Seattle Baroque Orchestra offers a program this weekend of J.S. Bach cantatas. Titled Jubilation and Redemption, the concert features the Portland-based soprano Arwen Myers as the soloist in Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51, and Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199, with SBO’s Baroque trumpet expert Kris Kwapis directing the ensemble. Part of the Early Music Seattle season, the concert takes place Saturday 4 November at 7.30pm at Bastyr University Chapel and Sunday 5 November at 2pm at Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall.
Kris Kwapis on Bach’s cantatas as a “treasure trove for trumpet”:
While a fair number of monumental works written by J. S. Bach are among the typical Baroque canon, at least among the reach of the enthusiastic readers of this blog, specific works among the catalog of cantatas tend to be lesser known and subsequently not as frequently programmed. Most attentive audience members are at least familiar with the larger pieces such as the Mass in B Minor, Magnificat, and Christmas Oratorio, which, of course, are outstanding works of art that also happen to have wonderful (and delightfully challenging!) trumpet parts. But the cantatas, perhaps because Bach wrote around 300 during his lifetime, are sometimes overlooked….
from left: Jordan Nobles, who received the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music; host Sylvia L’Écuyer; Jason van Eyk, Managing Director of the Azrieli Centre for Music, Arts and Culture; Ana Sokolović, Chair of the Advisory Council for the Azrieli Music Prizes and Juan Trigos, who won the first-ever Azrieli Commission for International Music;(c) Tam Photography for Danylo Bobyk
The biennial 2024 Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) laureates have just been announced by the Azrieli Foundation. They include Yair Klartag, who received the Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music; Josef Bardanashvili, who won the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music; Jordan Nobles, who received the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music; and Juan Trigos, who won the first-ever Azrieli Commission for International Music — a prize created to promote greater intercultural understanding. View a recording of the livestream of the announcement here.
Each Laureate will receive a prize package valued at over CAD 200,000, including a cash award of CAD 50,000; a world-premiere performance of their prize-winning work in Montréal by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Chorus at the AMP Gala Concert on October 28, 2024; two subsequent international performances; and a professional recording of their prize-winning work.
Each cycle of AMP’s four music prizes focuses on an instrumentation category. The 2024 Laureates will compose choral works for a cappella choir and up to four additional instruments and/or vocal soloist(s).
This year, three distinguished panels of luminaries and experts selected the winning submissions, including Chaya Czernowin, Tania León, Dr. Neil W. Levin, Samy Moussa, Gerard Schwarz, and Ana Sokolović.
The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music is awarded to a composer who has written the best new undiscovered work of Jewish music. Josef Bardanashvili won for his Light to My Path Choral Fantasy for Mixed Choir, Saxophone, Percussion, and Piano. Each movement in his composition grows from one of the various states of belief – supplication, ecstasy, doubt, gratitude – outlined in the Book of Psalms.
In selecting Bardanashvili, the Jury noted that his “music is beautiful. It is clear the composer is putting his own inner musical and sacred world on display and, in so doing, inviting the listener to enter it.”
The Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music is awarded to encourage composers to creatively and critically engage with the question, “What is Jewish music?” It is given to the composer who displays the utmost creativity, artistry, technical mastery and professional expertise in their response to this question.
For the Commission, Yair Klartag will create The Parable of the Palace, an 18-minute work for choir and four double basses. The work will draw on Jewish philosopher Maimonides’s (1138-1204) famous parable to investigate the limits of logic and reason in explaining reality and the metaphysical. The Parable of the Palace will divide the choir and double basses into four smaller ensembles, in which each choir approaches–but never quite reaches–the pitch of the double bass.
The jury praised Klartag for “meeting a very high standard in how his music clearly connects at all levels and yet manages to evade our expectations.”
The Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music is offered to a Canadian composer to create a new musical work that engages with the complexities of composing concert music in Canada today. Jordan Nobles’s proposal – Kanata for Large Choir – will be a 15-minute tribute to the Canadian landscape inspired by travel across Canada. Each section of the new work will be composed on the land as Nobles travels through it. The work will feature the modern and First Nation names of the rivers, lakes and mountains from each province.
