BWW Preview: More Music in the Northeast This Summer

Part Two of a series.

If you didn't find a performance to attend in the first part of this series--or you simply can't get enough operas, symphonic concerts and a musical theatre pieces thrown in for good measure--here's more to choose from. It covers the gamut from the Mozart REQUIEM to Bernstein, Bernstein and more Bernstein.

Mostly Mozart
New York City
July 12-August 12

Although this year's Mostly Mozart Festival is branching out to theatre and dance (to pick up some of the slack left by the departed Lincoln Center Festival), it's the music that always gets me excited here.

As part of the Leonard Bernstein birthday festivities, there are a pair of performances of The Bernstein MASS, A Theater Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers in a production being given its NY premiere, on July 17-18 at Lincoln Center's Geffen Hall. Over 200 performers will be part of this electric, fully staged production.

Following quickly on the Mass's heels is a pair of performances of Haydn's Creation by the famed (some would say "notorious") La Fura dels Baus from Barcelona, giving the production its North American premiere on July 19-20 at Jazz from Lincoln Center Rose Theatre. They call it "an immersive theatrical experience"--so be ready for anything!

Another performance that falls into that "be ready for anything" category is Ashley Fure and Adam Fure's THE FORCE OF THINGS: AN OPERA FOR OBJECTS, which will be performed in Brooklyn's Gelsey Kirkland Center, August 6-8, featuring the International Contemporary Ensemble, also a co-creator. This immersive music-theater piece features 24 subwoofer speakers that emit sound too low for humans to hear, creating a subsonic sense of ecological anxiety that ripples around the audience. Add on the caveat: "Comfortable shoes and clothing are recommended as the audience will be standing or seated on boxes without backs during the performance" and this will be something unusual to experience. See the website for further details.

Also on August 8, the Festival is presenting a late-night "Lyrics by Shakespeare" program from the New York Festival of Song, in Lincoln Center's intimate Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse. It explores the Bard's influence on music.

Now for a little Mozart--if you can call his unfinished Requiem "little." The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, under music director Louis Langree is performing the work at Geffen Hall, August 10-11, as part of an all-Mozart evening. Also included: Piano Concerto No. 21 (often referred to as "Elvira Madigan," for those old enough to remember that film) with Stephen Hough at the keyboard and the dirges of "Meistermusik." Featured singers are soprano Jodie Devos, mezzo Jennifer Johnson Cano, tenor Andrew Stenson and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, with the Concert Chorale of New York under James Bagwell.

Last, but certainly not least (also on August 11), is the world premiere of Pulitzer-winning composer John Luther Adams's "In the Name of the Earth." It will be performed outdoors at the Harlem Meer in Central Park, celebrating "our planet and our community," This commission for four choirs led by the incomparable Simon Halsey, includes nearly 800 experienced and amateur singers, transforming the names of rivers, lakes, mountains, and deserts into a meditation on the Earth, the Water, and the Holy Wind. (Rain location: The Cathedral of St. John the Divine.)

Tanglewood Music Festival
Between Lenox and Stockbridge, MA
July 15-August 25

Tanglewood might as well have renamed itself "the Bernstein Music Festival" this year: Overall, the season will include 14 programs featuring works by Bernstein (including theatrical pieces and orchestral and vocal works), 7 programs spotlighting works central to Bernstein's life as a conductor and pianist, and many chamber music performances featuring his compositions.

Among the major pieces are the composer's opera, A QUIET PLACE, and Songfest, and two of his favorite works, LA BOHEME and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. Here are some of the other Bernstein-related concerts on the schedule at Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO).

"New York, New York" sing the sailors-on-leave in ON THE TOWN, Bernstein's collaboration with Comden & Green and Jerome Robbins in a semi-staged production on July 7at 8 pm. Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops conducts and Kathleen Marshall is director and choreographer. Andy Karl--who stars in PRETTY WOMAN on Broadway next season--is Ozzie (a Neanderthal look-alike) and Laura Osnes is the aptly named Claire de Loone, with Andrea Martin as Madame Dilly.

ON THE TOWN was inspired by another Bernstein-Robbins collaboration, the ballet "Fancy Free," which will be on the August 18 program of the Boston Symphony with Andris Nelsons conducting. It's being presented here in collaboration with Boston Ballet, using Robbins' original choreography. Also on the program: Bernstein's "Divertimento for Orchestra" and "Serenade (after Plato's "Symposium")."

Puccini's LA BOHEME, a Bernstein favorite, will be performed in a semi-staged performance on July 14 at 8 pm, with Nelsons conduction the Symphony. His wife, soprano Kristine Opolais, is Mimi and tenor Piotr Beczala is Rodolfo, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, under conductor James Burton conductor and the Boston Symphony Children's Choir under Daniel Rigazzi.

