Performances to Stream May 28-29, 2023
This weekend is a whirlwind of performance stretching from the Baroque era to the present day in composition on stages from America, Austria, The Netherlands, Hungary, Germay, and France.
Terence Blanchard’s Champion from the Metropolitan Opera on WQXR and BBC Radio 3
Hot on the heels of the Met’s premiere of Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones last season, the Met commissioned composer Terence Blanchard to create a new opera for the house. Champion centers around boxer Emile Griffith’s 1962 fight against Cuban Benny Paret for the welterweight championship of the world. Blanchard is well versed in the musical idioms of jazz, and you can expect to hear them in this score, which is certainly a departure from the norm of what one might hear at the Met during a performance. The cast stars Latonia Moore as Emelda Griffith, Ryan Speedo Green as Young Emile Griffith, Eric Owens as Emile Griffith, Stephanie Blythe as Kathy Hagen, Paul Groves as Howie Albert, and Eric Greene as Benny 'Kid' Paret under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. This performance was recorded on April 29, 2023, and it is scheduled to air on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at 1:00 PM EDT on WQXR and BBC Radio 3’s Opera on 3, where it will be available for listening following its broadcast airing.
Gaetano Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda from De Nationale Opera on NPO Radio Klassiek
If you like your opera with a dash of historical characters, high drama, and zealous passion for which bel canto opera seria is known, this opera from Donizetti will be precisely what you want for this long weekend’s listening. This opera focuses on Mary, Queen of Scots, aka Mary Stuart. While she was the legitimate queen of Scotland, her period of “reign” was tumultuous even at the best of times. Mary was crowned queen of Scotland as an infant after the death of her father, James V. During her childhood, the country was governed by regents in her stead, and she was eventually betrothed and married to Francis II of France. After his death in 1560 and unable to seize the French crown for herself, she returned to Scotland, but she was met there with rebellion from the nobles of her court and, of course, the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. Mary married Henry Stuart, and they were blessed with a son. Unfortunately, the very next year would find Henry Stuart dead, apparently murdered. Although officially acquitted, the suspected murderer was James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell, and he takes Mary as his wife shortly thereafter. The Scottish nobility saw this as an opportune time to seize power for themselves and forced Mary to abdicate her throne, which they promised would go to her son. Mary tried to retake her throne, but her endeavors were in vain, and she finally journeyed south to seek refuge in England with her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth and her court see Mary as a potential threat to Elizabeth’s reign, so Elizabeth has Mary confined to various castles for more than 18 years as she decides how to deal with her cousin and any political ambitions she may have. It is here that the opera begins, and the two queens meet each other for the first time. Elizabeth approaches Mary as a rival in hopes that Mary will readily acknowledge Elizabeth as her queen, but she goads Mary into insults, and we hear one of the most scathing insults in all of opera as Mary exclaims to Elizabeth, “Vil bastarda!” For those who know the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, you know things do not end well for Mary, and she becomes a Catholic martyr in a very roundabout manner through many romances, political alliances, asylums, and enemies near and far. The cast from this recorded performance is Aigul Akhmetshina as Elisabetta, Kristina Mkhitaryan as Maria Stuarda, Sílvia Sequeira as Anna Kennedy, Ismael Jordi as Leicester, Aleksei Kulagin as Giorgio Talbot, and Simon Mechlinski as Lord Guglielmo Cecil. Enrique Mazzola conducted this performance. It is scheduled for broadcast on Saturday, May 27, 2023, at 5:00 PM GMT on NPO Radio 4 Klassiek’s NTR Opera Live, and it will be available for listening again following its airing.
Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites from the Wiener Staatsoper on Ö1
I can recall a time not long ago in which it was a rare treat to hear this masterwork from Poulenc, but it has thankfully been something of a prominent work in recent seasons to such an extent that even regional companies in America are producing it! At the Wiener Staatsoper it, of course, receives just treatment as the exquisite display of music and drama that such a work would assume. Dialogues des Carmélites portrays a fictionalized version of events surrounding the Martyrs of Compiègne, a group of Carmelite nuns who refused to renounce their vows to God and the church during the final days of the bloody French revolution. Our stellar cast includes Nicole Car as Blanche, Bernard Richter as Le Chévalier, Michaela Schuster as Madame de Croissy, Maria Motolygina as Madame Lidoine, Eve-Maud Hubeaux as Mère Marie, Michael Kraus as Le Marquis de la Force and Maria Nazarova as Soeur Constance with Bertrand de Billy conducting. This performance was recorded last week, on the 21st and 24th of May, and it airs at 5:30 PM GMT on Ö1’s Opernabend on Saturday, May 27, 2023. It will likely be available for future listening after the broadcast.
Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes from the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall on Müpa Budapest
If you were holding out hope that French Baroque music might make an appearance this weekend, you are quite in luck, and what could be more quintessentially French than an opera-ballet from the first name to enter one’s mind when one thinks of French Baroque composers? Concerning the theme of love in far-flung corners of the world, this performance art amalgamation premiered in 1735. It initially received a cool reception from the public, but subsequent productions proved more successful. Rameau was first inspired to even compose music (his rondeau Les Sauvages) in this vein after a visit from 6 Native American Indian chiefs to King Louis XV a decade earlier. I leave it to you to determine whether the “plot” holds up to modern theatrical traditions, but upon one thing we can both easily agree; this will likely be the most beautiful and formal music we hear this weekend! The cast features Chantal Santon-Jeffery as Hébé, Zima, Katherine Watson as Émilie, Véronique Gens as Phani, Reinoud Van Mechelen as Valère, Carlos, Damon, Jean-Sébastien Bou as Osman, Adario, and Thomas Dolié as Bellona, Huascar, Alvar. The Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra are under the direction of György Vashegyi. This performance is scheduled for Saturday, May 27, 2023, at 6:00 PM GMT on Müpa Budapest’s website and YouTube channel. Please note this is a video stream, and it may be available for viewing following its initial airing.
Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten from Oper Frankfurt on HR2 Kultur
If you are one of those sorts who finds French Baroque music too predictable and perhaps a trifle thin for your musical tastes, Oper Frankfurt offers you a luxurious course of Strauss for your operatic delight. While Strauss may be better known for some other works, it is Die Frau ohne Schatten and Elektra that are often viewed as the hallmarks of his operatic prowess, with the former not nearly so common on the world’s stages as the latter. Our cast for this archival performance from October 2014 boasts the talents of Tamara Wilson as Die Kaiserin, Terje Stensvold as Barak, Sabine Hogrefe as Seine Frau, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Die Amme, Burkhard Fritz as Der Kaiser, Franz Mayer as Der Einäugige, Björn Bürger as Der Einarmige, Hans-Jürgen Lazar as Der Bucklige, Dietrich Volle as Der Geisterbote, Michael Porter as Erscheinung des Jünglings, Brenda Rae as Hüter des Tempels / Stimme des Falken, and Katharina Magiera as Stimme von oben under the direction of Sebastian Weigle. This performance airs at 6:00 PM GMT on Saturday, May 27, 2023, on HR2 Kultur. It may be available for listening again following the broadcast.
Georg Friedrich Handel’s Ariodante from the Opéra National de Paris on France Musique
When it comes to Baroque music in my weekend, I say the more, the merrier! From perhaps the most well-known Baroque opera composer of them all, we have Ariodante, which tells a story of love and treachery set in Medieval Scotland. Ginevra, daughter to the King of Scotland, is betrothed to Prince Ariodante. Polinesso, the Duke of Albany, wants Ginevra for himself and attempts to woo the princess. When this fails, he decides to achieve his end by hook or by crook and tells a lie to the king that Ginevra has been unfaithful toward Prince Ariodante. Ariodante attempts to kill himself and Ginevra is punished with confinement and detachment from the royal court. Polinesso’s plot is eventually uncovered, however, and the royal lovers reunite for the end of the opera. This opera also features the famous aria Scherza infida written for Ariodante. Our cast stars Matthew Brook as Il Re di Scozia, Olga Kulchynska as Ginevra, Emily D'Angelo as Ariodante, Eric Ferring as Lurcanio, Christophe Dumaux as Polinesso, Tamara Banješevic as Dalinda, and Enrico Casari as Odoardo. Renowned Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducts this performance with The English Conert. This performance from May 11, 2023, is scheduled to air on France Musique’s Samedi à l'opéra at 6:00 PM GMT on Saturday, May 27, 2023. It will be available for listening following the broadcast.
