Rise Stevens Dies
at 99

Mezzo-soprano opera star Rise Stevens, who sang with the
Metropolitan Opera for more than 20 years spanning the 1940s and 1950s, has
died. She was 99. Stevens died Wednesday night at her Manhattan home, said her
son, Nicolas Surovy.
Stevens started singing with the Met in 1938, on tour in
Philadelphia. Among her greatest roles was the title character in the opera
"Carmen," which she sang for 124 performances. The Met called her
"a consummate artist, treasured colleague, and devoted supporter of the
company for 75 years."
Stevens knew that the soaring notes and huge themes of
opera "was her medium," Surovy said. "She knew it, felt it,
lived it." Always one to chart her own way, Stevens turned down an early
chance to sing at New York's Metropolitan Opera when she felt she needed more
study in Europe. She turned her back on Hollywood in the 1940s after roles in
two successful films because she loved opera so. And in 1961, she retired from
performing opera, saying she wanted to bow out when she still had a great
voice.
"It always bothered me, these great singers when I
heard them again and again, remembering how magnificent they sounded once and
no more," she said.
While she largely left performing behind, she remained
active behind the scenes as an administrator of a touring opera company and as
an educator, helping to foster the growth of opera across the country and the
rise of singers trained in the U.S.
--Deepti Hajela, Associated Press
The National
Philharmonic, in Residence at the Music Center at Strathmore, Announces
2013-2014 Season
Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski and the
National Philharmonic, in residence at the Music Center at Strathmore, today
announced its 2013-2014 concert season featuring superstar violinist Sarah
Chang performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons;
cellist Zuill Bailey playing the complete cello works of Robert Schumann; and
pianist Brian Ganz, continuing his cycle of music by Chopin. The season will
also showcase the music of Handel, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Verdi,
among others.
In its tenth year of residency at the Music Center at
Strathmore, the National Philharmonic is performing to nearly 50,000 people
each year. The Philharmonic will continue its commitment to education and
outreach by offering free concerts to every second and fifth grade student in
Montgomery County Public Schools, free pre-concert lectures, master classes
with renowned guest soloists and high quality summer string and choral
programs.
The success of the Philharmonic over the past 30 years is
largely credited to its critically acclaimed performances that are filled with
great, time-tested music and its family friendly approach. All young people age
7 to 17 attend National Philharmonic concerts free of charge through its unique
ALL KIDS, ALL FREE, ALL THE TIME program.
Repeat Sunday matinee performances of the Philharmonic’s
most popular programs (seven concerts in total) will also be offered again this
year. In addition, concertgoers can attend National Philharmonic’s pre-concert
lectures on featured composers and music 75 minutes before performances.
The 2013-2014 season will feature performances with such
great artists as violinists Sarah Chang and Soovin Kim; pianists Brian Ganz,
Thomas Pandolfi and Gabriela Martinez; cellist Zuill Bailey; sopranos Danielle
Talamantes , Rosa Lamoreaux and Julie Keim; and mezzo-sopranos Magdalena Wór
and Margaret Mezzacappa, among others. It will include music by Handel, Bach,
Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Verdi, among others.
Highlights include:
Season kickoff concert featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor and Violin Concerto with violinist Soovin
Kim.
Violinist Sarah Chang performing Vivaldi’s most popular
work, The Four Seasons.
Cellist Zuill Bailey playing an all-Schumann recital plus
the composer’s lyrical Cello Concerto.
Award-winning pianist Brian Ganz in his fourth all-Chopin
recital at Strathmore and a performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
A concert performance of a new opera, Lost Childhood, by American composer Janice Hamer, which explores
one boy’s struggle to survive the horrors of the Holocaust.
A performance of Verdi’s powerful and timeless Requiem with two recent winners of the
Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions—mezzo-soprano Margaret Mezzacappa
and tenor William Davenport.
Bach’s Mass in B
minor with soprano Rosa Lamoreaux, tenor Matthew Smith and the National
Philharmonic Chorale.
