Performances to Stream June 3-4, 2023
This weekend is a trifle light for opera around the world, but we have performances from America, Germany, and Austria.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte from the Metropolitan Opera on WQXR and BBC Radio 3
This production run of Mozart’s one opera that does not seem to fit with the rest of his operatic repertoire is full of small, fun coincidences. This production marked the retirement of the beloved Julie Taymor production of yesteryear with a new interpretation from Simon McBurney that has drawn quite a great deal of interest from critics and audiences alike. This particular performance marks the 50th time soprano Kathryn Lewek sings the Queen of the Night at the Met, and maestra Nathalie Stutzmann, whom we last heard conduct Don Giovanni a couple of weeks ago, returns to the podium in her debut conducting season at the Met. The cast stars Erin Morley as Pamina, Lawrence Brownlee as Tamino, Thomas Oliemans as Papageno, Stephen Milling as Sarastro, Kathryn Lewek as the Queen of the Night, Brenton Ryan as Monostatos, and Harold Wilson as Sprecher. This performance will air at 1:00 PM EDT on Saturday, June 3, 2023, on WQXR and BBC Radio 3’s Opera on 3. This performance will be available for listening following the initial broadcast. This performance is also part of the Met’s Live in HD series of cinema simulcasts, so you can see this performance as well as hear it if you fancy a visit to your local AMC cinemaplex.
Carl Maria von Weber and Gustav Mahler’s Die drei Pintos from the Gewandhaus on Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Before writing this post, I never knew that von Weber and Mahler collaborated on an opera, but they did! The title sounds more like a B-movie Hollywood Western from the 1940’s than an opera title, but what do we expect from a little known comic opera? Von Weber was unable to finish this score prior to his death, so Mahler completed it more than 60 years later. This opera follows Don Gaston de Viratos’s relocation to Madrid for the purpose of accepting a position in the government there, but he also has hopes of finding a wife in the city. Hijinks ensue when he meets a friend also traveling on the road to Madrid for the purpose of meeting his future bride by virtue of a prearranged marriage. Don Gaston gets his friend drunk when they stop for a rest, and he steals his friend’s letter of introduction for so that he can see this girl for himself. The cast features Wilhelm Schwinghammer as Don Pantaleone de Pacheco, Viktorija Kaminskaite as Clarissa, Matthew Swensen as Don Gómez de Freiros, Annelie Sophie Müller as Laura, Benjamin Bruns as Don Gastón de Viratos, Franz Hawlata as Don Pinto de Fonseca, Krešimir Strazanac as Ambrosio, and Katja Stuber as Inez. The Gewandhaus Choir and Gewandhaus Orchestra are led by Dmitri Jurowski. This performance is scheduled for 5:00 PM GMT on Saturday, June 3, 2023, on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. It will be available to stream following the broadcast. This performance was recorded on May 11, 2023, from the Mahler Festival in Leipzig.
Alban Berg’s Lulu from the Museumquartiers on Ö1
Berg’s Lulu is a complex opera and not one generally for the newcomer to the art form. Set in Europe during the 1800’s, it tells the story of a mistress who reverts to her ways on the streets from her adolescence. Husbands die, lovers come and go, and Lulu travels from Vienna to Paris and comes to rest in London, where she encounters the infamous Jack the Ripper. This sad, unfortunate tale is all told through the use of atonal composition techniques. While the work may be memorable for its peculiar traits and groundbreaking for the time in which it was released, it is not the sort of opera one hears only to be humming tunes from it throughout the remainder of the week. Due to the subject matter, be forewarned this is not a suitable opera for children. The cast stars Vera-Lotte Boecker as Lulu, Bo Skovhus as Dr. Schön, Edgaras Montvidas as Alwa, Cameron Becker as Maler, Anne Sofie von Otter as Gräfin Geschwitz, Kurt Rydl as Schigolch, Katrin Wundsam as Garderobiere / Gymnasiast, and Martin Summer as Tierbändiger / Athlet. Conductor Maxime Pascal leads the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien. This performance was recorded on May 27, 2023, and it is scheduled to air on Saturday, June 3, 2023, at 5:30 PM GMT on Ö1’s Opernabend. It will be available to hear following the broadcast.
Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold from the Staatstheater Kassel on HR2 Kultur
The first of the four operas that comprise Wagner’s magnum opus, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Rheingold tells the story of how the dwarf Alberich steals gold from the Rheinmaidens to forge a magical ring of power to rule the world. Wotan hears of this as he attempts to bargain with two giants who have finished building the gods new home of Valhalla and want goddess Freia as payment for their efforts. As the possibilities of the ring are discussed, the giants decide they would accept the ring in lieu of payment for Freia, but Wotan and Loge think Wotan should keep the ring for the gods, so they embark on a mission to “retrieve” the ring from Alberich, who has meanwhile enslaved his Nibelung brothers and enhanced his wealth. They trick Alberich and wrest the ring from his finger and demand all of Alberich’s newfound wealth as ransom. Alberich curses the ring he is forced to give up, and Wotan holds the ring as his own. The giants return looking to exchange Freia for the ring, but Wotan instead haggles with them to accept gold in her stead. The giants demand that they receive enough gold to completely hide Freia from their view, which takes all of the gold Wotan has just acquired from Alberich. Nevertheless, one of the giants protests that he can still see one of Freia’s eyes through a tiny void in the stacked gold, and demands Wotan fill the crack with the ring they have noticed on Wotan’s finger. Wotan reluctantly gives up the ring of power to ransom Freia and watches as the two giants fight each other for who shall have the ring, realizing that Alberich’s curse has come to life before his very eyes. The cast stars Leonardo Lee as Wotan, Hansung Yoo as Donner, Maximilian Mayer as Froh, Arnold Bezuyen as Loge, Thomas Gazheli as Alberich, Michael Gniffke as Mime, Sam Taskinen as Fasolt, Don Lee as Fafner, Ilseyar Khayrullova as Fricka, Margrethe Fredheim as Freia, Julia Faylenbogen as Erda, Clara Soyoung Lee as Woglinde, Sandra Maxheimer as Wellgunde, and Marta Herman as Floßhilde. Francesco Angelico conducted this performance recorded on April 16, 2023. This broadcast will air at 6:00 PM GMT on Saturday, June 3, 2023, on HR2 Kultur’s Opernbühne and will not be available for future listening following the broadcast.
Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre from the Staatstheater Kassel on HR2 Kultur
For fans of listening to Wagner’s Ring Cycle in order, you are in for a treat this Sunday, for HR2 Kultur airs both of the first two consecutive operas in this series on consecutive days! Die Walküre is a rather complex story. In the meanwhile since the end of our last encounter, Alberich threatens to capture Valhalla, and Wotan has visited the goddess Erda to have a children with her. These daughters are the Valkyries, who gather the fallen heroes of earth to transport them to Valhalla, where Wotan hopes they can keep Alberich at bay. Wotan still also wants that old ring of Alberich’s. Because he cannot go back on the word he gave to Fasolt and Fafner in payment for Valhalla, Wotan devises a plan by which he hopes to be able to obtain the ring without explicitly breaking his word. He fathers mortal twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde, in hopes that one of them may circumvent the treaty he made with the giants to obtain the ring of power for him. The opera begins with Siegmund having a chance encounter with Sieglinde as he escapes enemies who seek his death. He is injured, and his weapons are broken, so Sieglinde allows him to stay with her while her husband is gone. Upon her husband Hundig’s return, it is discovered that Hundig is a relative of the people chasing Siegmund, and Hundig declares they must do battle in the morning. Knowing Siegmund will be at a severe disadvantage, Sieglinde shows Siegmund a sword that was hidden in a tree that no man has been able to remove. She waits for the day a hero comes along and can save her from her life with Hundig. Siegmund expresses his love, Sieglinde reciprocates the feeling, and they go on to discover their true relationship as brother and sister. This proves to be of no concern to their moral character, and Siegmund withdraws the sword from the tree with the promise of his protection for her and of his enduring love. Wotan learns of the fight Siegmund will have with Hundig and commands his daughter Brünnhilde, one of the Valkyries, to protect Siegmund and give him victory. Wotan’s wife Fricka later approaches him in scorn of his plot to obtain the ring via Siegmund and that Siegmund is not truly free of the influence of the gods, which will make Wotan’s loophole plan for the recovery of the ring useless. She also is angered by the incestuous and adulterous relationship between Siegmund and Sieglinde and demands that Wotan release them from his seemingly constant protection and meddling. Wotan sees the error of his ways and realizes the hopeless position he has entered with this plan and rescinds his previous order to Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde goes to warn Siegmund of his forthcoming death and seeks to rescue him to Valhalla before the battle. Siegmund refuses this when he learns Sieglinde cannot accompany him, so Brünnhilde decides to protect Siegmund in his duel with Hundig. As Siegmund gains the upper hand in the skirmish, Wotan arrives and shatters Siegmund’s sword with his spear, and Hundig takes advantage of this mortally wound Siegmund. Brünnhilde flees with Sieglinde and the shards of Siegmund’s sword Nothung while Wotan kills Hundig and vows to punish Brünnhilde for her disobedience of his order. Brünnhilde reveals to Sieglinde that she is pregnant with Siegmund’s child and pleads with Sieglinde to stay alive to raise her son, who shall be named Siegfried. Brünnhilde goes to her Valkyrie sisters for aid, but they are fearful of the wrath of Wotan. Wotan arrives and punishes Brünnhilde by making her a mortal woman and casting a sentence of perpetual sleep upon her at the top of a mountain for any man to find. Brünnhilde reasons with Wotan, ensuring him that she acted in his true best interest; Wotan agrees and grants her request that her sleeping body be surrounded by a ring of fire that prevents all but the bravest of heroes to advance toward her. This cast stars Martin Iliev as Siegmund, Nadja Stefanoff as Sieglinde, Yorck Felix Speer as Hunding, Egils Silins as Wotan, Nancy Weißbach as Brünnhilde, Ulrike Schneider as Fricka and Schwertleite, Jaclyn Bermudez as Gerhilde, Barbara Senator as Ortlinde, Maren Engelhardt as Waltraute, Doris Neidig as Helmwige, Marie-Luise Dreßen as Siegrune, Marta Herman as Grimgerde, and Inna Kalinina as Roßweiße under the baton of Francesco Angelico. This performance was recorded on March 31, 2023. It is scheduled for airing at 5:00 PM GMT on Sunday, June 4, 2023, on HR2 Kultur’s Opernbühne. It will not be available for future listening following its intitial airdate.