I reviewed the Tannhäuser production currently onstage at the Met:
Could there be something like a Tannhäuser ‘curse’? Wagner fretted until the end of his life about how to improve his first opera inspired by medieval German sources. Like a beckoning Venus, the work tempted him at various points in his life to return and tinker away at what he perceived as its imperfections. Wagner’s most significant revision, fashioned for his operatic debut in Paris in 1861, spurred the most humiliating fiasco of his mature career – not because of the ‘content’ but because of protests in part related to Napoleon III’s policies involving the Austrian Empire….
I’m looking forward to the final performance on Sunday afternoon of Seattle Opera’s Holiday Chorus Concert showcasing the company’s impressive chorus.
The program features a blend of sacred and secular repertoire, including Ottorino Respighi’s Lauda per la natività del Signore, the choral prelude to Pietro Mascagni’s Zanetto, “Laudi alla Vergine Maria” from Giuseppe Verdi’s Quattro pezzi sacri, “There Is No Rose” by local composer Melinda Bargreen, choruses from Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, the “Sleep” chorus from Kevin Puts’s Silent Night, and selections from A Consort of Choral Christmas Carols by P.D.Q. Bach.
Run time approx. 90 minutes with intermission Tickets are $65 general public, $50 subscribers; 1 Flex Pass credit. Sold out, but call Audience Services for the latest ticket availability at 206.389.7676.
Seattle Opera Chorus also plans to undertake its first-ever tour of the Puget Sound region in January, with concerts at McIntyre Performing Arts & Conference Center in Mount Vernon on Friday, January 26, and at Vashon Center for the Artson Vashon Island on Sunday, January 28.
“This is a unique chance to see the chorus outside of a production and to get to know these artists more intimately,” said Chorus MasterMichaella Calzaretta, who is in her second full season with the company. “Our program offers a range of music that highlights the chorus’s power and dynamism and that won’t be heard anywhere else in Seattle. An opera chorus offers a truly distinct sound world—I think we might surprise some people with the breadth of emotions and styles we’re capable of producing.”
David Robertson led the Seattle Symphony; photo by Brandon Patoc
SEATTLE — So far this season, the Seattle Symphony has played under no fewer than seven conductors as part of its central masterworks subscription series. The musicians have shown remarkable flexibility in adapting to a dramatically varied range of podium styles and personalities for each program as the search for a permanent music director continues.
Eric Banks conducts The Esoterics during a rehearsal Nov. 19 at Queen Anne Christian Church in Seattle (Luke Johnson / The Seattle Times)
In advance of this weekend’s world premiereof A Calendar of Light by composer Dale Trumbore and poet Barbara Crooker (Sat in Seattle and Sun in Tacoma, both at 7.30pm), I wrote a profile of Eric Banks and The Esoterics, the ensemble he created as a grad student 30 years ago in Seattle:
Eric Banks: photo (c) Jorge Gustavo Elias
Having arrived early to a Queen Anne church to lead a rehearsal of a cappella choral group The Esoterics on a crisp November afternoon, founding director Eric Banks wraps up his latest text exchange with composer Dale Trumbore. They’ve been going over details of her new choral work, A Calendar of Light, which The Esoterics will premiere in just a little more than a month. Even though daylight saving time ended a couple days before — creating the brief illusion of an extra hour — he stays focused and has no temptation to slow down….
Seattle Men’s Chorus opens its annual holiday program in Tacoma tonight, at the historic Pantages Theater. Titled A Treemendous Holiday, the two-act show has been imaginatively programmed by artistic director Paul Caldwell and his colleagues, including choreographer Jerbarco Arnold-Barger.
The show continues in Everett on Sunday and opens at Benaroya Hall in Seattle on Saturday 9 December. Here’s a complete list of concert dates:
Friday, December 1, 2023 | 7:30pm | Pantages Theater, Tacoma
Act 1 Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! (from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York) Music by John Williams. Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. Arranged by Rob Bradley.
Trim Up the Tree (from How the Grinch Stole Christmas) Music and lyrics by Theo Geisel and Albert Hague. Arranged by Tim Sarsany.
Ding Dong Merrily on High Traditional music and lyrics. Arranged by Howard Helvey.
Turkey Lurkey Time (from Promises, Promises) Music by Burt Bacharach. Lyrics by Hal David. Arranged by Patrick Sinozich.
We Three Kings Traditional music and lyrics. Arranged by Deke Sharon. performed by The Pitch Crew
Auld Lang Syne Traditional music and lyrics. Arranged by Walter Chase. performed by The Pitch Crew
Hodie! Music by John Leavitt. Traditional Latin lyrics.
O Tannenbaum Music by Melchior Franck. Lyrics by Joachim August Christian and Ernst Anschuetz. Arranged by Stephen Caracciolo. Matt Lockett, soloist
Santa Lost a Ho (as performed by The Christmas Jug Band) Music and lyrics by Paul Rogers. Arranged by Tim Sarsany. Joel Kimmel-Staebler, soloist
Pat-a-Drummer Incorporating music and lyrics by Harry Simeone, Henry Onorati, and Katherine Davis. Arranged by Chris Foss and Gary Ruschman.
