Maria Nockin - Page 6

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.

On 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.

Known 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.

In 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.

Here 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.

On 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

LA 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.

For 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.

The 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.

Los 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.

On 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.