An all-Strauss concert with pianist Thomas Pandolfi.
Mozart’s Violin
Concerto No. 5 with National Symphony Orchestra concert master Nurit
Bar-Josef.
National Philharmonic’s annual “impressive” and
“splendidly rich-toned” (The Washington
Post) holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah.
For the fifth year, National Philharmonic is offering its
subscribers a flexible custom series. This allows subscribers to create their
own packages and receive discounts of 15-30% on tickets, depending on the
number of concerts that are ordered. Season and subscription information are
available at
nationalphilharmonic.org or by calling 301-581-5100. Single
tickets will be on sale in August 2013.
--Deborah Birnbaum, National Philharmonic
92nd Street Y
Announces Its 2013-2014 Concert Season, Hanna Arie-Graifman, Director
Season Highlights:
Season-opening concert with pianist and YouTube Sensation
Valentina Lisitsa in her first solo recital in New York; 92Y audience and
Lisitsa fans will choose from among three possible programs. Legendary Hagen
Quartet celebrates 30th Anniversary with Beethoven’s complete string quartets —
First North American performance of the cycle at 92Y in
November. Brentano String Quartet: New York premieres of quintets by Eric Moe,
Vijay Iyer and Felipe Lara with guest performers. A tribute to influential
guitarist Andrés Segovia. Premieres and commissions by Vijay Iyer, Felipe Lara,
Eric Moe, Tamar Muskal, Esa-Pekka Salonen and George Tsontakis. New partnership
with New York Philharmonic: Yefim Bronfman chamber concert and CONTACT!
new-music series. New “Listen Up” series offers adventurous programming in a
relaxed atmosphere to expanded audiences
Plus, 92Y debuts by accordionist Julien Labro, guitarists
Xuefei Yang and Oscar Ghiglia, Kremerata Baltica, soprano Christine Brandes,
pianists Olga Kern, Jenny Lin and Vijay Iyer, and the Cypress String Quartet.
Returning artists include pianists Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk
and Peter Serkin, cellist Steven Isserlis, and guitarists Eliot Fisk, David
Russell and Jason Vieaux, among many others.
Subscription packages are available at
www.92Y.org/Concerts or 212-415-5500. Single tickets on sale July 2013
.
--Ashlyn Damm, Kirshbaum Demler & Associates
Music Institute
Welcomes Two Academy Faculty Members: Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Richard
Hirschl, DePaul University’s Ilya Kaler
The Music Institute of Chicago is pleased to welcome two
new faculty members, cellist Richard Hirschl and violinist Ilya Kaler, to its
prestigious Academy program for gifted pre-college musicians. Founded in 2006,
the Academy’s instructional model places significant focus on the
student-teacher relationship. The 25 carefully assembled faculty members
include teaching artists with a passion for developing young talent and
established reputations for nurturing student achievement.
“I am eager to join the outstanding faculty at the Music
Institute of Chicago’s Academy,” said cellist Richard Hirschl. “The students I
know who have attended the Academy have been so well served that I am delighted
to be associated with such a fine institution.”
Richard Hirschl earned undergraduate and graduate degrees
from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Leonard Rose and Channing
Roberts. He went on to serve as an associate teacher at Juilliard before moving
to Chicago and joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s cello section in 1989.
Ilya Kaler, currently professor of violin at DePaul
University, has won Gold Medals at three of the world’s most prestigious
competitions: Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Paganini. He earned undergraduate and
graduate degrees from the Moscow Conservatory. He served as concertmaster of
the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as well as guest concertmaster with the
Aspen Music Festival and the Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Baltimore
Orchestras.
“I am happy to be joining the Academy faculty of the Music
Institute of Chicago,” said Kaler. “This distinguished organization has
produced hundreds of outstanding musicians during its existence, unparalleled
by any in the world. I strongly believe it to be a cultural pillar of the
community, contributing enormously to the growth and education of our children.