The jury credited Nobles as “a strong composer who writes music that is unashamedly honest and clearly in his voice. His compositions are elemental, expansive and engaging, pulling you into his sound world.”
The Azrieli Commission for International Music is offered to a composer who engages with the world’s diverse cultural heritage. 2024 laureate Juan Trigos will honour the pre-Hispanic culture of his native Mexico with his commissioned work Simetrías Prehispánicas. The 20-minute composition for chorus, amplified flute, trombone, percussion, and keyboards will incorporate text by anonymous and major Aztec poets from the 15th century in their original Nahuatl and Spanish translations.
Reviewing Trigos’s proposal, the jury praised him as “a gifted composer whose music is polished, rhythmic, original, well-orchestrated and directional.”
More details about the AMP Gala Concert, featuring the premiere of all four Prize-winning works by the OSM Chorus, conducted by Andrew Megill, will follow in 2024.
Cappella Romana has created an extraordinary and rare program on the theme of the endurance of Byzantine chant traditions near the end of the Ottoman Empire that were preserved by the diaspora of Greek-speaking refugees from the city once known as Smyrna (now İzmir). Performances will be in Seattle (10 November at 7.30pm at St. Demetrios Greek Cathedral) and Portland (11 November at 8pm at St. Mary’s Cathedral and 12 November at 3pm at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral). You can also access the performance online a week after the premiere.
In 1922, one of the worst episodes of “ethnic cleansing” reached its climax with the Burning of Smyrna and the massacre of Greeks and Armenians in this multicultural center. Cappella Romana’s John Michael Boyer writes in his program essay of the violence, all too familiar from current events, which overtook this “most important commercial port in the Eastern Mediterranean … the image of an international cosmopolitan city with the Greek element paramount in a modernized economy and an urbane society”:
According to American eye-witnesses, on the 13th of September at noon, the Kemalists set fires in the Greek and Armenian districts of the city, forcing its 400,000 Greeks to run toward the wharf. At night, on the narrow strip of the Quai, the inhospitable night sea ahead and flames approaching behind, the Greeks were in a living Hell. Ships of the allied fleet in the open sea, following orders which they had received from their countries, observed “systematic political neutrality.”
The program presents chants from psalmody and hymnography from the Smyrnean tradition, including chants associated with the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman (St. Photeiní) and from the Divine Liturgy from Smyrna, Asia Minor, and the diaspora. Among the composers are Kosmás Evmorphópoulos of Madytos (1869-1901), Nikólaos Georgíou, Protopsáltis of Smyrna (ca. 1790-1887), Pétros Philanthídis (1840-1915), Christóoulos Georgiádis of Kessáni (19th c.), Triandáphyllos Georgiádis (1865-1934), Michael Perpiniás (1903-1975), and Pétros Manéas (1870-1950), and Panyiótis Gerogiádis Kiltzanídis of Prousa (1815-1896).
This sounds like a Halloween event you won’t find anywhere else: Carnevolar XI: DéComposition combines choreographed acrobats with live orchestral music such as Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Saint-Saëns’s Danse Macabre.
Seattle Modern Orchestra has just launched a collaboration with Emerald City Trapeze, whose Halloween performances attract hundreds of people from all over the Pacific Northwest every year. Remaining performances are Friday October 27 and Saturday October 28; doors and bar open at 7:00 PM, show begins at 8:00 PM. Saturday, October 28th (Halloween-themed dance party): Party begins after the show and ends at 2:00am.
The show and dance party are both 21+ only. Bring a valid ID for entrance.
Bows (l to r): Georgia Mann, Pouyan Biglar, Iman Habibi, Jessika Kenney, Sharon Azrieli, Steven Mercurio, Zhongxi Wu, Rita Ueda and Naomi Sato (photo: Chris O’Donovan Photography)
Launched a little less than a decade ago, the Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) have already grown to become Canada’s largest competition devoted to music composition. The biennial initiative has expanded to embrace an international scope and last weekend made its London debut at Cadogan Hall with a programme of all three prize-winning works from the 2022 rounds. Steven Mercurio, a member of the AMP Jewish Music jury, led the Philharmonia Orchestra and guest soloists.
