Performances to Stream September 30-October 1, 2023
Jean Phillippe Rameau’s Les Boréades from the Concertgebouw on NPO Radio 4 Klassiek
Starting off our weekend of a myriad of performances, we have this Baroque gem from Rameau. French Baroque music, and Rameau’s contributions chief among all of it, is ever such a cleanse to my ears of all of the modern musical complexities I so often hear. It centers my artistry again on the sort of primary elements of music. Queen Alphise of Bactria finds herself in love with Abaris. In order for her to remain queen, she must obey a custom that requires she marry one of the Boréades, a descendant of Boréas, the deity of the north wind. Unbeknownst to her, Abaris is, indeed, just such a suitor. Because of her ambiguity regarding his lineage, Alphise elects to relinquish her crown to pursue the love of her life. Boréas is furious at this and abducts Alphise to his own kingdom. Abaris, aided by Apollo, sets off upon a quest to rescue his love, and challenges Boréas and his sons to feats of strength and skill to win Alphise back to his keeping. Apollo eventually reveals that Abaris is actually a son of Boréas, which paves the way toward reconciliation for all.
Our cast for Les Boréades stars Sabine Devieilhe as Alphise, Reinoud Van Mechelen as Abaris, Benedikt Kristjánsson as Calisis, Philippe Estèphe as Borilée, Thomas Dolié as Borée, Tassis Christoyannis as Adamas / Apollon, and Gwendoline Blondeel as Sémire / Une Nymphe / L’Amour / Polymnie. The Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra are conducted by György Vashegyi. This live broadcast is scheduled to air on NPO Radio Klassiek on Saturday, September 30, 2023, at 11:00 AM GMT. It will be available for listening following the broadcast.
Stanislaw Moniuszko’s Halka from the Lietuvos Nacionalinė Filharmonija on LRT Klasika
I first became apprised of this opera’s existence through soprano Corinne Winters and her adventures with the role for the Theater an der Wien in 2019. Knowing how I came to adore Janáček’s work once I was acquainted with it and knowing what a special place that composer’s music holds in Corinne’s heart, I felt quite confident I would enjoy this music, as well. Of course, I am now glad to be reminded of this glorious music even if the story is rather horrific. Halka is a girl from a Polish mountain village. She met a wealthy landowner visiting there who confessed his love to her and disappeared. Ever since the disappearance, she has been distraught and taken to wandering about to find her lover once more. The opera opens with that man, Janusz, having an engagement party with the family of another wealthy land baron. Janusz is engaging himself to Zofia, the daughter of Stolnik, and they and their guests are celebrating the union of the two prosperous estates. They are interrupted by wails from outside the house that are emanating from the wandering Halka. They bring the wandering girl into the home, and Halka gradually remembers Janusz. Janusz tells her he still loves her and tells Halka to wait for him by the river where he will meet her later. She excuses herself and goes to the spot he designated for their meeting. While she waits, Jontek, one of her local village friends who has loved her for quite some time himself, comes along and tells Halka she has been betrayed by Janusz. Halka refuses to believe this at first, but Jontek forcibly takes her back to the estate house where she sees that Janusz has been engaged to Zofia. Halka is devastated at this revelation and returns in grief to her village with Jontek. As they readjust to life there, Jontek tells the story of Janusz’s ill intent toward Halka and his new engagement to Zofia. The villagers are disgusted at this news, and this anger boils when they discover that Halka is pregnant. To add insult to injury, Janusz and Zofia elect to visit this mountain village to celebrate their wedding. The villagers are not happy about this, but they are coaxed into celebration out of respect for the bride who had no hand in the affairs involving Halka. As Janusz and Zofia enter the church for the ceremony, Halka, who has since lost her baby, considers the idea of burning the church to the ground with Janusz and Zofia inside, but she does not go through with this and instead drowns herself in a mountain river, feeling destitute and alone.
The cast features the talents of Mariola Siepak as Halka, Michalina Bienkiewicz as Zofija, Sebastian Szumski as Janusz, Przemyslaw Borys as Jontek, Przemyslaw Józef Balka as Zofijos Tevas, and Marek Opaska as Maršalkek. Jan Tomasz Adamus leads the Capella Cracoviensis in this recorded performance from May 17, 2023. This broadcast is scheduled to air on Saturday, September 30, 2023, at 3:00 PM GMT on LRT Klasika. It will be available for listening following this airing.
Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny from the Nationale Opera en Ballet on NPO Radio 4 Klassiek
While Kurt Weill may be best known for his stage work during the early to mid 20th century, he was first a serious composer of lieder and symphonic works. One of his goals in operatic composition was to reform the art form for the modern stage, and this is one of the reasons you will see this opera and his other famous opera, The Threepenny Opera performed by musical theatre companies. Weill finished composing this piece in 1930 after intinally composing a series of songs for the show while his librettist worked on the script. The story begins with three federal fugitives on the run from justice. Their truck breaks down, but they assume they are safe from being followed this far north and close to the Alaskan gold fields. In need of capital, they hatch a plan to build a town in this place that offers pleasures galore to the men of the gold fields and anyone else who happens along. Two of the fugitives promote this new venture among potential new customers while their other comrade puts development into motion. They bring in whiskey and girls aplenty for the delights of any man and wait for their clients to arrive. Thankfully, for the three new partners, clients do arrive, but they are soon disappointed by what this pleasure city of Mahagonny lacks and the fact that there are not nearly enough women to satisfy all of them. The remainder of the opera outlines a descent into chaos for the town as a boxing match kills one of the amateur fighters, bets leave some penniless, and one man pays the ultimate price of death for not being able to pay for minor damages to a local saloon.
Our cast boasts the talents of Evelyn Herlitzius as Leocadia Begbick, Alan Oke as Fatty, Thomas Johannes Mayer as Dreieinigkeitsmoses, Lauren Michelle as Jenny Hill, Nikolai Schukoff as Jim Mahoney, Iain Milne Jack O’Brien / Toby Higgins, Martin Mkhize as Bill, Mark Kurmanbayev as Joe, and Viola Cheung, Thembinkosi Magagula, Elisa Soster, Raphaële Green, Kadi Jürgens, and Jessica Stakenburg as Sechs Mädchen von Mahagonny. Markus Stenz conducts this performance from September 20, 2023. This performance is scheduled to air on NPO Radio Klassiek at 5:00 PM GMT on Saturday, September 30, 2023. It will be available to stream following its broadcast.
Gaetano Donizetti’s Les Martyrs from the Wiener Museumsquartier on Ö1
Originally intially composed for a commission from the Teatro San Carlo in 1838, Donizetti reworked his opera Poliuto for a French audience and changed the title to Les martyrs. While most of the two works feature common music, there are some differences in this French opera to satisfy the sensibilites of French audiences. It would not be until after the composer’s death that the original Poliuto would be produced at the Teatro San Carlo. This opera centers around the Christian martyrdom of Polyeuctus of Melitene who openly converted to Christianity and defied the decree of Decius requiring all to worship the Roman idols. He was tortured for his beliefs and beheaded in 259 AD. Despite protests from his family during his hour of suffering, he refused to recant his belief in God.
The cast for this opera includes Roberta Mantegna as Pauline, John Osborn as Polyeucte, Mattia Olivieri as Sévère, David Steffens as Félix, Nicolò Donini as Callistènes, and Patrick Kabongo as Néarque. Jérémie Rhorer leads the Arnold Schoenberg Chor and the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien in this performance recorded on September 19-20, 2023. This broadcast is scheduled to air on Saturday, September 30, 2023, on Ö1’s Opernabend. It will be available for listening following the broadcast.
Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème from the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on RTÉ Lyric FM
Perhaps the world’s best known opera, this Puccini masterpiece was composed between 1893-95 and is based on a book and play by Henri Murger. The book is a collection of vignettes of Bohemian life in the Latin Quarter of Paris circa 1840. The Latin Quarter of Paris was called such because it was home to those who spoke Latin, which would be students in university. If students were still required to study Latin for university admittance today, this story might seem all the more familiar to audiences. The opera follows four friends who share a flat in this part of Paris. They are all the definition of starving artists and are in arrears on their rent for the place. Marcello, Schaunard, and Colline all depart the flat in seach of merriment, but Rodolfo hangs behind to finish writing some article. He is disturbed by a knock at the door. It is Mimì from down the hall. She asks if Rodolfo can spare a match to light her candle, which has been extiguished by a draft of air. Rodolfo is immediately smitten with Mimì and gets to know her better as he helps her look for her key to her room that she has accidentally dropped somewhere in Rodolfo’s flat. Rodolfo’s friends call up to him saying they are tired of waiting for him, and Mimì and Rodolfo elect to join them at the Cafe Momus. They enjoy a wonderful meal there and cross paths with one of Marcello’s former lovers, Musetta. She is with a wealthy, elder government minister as her lover these days, but she quickly fashions an excuse to get him to leave for a while as she enjoys the company of her old friends. Musetta and Marcello pick up where they left off, and the second act ends with Musetta having the bill for the meal charged to her elder suitor! In act 3 Mimì tells Marcello that Rodolfo has left her due to jealousy. Rodolfo later shares with Rodolfo that he only acts jealous because Mimì has contracted tuberculosis, and he cannot afford to care for her as she needs during this illness. His hope was that his feigned jealousy might send her into the arms of a wealthier man who could better take care of her. Mimì’s condition worsens in the final act, but she and Rodolfo reconcile as she is on her deathbed.