A chamber ensemble version of Bernstein's one-act opera, A QUIET PLACE (his final stage work), will be fully staged on August 9 at 8 pm in Ozawa Hall with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra under Stefan Asbury. The opera is a sequel to another one-acter, TROUBLE IN TAHITI, with Alexandra Silber and Nathan Gunn, conducted by Charles Prince, being performed on July 12.

The composer's SONGFEST, on a program with the Sibelius Symphony No. 2 is scheduled for August 4 at 8pm, with Bramwell Tovey conducting the Boston Symphony, with some powerhouse soloists: soprano Nadine Sierra, mezzo Isabel Leonard, mezzo Kelley O'Connor, and tenor Nicholas Phan.

Haydn's MISSA IN ANGUSTIIS, better known as the Lord Nelson Mass, is on a program with Mozart's Symphony No. 34 and Bernstein's "Halil," a nocturne for flute and orchestra on July 21 at 8, the BSO conducted by Herbert Blomstedt.

The season terminates with--surprise!--a Bernstein gala (coinciding with his birthdate) on August 25, with an amazing array of soloists and conductors: co-host Audra McDonald; Andris Nelsons, Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Christoph Eschenbach, and Michael Tilson Thomas; classical artists Midori, Thomas Hampson, Isabel Leonard, Yo-Yo Ma, Kian Soltani, Nadine Sierra, and Susan Graham; Broadway's Jessica Vosk and Tony Yazbeck; and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus--all joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra with musicians from the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, and Tanglewood Music Center.

Bernstein's Chichester Psalms--quite popular this year--is being performed on July 15 at 2:30 pm, with the BSO conducted by music director Nelsons. Also on the program: Beethoven's Piano Concerto #1, with Yuja Wang, and Mendelssohn's Symphony #4.

Teatro Nuovo
Purchase College
July 28-August 5

The renowned tradition of Bel Canto at Caramoor moves with Will Crutchfield to the next level in its new home at Teatro Nuovo, an exciting new ensemble that will present 19th-century opera for the first time in America with period instruments at SUNY Purchase.

Teatro Nuovo launches its first season with two works that pointed the way for opera's most fertile century: Rossini's TANCREDI and Mayr's MEDEA IN CORINTO--two feasts of music, drama, and vocalism at peak inspiration--while continuing the unique style of semi-staging that brings opera to life in concert format. A must-see bonus: TANCREDI RIFATTO--which features all the gorgeous music Rossini added to the score for its revivals, making nearly half the opera "re-made (rifatto)", with gems unknown even to Rossini fans.

TANCREDI (July 28 and August 3) features mezzo Tamara Mumford (a smash in Saariaho's L'AMOUR DE LOIN at the Met) and tenor Santiago Ballerini--who did a notable IL PIRATA with Angela Meade at Caramoor last year. Crutchfield leads the Teatro Nuovo Chorus and Orchestra from the harpsichord.

MEDEA IN CORINTO (July 29 and August 4) by Giovanni Simone Mayr, who's considered the "missing link" between Mozart and Bel Canto - but also a harbinger of the future. Serious opera in the Romantic era meant tragedy; the stark vision of this MEDEA showed the way. Soprano Jennifer Rowley--who took on TOSCA at the Met and the Philadelphia Orchestra this spring--sings the title role.

TANCREDI RIFATTO (August 5) by Rossini includes the substitutes he wrote for both of Tancredi's arias, both of Argirio's, and one each for Amenaide, Isaura, and Roggero--as well as a completely different ending for the opera: a tragic one following Voltaire's original dénoument. It makes a completely different opera--and, according to Crutchfield "a very beautiful one." Mezzo Aleks Romano takes on the title role in this version.

Also among the events scheduled for Purchase: A master class with mezzo Jennifer Larmore on July 30 at 7:30pm; "Parlami d'amore (Speak to me of love!)" on July 31 at 7:30pm, showing what happened when Bel Canto migrated to Italian popular song in the 20th century, with favorites made immortal by singers like Tito Schipa, Carlo Buti, Luciano Pavarotti, and Andrea Bocelli (none of who are appearing!).

Berkshire Opera Festival
Pittsfield, MA
August 25-31

The fledgling Berkshire Opera Festival, which hit the ground running in 2016 with MADAMA BUTTERFLY and followed up with a successful ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, takes on Verdi's RIGOLETTO. Performances on August 25, at 1:00pm, August 28, at 7:30pm and August 31 at 7:30pm.

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If you haven't been able to find one or two things to see out of all the ones mentioned in this series--and there are others that may have skipped by us--there's always an airport: European festivals are waiting for you.