Having watched the Met stream of “Nixon in China” last night, I have to say, hats off to The Princeton Festival! Mark Morris’ choreography aside, Princeton presented the superior production – more imaginative direction by Steven LaCosse, more engaging set design by Jonathan Dahm Robertson, wittier characterizations by the singers, and a fresher voiced Nixon in Sean Anderson. You guys really nailed it!
Tag: Opera
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Toscanini’s Forza A Birthday Celebration
Happy birthday, Arturo Toscanini. Now this is a forcefully conducted “Forza!”
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Terrence McNally Playwright Dead at 81 From Coronavirus
Playwright Terrence McNally has died of Coronavirus. In addition to his dramatic and musical theater work (he was a four-time Tony winner and the recipient of three Drama Desk Awards), McNally provided the libretto for Jake Heggie’s opera, “Dead Man Walking.” “Dead Man Walking” was given its premiere in San Francisco in 2000. It has gone on to become the most widely-performed new opera of the past 20 years. The work is scheduled to receive its Met debut next season. Heggie and McNally collaborated on a second project, “Great Scott,” in 2015. Also of interest, perhaps, to operaphiles, McNally was the author of “The Golden Age” (about Bellini’s “I puritani”), “The Lisbon Traviata,” and “Master Class,” a dramatic portrait of Maria Callas. McNally was 81 years-old.
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Rimsky-Korsakov Birthday My Favorite Music
Happy birthday, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov! I’ve always been a fan.
Recommended Rimsky playlist:
Ormandy and the “Procession of the Nobles” from “Mlada”
Song of the Viking Guest from “Sadko,” with Mark Reizen
Lots of intoxicating music in this staged performance of “Sadko” (complete, Gergiev conducting)
Ernest Ansermet conducts the Symphony No. 2 “Antar,” a haunting work, full of beautiful melodies, that was once much better known
Leopold Stokowski conducts the “Russian Easter Festival Overture,” employing a bass-baritone in place of a trombone solo, for maximum liturgical effect
Evgeny Mravinsky conducts a suite from “The Invisible City of Kitezh”
Mikhail Pletnev in Rimsky’s little-known gem, the Quintet for Piano and Winds
Lily Pons sings the “Hymn to the Sun” from “Le coq d’or”
Leif Segerstam conducts “Scheherazade,” with a highly unconventional, piratical conclusion
“Flight of the Bumblebee” with real bees (!), courtesy of The Lost Fingers
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Muti’s Nabucco Joy at La Scala
Riccardo Muti has the time of his life rehearsing – and singing! – “Nabucco” at La Scala.
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