BWW Review: MUSIC FROM THE MOUNTAINS: STUCKER/RUNNICLES at Home Computer ScreensAugust 27, 2020On August 25, 2020, The Grand Teton Music Festivala??s online edition, a?oeMusic from the Mountainsa?? presented a recital performed by Jacquelyn Stucker, soprano, and Festival Music Director Donald Runnicles, piano. Stucker, currently a Jette Parker Young Artist at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, has already been hailed as a versatile new singing actress on Boston and Berlin stages.
BWW Review: COKORINOS RECITAL ON LA OPERA WEBSITE at Home Computer ScreensAugust 22, 2020Known in opera houses across the globe for his excellent comedic timing and first-rate singing, bass-baritone Philip Cokorinos won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1985 and went on to make his debut during that company's 1987-1988 season. In a new a?oeLiving Room Recitala?? on the Los Angeles Opera website, Cokorinos and pianist David Holkeboer perform songs by Schubert, Brahms, Tosti, and Cole Porter, as well as a Rossini aria. The recital is currently available on both the LA Opera homepage and on its Facebook page.
BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR AUGUST 22-29August 21, 2020In a new a?oeLiving Room Recitala?? on LA Operaa??s website, bass-baritone Philip Cokorinos and pianist David Holkeboer perform songs by Schubert, Brahms and Cole Porter. Mezzo-soprano Gabriela Flores, accompanied by Head Coach of LA Operaa??s Young Artist Program Nino Sanikidze, gives a recital of songs from Spain, Cuba, Argentina, and Mexico.
BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR AUGUST 15-22 at Home Computer ScreensAugust 15, 2020Here are some of the online events for the week of August 15 - 22 under LA Operaa??s banner, LAO At Home. On Tuesday, August 18, at 4 PM PDT, the a?oeGrown-Up Edition of Learn at Homea?? lets music lovers join Jeremy Frank at the piano for a?oeOpera Happy Hoursa?? which feature murder mysteries, verismo stories and dance.
BWW Review: RUSSELL THOMAS LIVING ROOM RECITALAugust 13, 2020On Monday, August 10, 2020, I listened to tenor Russell Thomas and collaborative pianist Kyung-mi Kima??s a?oeLiving Room Recitala?? for Los Angeles Opera. He opened with Franz Schuberta??s a??An die Musik' ('To Musica??) Thomas and Kim gloried in the songa??s sweeping melody as the pianoa??s strong bass underscored the vocal line
BWW Review: LA OPERA LIVING ROOM RECITAL BY Latonia MooreAugust 9, 2020LA Operaa??s 'Living Room Recital' by soprano Latonia Moore and pianist Roberto Berrocal is available for streaming on the operaa??s website. Wearing a long green gown with a draped skirt and sparkling jewels at her décolletage, Moore opened her program with Tatianaa??s Letter Scene from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskya??s opera, Eugene Onegin.
BWW Feature: Opera To Watch Online This Week August 8th to 15thAugust 8, 2020For her delightful Los Angeles Opera Living Room Recital, soprano Latonia Moore is accompanied by pianist Roberto Berrocal. First, she sings: Tatiana's dramatic 'Letter Scene' from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. The young and naive girl, Tatiana, writes an expressive love letter to the sophisticated Onegin, who is shocked and rebuffs her.
BWW Review: SONGS FROM THE SANTA FE OPERA at Home Computer ScreensAugust 2, 2020The story of David Henry Hwanga??s play M. Butterfly, while entwined with that of Puccinia??s opera Madama Butterfly, is basically about the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a Peking Opera singer. The singer, thought by all who knew her to be female, was actually male. Premiering on Broadway in 1988, the play won that yeara??s Tony Award for Best Play.
BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA/SONG AUGUST 1 - 8 at Home Computer ScreensJuly 31, 2020Los Angeles Opera has amassed numerous online recitals by some of the worlda??s finest opera singers and made them available for streaming on the companya??s website. For this week, I suggest the varied program of songs by soprano Guanqun Yu and pianist Oliver Imig.
BWW Review: A CELEBRATION OF DVORAK'S RUSALKA at Santa Fe Opera OnlineJuly 26, 2020On Saturday, July 25, 2020, at six oa??clock sharp, it was time to hook the computer up to the television set and watch Santa Fe Operaa??s celebration of Antonín Dvořáka??s extraordinary opera Rusalka. In the background, the Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra of Košice, conducted by Robert Stankovsky, played a scintillating rendition of the operaa??s overture as we viewed the opera ranch.
BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA/SONG JULY 17-24 at Home Computer ScreensJuly 24, 2020Tenor Russell Thomas, whose performance combines Wagnerian stamina with Italian lyricism, received glowing reviews for his recent performance as Titus in The Clemency of Titus. Russell and pianist Kyung-mi Kim invite us to enjoy their Living Room Recital. Songs include: Schuberta??s An die Musik, Vaughn Williamsa?? Let Beauty Awake, Mascagnia??s Risveglio, Duparca??s La??Invitation au Voyage, Verdia??s La??Esule, Barbera??s Knoxville Summer of 1915, and Meeropola??s Strange Fruit.
BWW Review: SANTA FE OPERA CELEBRATION OF TRISTAN UND ISOLDE at Home Computer ScreensJuly 19, 2020Tonight, the opera celebrates Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, and Ryan McKinny, who was to have sung Kurvenal, is hosting the online program from North Carolina. In this year of pandemic, artists are quarantined at home. McKinny greets us with a stein full of dark Bavarian brew with a silver top on it to keep it fresh until after the show.
BWW Feature: FREE ONLINE OPERA/SONG JULY 17-24 at Home Computer ScreensJuly 18, 2020Los Angeles Opera's annual choral concert has gone a?oevirtual.a?? Great Opera Choruses moved from The Soraya to your home screen thanks to the support of County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and the LA County Board of Supervisors. On the LAO homepage and on Facebook, readers can
sing along with 25 talented choristers performing the 'Bell Chorus' from Pagliacci, 'Va, pensiero' from Nabucco, and a?oeThe Anvil Chorus' from Il Trovatore. Resident Conductor Grant Gershon and Assistant Chorus Master Jeremy Frank, as accompanist, lead these extraordinary artists in an afternoon of family-friendly musical fun.
BWW Review: SONGS FROM THE SANTA FE OPERA at Home Computer ScreensJuly 11, 2020On Saturday Evening, July 11, at 7:00PM Mountain time, Santa Fe Opera presented its online celebration of Mozart's The Magic Flute. The opera would have premiered in the 63-year-old New Mexico company's elegant open-air theater if COVID-19 had not caused the cancellation of the season. A recording of the overture from 2010, a drive through the grounds, and the beginning of a sunset reminded watchers of the glory that was and will again be The Santa Fe Opera.
BWW Feature: FREE ONLINE OPERA/SONG JULY 10-17 at Home Computer ScreensJuly 10, 2020Pacific Opera Project (POP) presents a watch party of their critically acclaimed production of Madama Butterfly on July 15 at 5:00 PM Los Angeles time. This is the first true-to-story bilingual production of the opera. Performed in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo and Houston's Opera in the Heights, the opera now has a new libretto written by POP Artistic Director Josh Shaw and Opera in the Heights Artistic Director Eiki Isomura.
BWW Interview: Josh Shaw of MADAMA BUTTERFLY at Home Computer ScreensJuly 6, 2020Named as one of Musical America's Top 30 Innovators in Classical Music, Josh Shaw is the Executive and Artistic Director of Pacific Opera Project (POP), one of L.A.'s most exciting opera companies. During the past nine seasons, Shaw has directed over 35 productions at POP. Since 2011, Shaw has directed over 70 productions at regional opera companies. His The Barber of Seville at Opera Santa Barbara was described as 'riotously funny' and 'thoroughly amusing from overture to final bow.'
BWW Feature: FREE ONLINE OPERA/SONG JULY 3-10 at Home Computer ScreensJuly 3, 2020Los Angeles Opera's Music Director James Conlon sets the stage for the company's upcoming audio-stream of Richard Wagner's epic, four-part cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen with a new podcast. Commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the company's first complete presentation of the Ring Cycle, opera fans can watch a marathon, back-to-back audio stream of all four works on Saturday, July 25. LAOpera.org/LAOatHome has more information on the audio-stream.
BWW Feature: FREE ONLINE OPERA/SONG JUNE 26 - JULY 3 at Home Computer ScreensJune 26, 2020Los Angeles Opera (LAO) has an array of 25 a?oeLiving Room Recitalsa?? available for the enjoyment of those who visit the LAO website. Among them are personal concerts by: Morris Robinson, Rod Gilfry, Amanda Woodbury, Christopher Maltman, and Angel Blue. Having made a monumental impression on the American public with her portrayal of Bess in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess at the Met, Blue shows her charismatic personality and her love for the music of Richard Strauss in her a?oeLiving Room Recital.a??