
    Starring Kathleen Kim, Joyce DiDonato, Alice Coote, Stephanie Blythe, and Laurent Naouri, conducted by Bertrand de Billy. From April 28, 2018.

    Sunday, June 28
    Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte
    Starring Golda Schultz, Kathryn Lewek, Charles Castronovo, Markus Werba, Christian Van Horn, and René Pape, conducted by James Levine. From October 14, 2017.

  • WWFM Shows Return Thanks to Rachel Katz

    WWFM Shows Return Thanks to Rachel Katz

    Since the COVID tsunami broke across central New Jersey, I have not been able to get in to the station to upload webcasts from my two specialty shows, “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord.” So for months, the most recent shows archived on the WWFM website dated from around St. Patrick’s Day – or roughly the time I began cultivating my coronabeard.

    That now has been remedied, to some extent, thanks to production manager Rachel Katz, who has been working from home, but, every once in a while, has had to don the hazmat suit in order to enter the college and ensure everything continues to fire as it should. Searching for and uploading audio from my overcrowded folder takes time, as does making sure that all the settings are correct, so that the material can be accessed from the WWFM website.

    Rachel has also been instrumental in ensuring that encore broadcasts of “Picture Perfect” and “The Lost Chord” have continued at all, as I have been sending her lists of shows in five-week increments, and again, it is she who has been hunting them down and loading them into the system.

    Most of June (excluding this past weekend) is now available on the station’s webcast page, as is all of May. As far as I can tell, there are only a few weeks – the last two of March, and a couple in April – that are still missing.

    To listen to the shows, follow the links below, select the one you’d like to hear, and click on the “listen” button.

    PICTURE PERFECT

    https://www.wwfm.org/programs/picture-perfect-ross-amico

    THE LOST CHORD

    https://www.wwfm.org/programs/lost-chord-ross-amico

    Again, many thanks to Rachel!

    If you enjoy “Picture Perfect” or “The Lost Chord” or anything else you hear on The Classical Network, please remember that we are coming up on the end of our fiscal year. If what we do enriches the quality of your days, please consider renewing your membership, becoming a new member, or making an additional gift before June 30.

    We understand that times are tough, but any little bit helps. Our survival, and to what degree we are able to rebuild, depends to large extent on the dedication and generosity of our listener-members.

    https://wwwfm.secureallegiance.com/wwfm/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=DEFAULT&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=vOU2bz5JCWmgCDbf53nm9ezWDeZ%2BeA1M&fbclid=IwAR2jrLX9uQdBGePKuycNVLIxABZRKX5orE0_PzHa9sIfgPUusaO2zyyI_gM

    Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support of WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org!

  • Father’s Day Sports Music on The Lost Chord

    Father’s Day Sports Music on The Lost Chord

    Happy Father’s Day! This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we pay tribute to Dad, with an hour of music about sports.

    I realize it’s a possibility that not all dads necessarily like sports. However, it’s been my experience that Sunday afternoons and Monday nights have always been off-limits, as far as the family television is concerned. For me personally, that meant that after Abbott and Costello or the Bowery Boys, it was football, golf, or “Wide World of Sports,” and that I never saw “MAS*H” during its first run.

    Be that as it may, it’s Dad’s day, so we’re going to give him what he wants – an hour of rough-and-tumble, the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat.

    We’ll hear “Rugby” by Arthur Honegger, “Half-Time” by Bohuslav Martinu,” “The Yale-Princeton Football Game” by Charles Ives, and highlights from the baseball opera “The Mighty Casey” by William Schuman.

    Combine with a La-Z-Boy and a cold beer, and it’s a recipe for dad contentment. I hope you’ll join me for “Good Sports,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

  • Father’s Day Graduation Crossword Puzzle

    Father’s Day Graduation Crossword Puzzle

    ‘Tis the season for ties and diplomas!

    There’s much to celebrate, as Father’s Day meets graduation season in this week’s Classic Ross Amico crossword.

    To fill out the puzzle, follow the link and select “solve online” at the bottom of the page. You’ll then be able to type directly into the squares. Once you feel you’ve exhausted the puzzle, you’ll find the solutions by clicking on “Answer Key PDF.”

    Honor our dads and grads here:

    https://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2020.06/2106/21064957.169.html

  • Meteor Movie Review My Sci-Fi Podcast Appearance

    In case you missed it (and I know you did), here’s my latest appearance on “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci Fi Corner,” in which Roy and I take on “Meteor” (1979).

    I’m toying with the idea of starting a similar live-stream, in which I’d hold informal conversations with guests about music. Does that seem as if it would be of interest to you? It’s either that or “Kung Fu Corner!”

    New episodes of “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner” stream Fridays and Sundays at 7 p.m. EDT.

    Thanks, Roy, for having me back!

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