Richard Strauss News

Geoff Nuttall, now in his fifth year as Spoleto Festival USA's Charles E. and Andrea L. Volpe Director for Chamber Music, today announced details of the Bank of America Chamber Music series comprising 11 programs, each performed three times at the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina from Friday, May 23 through Sunday, June 8.

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado for the Orchestra's 12th- annual summer residency there, performing six concerts July 18-25, 2014. Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct three programs, July 18-20, featuring works by composers for whom he has advocated during his tenure, ranging from Nielsen to The Marie-Jose?e Kravis Composer-in- Residence Christopher Rouse. The other Philharmonic concerts will be conducted by Bramwell Tovey (July 23 and 25) and Ted Sperling (July 24), and will feature works by Copland, Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Loesser, among others.

The Symphony presents the fourth performance of its Chamber Concert Series on Sunday April 6, 2014 at 3 p.m. in the Meagher Theatre of the Thomas A. Bruder, Jr. Life Center at Neumann University, Aston, Pa.

Sweet, singing lines stem from the fingertips of Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva as she joins Pacific Symphony to perform the compelling melodies of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1, led by Music Director Carl St.Clair. Winner of the First Prize at the International Frederic Chopin Competition in 2010, Avdeeva has been praised especially for her Chopin interpretations: "Her pacing is born of intelligent feeling and clarity of thought, and her ability to finesse Chopin's inner voices puts many to shame" (The Guardian). Chopin himself was a prodigy and wrote with glittering aesthetics for piano like no other composer ever would. Following this expressive piano solo, St.Clair takes the orchestra on the courageous journey created by Richard Strauss in his tone poem, "Ein Heldenleben" (A Hero's Life). The work is held dear by St.Clair and the orchestra, who performed it on the European tour in 2006 to glowing reviews, and it features Concertmaster Raymond Kobler playing the solo violin representative of Strauss' wife, Pauline.

The April broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week — the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin — begin with Music Director Alan Gilbert leading the Orchestra in Beethoven's Coriolan Overture; Korngold's Violin Concerto, with soloist Leonidas Kavakos; Nielsen's Symphony No. 3, Sinfonia espansiva, with soprano Erin Morley and baritone Joshua Hopkins; and Nielsen's Symphony No. 2, The Four Temperaments. This recording of the two Nielsen symphonies was selected by The New York Times as one of the Best Classical Music Recordings of 2012. The following week Alan Gilbert leads the Philharmonic in Nielsen's Flute Concerto, with Principal Flute Robert Langevin as soloist, and Violin Concerto, featuring Nikolaj Znaider, as well as Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2, Little Russian.

The chamber music concert co-presented with 92nd Street Y featuring The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Yefim Bronfman, originally scheduled for March 30, has been postponed to Friday, May 23, 2014, at 8:00 p.m. at 92nd Street Y at Mr. Bronfman's request, due to an unforeseen scheduling issue. Tickets originally issued for March 30 will be honored on May 23.

Nearly 220 years ago this very week, Beethoven premiered his Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Flat major, Op.19. Relive the thrill of this brilliant composer's first concerto tonight, March 22, 8:00 p.m. at the Michigan Theater, through our returning guest, pianist Adam Golka.

This weekend, March 21 and 22, Utopia Opera presents the rarely-performed German operatic gem, Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826). One of the first operas of the German romantic tradition, the fully staged production will be performed with a 20-piece orchestra at the Ida K. Lang Recital Hall at Hunter College (695 Park Avenue). Utopia founder and artistic director, William Remmers, conducts and directs both shows.

The Dallas Opera has announced a cast change for the third production of the company's 2013-2014 “By Love Transformed” Season, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's late-Romantic masterpiece, DIE TOTE STADT (“The Dead City”).

Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman makes his first-ever appearance on the stage of Chicago's Civic Opera House on Sunday, April 6 at 2 pm. He will be accompanied by pianist and frequent collaborator Rohan De Silva in a program of Beethoven, Richard Strauss, and Debussy, with additional works to be announced from the stage. Video screens will provide up-close viewing for every seat in the opera house.

The Cleveland Orchestra and the Lakewood community are joining together to present The Cleveland Orchestra at home in Lakewood, a neighborhood residency that began on February 17, 2014, when Cleveland Orchestra Assistant Conductor Brett Mitchell visited the Lakewood High School Chamber Orchestra to assist in preparation for an Ohio Music Educators Association State Ensemble Adjudicated Event. The four-month residency of educational programs and performances for all ages culminates in an intensive week of free events from May 17-24, 2014. The centerpiece of the Orchestra's activities in Lakewood will be a public Cleveland Orchestra concert led by Music Director Franz Welser-Most at Lakewood Civic Auditorium on Saturday, May 24, at 7:30 p.m. A delayed broadcast of the concert will be presented by WVIZ/PBS ideastream, and a live broadcast of the concert will air on WCLV 104.9 ideastream. Tickets will be distributed throughout Lakewood beginning on Saturday, April 26. (See list of distribution locations below.) The television broadcast will feature a composite of community collaborations, musical performances, and joint events and activities throughout Lakewood.