Mahani Teave, shown here at a Harriman-Jewell Series recital, will appear at Benaroya Hall Oct. 14 with the Seattle Symphony. (Courtesy of the Harriman-Jewell Series)
I’ve been fascinated — and moved — by Mahani Teave’s story since first writing about her two years ago (link to my New York Times story here). The pianist from Rapa Nui is now in the middle of her inaugural North American tour and comes to Seattle this weekend.
Unlike the rest of her tour, which has been focused on solo recitals, this stop involves a piano concerto and marks Teave’s debut with the Seattle Symphony. She will perform Mozart’s D minor Piano Concerto, K. 466, with SSO assistant conductor Sunny Xia on the podium, on 14 October at 7.30pm at Benaroya Hall. Teave will also play two new solo works inspired by Rapa Nui musical tradition. The other orchestral pieces include Aaron Jay Kernis’s Elegy and Juhi Bansal’s Songs from the Deep.
Pacific MusicWorks opens the season this weekend with A Concert with the Countess: The Baroque Meets Drag. With music inspired by Shakespeare and Pepys, bass-baritone Taylor Ward channels his actual direct ancestor, Nicholas Lanier, in drag. Also featured are the extraordinary young dancer Tschedzom Tsingkhye and the Pacific MusicWorks ensemble.
Featuring PMW favorites, Danielle Reutter-Harrah, Stephen Stubbs, Tekla Cunningham, Henry Lebedinsky, and Maxine Eilander, and introducing John Taylor Ward and Paul Dudley, the Gala will take place at The Ruins at 570 Roy St, Seattle, WA 98109.
This birthday week for Steve Reich also brings his latest world premiere. I had the honor of writing the program note for Jacob’s Ladder. The New York Philharmonic and Synergy Vocals will perform the new work at this week’s concerts, which also include Leif Ove Andsnes in Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto and Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony. (Notes can be accessed via link next to program listing here.)
As part of its ongoing centennial tribute to Maria Callas, The Greek National Opera presentsCallas at the Herodiumon Saturday, 16 September, which marks the anniversary of Maria Callas’s passing. The gala features the repertoire the legendary soprano performed at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in 1944 and 1957. Anna Pirozzi, Catherine Foster, Vassiliki Karayanni, and Nina Minasyan pay tribute to Callas’s remarkable talent and leave their own mark on the iconic venue with this special tribute, led by conductor Philippe Auguin. The program features arias from composers Kalomiris, Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi, Donizetti, and Thomas and celebrates the legacy of Maria Callas at the historic venue that she helped make famous.
Maria Callas’s legacy in Greece is deeply rooted in her performances at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. In 1944, before she left Athens for New York, she sang the role of Smaragda in The Masterbuilder by Manolis Kalomiris, and Leonora in Beethoven’s Fidelio, both under the baton of acclaimed conductors and directors. Thirteen years later, in 1957, she returned to the same venue to give a legendary recital as part of the Athens Festival, showcasing her vocal range and virtuosity in arias from such operas as Tristan und Isolde, La forza del destino, Il Trovatore, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Hamlet.
Opera gala
Callas at the Herodium
September 16, 2023
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Starts at: 8:30 pm
Conductor: Philippe Auguin
Soloists: Anna Pirozzi, Catherine Foster, Vassiliki Karayanni, Nina Minasyan
With the Orchestra of the Greek National Opera
GALA PROGRAM
Manolis Kalomiris, The Masterbuilder
— Overture
— “The sun, the sun”
Smaragda’s aria from Part II – Vassiliki Karayanni
Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio
— Overture
— “Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin? … Komm, Hoffnung” / “Monster! Where are you hurrying? … Come, hope”
Leonore’s recitative and aria from Act I – Catherine Foster
Ambroise Thomas, Hamlet
— “À vos jeux, mes amis” / “To your games, my friends”
Ophélie’s “mad scene” from Act IV – Nina Minasyan
Giuseppe Verdi, La forza del destino
— Overture
— “Pace, pace, mio Dio” / “Peace, peace, my God”
Leonora’s aria from Act IV – Anna Pirozzi
Gaetano Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor
— “Regnava nel silenzio” / “Reigning in the silence”
Lucia’s aria from Act I – Vassiliki Karayanni
Giuseppe Verdi, Il trovatore
— “D’amor sull’ali rosee” / “On the rosy wings of love”
Leonora’s aria from Part IV – Anna Pirozzi
Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde
— Prelude and Isolde’s “Liebestod” – Catherine Foster
The 2023 edition of the BBC Proms offered 84 concerts — 72 at the Royal Albert Hall and 6 across the UK — over eight weeks, concluding with the Last Night event on 6 September.