I am greatly looking forward to working side by side with my outstanding
colleagues at the Music Institute.”
Spring auditions for the 2013–14 Academy session take
place Thursday, April 25, 3–8 p.m. at the Music Institute’s Thoresen
Performance Center, 300 Green Bay Road, Winnetka. Additional auditions take
place on Sunday, April 28, 12–4 p.m. at the Music Institute’s Lake Forest
Campus, 40 East Old Mill Road. For more information, visit
musicinst.org/academy.
--Jill Chukerman, JAC Communications
ArtistWorks
Classical Campus: The Worldwide Interactive Online Learning Community for
Classical Musicians Offers Student the Ability to Study with World-Class
Teaching Artists in a Virtual Master-Class Setting
ArtistWorks Classical Campus is the first and only
interactive, worldwide online learning community for classical musicians,
offering aspiring professionals and enthusiastic amateurs the unprecedented
opportunity to take lessons with esteemed soloists, conservatory teachers, and
principal players of leading orchestras (including the Philadelphia Orchestra,
Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Pittsburgh Symphony) in a virtual master class
setting. Seven instruments are currently available for study: violin, piano,
flute, clarinet, horn, trumpet, and guitar.
ArtistWorks democratizes classical music education,
allowing students anywhere in the world access to lessons with top-tier
teaching artists, removing the barriers of time, location, and cost. Membership
in the ArtistWorks Classical Campus is offered at an affordable $90 for 3
months, $150 for 6 months, or $240 for 12 months.
The ArtistWorks Classical Campus includes instructors
Jeffrey Khaner (Principal Flutist, Philadelphia Orchestra, Curtis Institute);
David Bilger (Principal Trumpet, Philadelphia Orchestra, Curtis Institute,
University of Georgia, Temple University); Ricardo Morales (Principal Clarinetist,
Philadelphia Orchestra, Curtis Institute, Juilliard, Temple University);
William Caballero (Principal French Horn, Pittsburgh Orchestra, Carnegie Mellon
University School of Music); violinist Nathan Cole (First Associate
Concertmaster, Los Angeles Philharmonic); guitarist Jason Vieaux (Curtis
Institute, Cleveland Institute of Music); and pianist Christie Peery (Peabody
Institute).
The Classical Campus uses ArtistWorks’ Video Exchange™
Feedback Platform, which combines the best of online learning with the best of
face-to-face lessons. Membership provides students with unlimited access to a
comprehensive collection of streamed video music lessons. Each expert teacher
has personally developed their curriculum through the ArtistWorks school,
resulting in hundreds of illuminating online lessons that explore technique and
fundamentals, etudes, key orchestral excerpts, and solo repertoire.
When students want feedback, they submit videos of their
own practices sessions, and receive video responses from their teachers with
personalized guidance. All online student-teacher interactions are visible to
the entire membership, resulting in a virtual master class where each student
can benefit from one-on-one teaching.
Instructors of the ArtistWorks Classical Campus are
motivated by a desire to share knowledge of their instruments with as wide an
audience as possible – from high school and college students preparing for
auditions, to amateurs who studied in their youth but pursued other
professions, to aspiring multi-instrumentalists.
“The possibilities with ArtistWorks are really terrific,”
says flute instructor Jeffrey Khaner. “I can work with people all around the
world. It offers me unprecedented direct access to the students, and it offers
them direct access to me. It’s a very cutting edge way of teaching classical
music. The potential for how people can use ArtistWorks is limitless.”
Within their ArtistWorks schools, students are encouraged
to participate as much as they like – chatting online, posting questions and
comments to forums about their instrument, and even seeking out others to play
music with in person, fostering a diverse virtual community centered around
students’ common goals of learning and improving their musicianship.
“The dream of every student is to study under a
world-renowned master,” says David Butler, CEO of ArtistWorks. “The ArtistWorks
Classical Music Campus makes this dream a reality by offering music students
everywhere an opportunity to get direct guidance and individualized instruction
from some of the greatest classical musicians teaching and performing today.”