Lyric's annual Subscriber Appreciation Concert, which this year features renowned soprano and Lyric creative consultant Renee Fleming and celebrated tenor Jonas Kaufmann, has only a few seats left. Tonight's program, which begins at 7:30 pm, is a thank-you performance for Lyric's more than 25,000 subscribers. The concert with the Lyric Opera Orchestra, conducted by Lyric Music Director Sir Andrew Davis includes selections by Verdi, Massenet, Gounod, and others.

On this special Easter-season program, the CSO and Music Director Jean-Marie Zeitouni will show how two great composers concluded their careers and bid farewell to earthly life. In the Requiem that 35-year-old Mozart left unfinished, he offered a compelling mixture of beauty, anguish, majesty, and drama. At 84, Richard Strauss looked back over a long, brilliant career in the achingly nostalgic Four Last Songs. Program will also feature guest soprano Susan Gritton and the Columbus Symphony Chorus, as well as a performance of Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde.

'I'm not a warhorse kind of singer,' mezzo Susan Graham states matter-of-factly. 'A. I'm a mezzo. B. I'm not a character mezzo. C. I'm not a contralto. The iconic opera repertoire for mezzos, Amneris (AIDA), Azucena (IL TROVATORE), even Eboli (DON CARLO)--those kinds of roles aren't my stock and trade because my voice sits high and has a different timbre.' Well, what then is her milieu? It's the likes of Handel, who composed several of the arias she has been singing this winter at the Met, as one of the stars of THE ENCHANTED ISLAND, a kind of Baroque 'jukebox opera.' But it's also Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING & I, which she is doing this June at the Chatelet in Paris.

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced its 2014-15 season. Music Director Franz Welser-Möst's programs include Bach's Mass in B minor, and Brahms's Piano Concertos with Yefim Bronfman as soloist. Mr. Welser-Möst continues his long-standing tradition of opera performances at Severance Hall with concert performances of Richard Strauss's rarely heard opera Daphne. Guest artists returning to Severance Hall include Lang Lang, Christian Tetzlaff, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Mitsuko Uchida, and conductors Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and Fabio Luisi. The Orchestra celebrates the 90th birthday of Pierre Boulez in three programs conducted by Franz Welser-Möst.

Lyric's annual Subscriber Appreciation Concert, which this year features renowned soprano and Lyric creative consultant Renee Fleming and celebrated tenor Jonas Kaufmann, has only a few seats left. The Wednesday, March 19 program, which begins at 7:30 pm, is a thank-you performance for Lyric's more than 25,000 subscribers. The concert with the Lyric Opera Orchestra, conducted by Lyric Music Director Sir Andrew Davis includes selections by Verdi, Massenet, Gounod, and others.

Richard Strauss's Arabella will return to the Met April 3 for its first company performances since 2001, conducted by Philippe Auguin and featuring a principal cast of rising stars and artists new to the Met. Swedish soprano Malin Byström, who made a notable Met debut in Gounod's Faust two seasons ago, will take the central role of the charming and much-courted Arabella. German baritone Michael Volle, a leading exponent of dramatic baritone roles in Europe, makes his Met debut as Mandryka, the suitor who offers Arabella security and devotion. Three additional European stars, German soprano Juliane Banse and tenor Roberto Saccà and Austrian bass-baritone Martin Winkler, make their respective Met debuts as Arabella's sister, Zdenka; Matteo, the young man Zdenka pines for despite his infatuation with her sister; and Waldner, the sisters' destitute father. Arabella will be performed in a revival of Otto Schenk's 1983 production. Erin Wall, the Canadian soprano who sang Helena in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Met earlier this season, will star as Arabella in the April 24 performance.

Yefim Bronfman, the New York Philharmonic's 2013-14 Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, will be spotlighted in a chamber music concert co-presented with 92nd Street Y. Mr. Bronfman will be joined by Philharmonic Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow; Associate Principal Clarinet Mark Nuccio, replacing Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson; Associate Principal, Second Violin Group, Lisa Kim; Associate Principal Viola Rebecca Young; and cellist Maria Kitsopoulos for the program, featuring Schubert's Sonatina in A minor; Bartok's Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano; and Brahms's Piano Quintet, Sunday, March 30, 2014, at 3:00 p.m. at 92nd Street Y.

French soprano Natalie Dessay makes her highly anticipated New York recital debut tonight, March 12 at 8:00 p.m. at Carnegie Hall in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, joined by pianist and frequent collaborator Philippe Cassard. Ms. Dessay and Mr. Cassard recently released an acclaimed recording of Debussy's works in 2012 (Virgin Classics), two of which are featured in this program-'Apparition,' and 'La romance d'Ariel.' The program also features German works by Brahms, Clara Schumann, and Richard Strauss, and French works by Duparc, Poulenc, and Fauré.

Christoph von Dohnanyi will return to the New York Philharmonic to conduct Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring Paul Lewis in his Philharmonic debut, and Schumann's Symphony No. 2, Thursday, April 10, 2014, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, April 11 at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m.