Fifth Annual Opera News Awards Issue Is Published in November, with Salutes to the Five Honorees

By -

The fifth annual Opera News Awards are the cover story of the November 2009 issue of Opera News. Other feature articles in the new issue include an introduction to Janacek’s From the House of the Dead, just in time for the Met’s production on November 12; a profile of New York City Opera’s George Steel; and a tribute to the incomparable Hildegard Behrens. This month’s offerings from the Metropolitan Opera Guild include lectures on From the House of the Dead; “Puccini the Popular”; French, German and English opera style; and “French Connections”.

Honored for their distinguished achievement in and contribution to opera, this year’s Opera News Award recipients are Martina Arroyo, Joyce DiDonato, Gerald Finley, Philip Glass and Shirley Verrett. Each of these singular artists receives a tribute in the new issue of Opera News, written by one of its editors: Brian Kellow (Arroyo), Oussama Zahr (DiDonato), Louise T. Guinther (Finley), Adam Wasserman (Glass), and F. Paul Driscoll (Verrett). The awards ceremony, a popular gala event, will take place at New York’s Gotham Hall on Thursday, November 19. A starry line-up of performers – Stephanie Blythe, Danielle de Niese, Audra McDonald, Paul Simon and Deborah Voigt – will present the awards, and Thomas Hampson and Susan Graham return by popular demand as co-hosts. Tickets ranging in price from $450 - $850 are available from the Met Guild at 212-769-7009 or at www.metguild.org.

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