For more information, visit
www.artistworksclassical.com.
--Christina Jensen PR
“Zelda” Is Coming
Back to San Francisco
Back by popular demand, “The Legend Of Zelda: Symphony Of
The Goddesses” returns to Davies Symphony Hall on June 10 with breathtaking new
material.
As part of the global “The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of
the Goddesses” tour” for 2013, the acclaimed concert will revisit Davies
Symphony Hall on June 10 and once again capture the hearts of video game
enthusiasts and music lovers. Following the huge success of the tour in 2011
and 2012, concert goers in Bay Area will be able to journey back to Hyrule and
enjoy a new season of breathtaking new material exploring even more chapters
from the Zelda franchise, in addition to the beautifully orchestrated
four-movement symphony from last season.
Based on one of the most popular and beloved video game
series of all time, the tour—which has been hailed as a modern classic—features
live orchestral performances of theme music from Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda
franchise. The name "Symphony of the Goddesses" refers not only to
the concert program but also to the four-movement symphony recounting the classic
storylines from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: The
Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and The Legend of Zelda: A
Link to the Past. Eímear Noone will conduct the full orchestra with
arrangements by music director Chad Seiter.
“Last year’s Zelda concert in San Francisco was truly
magical,” notes Jason Michael Paul, CEO of Jason Michael Paul Productions,
which is producing the concert tour. “Now, we are thrilled to return to Davies
with incredible new material. Plus, I live in the Bay Area, so this is a sort
of wonderful hometown show for me as well as the concert series,” adds Paul.
Guests will relish in their favorite moments from the
game, carefully and beautifully timed with a gorgeous orchestral score approved
by Nintendo sound director and Zelda franchise composer, Koji Kondo. The
concert is a festive experience for all walks of fans, some of which have been
known to attend donning green tunics while wielding legendary master swords.
Cosplay encouraged!
To view a complete tour schedule with ticketing
information, and also sign up for a regularly updated digital newsletter, visit
http://zelda-symphony.com
--Jeannine Jacobi, Fresh PR
News from American
Bach Soloists
Mischa Bouvier and Mary Wilson to perform Bach and Handel,
May 3 - 6, 2013 in Belvedere, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Davis, California.
Our 2013 main subscription series will close in early May
with a program that features two brilliant vocal soloists in the title roles of
Handel's dramatic and exquisite cantata Apollo
and Dafne, written when the composer was in Venice.
Soprano Mary Wilson, whose performances in December of
Handel's Messiah and motet, Laudate pueri, were nothing less than phenomonal,
will also sing Handel's motet, Silete venti. And baritone Mischa Bouvier,
"discovered" by ABS at our 2010 Academy, will perform a group of
bravura Bach arias that also feature ABS flutist Sandra Miller, 'cellist
William Skeen, violone player Steven Lehning, and organist Corey Jamason.
May 3 - 6 2013 in Belvedere, Berkeley, San Francisco, and
Davis
The next month, the 2013 FESTIVAL features mastworks by
Bach, Handel, and Biber, July 12 - 21, 2013, at the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music.
This year’s American Bach Soloists Festival and Academy
will focus on masterworks by Bach and Handel and the rich tradition of musical
splendor and imagination from the pens of Heinrich Biber, Johann Schmelzer, and
Georg Muffat.
A program, called "The Glories of Salzburg,"
will feature Biber's 53-part polychoral extravagance for nine different groups
of instruments, probably the largest-scaled surviving work from the Baroque
period. First performed in Salzburg's stunning cathedral by "choirs"
of trumpets, trombones, strings, cornettos, viols, recorders, oboes, continuo
instruments, and two eight-part vocal ensembles, this rare performance will
feature the combined forces of the American Bach Soloists and Academy members.
Other large works by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, one of the most celebrated
and demanding composers of the 17th Century, will be performed.