Music of Gustav Mahler from the Gewandhaus on MDR Kultur
Soprano Chen Reiss, mezzo-soprano Sophie Harmsen, and tenor Attilio Glaser with the MDR-Rundfunkchor and MDR-Sinfonieorchester perform Mahler’s Totenfeier, Das klagende Lied, and excerpts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Dennis Russel Davies conducts this performance recorded on May 27th, 2023, for the Leipzig Mahler Festival. This performance is scheduled to air on Sunday, May 28, 2023, at 5:30 PM GMT on MDR Kultur, and it may be available for future listening following the broadcast.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem from the Philharmonie de Paris on Radio Classique
If you want the most operatic of all the requiem masses, you need look no further than Verdi’s interpretation of the work. Jaap van Zweden and the Orchestre de Paris bring us soloists including soprano Elza van den Heever, mezzo-soprano Aude Extrémo, tenor René Barbera, and bass Jean Teitgen. Recorded on April 26th of this year, this broadcast airs on Radio Classique at 7:00 PM GMT on Sunday, May 28, 2023, and it will be available for future listening following this airing.
Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder from the ENT Center for the Arts on KCME
German poet Friedrich Rückert provided the text for this concert work by Mahler, but he did not do so willingly. Following the death of two of his children to scarlet fever, he wrote more than 400 poems in his grief. These were never supposed to be published, but they were disseminated a mere five years after the poet’s death in 1866. Mahler chose five of these to set to music for a concert work and began composing it in 1901. A mere two weeks after his second child’s birth in 1904, Mahler took up composing this work again, much to the chagrin of his wife Alma, who thought he was tempting God’s providence by daring to compose for such a bitter subject in light of their joy. Unfortunately, scarlet fever did come to visit his daughters, and his eldest, Maria, died in 1907. Writing to Guido Adler, Mahler said, "I placed myself in the situation that a child of mine had died. When I really lost my daughter, I could not have written these songs any more.” The soloist for this performance is mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips with maestro Josep Caballé-Domenech on the podium for the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. This performance was recorded on April 22, 2023, and is scheduled to air on KCME at 9:00 PM GMT on Sunday, May 28, 2023. It will not be available for future listening.
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis from Bard College’s Fischer Center, Annandale-on-Hudson, on Classical WMHT
Beethoven’s ‘solemn mass’ premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1824 after a composition period of 4 years. While you might have guessed that Beethoven’s exacting musical acumen and delivery would warrant 4 years for completion (was Fidelio ever truly finished?), I would wager that you would not presume Beethoven’s works would premiere in Russia. Nevertheless, Beethoven was the recipient of the patronage of a Russian benefactor, Prince Nikolai Galitzin, so it was in Russia that his solemn mass found its first complete performance. The piece consists of 5 movements and is largely based in the key of D major, though Beethoven frequently borrows from the parallel minor key with notable excursions into F, C, B-flat, and, of course, D minor thoughout the work. If that is not enough music theory for your weekend, we should probably chat over scores together sometime, but our cast of soloists features soprano Patricia Westley, mezzo-soprano Cierra Byrd, tenor Jonah Hoskins, and bass-baritone Le Bu. They are accompanied by The Orchestra Now and the Bard Festival Chorale, and Leon Botstein conducts. This is a performance from April 1, 2023. This broadcast is scheduled for 10:00 PM GMT on Sunday, May 28, 2023, on Classical WMHT’s WMHT Live. It will not be available for future listening.