When You Believe (as performed by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey) Music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds. Arranged by Chad Weirick. Mark Miller and René Salinas, soloists
Joy – Music and lyrics by Chad Weirick.
Act 2 It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas Music and lyrics by Meredith Wilson. Arranged by Mark Hayes.
The Happiest Christmas Tree (as sung by Nat King Cole) Music and lyrics by Cathy Lynn. Accompaniment arranged by Steve Milloy.
Puttin’ on the Holiday Drag – Music and lyrics by Steve Huffines. Anthony Green, soloist
Elton Johnukah (a parody from Six13) Arranged by Mike Boxer. performed by The Pitch Crew
I Saw Three Ships Traditional music and lyrics. Arranged by Kevin Robison.
Here We Come A-Waffling Written by Rand Ringgenberg and Paul Caldwell. Featuring Drew McDonald and Aaron Griffith-VanderYacht as Mr. Mondegreen (alternating performances)
Audience Sing-Along Holiday Favorites Arranged by Roger Emerson and Paul Lavender. Let It Snow, Rudolph, Jingle Bell Rock, Silver Bells, Frosty the Snowman
A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes Music and lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston. Arranged by Chad Weirick.
Carol of the Bells Traditional music and lyrics. Arranged by Kevin Robison.
Disco Santa (Santa Claus/N.O.E.L.) Words and music by Henri Belolo, Peter Whitehead, Rick Brunermer, Ricky Collins, and Tim McLoone. Arranged by Tim Sarsany.
For the opening concert of the 11th edition of Musicus Society Hong Kong’s Musicus Fest, the talented young musicians of the Musicus Soloists Hong Kong joined with pianist Louis Lortie to perform a thoughtfully curated program of Nordic composers. My review:
With the inauguration of Musicus Fest in 2013, Hong Kong’s Musicus Society began translating its ideals of cross-cultural and intergenerational collaboration into the reality of performance in a festival atmosphere….
The Festival Finale to this year’s edition of Musicus Fest brings together musicians from Hong Kong and Austria as the Camerata Salzburg is joined by the emerging star violinists Fan Hiu-sing and Jeremy Hao as duo soloists in Mozart’s Concertone in C major, K. 190. Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony is also on the program, which begins with Joachim Raff’s Sinfonietta in F major. To close the program and festival, students from Musicus Society’s Ensemble Training take the spotlight to play Leó Weiner’s Divertimento No. 1 in D major.
The performance takes place at 3pm on Sunday, 26 November, at Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall.
Guest conductor Dalia Stasevska leads the Seattle Symphony and electric bass soloist Lauri Porra; photo (c) Brandon Patoc
My review of this weekend’s program with guest conductor Dalia Stasevska:
Having missed Stasevska’s SSO debut in March 2022 — a week after Putin invaded Ukraine, the country in which she was born — I was particularly interested in experiencing what all the fuss is about firsthand. Her ability to transmit a sense of focused, joyful discovery while shaping a performance impressed me. The charisma is real. …
The last of the festivals presented by Lucerne Festival in the calendar year, Forward is a fall weekend devoted exclusively to contemporary music and begins today.
Designed and performed by the young musicians of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO), this year’s edition of Forward features the work of such composers as Julius Eastman, Fausto Romitelli, Rebecca Saunders, Liza Lim, Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir, and Charles Uzor (who discusses his new composition commemorating George Floyd, Katharsis Kalkül, in the video above.
PostClassical Ensemble (PCE) begins its 20th-anniversary season on 16 November at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater with a concert titledBouncing off the Walls: Music and Architecture. Exploring the complex relation between these two art forms, the program will juxtapose music written for particular buildings with early-20th-century Modernist efforts to reduce both forms to their elemental materials. Tickets here.
Beginning with Beethoven’s Consecration of the House Overture, written to celebrate a newly remodeled theater and opera house in Vienna, the concert includes music by Gabrieli composed for the Basilica of San Marco in Venice; the “palindrome” minuet from Haydn’s Symphony No. 47 in G from 1772, Anton Webern’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, and Rossini’s William Tell Overture “reassembled to maximize the acoustic possibilities of The Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.”
Projections of hand-drawn architectural sketches by Centennial Medal winner Hany Hassan FAIA will accompany the music, which PCE music director Angel Gil-Ordóñez will conduct. Guest curator and cultural critic Philip Kennicott will offer commentary on the relationship between music and architecture.
Here’s an excerpt from an interview between Gil-Ordóñez and Kennicott:
Philip, you’ve written about both music and architecture; can you talk about how you see the two as interrelated?
PK: I started with the vocabulary they share. Words like harmony and dissonance, form, structure and ornamentation, make sense to both musicians and architects. There’s been a long history of assuming that because music and architecture are both dependent on mathematics and ideas of proportion, and because they also share a language, that they must be fundamentally connected. Think of that famous line by Goethe everyone loves to quote: Architecture is frozen music. I love the poetry of that thought and it will be our starting point for the concert. But then we’re going to move on and try to look a little more deeply about both the similarities and the differences between these two realms of creativity. Consider this obvious difference: A badly constructed piece of music may be boring, or annoying or forgettable, but a badly built building can fall down and kill people. So, clearly, there are some distinctions to be made.
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 