Deborah Voigt Sings title role of Gluck’s Rarely-Performed Alceste

By -

in Concert with New York ’s Collegiate Chorale on May 26

Other Upcoming Engagements for Star Soprano Include Concerts in Reykjavik , Copenhagen , London , Berlin , and Paris ; and Tours with Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Featuring Signature Wagner and Strauss Selections

Deborah Voigt, internationally renowned for her performances in operas by Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, and Strauss, gives her first performance of Gluck’s seldom-performed Alceste on May 26, in concert with the New York City Opera Orchestra and the Collegiate Chorale at the Rose Theater . A great classic role, the title part in Christoph Gluck’s second “reform” opera was a Metropolitan Opera specialty of Kirsten Flagstad and Eileen Farrell, who made her company debut in the opera.

“I am very much looking forward to another concert with the Collegiate Chorale and the opportunity to sing this rarely-performed piece.” - Deborah Voigt

While Voigt gives her role debut as Alceste with the Collegiate Chorale, she has previously sung concert performances of Beethoven’s Fidelio and two of his rare cantatas with the group. The May 26 concert will be the second version of the opera, as first performed in Paris in 1776. The growing international Gluck revival – of which last season’s Met production of Iphigénie en Aulide was a prime example – is receiving another local boost with this singular performance. After the sudden death last year of Robert Bass, artistic director of the Collegiate Chorale, it’s fitting that Voigt is returning to sing an important new role with the group.

Except for this concert in New York, Voigt’s spring schedule calls for a lot of travel: she is currently finishing a run of performances as Amelia – one of her signature roles – in Verdi’s Ballo at Paris ’s Opéra Bastille (through May 13). Late May and early June give Deborah Voigt a chance to look at the “midnight sun”, with a recital in Reykjavik and an orchestral concert in Copenhagen . In concert with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, she sings some of her most popular pieces – arias by Beethoven, Wagner, and Strauss – including the final scene from Salome. She goes to Germany for a series of concerts with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester under Ingo Metzmacher, starting at the Berlin Philharmonie (June 19); and continuing to nearby Cottbus for the Brandenburg Summer Concerts (June 20); then Garmisch-Partenkirchen at the Richard Strauss Festival (honoring the 60th anniversary of the composer’s death with his valedictory work on June 23); and finally Paris, where the tour concludes at the historic Salle Pleyel (June 24). At each of these four concerts with the DSO, Voigt sings both the “Liebestod” from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Strauss’s Four Last Songs.

In July, Voigt returns to Covent Garden for a series of Tosca performances, and she’ll open Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 55th season with that same opera on September 26.

May 26: New York , NY
Gluck: Alceste (title role)
Rose Theater at Lincoln Center
Collegiate Chorale / George Manahan

May 31: Reykjavik , Iceland
Recital with Brian Zeger, piano
Háskólabíó Concert Hall

June 5: Copenhagen , Denmark
Beethoven: “Abscheulicher” from Fidelio; Strauss: Salome (final scene)
Tivoli Concert Hall
Tivoli Symphony Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko

June 12: London , England
Wagner: “Dich, teure Halle ” (Tannhäuser), “Du bist der Lenz” (Die Walküre); Strauss: “Zweite Brautnacht” (The Egyptian Helen), “Ich kann nicht sitzen” (Elektra); Beethoven: “Abscheulicher” (Fidelio); Strauss: Salome (final scene)
London Symphony Orchestra / Asher Fisch
Barbican Hall

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more