#avery amereau

[sopranoentravesti]

All right, DS9 fans who are opera freaks

For the 3 of you on tumblr, @currymuttonpizza and myself got chatting and one thing led to another and Badda-bing, Badda bang, we came up with the Fächer of the characters for the Opera version of DS9. Here goes

Captain Sisko: Bass Baritone. This seems self explanatory

Jake Sisko: countertenor

Major Kira: Coloratura mezzo. I may have been biased for this one bc that is the closest thing to my fach, but think Rossini‘s heroines, or some of Vivaldi‘s work (like Armatae Face et Anguibus from Juditha Triumphans)

Gul Dukat: also Bass-baritone, but of the villainous variety. Think Samuel Ramey as Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah, or the titular role in Don Giovanni

Julian Bashir: Tenor leggiero. This also seems self explanatory

Kai Winn: originally I thought of a mezzo a la Ježibaba, but I think actually this may be a place for a villainous contralto

Jadzia Dax: mezzo, but of the type that delves down in contralto territory periodically (a la Avery Amereau ❤️)

Odo: dramatic baritone— to use @currymuttonpizza‘s inimitable phrasing “He's like if Scarpia were a good person idk.”

Worf: Bass, nuff said

Miles: baritone. Mostly an Everyman lyric kind but can venture in dramatic territory when he’s Suffering (he’s basically Wozzeck, if you think about it)

Keiko: sweet, loving, badass, sassy when needed? A soubrette, of the Mozart variety, a la Susanna and Zerlina

Garak: Britten tenor

Quark: dramatic baritone. Basically Alberich in space

Rom: Basso buffo

Nog: the guy you think is a tenor buffo, but is actually a Helden tenor

Kasidy Yates: full lyric soprano

Weyoun: tenor buffo. Complete Don Basilio type

Brunt: also tenor buffo. Both played by combs who brings buffo energy to both

Ezri: soubrette

Leeta: high poppy squeaky coloratura soprano (I’m thinking Olympia in the doll aria)

Damar: baritone, maybe slightly romantic but pretty run of the mill

Ziyal: light lyric soprano, ala Gilda from Rigoletto

Joseph Sisko: Dramatic Bass

Female Changeling: contralto, think Erda

Moogie: mezzo a la Marcelina from Nozze, but also some Despina vibes

Grand Nagus Zek: gonna trust @currymuttonpizza on this one, heldentenor like the drum major, but make it funny

Vedek Bareil: speaking role

[verdiprati]

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Röschmann, Watson, Puértolas, and Amereau

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: a recurring (though not weekly) feature where, on Monday nights, I blog a list of the upcoming broadcasts that have caught my eye on World Concert Hall. My interests: baroque vocal music, art song recitals, and a list of favorite singers.

Dorothea Röschmann sings Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder as part of a concert with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai. Live broadcast Thursday, January 17 on Rai Radio 3.

Katherine Watson and Robert Murray sing works by Händel in a concert with The Sixteen. Live broadcast Saturday, January 19 on OE1.

We get more Handel the next day in the form of a performance of his opera Rodelinda, recorded last month in Lyon. Sabina Puértolas stars in the title role, with up-and-coming contralto Avery Amereau as her sister-in-law Eduige. Sunday, January 20 on France Musique.

OE1 generally keeps broadcasts online for a week, and France Musique keeps most (but not all) broadcasts online even longer than that. Rai does not offer broadcast archives online.

Bonus Connolly content:

The Wiener Staatsoper Ariodante from last March was recently re-broadcast by the Swedish radio station P2. Besides Sarah Connolly in the title role, the stars include Chen Reiss (Ginevra), Christophe Dumaux (Polinesso), and Hila Fahima (Dalinda). You can listen to the audio on demand here for the moment; I’m not sure how long it will stay online but I think it’ll be around for 30 days from its date of broadcast, January 12.

On January 17, the Teatro Real will open its revival of Robert Carsen’s production of Das Rheingold (originally seen at the Oper Köln). Sarah Connolly will sing the role of Fricka in Madrid. The theater has announced that there will be a deferred broadcast of the opera on RNE Radio Clásica, on a date to be determined. I will of course keep an eye out for it and publish the details on my blog when I know more.

[madame-yus-wife]

... so far we’ve seen only very little of Grimoaldo, Garibaldo, and Eduige (Benjamin Hulett, Andrea Mastroni, Avery Amereau) but I certainly like Grimoaldo’s voice a lot so far.

