MEMETERIA by Thomas May

August 8, 2025 • 11:29 am 1

Perfect Timing: ‘Figaro’ in Santa Fe

Liv Redpath as Susanna in *The Marriage of Figaro* at Santa Fe Opera; image: Bronwen Sharp

My Musical America review of Laurent Pelly’s Nozze at Santa Fe Opera:
SANTA FE—The plot of The Marriage of Figaro can feel like a dizzying maze of deceptions and deferred revelations—its intricate turns threatening to overwhelm the human stakes. But in Santa Fe Opera’s ingeniously paced production, directed by Laurent Pelly, every complication slips neatly into place with the precision of a fine timepiece, allowing the machinery of the plot to bring the messy human entanglements that drive the drama into…

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Filed under: Mozart, Musical America, review, Santa Fe Opera

August 7, 2025 • 11:51 am Comments Off on Across the Americas: The Miró Quartet Celebrates Alberto Ginastera

Across the Americas: The Miró Quartet Celebrates Alberto Ginastera

*Miró Quartet: Daniel Ching, Joshua Gindele, John Largess and William Fedkenheuer*

Here’s an interview I did for The Strad with the Miró Quartet on their new recording of the complete quartets by Alberto Ginastera:

Among the Miró Quartet’s projects marking its milestone 30th-anniversary season in 2025 is a new recording of the three string quartets by Alberto Ginastera. For the String Quartet No. 3, Miró is joined by soprano Kiera Duffy. Long a staple of the ensemble’s live repertoire, these works trace the full arc of the Argentine composer’s creative evolution. As violist John Largess notes, they synthesise Argentine folk idioms with bold modernist language, making extraordinary technical demands.

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Filed under: South America, string quartet, The Strad

August 5, 2025 • 11:58 am Comments Off on Blood Ropes and Broken Gods: ‘Die Walküre’ in Santa Fe

Blood Ropes and Broken Gods: ‘Die Walküre’ in Santa Fe

*Ryan Speedo Green (Wotan), Back: Tamara Wilson (Brüunhilde), photo by Curtis Brown for the Santa Fe Opera*

Nothing like seeing Die Walküre accompanied by lightning and storm clouds @Santa Fe Opera. My review for Opera Now:

As its track record of world premieres and off-the-beaten-path repertoire proves, Santa Fe Opera has never shied away from adventurous undertakings. But with this new Die Walküre—its first venture into the Ring and only its third Wagner staging since 2022—the company takes a striking step into territory long left unexplored.

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Filed under: Santa Fe Opera, Wagner

August 5, 2025 • 11:52 am Comments Off on Still Bohemians After All These Years

Still Bohemians After All These Years

*L – R: Long Long (Rodolfo), Szymon Mechliński (Marcello), Emma Marhefka (Musetta), Sylvia D’Eramo (Mimì), photo by Curtis Brown for the Santa Fe Opera*

You think you’ve gotten over La bohème. Then a performance comes along and shatters your defenses, breaking your heart again…

My review of James Robinson’s new production spans the length of the 2025 Santa Fe Opera season is online here:

James Robinson’s new production of Puccini’s ubiquitous classic opened Santa Fe Opera’s 2025 season in June and will close it later this month. With its finely observed details and an emotional realism that doesn’t coast on sentimentality, it makes a fitting bookend to a summer that has balanced tradition with reinvention …

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Filed under: James Robinson, Puccini, Santa Fe Opera

July 31, 2025 • 12:32 pm Comments Off on Showbiz and Shadows: ‘Rigoletto’ at Santa Fe Opera

Showbiz and Shadows: ‘Rigoletto’ at Santa Fe Opera

*Duke Kim (Duke), Michael Chioldi (Rigoletto), Le Bu (Count Monterone), the Santa Fe Opera Chorus in Rigoletto at Santa Fe Opera (Photo: Curtis Brown)*

It’s great to be back in Santa Fe. Here’s my take on the first of this week’s five productions @Santa Fe Opera:

