Maria Nockin - Page 8

Soldier Songs is a filmed opera that tells about the life and memories of a returning soldier. Composer and librettist David T. Little says this concept took shape when Johnathan McCullough approached Little with an idea for a production of the opera involving an Airstream. When the pandemic happened and programming had to get shifted around,

Los Angeles Opera was the first to launch original programming in response to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Because of the success of its online  programming, LAO decided to make that feature a permanent part of its offering and to give it a name that reflects fresh and innovative interpretations of the art form. Welcome to LA Opera On Now.

The West is a Land of Infinite Beginnings will stream for free Jan. 15-29. The promise of the American dream runs up against hard realities and uncontrollable forces in this new digital short from Missy Mazzoli, composer of Song from the Uproar and Breaking the Waves. James Darrah directs this video that tells of a ghostly sodbuster.

On January 8, 2021, Opera Philadelphia presented Bon Appétit! a Sweet Soirée. Mezzo-Soprano Jamie Barton portrayed  Julia Child and Jonathan Easter accompanied her with Hoiby’s sparkling, decorative piano score. Keep the Music Going Directors Ryan and Tonya McKinny provided the superb audio and video production.

On January 8, 2021, Opera Philadelphia presented BON APPETIT! A SWEET SOIREE. Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton portrayed Julia Child and Jonathan Easter accompanied her with Lee Hoiby’s sparkling, decorative piano score. Keep the Music Going Directors Ryan and Tonya McKinny provided the superb audio and video production.

Los Angeles Opera’s Modulation, presented in collaboration with the Prototype Festival, adapts opera and theater to a new interactive format. The voices of extraordinary artists show us the irrepressible power of music to provide comfort and instigate contemplation of ourselves, our art, our world. Access to Modulation, available January 8–16, 2021, costs $25 per viewing household. Access will enable you to enjoy Modulation for one week.

Both Los Angeles and San Francisco Opera companies are closed right now, but there is still a wealth material to see and hear on each of their websites. LA has recitals and Coffee with Conlon. SFO has links to Eun Sun Kim’s conducting dates at La Scala. https://www.laopera.org/discover/la-opera-on-now/ https://sfopera.com/opera-is-on/

 Los Angeles Opera has a wealth of operatic and recital material on its website page On Now.  A must see link is the company’s inaugural event, the virtual company premiere of The Anonymous Lover, an unjustly neglected 1780 chamber opera by Joseph Bologne, better known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

On Saturday evening, December 19, 2020,  Arizona Opera premiered its third  Studio Spotlight Series Concert online at no charge. The first part of the program featured tenor Bille Bruley, soprano Kaitlyn Johnson, and bass-baritone Brandon Morales singing opera arias. The second part was a performance  of César Franck's Violin Sonata in A Major.

This holiday week the Virtual Opera Tour’s Magic Opera Flying Carpet is making its first stop at Opera San Jose for their magnificent online performance of Three Decembers. It costs $40 to watch on demand.The price is a bit steep, but the story is affecting, the music is fabulous and the performances are riveting. 

On Sunday afternoon, December 12, 2020, well known operatic soprano Ana Maria Martinez hosted a concert of song from many parts of the world where Spanish is spoken. The singers, from Spanish speaking backgrounds, were at one time or are currently members of the young artist program at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Faced with the inability to perform live opera because of COVID, Opera San Jose opted to film an opera that could be made to fit California health regulations in its new Fred Heiman Digital Media Studio. General director Khori Dastoor chose Jake Heggie’s three-person chamber opera, Three Decembers. Since it’s an opera that needs a big star to play famous actress Madeline Mitchell, Dastoor engaged Susan Graham.

The Five Moons of Lorca is a combination ballet and choral work that tells of the life and death of early twentieth century Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. He called for a return to the origins of European Theatre and he questioned the social mores of contemporary theatrical practice regarding homosexuality and women's roles.

Los Angeles Opera opens its Digital Shorts Series with Gabriela Lena Frank’s  commissioned revision of The Five Moons of Lorca, (Las Cinco Lunas de Lorca). This collaborative piece involves the work of librettist Nilo Cruz, choreographer Irene Rodríguez, and filmmaker Matthew Diamond. Musicians include countertenor Jacob Ingbar, pianist Nicholas Roehler, and members of the LA Opera Chorus. The Five Moons of Lorca, will be streamed through December 25, 2020.

On Sunday afternoon November 22, 2020, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented COVID Fan Tutte, an updated version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte’s Cosi Fan Tutte. The perfomance was presented drive-in style in the parking lot of the United Methodist Church on Anacapa Drive in Camarillo, CA. The lot accommodates 90 carefully positioned cars from which patrons see the a live opera performance on a raised stage and hear it on their cars’ FM sets.

On Saturday evening November 21, 2020, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented two rare, one-act operas by Christof Willibald Gluck, La Corona and Il Parnaso Confuso to a drive-in audience of 90 cars in the parking lot of the United Methodist Church on Anacapa Drive in Camarillo, CA.

From now to November 29, 2020, Los Angeles Opera is featuring The Anonymous Lover Composed by a Black man, Joseph Bologne, also known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The cast, made up of members of LAO's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, is conducted by Music Director James Conlon. https://www.laopera.org/performances/updated-2021-season/the-anonymous-lover/

On Sunday November 15, Long Beach Opera (LBO) presented Songbook, an online  program of 20 new songs by relatively unknown composers. It was LBO board member, Raulee Marcus, who had the idea to commission songs rather than have a gala fundraiser. LBO created a list of established opera composers who had some link to the company and asked them to be mentors. An illustrious quintet of successful composers: Anthony Davis, David Lang, George Lewis, Annie Gosfield, and Du Yun all accepted.