From the 2018 livestream of GF Händel’s “Rodelinda” at the Opéra de Lille.

[persinsala]

Rodelinda

Œuvre méconnue de Haendel, Rodelinda complète la trilogie des grands opéras serias commencée avec Giulio Cesare in Egitto et Tamerlano. Sous la direction fascinante de Stefano Montanari, Claus Guth présente à l’Opéra de Lyon un travail exigeant et essentiel dont les lignes épurées tracent une Lombardie bouillonnante et héroïque

(more…)

[joaquimblog]

SALZBURG 2018: SALOME

Asmik Grigorian (Salome) Salzburg 2018

Amb una mica de retard avui us parlaré de la nova producció de Salome que s’ha estrenat al Festival de Salzburg aquest estiu i que té sense cap mena de dubte el gran i quasi exclusiu al·licient de la seva protagonista, la gran, grandiosa Asmik Grigorianque tant ens va bocabadar a el Dimoni vist al Liceu i que aquí confirma que estem davant d’una de les grans…

[johnjpuccio]

Classical Music News of the Week, September 14, 2019

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale Opens 2019/20 Season

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale (PBO) opens its 2019/20 season, Nicholas, McGegan's final season as Music Director, with a profound statement of commitment to expanding the period instrument repertoire: the world premiere of The Listeners by Caroline Shaw, the youngest composer ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for music.

The Listeners highlights the low vocal register, with contralto Avery Amereau and bass-baritone Dashon Burton both making their returns to PBO. Shaw's cosmic reflection pairs naturally with two works by Handel: a suite from Terpsichore and the celebratory cantata Eternal Source of Light Divine, featuring countertenor Reginald Mobley in his second PBO appearance. "A Cosmic Notion" runs from October 17-20 at venues across the San Francisco Bay Area.

To read the complete Classical Music News of the Week, click here:

https://classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2019/09/classical-music-news-of-week-september_13.html

John J. Puccio, Classical Candor

[operacascadia]

Seattle Opera 2017-18 Season Announcement

So, the 2017-18 Seattle Opera season has been announced, and I gotta say--it’s not hugely inspiring.

August: Madama Butterfly with Lianna Haroutounian and Alexia Voulgaridou in the title role, Alexy Dolgov and Dominick Chenes as Pinkerton, Weston Hurt as Sharpless, Renée Rapier as Suzuki, Carlo Montanaro conducting, in a production from New Zealand Opera, directed by Kate Cherry.

October: Barber of Seville with “TBA” and Sophia Fomina as Rosina, Matthew Grills and Andrew Owens as Almaviva, John Moore and William Liverman as Figaro, Kevin Glavin as Bartolo, and Daniel Sumegi as Basilio, conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti, directed by Lindy Hume with a production from Opera Queensland.

January: A revival of the Jonathan Miller staging of Così fan tutte, with Fiordiligi played by Marina Costa-Jackson/Marjukka Tepponen, Dorabella by Ginger Costa-Jackson/Hanna Hipp, Ferrando by Ben Bliss/Tuomas Katajala, Craig Verm/Michael Adams as Guglielmo, Laura Tatulescu as Despina and Kevin Burdette as Alfonso. Paul Daniel will conduct.

February/March: The Seattle Opera premiere of Beatrice & Benedict in a new production and in English translation--or rather, an English version of the libretto using Shakespeare’s original language as much as possible. Beatrice will be played by Daniela Mack/Hanna Hipp, Benedict (if it’s in English, surely it should be Benedick, right?) by Alek Shrader/Andrew Owens. Laura Tatulescu as Hero, Avery Amereau as Ursule, Kevin Burdette as Somarone, Craig Verm as Claudio, and Daniel Sumegi as Don Pedro. Ludovic Morlot, music director of the Seattle Symphony makes his debut at last at the Seattle Opera in this production, as does John Langs, director of the ACT Theater as this production’s stage director.

May: Aida, with Leah Crocetto/Alexandra Lobianco in the title role, with Miljiana Nikolic/Elena Gabouri as Amneris, Brian Jagde/David Pomeroy as Radames, Gordon Hawkins/Alfred Walker as Amonasro, and for a third time this season, Daniel Sumegi as Ramfis. Conducing will be John Fiore, the production will be the recent one seen at San Francisco Opera, directed by Francesca Zambello; the first time one of Zambello’s productions has been seen in Seattle since the revival of Florencia en el Amazonas in 2005.