ABS musicians will present chamber works by Bach and
Telemann, among others, and Handel’s Esther, known as the first English oratorio,
will be performed by members of the 2013 Academy. Distinguished Artist Tanya
Tomkins will present a solo recital and free public lecture/demonstrations on
Bach’s Suites for Solo Violoncello. And, each Festival weekend will culminate
with a performance of Bach’s magnificent Mass in B Minor. More than a dozen
free events are offered.
FESTIVAL: July 12 - 21, 2013 at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music.
--American Bach Soloists
Orion Concludes
20th Anniversary Season with “Folk Inspirations with a Mexical Flair,”
Featuring Miguel de la Cerna World Premiere
Márquez, Ponce, Brahms Also on Program May 5 (Geneva, Il),
8 (Chicago, Il), 12 (Evanston, Il)
The Orion Ensemble, winner of the prestigious Chamber
Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, concludes its 20th
Anniversary Season with “Folk Inspirations with a Mexican Flair,” welcoming
back violinist-violist Stephen Boe and featuring a 20th anniversary commission
by jazz musician Miguel de la Cerna. Performances take place May 5 at Fox
Valley Presbyterian Church in Geneva, Il, May 8 at Roosevelt University’s Ganz
Memorial Hall in Chicago, and May 12 at Music Institute of Chicago’s Nichols
Concert Hall in Evanston.
Following his triumphant first work for Orion during the
2011–12 season, Miguel de la Cerna returns to contribute a 20th anniversary
commission. Almas Perdidas (Lost Souls) is based on the experience
of the indigenous people of the Americas—according to the composer, “those, in
particular, who lost their lives mostly due to exposure to germs carried by
European explorers. It is a one-movement piece based on a 12-tone row, but not
limited to serial rules. I like to call it romantic serialism with jazz
elements.”
Two delightful, though very different, works by Mexican
composers provide a hint of the breadth of music coming from the U.S.’s
neighbor to the south.
Mexican composer Manuel Ponce wrote his Piano Trio (Romantico) in 1912, the same
year he composed his well-known song “Estrella.” He is responsible for
musically bringing the world to Mexico and Mexican music to the world through
his compositions, performances and lectures. He had a long association with
guitarist Andreas Segovia, and his music employs a range of styles, including
romantic, nationalistic, impressionist and avant-garde.
Several generations after Ponce, Arturo Márquez’s Zarabandeo for Clarinet and Piano
reflects his interest in dance music from Cuba, as well as his family
background in mariachi and Mexican folk music. Its rhythmic play gives a feel
of improvisation and a sense of joy and freedom. In addition to works for
orchestra, he wrote ballet and film music, and he continued to use Mexican,
Cuban and Latin American musical resources, combined with rhythms and melodic
ideas from 20th century popular urban music.
Johannes Brahms’ Quartet
in G Minor for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano, Op. 25, one of two referred
to as the Hamburg Quartets, shows characteristics
of the young composer, along with hints of the more mature Brahms. For example,
like many of his early works, the movements are large and have many themes.
Although the textures are thick, with the piano and strings often doubling or
contrasting each other, there are hints, especially in the second movement, of
the more mysterious and somber colors that became characteristic in his later
oeuvre. The third movement combines lyricism with grandeur, and the final
“Gypsy” movement is among the most exciting in the repertoire.
The Orion Ensemble’s “Folk Inspirations with a Mexican
Flair” concert program takes place Sunday, May 5 at 7 p.m. at Fox Valley
Presbyterian Church, 227 East Side Drive in Geneva, Il; Wednesday, May 8 at
7:30 p.m. at Roosevelt University’s Ganz Memorial Hall, 430 S. Michigan Avenue
in Chicago; and Sunday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Music Institute of Chicago’s
Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue in Evanston. Single tickets are $26,
$23 for seniors and $10 for students; admission is free for children 12 and
younger. A four-ticket flexible subscription provides a 10 percent savings on
full-priced tickets.
For tickets or more information, call 630-628-9591 or
visit
orionensemble.org.
