Maria Nockin - Page 10

Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a Black man born in 1745 to a slave and a slaveholder on the island of Guadeloupe. Few know Bologne wrote operas and most of them have been lost. Only L’Amant Anonyme remains in its  entirety. You can hear some of the stylistic traits of both Mozart and Gluck in L’Amant. Some sonorities found in L’Amant are similar to those found in the works of the above-mentioned composers but there are also marked differences and Bologne’s music certainly deserves to have its own place in the sun.

Los Angeles Opera presents The Anonymous Lover (L'Amant Anonyme), an unjustly neglected 1780 chamber opera by Joseph Bologne, known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. James Conlon will conduct the orchestra. LAO will stream the performance online on Saturday, November 14, 2020, at 5:00 PM. Tickets are free at: https://bit.ly/3eiBtSF

Cheyanne Coss opened with “Qui la voce,”  Elvira’s mad scene from Bellini’s bel canto opera, I Puritani. Elvira lived in a time when women had no rights, so in opera madness allowed her to proclaim her true feelings. Coss expressed them most eloquently. Terrence Chin-Loy as Des Grieux sang “Ah! Fuyez, douce image” from Massenet’s opera Manon.

Free digital tickets are now available for The Anonymous Lover which premieres online Saturday, November 14, at 5 PM Pacific Time. The Anonymous Lover is a 1780 comic romance by pioneering Black composer Joseph Bologne, known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Conducted by Music Director James Conlon and directed by Bruce Lemon, Jr. 

This weekend, tenor Frederick Ballentine returns to the L A Opera virtual stage for a spooky Halloween-themed “Living Room Recital.” He partners with mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and pianist Kunal Lahiry to perform some of opera's most mysterious and scary songs—including the murder scene from Carmen.

On Oct. 23, the Santa Fe Opera and Center for Contemporary Arts presented 'Is This America?' This online workshop featuring scenes from the one-act opera, 'This Little Light of Mine,' took place on October10, 2020, aboard the retired tanker Mary A. Whalen which is-docked in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

We start at the L A Opera website with a ”Living Room Recital.” Michael J. Hawk, baritone, sings a program entitled “Shakespeare in France and on Broadway.” He performs “Mab! la reine des mensonges” (“Mab, Queen of Lies”) from Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod and three arias from Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet.

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, mezzo-soprano Gabriela Flores, a member of the Los Angeles Opera Young Artist Program, partners with guitarist Gilberto Amara for a “Living Room Recital” of Mexican songs on the Los Angeles Opera website. San Francisco Opera’s online streaming of of Verdi’s Attila features Ferruccio Furlanetto.

On Los Angeles Operaa??s website, Ashley Faatoalia, tenor, and Louise Thomas, piano, collaborate for a a?oeLiving Room Recital.a?? They perform songs by Schubert, Williams, Fauré, Bonds and Gordon as well as Spirituals and arias by Mozart, Gershwin and Puccini.

On October 5, 2020, I listened to Arizona Operaa??s Studio Spotlight Series online concert held in the newly named the Shoshana B. and Robert S. Tancer Plaza adjoining the companya??s building on Central Avenue in Phoenix. General Director Joseph Spector greeted the tiny audience of donors and the much larger online assemblage with remembrances of the companya??s former general director, Joel Revzen, and a video about the late chair of the Arizona Opera Board of Directors, Robert Tancer.

On October 3, I watched an updated version of Gian Carlo Menottia??s 1947 short opera, The Telephone. The dial telephone tethered to one room of the home that some of us oldsters grew up with has become a portable smart phone and each person has one. The Parea Virtual Recital Series which explains the opera to English speakers around the world offers a fine performance of The Telephone.

Los Angeles Opera has a new a?oeLiving Room Recitala?? with mezzo-sopranno Taylor Raven sings with three different pianists, Jeremy Frank, Nino Sanikidze, and Brendon Shapiro. She sings two songs from Hector Berlioza??s Les Nuits da??Étè, four songs from Xavier Montsalvatgea??s Cinco Canciones Negras, and other delightful pieces.

Baritone Lucas Meachem and his wife, pianist Irina Meachem, sang an aria-filled recital on to open the Merola Opera Program Recital Series September 27, 2020. The Meachems opened the recital with the aria a?oeBella siccome un angeloa?? (a?oeBeautiful as an Angela??) from Donizettia??s Don Pasquale. Lucas acted with his voice to show not only its power and huge sound but also his ability to control it and sing with a mere thread of sound when describing the sweetness of the young lady.

On the Los Angeles Opera website this week, soprano Sarah Vautour, together with pianists Steven Blier and Jeremy Frank, offer a recital of cabaret classics for her a?oeLiving Room Recital.a?? San Francisco opera notes that one of their Merola Opera Programa??s illustrious alumni, baritone Lucas Meachem (2003), opens Merolaa??s Virtual Recital Series on Sept. 27 at 4 p.m. PDT, with a?oeI Left My Aria in San Francisco.

a??a??a??a??a??a??a??For the newest of LA Operaa??s a?oeLiving Room Recitals,a?? soprano Alaysha Fox, a grand finalist in the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, partners with pianist, vocal coach, and conductor Brendon Shapiro. They offer a performance of classic songs by composers including Jake Heggie, Harry T. Burleigh, and Stephen Sondheim.

A tireless Elektra, Ricarda Merbeth paces herself well for this marathon role. She sang with polished solid mid-range tones and an easy top that could be heard through the waves of colorful Straussian sound emitted by Franz Welser-Mösta??s full orchestra. Her curse of Chrysothemis was not the most blood-curdling  expletive Ia??ve yet heard, but more importantly, she is a once-loving daughter who has experienced the trauma of murder. 

Los Angeles Operaa??s program of music from Golden Age Musicals features pianist/curator Brendon Shapiro, and the company's 2019/20 young artists, Anthony Ciaramitaro, Sarah Vautour, Robert Stahley, Taylor Raven, Alaysha Fox, Sylvia Da??Eramo, Tiffany Townsend, Gabriela Flores, Michael J. Hawk, and Erica Petrocelli singing music by Bernstein, Cahn, Lerner, Kern, Gershwin, Rodgers, Porter, Wright/Borodin, Herman, Romberg, and Loesser.

On Tuesday, Sept. 10, tenor Anthony Ciaramitaro joins forces with pianists Miah Im and Louis Lohraseb in a program of Italian songs and American music. Back now for a return engagement is Latonia Moorea??s tremendously popular recital featuring a?oeTatianaa??s Letter Scenea?? from Tchaikovskya??s Eugene Onegin. 

On Friday evening August 28, Santa Fe Opera screened a filmed performance of Joseph Illick and  Andrea Fellows Waltersa?? one-act opera UnShakeable, composed for the a?oeShakespeare 400a?? celebration in 2016. Meridian had lost her memory due to a pandemic of a?oeerasure,a?? but Wyatt still retained some memories of the past and his love for Meridian.

This week on the Los Angeles Opera website soprano Ana María Martínez performs the famous 'Song to the Moon' from Antonín Dvořák's Rusalka, along with a selection of captivating Spanish songs. They include a?oeLa Peteneraa?? by Federico Moreno-Torroba, the a?oePoema en Forma de Cancionesa?? by Joaquín Turina, and a?oeMuñequita Lindaa?? by María Grever.