On the plus side: I love Beatrice et Benedict, and it will be good to finally see it  live. The production sounds interesting, and I’m very much in favor of Ludovic Morlot conducting Berlioz. The Jonathan Miller production of Cosi is a classic, and it will be good to see it again--it will be interesting hearing actual sisters playing Fiordiligi and Dorabella. Leah Crocetto is the debutant I am most excited about, followed by Daniela Mack and Maestro Morlot. On the minus side, I find it very hard to get enthused by Butterfly and Barber. Both of those works are done to death. I can see why the company puts them on--it’s cheaper to put on more famous operas, and they also put more butts in seats. But I don’t recognize the names in the cast--and there isn’t an announced name for the opening night Rosina. Only one 20th century opera and it’s Butterfly, which I’m not sure should even count.

For me, this is the least interesting Seattle Opera season since 2007-08, which was so boring to me that I let my subscription lapse.

I don’t think I’ll do that in this case--the Berlioz and Mozart works should be fantastic, the Verdi should have some good singing, and who knows, maybe the staging for Puccini and Rossini will be interesting? At least the conducting for those two works are in good hands.

[jiyangchen]

Avery Amereau, mezzo-soprano

Photographed by Jiyang Chen

[verdiprati]

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES BY DAME SARAH CONNOLLY

[NOTE: this post is now out of date. Check the schedule tag on my blog for the most recent version of this list.]

After the jump: an unofficial schedule of Dame Sarah Connolly’s future performances. Those of you in Britain may catch a performance in London, Cardiff, Leeds, Oxford, Gloucester, Bath, or Chipping Campden. Those on the Continent may see her in Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Geneva, Zeist, or Baden-Baden. And finally, those of us in North America have a recital in Philadelphia to look forward to! Don’t live near one of these places? Take in a concert from afar: I am adding online broadcast and livestream details as they become available.

This is not an authoritative list. These are the upcoming performances by Dame Sarah Connolly that I have been able to learn about from Dame Sarah’s agent's website (Askonas Holt), Operabase, Bachtrack, Dame Sarah's Twitter, and generally ferreting around the web.

I sometimes list concerts that are not yet officially confirmed; you should of course check official sources before making plans and be aware that cast changes and cancellations can happen at any time.

I have added links to venue, ticketing, and broadcast information where available. Tips on new information are always welcome! Please contact me via email (verdiprati [at] selveamene [dot] com), Tumblr messaging, or ask box (plain prose only in the ask box; anything with links or an email address will get eaten by Tumblr filters) with corrections or additions.

[Masterclass] Public masterclass at Wigmore Hall, London, September 19, 2018. Part of Dame Sarah’s residency at the Wigmore. 

Wagner, Das Rheingold and Die Walküre (Fricka in both) at the Royal Opera, London, September 24 through October 28, 2018. A revival of Keith Warner’s Ring Cycle, with Antonio Pappano conducting. For cast and date details, see the ROH web pages linked above. The October 28 performance will be livecast to cinemas; the October 18 performance, also marked “Filming,” is presumably a dry run for the camera crews and/or a chance to gather additional footage for promos and perhaps an eventual DVD release (we can hope). Rheingold dates: September 24; October 2, 16, and 26. Walküre dates: September 26; October 4, 18, and 28.

[New! Broadcast] There will be an audio-only broadcast of Das Rheingold by BBC Radio 3 on Saturday, October 27—conveniently timed to prime listeners for the livecast of Die Walküre the following day. If you can’t listen at the time of broadcast, though, you should be able to find the Rheingold audio archived on the BBC website for a month following.

[Cinema livecast] As mentioned above, the October 28 performance of Die Walküre is scheduled for livecast to cinemas. You can use this page to search for a screening near you. Oddly, no screenings are being shown in the US at the time of this writing, but I know of at least one deferred screening in New York, at Symphony Space on November 25.

[New! Broadcast] There will be an audio-only broadcast of Die Walküre by BBC Radio 3 on Saturday, November 3. As with all BBC Radio 3 programming, I would expect it to stay online for a month after broadcast. It seems like a fair guess that the other two Ring operas will be broadcast on subsequent Saturdays; check the Radio 3 website when the time gets closer, if you are interested.

Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde at the Royal Festival Hall, London, September 29, 2018. With Stuart Skelton and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. In a concert with Mitsiko Uchida playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27.

Appearance at “Opera For All” anniversary show at the English National Opera, London, October 10, 2018. The exact program has not (to my knowledge) been announced, but a blog post from ENO says “The performance will feature moments from operas that have played an important part in ENO’s history, including Britten’s Peter Grimes, Handel’s Alcina, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe Verdi’s Rigoletto and Wagner’s Ring Cycle.” Dame Sarah has sung roles in Alcina, Iolanthe, and the Ring Cycle, but I believe Alcina is the only one she has performed at ENO, and my hunch is that she will offer one or two of the Handel arias she has sung to such acclaim at ENO over the years.

Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde at the Philharmonie Berlin, October 14, 2018. With Torsten Kerl Robert Dean Smith and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Vladimir Jurowski.

[Broadcast] The concert is scheduled for live broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur.

Recital of English song at the Oxford Lieder Festival, October 22, 2018. With Eugene Asti. Songs in English by numerous British composers including Rebecca Clarke, Muriel Herbert, and Sally Beamish. There is a good deal of overlap with the selections on Dame Sarah’s recent album “Come to Me in My Dreams.”

Concert with Tenebrae at Wigmore Hall, London, October 24, 2018. Part of Dame Sarah’s yearlong residency at the Wigmore. The mostly English repertoire centers on a new piece by Judith Bingham setting poetry by Ivor Gurney. The choir throws in some Schoenberg at the end.

Purcell, Dido and Aeneas (Dido) in concert at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, November 3, 2018. With the Early Opera Company conducted by Christian Curnyn, in a concert also featuring John Blow’s Venus and Adonis (which does not include Dame Sarah in the cast). Dame Sarah’s co-stars are Jonathan McGovern, Lucy Crowe, Dame Felicity Palmer Avery Amereau, and Rowan Pierce.

[New! Broadcast] Thank you to the astute reader who pointed out that, as mentioned on the Early Opera Company’s website (and less explicitly on the Concertgebouw site), this concert will be broadcast live on NPO Radio 4 as part of the NTR Saturday Matinee series. Recordings from the series seem to be kept available online for quite a while, so you should have ample chance to hear the concert even if you cannot tune in at the hour of live broadcast.

Tippett, A Child of our Time at the Paris Philharmonie, November 7 and 8, 2018. With Michelle Bradley, Mark Padmore, John Relyea, and the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Thomas Adès in a concert also featuring symphonic works by Berlioz and Adès.

[New! Broadcast] The Orchestre de Paris website says, “Concert du 7 novembre enregistré et diffusé sur France Musique en différé et disponible à la réécoute sur le site internet de France Musique en streaming pour une période de 3 ans.” I never took French but read that to mean that we can expect a deferred broadcast of the November 7 concert, available for replay for three years. I have not been able to find a date of broadcast yet but I will keep an eye out for it. 

Recital at the Bath Mozartfest, Guildhall, Bath, November 13, 2018. With Joseph Middleton. Repertoire to include “Deh, per questo istante solo” from La Clemenza di Tito as well as songs by Schubert, Ravel, Debussy, Gurney, and Ireland. UPDATE: Dame Sarah withdrew from the concert and was replaced by Louise Alder.

"L’invitation au voyage,” song recital at Wigmore Hall, London, November 16, 2018. With James Newby and Joseph Middleton. The repertoire is Ravel-centric but not all by Ravel himself. Part of Dame Sarah’s residency at the Wigmore and also part of a Ravel song series being presented by the venue over the course of the year.

Beethoven, Missa Solemnis at deSingel, Antwerp, November 21, 2018. Part of a tour by Le Concert Olympique and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor. With Malin Hartelius, Steve Davislim, and Hanno Müller-Brachmann; conducted by Jan Caeyers.

[New! Deferred broadcast] Recital at the Schubertíada Vilabertran. With Malcolm Martineau and Jonathan Brown. Works by Brahms, Mahler, Gurney, Richard Rodney Bennett, and Frank Bridge. Recorded at the live performance on August 18, 2018; scheduled for broadcast [PDF] on Catalunya Música November 23, 2018. 

Beethoven, Missa Solemnis at the Philharmonie Berlin, November 23, 2018. Part of a tour by Le Concert Olympique and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor. Tickets appear to be on sale here. With Malin Hartelius, Steve Davislim, and Hanno Müller-Brachmann; conducted by Jan Caeyers.