--Jill Chukerman, JAC Communications
The Nico Castel
International Master Singer Competition Finals Concert, Monday, April 1 at 8:00
p.m. in Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) and
the New York Opera Studio (NYOS) present the Finalist Concert of the 3rd
edition of the Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition on Monday,
April 1 at 8:00 pm at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Chosen from an
outstanding field of up-and-coming singers, eight candidates have been invited
to perform one oratorio selection and one opera aria on the evening’s concert
program. At the conclusion of the Finals Concert, one male and one female
singer will be declared this year’s Master Singers.
This finalists are: mezzo-soprano Teresa Buchholz, tenor
David Guzman, and soprano Heather Phillips, all from New York City;
bass-baritone Stephen Lancaster from South Bend, Indiana; soprano Kimberly
Giordano from Kirkland, Washington; soprano Jill Dewsnup from Fruit Heights,
Utah; baritone Jeremy Ludwig from Toronto; and Spanish tenor Aurelio Gabaldon,
from Madrid
The Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition
for aspiring singers (from age 21 with no upper age limit) who wish to advance
their careers to the next level, acknowledges excellence in vocal technique and
artistry in the fields of opera and oratorio. The competition is overseen by
the legendary artist and scholar Nico Castel, a member of the Metropolitan
Opera Company for 40 years. The undisputed and internationally acclaimed expert
on language, diction and style for singers, Mr. Castel is currently on the
faculty of The Juilliard School of Music and teaches master classes for singers
at universities and opera companies throughout the world.
Joining Mr. Castel on the Finals Jury are Jonathan
Griffith, DCINY Co-Founder, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor with over
25 years of conducting experience across the globe; Metropolitan Opera
conductor Paul Nadler; opera conductor Lucy Arner; Piano accompanist and
Manhattan School of Music Faculty member Tom Muraco; and soprano Jennifer Ringo
Conlon.
Each 2012 Nico Castel International Master Singer will be
awarded a $1,000 prize in addition to a soloist role in a major choral
masterwork with orchestra in an upcoming DCINY Concert Season. Most recently,
2012 male winner, baritone LaMarcus Miller was featured in Karl Jenkins’ The
Armed Man, presented at Carnegie Hall in January. The audience will also have
the opportunity to show their appreciation by texting their vote for “Audience
Favorite” during the intermission.
Founded by Iris Derke (General Director) and Jonathan
Griffith (Artistic Director and Principal Conductor) Distinguished Concerts
International is driven by passion, innovative vision, a total belief in its
artists, and unwavering commitment to bringing forth unforgettable audience
experiences.
Tickets:
www.carnegiehall.org or 212-247-7800 or in person
at the Carnegie Hall Box Office.
--Shira Gilbert, DCINY
Helmuth Rilling
Steps Down; Matthew Halls Steps Up
Helmuth Rilling will celebrate his 80th birthday and his
concluding season as founding artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival
with a total of 60 events between June and July 14th 2013 and on July 6th the
Stuttgart-born Bach expert will ceremoniously pass the Festival’s leadership on
to his successor Matthew Halls in a concert where the pair share the podium.
Rilling will conduct the Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello in the
first half of the program and Matt Halls steps forward in the second half to conduct Mendelssohn’s Psalm 95 and Brahms’s
Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny).
Halls, who was designated as the OBF's next artistic
director in 2011, also conducts "A Night at the Opera" July 2 as the
centerpiece of three concerts honoring the anniversaries of Verdi, Wagner, and
Benjamin Britten. Soprano Tamara Wilson is featured in the opera program, which
includes, from Verdi, Pace, pace, mio Dio from La Forza del Destino and Ernani!
Ernani, involami from Ernani; Wagner's Prelude & Liebstod from Tristan and
Isolde; and the Four Sea Interludes and arias from Britten's Peter Grimes.
