John Nelson News

he British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominations for the EE British Academy Film Awards in 2018. The Shape of Water is nominated in 12 categories. Darkest Hour and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri both receive nine nominations

It's just about time to wish you all a happy 2018--but I'm not quite ready to put 2017 to rest. Though it won't go into the annals as one of the best years ever, there were quite enough performances and performers that made this year a winner for me, operatically speaking at least, in my corner of the world.

Nothing beats sitting in the opera house for the thrill of hearing singers giving their all. But the new recording of Berlioz's LES TROYENS (THE TROJANS), conducted by John Nelson, comes pretty close. Taken from a couple of live concert performances in Strasbourg, France, at the Salle Erasme, with a cast headed by mezzo Joyce DiDonato as Dido (Didon, en francais), tenor Michael Spyres as Aeneas (Enee) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux as Cassandra (Cassandre) plus that famed Trojan horse--brings us all the chills and thrills we could want, short of being there.

The recording of the complete, uncut score of Les Troyens is drawn from two concert performances that took place over the Easter weekend in April 2017 in the city of Strasbourg in eastern France.

Opera at Caramoor (photo: Gabe Palacio) This summer marks not only the 20th anniversary, but also the final season of 'Bel Canto at Caramoor,' the program founded by Director of Opera Will Crutchfield to champion neglected bel canto operas and re-interpret familiar ones. To honor the program's legacy, Caramoor launches the summer season with a gala selection of bel canto's greatest hits in 'A Night of Italian Opera' (June 17) and presents a semi-staged account of Bellini's first bel canto masterpiece, Il pirata (July 8). Mounted in the superb acoustics of the outdoor Venetian Theater on Caramoor's idyllic Westchester estate, both events feature the resident Orchestra of St. Luke's and showcase the exceptional artistry of 2017 Artist-in-Residence Angela Meade - 'the most talked-about soprano of her generation' (Opera News) - who first catapulted to national attention in the title role of Bellini's Norma at Caramoor seven years ago. For full details of this summer's operatic offerings at Caramoor, click here.

The Purple Xperience band will be appearing at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, in the Bronx, Saturday, May 20th at 8:00 pm.

WARNER BROS. presents BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY II -a spectacular fusion of classical music and classic animation that celebrates the world's most famous and beloved cartoons and their equally famous music-with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, June 3-4 in Newark and New Brunswick. Conducted by Emmy Award-winner George Daugherty, and created and produced by Daugherty and Emmy Award-winning producer David Ka Lik Wong, the production is a celebration of the world's favorite Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters on-screen with live full symphony orchestra accompaniment.

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), celebrating its 75th anniversary during the 2016-2017 season, presents St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach on February 9, 2017 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019).

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), celebrating its 75th anniversary during the 2016-2017 season, presents St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach on February 9, 2017 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019).  The production will be conducted by MasterVoices' Artistic Director Ted Sperling and will feature the MasterVoices chorus, Michael Slattery, Jesse Blumberg, Adam Lau, Jennifer Zetlan, Tamara Mumford, Ben Bliss,and Daniel Okulitch,with New York Baroque Incorporated.

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), celebrating its 75th anniversary during the 2016-2017 season, presents St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach on February 9, 2017 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019).

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), celebrating its 75th anniversary during the 2016-2017 season, presents St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach on February 9, 2017 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019).  The production will be conducted by MasterVoices' Artistic Director Ted Sperling and will feature the MasterVoices chorus, Michael Slattery, Jesse Blumberg, Adam Lau, Jennifer Zetlan, Tamara Mumford, Ben Bliss,and Daniel Okulitch,with New York Baroque Incorporated.

This New Year's Eve, LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER rings in 2017 with the New York Philharmonic as international opera star Joyce DiDonato and Tony Award winner Paulo Szot join Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert for an Enchanted Evening. Humorist and CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca hosts the broadcast from David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.

Tony Award winner and Metropolitan Opera baritone Paulo Szot will join Music Director Alan Gilbert, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and the New York Philharmonic for the Orchestra's New Year's Eve celebration, Today, December 31, 2016, at 8:00 p.m., an evening of American classics including music by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Loewe, and Copland.

This New Year's Eve, LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER rings in 2017 with the New York Philharmonic as international opera star Joyce DiDonato and Tony Award winner Paulo Szot join Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert for an Enchanted Evening. Humorist and CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca hosts the broadcast from David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.

Tony Award winner and Metropolitan Opera baritone Paulo Szot will join Music Director Alan Gilbert, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and the New York Philharmonic for the Orchestra's New Year's Eve celebration, Saturday, December 31, 2016, at 8:00 p.m., an evening of American classics including music by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Loewe, and Copland.

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), celebrating its 75th anniversary during the 2016-2017 season, presents St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach on February 9, 2017 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019).

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale), celebrating its 75th anniversary during the 2016-2017 season, presents St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach on February 9, 2017 at 7pm at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall (57th Street and 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10019).

Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonatooffers her latest project, In War & Peace: Harmony through Music, on Thursday, December 15 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Ms. DiDonato is joined by early music orchestra Il Pomo d'Oro, conducted by Maxim Emelyanychev from the harpsichord.

On November 14, 2016, Sono Luminus Records releases J.S. Bach: Partitas for Keyboard, BWV 825-830 [DSL 92209] a 3-CD set featuring two-time GRAMMY®-nominated harpsichordistJory Vinikour.  For this recording the harpsichordist and conductor, whose performances have been called "so buoyant, glistening or noble that you'll likely find yourself glued to your speakers (or headphones)" by Gramophone, performs on a stunning copy of a North German instrument of Bach's time built by Tom and Barbara Wolf.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City continues its 59th season with the Lyric Opera debut co-production of Mozart's masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro November 5, 9, 11 and 13 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.