Beethoven, Missa Solemnis at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, December 1, 2018. Part of a tour by Le Concert Olympique and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor. With Malin Hartelius, Steve Davislim, and Hanno Müller-Brachmann; conducted by Jan Caeyers.

Appearance at the Glyndebourne Tour: Golden Anniversary Celebration at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, December 4, 2018. Sir Thomas Allen and Sir John Tomlinson are also appearing at the concert, and the Glyndebourne website says “More performers will be announced in the coming weeks.” The program has not been announced yet but I will be surprised if Dame Sarah does not reprise an aria or two from Giulio Cesare. This event does not yet appear on the Southbank Centre’s calendar, and I don’t see a way to purchase tickets online, but they apparently are available by phoning the Glyndebourne box office.

Wagner, Das Rheingold (Fricka) at the Teatro Real, Madrid, January 17 through February 1, 2019. In a production by Robert Carsen; conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. Co-stars include Greer Grimsley (Wotan) and Sophie Bevan (Freia) among others.

Berlioz, L’Enfance du Christ with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff, February 15, 2019. Sir Andrew Davis conducts; the other vocal soloists in the all-Brit, all-excellent lineup are Andrew Staples, Roderick Williams, and Matthew Brook.

Recital with Julius Drake at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, March 5, 2019. Works by R. Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, A. Mahler, and Zemlinsky.

Recital with Julius Drake at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, March 7, 2019. I don’t see the repertoire mentioned on the theater’s website as of this writing, but presumably it will be similar to the works presented in Amsterdam and Philadelphia in the duo’s other recitals this month.

Recital with Julius Drake at the Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid, March 11, 2019. Works by Brahms, Wolf, Roussel, Debussy, and Zemlinsky.

[New details!] Recital with Julius Drake at Wigmore Hall, London, March 15, 2019. Contrary to my earlier guess, Connolly and Drake are not repeating material from their recitals in Amsterdam and Madrid, but rather are preparing a completely different program for the Wigmore. It is described by Dame Sarah’s agency, Askonas Holt, thus: “On 15 March 2019, Sarah offers Dominick Argento’s cycle from Virginia Woolf’s posthumously published A Writer’s Diary, which won the composer the Pulitzer Prize in 1975, and Schumann’s moving late settings of texts attributed to Mary Stuart. She is partnered by pianist Julius Drake and actor Emily Berrington, who will intersperse the songs with reading from Woolf’s diaries and also from Schiller’s ‘Mary Stuart’, in a new translation made especially for the event.” Dame Sarah adds on Twitter, “There will be more songs in the second half.”

Recital with Julius Drake at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, March 22, 2019. Sponsored by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Repertoire includes works by Brahms, Wolf, Roussel, Debussy, and Zemlinksy.

[New!] Berlioz, Les nuits d’été at the Chipping Campden Music Festival, May 21, 2019. In a program with orchestral works by Fauré and Mendelssohn. Thomas Hull conducts the Academy Orchestra. As of this writing, the 2019 program has not yet been published on the Festival’s website, but the season brochure is available upon request, and that is how I obtained these concert details.

[Details TBA] Appearance at the Internationaal LiedFestival Zeist (Netherlands), late May, 2019. The festival dates are May 17-26. Programming details have not yet been released as of this writing, but Dame Sarah is mentioned as one of the performing artists.

Elgar, The Dream of Gerontius with the Hallé and three choruses at Victoria Hall, Leeds, June 1, 2019. Barry Banks and David Soar are the other vocal soloists; Simon Wright conducts.

Mahler, Des Knaben Wunderhorn (extracts) and Janáček, Glagolitic Mass at the Maison de la Radio, Paris, June 20, 2019. With the Orchestre National de France and the Choeur de Radio France, conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. The other soloists for the Glagolitic Mass are Simona Šaturová, Mati Turi, and Christof Fischesser.

[Broadcast] This concert will be broadcast live on France Musique.

Recital with Malcolm Martineau at Wigmore Hall, London, July 23, 2019. Part of Dame Sarah’s yearlong residency at the Wigmore. Repertoire TBA. Listed in the season preview brochure [PDF].

Berlioz, La damnation de Faust (in concert, presumably) at the Three Choirs Festival, Gloucester, July 27, 2019. With Peter Hoare, Christopher Purves, and David Ireland. Tickets go on sale to the general public on April 24.

