Narek Hakhnazaryan in recital; photo by Daniel Anderson
Here’s my report for Musical America on the recently concluded second edition of the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival held in Los Angeles (behind a paywall):
LOS ANGELES—“Of all the titles applied to me, I like ‘teacher’ best of all,” the cellist Gregor Piatigorsky once said. And of the many angles that might be used to describe the festival devoted to his instrument and named in his honor, the most salient is a passion for sharing knowledge — not just musical knowledge, but the wisdom gathered from a life devoted to performance. More than anything else, the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, which took place in Los Angeles between May 13 and 22, became an ode to omnivorous curiosity as the lifeblood of genuine musicianship.
After recently covering a powerful Flying Dutchman production and the world premiere of The Shining, a new opera by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell based on the Stephen King novel, I decided to look a little more into the intersection of opera and ghost stories.
Here’s my new piece for Rhapsody. It’s a fascinating but enormous topic. I focused on the early German Romantic lineage, without even broaching the enormous popularity of Walter Scott-inspired Gothic opera (Lucia, etc.). Debussy’s Poe fixation, early Strauss/Hofmannsthal, Expressionism and other Modernist strains, and later manifestations are other topics I didn’t have space for here.
TheShining and Other Opera Thrillers and Chillers
Perched in the Colorado Rockies in the dead of winter, the Overlook Hotel is the setting for Stephen King’s 1977 breakthrough novel The Shining. It is during the off season at the vast resort that King’s fictional aspiring writer, Jack Torrance, takes up residence with his wife and son. He hopes to work on his latest opus in the peace and quiet, with minimal responsibilities as caretaker of the presumably emptied-out hotel to distract him.
photo: tenor Aaron Sheehan, who sings the role of Orphée (credit: Kevin Day)
Here’s my story for The Seattle Times on the new production of Gluck’s French version of his epochal Orpheus opera, which Stephen Stubbs and Pacific MusicWorks are performing this weekend.
In May of 1774, 15 years before the French Revolution, the 18-year-old Marie Antoinette ascended the throne as queen of France. Less than a month before that, German composer Christoph Willibald Gluck, her former music teacher — and the son of a gamekeeper — made his debut in Paris with his opera “Iphigénie en Aulide.”
My review of the new opera The Shining, by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell, is now live on Musical America (behind a paywall):
St. PAUL—It seems fitting that the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, where Minnesota Opera makes its home, is located just a mile-and-a-half from the F. Scott Fitzgerald House, where … »Read
My preview of the final Byron Schenkman & Friends concert of the season has now been posted by The Seattle Times:
When great artists are struggling, that pain sometimes comes through in their work — but not always. Take Beethoven and Schubert, who produced some of their loftiest music during periods of intense suffering.
Shlomo Perel, who survived the Holocaust through surreal subterfuge and an extraordinary odyssey that inspired his own writing and an internationally renowned film, has died in Israel.
Poet J. Ivy is a nominee for the Grammys' Best Spoken Word Poetry Album award — a new category he helped create, after petitioning the Recording Academy.
Dreamed up by Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales more than 600 years ago, the Wife of Bath was known for her lusty appetites, gossipy asides and fondness for wine.
In the Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life, Alice Wong shares pieces of her story and experience as a disabled Asian American through a collection of essays, interviews, photos and illustrations.
When Dungeons & Dragons fans saw a leaked draft of proposed changes to the game's copyright license, the backlash against publisher Wizards of the Coast was so severe it reversed course.
If you enjoyed having a good cry over This Is Us, then Dear Edward, about the aftermath of a plane crash, is for you. But it's a Very Sad Show and your heartstrings should know what they're in for.
Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: The Last of Us, The Looney Tunes Show and Ice Merchants.