All of these performances are now available online on BBC Sounds until 8 October. The BBC Promenade Festival each summer is justifiably recognized as one of the world’s finest concert festivals, and the 2023 program was probably the most astounding in recent years.
All of the concerts are worth experiencing, but there are some which, in my view, should have special priority. Of course, the opening and closing nights are imbued with special drama and communal music, as the audience becomes involved with the performers, sometimes joining in to sing.
Two other concerts also included some singing from the audience in addition to applause. One was a Sunday program given twice, in the morning and afternoon of 22 July, by the English National Opera. It was designed as an introduction to opera for the many children brought to the concert hall by their families, and also to amuse them. Actors played the roles of Mozart and Verdi, for example, explaining their achievements, while soloists, chorus, and orchestra performed parts of some of their operas. The program’s title was Horrible Histories: Orrible Opera, and it brilliantly exemplified opera’s capacity to convey social and political conflicts that complicate personal love relationships. A closing event presented a musical listing of British Monarchs over the last 1,000 years, in which all audience members were encouraged to join their voices, presumably to convince the attending children of the value of knowing British monarchical history following this year’s coronation, though it seemed that almost as many of us adults as the children couldn’t fully remember the long list.
Another was the outstanding concert, from memory, by all players in the Aurora Orchestra, who are widely admired for performing classical music without instrumental stands or parts. The work was Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, performed twice, on the afternoon and the evening of 2 September. The concert’s opening half presented an illustrative introduction to the work led by an actor representing the composer, with key examples of the music played by the orchestra. For a couple of moments of interesting harmony and rhythm, we in the audience were asked to join in: quite a lot us tried, but probably thousands of times less convincingly than the brilliant Aurora experts.
Amongst the other concerts to look for online, I would especially recommend a fine solo organ performance given on 26 August by the Canadian organist Isabelle Demers, who opened with her own powerful and effective organ arrangement of Wagner’s Prelude to Die Meistersinger. Also fascinating is a performance of Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri , a fine but rarely heard oratorio, by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. He also led the LSO on 27 August in a superb interpretation of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony prefaced by Figure humaine, a fascinating choral cantata by Francis Poulenc expressing solidarity with the Nazi-occupied French Resistance during the Second World War; it was sung by the admired BBC Singers.
Other recommendations include: a splendid performance on 29 July of Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Chorus and soloists an English translation; William Walton’s powerful and dramatic Belshazzar’s Feast by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on 4 August by, which was preceded by Yuja Wang’s magnificent rendition of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the European premiere of Jimmy López Bellido’s Perú Negro, a vibrant homage to Afro-Peruvian music; a Budapest Festival Orchestra program on 12 August led by Iván Fischer, which included a wonderful account by Sir András Schiff of Schumann’s Piano Concerto as well as Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony; the same pianist on the following day in Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto, and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony; the Boston Symphony conducted by Andris Nelsons on 26 August, performing Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Gershwin’s Concerto in F; and, in an astounding and rare appearance in the concert hall, a performance of Berlioz’s complete opera Les Troyens by the Monteverdi Choir, a cast of brilliant soloists, and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique founded by Sir John Eliot Gardiner but, after he pulled out of the Proms, brilliantly conducted by his assistant Dinis Sousa, who filled in. Also rarely seen in opera houses because of its difficulty and expense, Berlioz’s hugely passionate and exciting stage epic is a tremendously powerful example of how opera uses social and political conflicts to complicate personal relationships — a point that had previously been made in the special concert of 22 July for children and family audiences. This account of Les Troyens in particular should not be missed.
Also worth mentioning is that, in most countries, some of the live Proms recordings appear on YouTube not only in audio but also in video, conveying the dramatic public enthusiasm expressed by the gigantic Proms audiences — as at the Last Night of the Proms.
MEMETERIA 