Bob Chilcott, A Christmas Oratorio (premiere) at the Three Choirs Festival, Gloucester, August 1, 2019. With Nick Pritchard and Neal Davies. Note that this is an afternoon concert, not the main evening concert for August 1. (Multi-mezzo fans may want to stick around to hear Anna Stéphany do Les nuites d’été in the evening.) Tickets go on sale to the general public on April 24. 

[Unconfirmed / details TBA] Handel, Agrippina at the Dutch National Opera. In June 2018, opera critic Hugh Canning tweeted the news that the Royal Opera is planning to offer Barrie Kosky’s new production of Agrippina with Joyce DiDonato in the title role during the ’19/’20 season; in a reply that has now been deleted, Dame Sarah mentioned that she and Alice Coote would do the same production in Amsterdam and Munich. (If you are a member of the Sarah Connolly fan group on Facebook, you can scroll back in time to June and see a screenshot there.) Subsequent discussion revealed that Coote would get the Munich gig (in July 2019), so Connolly must be the Amsterdam Agrippina. The DNO has already announced its ’18-’19 season and Agrippina isn’t in it, so presumably we’re looking towards ’19-’20 or beyond.

[Unconfirmed / details TBA] Brett Dean, Hamlet (Gertrude) somewhere in the United States. Allan Clayton, who starred in the title role of Brett Dean’s Hamlet at Glyndebourne in 2017, mentioned in a recent interview with the Telegraph that he would be reprising the role at an unspecified date and venue in the US. When prompted on Twitter, Dame Sarah indicated that she would be participating in the revival, too (“I shall be misunderstanding my confused boy again”). Hat tip to Christopher Lowrey, who sang Guildenstern in the original production at Glyndebourne, whose tweet praising Allan Clayton brought the Telegraph interview to my attention. (No indication whether Lowrey will also be cast in the American revival.)

[Details TBA] A future appearance at the Opéra national de Paris is mentioned in the current bio that can be downloaded from Dame Sarah’s page on the Askonas Holt website (click “Publicity Pack”). I cannot find her name mentioned anywhere in the 2018-2019 season, so I suppose we must wait until at least the fall of 2019 if not later.

Previous versions of this list can be found under the schedule tag on this blog. This list published September 10, 2018. Edited September 15 to add the live broadcast of Dido from the Concertgebouw and to update the program details for the ENO concert. Edited September 18 to fill in details of Dame Sarah’s recital with Julius Drake at the Wigmore Hall in March. Edited October 16 to add the Chipping Campden concert and the Rheingold radio broadcast. Edited October 18 to update the cast list for the Concertgebouw concert with the Early Opera Company. Edited October 25 to add the radio broadcast of the ROH Die Walküre. Edited November 8 to add the radio broadcasts of A Child of Our Time and the Vilabertran recital. Edited November 19 to reflect (very belatedly) Dame Sarah’s withdrawal from the Bath Mozartfest recital. I may continue to edit this list as I receive new information.

[verdiprati]

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: 17th century opera edition (Connolly = Dido!)

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: a recurring (though not weekly) feature where, on Monday nights, I blog a list of the upcoming broadcasts that have caught my eye on World Concert Hall. My interests: baroque vocal music, art song recitals, and a list of favorite singers.

Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina gets performed more often than your average seventeenth century Italian opera thanks to its status as the oldest surviving opera composed by a woman. Still, it doesn’t come around too often, so I take note every time a broadcast comes up, even if the artists are unknown to me, as in this case. Deferred broadcast Thursday, November 1 on NDR Kultur.

At the end of this week, the Early Opera Company will be performing a double bill of short English operas from the late seventeenth century at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam: Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and John Blow’s Venus and Adonis. Sarah Connolly sings the role of Dido while rising contralto Avery Amereau (seen recently as Eduige in the Lille Rodelinda) plays the Sorceress who orchestrates her downfall. Lucy Crowe, Rowan Pierce, and Jonathan McGovern have roles in both operas. Live broadcast Saturday, November 3 on NPO Radio 4. (Should be archived online for a while afterward.)

[jiyangchen]

Ad campaign for New York Opera Exchange’s production of Bizet’s Carmen, featuring the amazing Avery Amereau, conducted by Alden Gatt.  

photographed by Jiyang Chen