An "Anniversary Soiree" July 1 showcases OBF
vocal soloists in works by Britten and other celebrated composers with 2013
milestones: Lutoslawski, Poulenc, and Hindemith. On July 3 the piano duo of
Ya-Fei Chuang and Robert Levin explore piano transcriptions, souvenirs, and
fantasies of Verdi and Wagner themes.
In the case of the British conductor Matthew Halls, the
description “versatile” is more than richly deserved. Halls first came to
prominence as an acclaimed keyboard player, but was soon conducting regularly.
Now, he has established himself in Europe as one of today’s leading young
conductors, and is rapidly gaining an equally enthusiastic following on podiums
in North American concert halls and opera houses. Mr. Halls has been named
Artistic Director Designate of the renowned Oregon Bach Festival, where he will
take over from founding Artistic Director Helmuth Rilling following the 2013
season.
Beyond the early music repertoire with which he launched
his conducting career, Halls has demonstrated equal skill as a conductor of
later Germanic works, particularly Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann and
Schubert. His interpretation of Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony was called a
“brilliantly rich and rewarding rendition” (Exeter Express and Echo), and in
his reading of Mozart’s “Paris” Symphony with the Norrköping Symphony
Orchestra, “he reconciled elegance and pomp in the first movement, emphasized
the graceful in the second and gave the last a seal of skittish vitality”
(Ösgöta Correspondenten). Upcoming programs in Dublin, Houston, and Washington
DC will include works by Ravel, Dutilleux, Vaughan-Williams, Beethoven, Dvorak
and Rachmaninov, and he is moving increasingly into explorations of the choral
and orchestral works of his countrymen Benjamin Britten, William Byrd, and
Michael Tippett.
--Schwalbe and Partners
Brooklyn’s AOP to
Select Composers, Librettists for Free Training in the Fundamentals of Opera.
Applications Now Available for 7th Season of “Composers & the Voice”
Program Beginning in Fall, 2013
American Opera Projects (AOP) announces the return of its
popular Composers & the Voice program for its 2013-14 season. Created and
led by Composers & the Voice Artistic Director Steven Osgood, six composers
or composer/librettist teams will be selected for a year-long fellowship,
working with the company's Reside nt
Ensemble of Singers and Artistic Team. Applications and additional information
can be found at AOP's website
www.operaprojects.org/composers_voice. The
deadline for applications is May 17, 2013. All sessions will be at AOP's home
base in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
The primary focus of Composers & the Voice is to give
composers and librettists experience working collaboratively with singers on
writing for the voice and opera stage. The workshop sessions between September
2013 and April 2014, include composition of solo works for six voice types
(coloratura soprano, lyric soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone and bass)
and "Skill-Building Sessions" for composers and librettists in
acting, improv games, and libretto development, providing an in-depth and
firsthand knowledge of how singers build characters, act in scenes and sing
text.
"I can think of no better forum for a composer with a
passion for learning the traditions of so-called progressive American opera
theater than AOP's program," said opera composer and guest C&V
instructor Daron Hagen.
Previous seasons of Composers & the Voice have
featured guest lectures from notable artists such as composer Mark Adamo (Little Women, Lysistrata) and librettist Mark Campbell (Volpone, Later That Same
Evening). Past "Composer Chairs," sponsorships named in honor of
mentors and their support of Composers & the Voice, have included Mr. Adamo
and composers John Corigliano, Tan Dun, Daron Hagen, John Musto, Richard
Peaslee, Tobias Picker, Kaija Saariaho, Stephen Schwartz, and the late Lee
Hoiby.
At the end of the program, AOP will present the results of
the participants' work in public performances - First Glimpse, a concert of songs in Spring 2014, and Six Scenes, an evening of short opera
scenes in Fall 2014. One of these operas-in-progress will be selected to
receive a staged reading at Manhattan School of Music in Spring 2015. AOP has
an eight-year relationship with Manhattan School of Music Opera Studies
Program, in which students work alongside the composer and librettist and other
professionals provided by AOP.
More information available at
www.operaprojects.org
--American Opera Projects