The cast for this recorded performance from the Irish National Opera includes Celine Byrne as Mimì, Anna Devin as Musetta, Merunas Vitulskis as Rodolfo, David Bizic as Marcello, Ben McAteer as Schaunard, John Molloy as Colline, Eddie Wade as Benoît / Alcindoro, Fearghal Curtis as Parpignol, David Howes as Doganiere, and Rory Dunne as Sergente. Sergio Alapont conducts. This performance is scheduled to be presented on Saturday, September 30, 2023, on RTÉ Lyric FM at 6:00 PM GMT. This performance will be available for future listening following the broadcast.
Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma from the Teatro Carlo Felice on RAI Radio 3
Premiered in 1831 at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Bellini’s Norma has been a staple of the bel canto repertoire ever since its first exhibition to the public. The opera was composed explicitly for the talents of Giuditta Pasta, whom La Scala had engaged to sing at their theatre after her resounding success as Bellini’s Amina earlier the same year. The opera’s story begins with the druids hoping to sue for peace with the Romans. Unbeknownst to the Druids, their high-priestess and negotiator Norma has broken her vows of chastity to bear two children for Pollione, the Roman proconsul of Gaul. However, Norma and Pollione are no longer in the throes of marital bliss, and Pollione’s eye has wandered upon Adalgisa, another priestess. Norma confronts Adalgisa and discovers Pollione’s affections toward her. Adalgisa is unaware of Pollione’s relationship to Norma, but Norma makes her aware of the totality of the situation when Pollione suddenly arrives. They all argue, but Norma eventually makes Pollione leave the children with her. With them now in her charge, she contemplates murdering the two boys in revenge, but she cannot defile their innocence with the guilt of their father and does not go through with the grisly, callous act. Instead, she summons Adalgisa to come to her home and take the boys to the Roman camp where she hopes Pollione will treat them well. Adalgisa refuses, but she does go the Roman camp in search of Pollione to request aid for Norma. Pollione returns to the Druid temple in secret and is captured. He is brought before Norma for questioning, and Norma declares the Druids will now go to war. Before the attack can begin, however, there must be a sacrifice made. After contemplating whether Adalgisa is to blame for Pollione’s sins, Norma instead decides that it was she herself who first broke her priestess vows and caused all of this. After securing a promise from her father to take care of her sons, she sacrifices herself on the funeral pyre and Pollione jumps upon it with her as an exhibition of his love.
This performance of Norma stars Vasilisa Berzhanskaya as Norma, Carmela Remigio as Adalgisa, Stefan Pop as Pollione, Alessio Cacciamani as Oroveso, Simona Di Capua as Clotilde, and Blagoj Nacoski as Flavio. Maestro Riccardo Minasi conducts the cast, orchestra, and chorus in this performance from May 2, 2023. This performance is scheduled to air at 6:30 PM GMT on Radio RAI 3’s Il cartellone on Saturday, September 30, 2023. The performance will be available for streaming following the broadcast airing.
Antonio Maria Bononcini’s Stabat Mater and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Easter Oratorio from the Boston Symphony Orchestra on CRB Classical
Audiences are in for a Baroque feast this weekend with this performance. While most of us know of Bach, Bononcini was an Italian composer in the early days of the Baroque Era. He is generally better known for his operas today, but like many composers of the time, he also composed many sacred works. He sets his Stabat Mater in the key of C Minor. As opera gained in popularity in Italy, there was a shift in sacred music of the region to also become more operatic, as well, and that is the hallmark of Bononcini’s effort here.
Bach needs no introduction, but you might be unaware of the details of his Easter Oratorio. The first version of the work was completed in April of 1725, but it was revised in 1738 and dedicated explicitly to Easter with this modern title at the same time. It was composed for the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach largely began his compositional career. The Easter oratorio depicts the events of the apostles and the women finding Jesus’s tomb empty on Ressurection Day.
The soloists for this recorded concert from March of this year are soprano Silvia Frigato, mezzo-soprano Anna Bonitatibus, tenor Ben Bliss, and baritone Gabriele Lombardi alongside the Handel and Haydn Society conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini. This performance is scheduled to air at 11:00 PM GMT on Sunday, October 1, 2023 on CRB Classical. It should be available for listening after the concert.