Santa Fe Opera’s new Rigoletto delivers flashes of vitality that help compensate for a staging that is often muddled. From the outset, Carlo Montanaro’s conducting signalled an intense level of involvement from the orchestra. The opening curse motif, stated a touch more aggressively than usual, is as emphatic as an oracle. …

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Filed under: review, Santa Fe Opera, Verdi

July 21, 2025 • 10:07 pm Comments Off on Yes, Chef – With Strings Attached

Yes, Chef – With Strings Attached

Violinist James Ehnes, Seattle Chamber Music Society artistic director, with cookbook author J. Kenji López-Alt have cooked up another music-and-food evening called Tasting Notes II on July 25. (Chona Kasinger)

My story on Seattle Chamber Music Society’s upcoming second edition of the Tasting Notes program:

Before they ever shared a stage, James Beard media award-winning cookbook author J. Kenji López-Alt and violinist James Ehnes had already discovered a mutual obsession with the art of cooking and Beethoven string quartets. ..

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Filed under: James Ehnes, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Seattle Times

July 17, 2025 • 10:27 pm Comments Off on Another Evening at Seattle Chamber Music Society’s 2025 Summer Festival

Another Evening at Seattle Chamber Music Society’s 2025 Summer Festival

*l to r: Yulianna Avdeeva, James Ehnes, Efe Baltacıgil and Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt; photo: Jenna Poppe*

From my review for The Strad:

With the other major classical institutions largely on summer hiatus, the Seattle Chamber Music Society takes centre stage in July, commanding the city’s musical life with a month-long festival that has been packing Benaroya Hall’s chamber music venue. Its varied slate of mainstage concerts, related events and guest artists has become a cultural fixture. Indeed, SCMS is expanding its presence with the recent announcement of an extended year-round season of offerings….

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Filed under: James Ehnes, Mozart, review, Schumann, Seattle Chamber Music Society

July 11, 2025 • 12:28 pm Comments Off on Anne Akiko Meyers: Champion of Contemporary Music

Anne Akiko Meyers: Champion of Contemporary Music

Even before the year reached its mid-point, Anne Akiko Meyers had released her third album of 2025, each strikingly different and, characteristically, showcasing new works she has commissioned.

My profile of this extraordinary violinist – and human being – is the cover story of this month’s Gramophone:

‘Curiosity’ doesn’t do justice to the force that drives Anne Akiko Meyers. A better word might be the German Neugier (literally, ‘greed for the new’), which suggests not just a hunger for the unknown, but an urgent, almost ravenous pursuit – a term that has a more active and impassioned meaning than does its English counterpart…

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Filed under: Anne Akiko Meyers, Gramophone, violinists

July 10, 2025 • 10:34 pm Comments Off on Bach’s Lost ‘Markus-Passion’ Imagined Anew – with a Dramatic Twist

Bach’s Lost ‘Markus-Passion’ Imagined Anew – with a Dramatic Twist

A recent performance of Bach’s “Markus Passion” in New York City featured Chatham Baroque and soloists (left to right, front row) Cody Bowers, Pascale Beaudin, Joseph Marcell, James Reese and… (Tatiana Daubek)

Sacred music lay at the heart of Johann Sebastian Bach’s creative life. His vast output includes hundreds of choral works written for the principal churches in Leipzig, Germany, where he oversaw musical programming….

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Filed under: Bach, early music, Early Music America, Seattle Times

July 8, 2025 • 8:38 am Comments Off on Smolder and Spark: Seattle Chamber Music Society Launches Its 2025 Summer Festival

Smolder and Spark: Seattle Chamber Music Society Launches Its 2025 Summer Festival

*Ehnes Quartet with Beth Guterman Chu; image (c) Jorge Gustavo Elias*

I covered Sunday’s opening concert for Bachtrack:

The Seattle Chamber Music Society has not only emerged from the pandemic slump stronger than ever but seems to have hit on a golden formula. The opening concert of its month-long 2025 Summer Festival attracted a devoted audience to fill downtown’s 536-seat Nordstrom Recital Hall to near capacity – even before the concert officially began…

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Filed under: Fanny Mendelssohn, James Ehnes, Mendelssohn, review, Seattle Chamber Music Society

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