Interchanging Idioms

French Soprano Patricia Petibon Records Rosso: Italian Baroque Arias for Deutsche Grammophon Many notable vocalists have turned their attention to Italian Baroque music in the last few years resulting in a vast supply of recordings to choose from. Yet, in this abundance of riches soprano Patricia Petibon stands out as the rare artist who combines a uniquely beguiling and agile voice with the dramatic instincts of a true actress. Rosso, her second recital album for Deutsche Grammophon, is a dramatic tour of late 17th and early 18th century Italian vocal music. The period of music covered in the present recital produced some of the most remarkable and memorable arias ever written. Whether testing the limits of virtuoso technique or singing long melodies in one endless breath, these arias expose the very nature and limits of a singer’s voice. Patricia Petibon has easily mastered the technique required and has freed herself to focus on the dramatic elements of each aria. With sele...

Hailed by Gramophone magazine as “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists,” Johannes Moser been recognized as “young, gifted, and intense…a major talent” ( St. Louis Dispatch ). This week sees the release of the Tchaikovsky Competition-winner’s sixth album on the Hänssler Classics label. A recital disc with Moser’s regular duo partner Paul Rivinius, the new issue features cello sonatas by three great British composers of the 20th-century, Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten, and Arnold Bax; these three works aren’t collected together on any other recording. According to NDR Kultur (North German Broadcasting), “These British cello sonatas reveal Moser to be a versatile and very sensitive musician, who not only applies his gifts to the mainstream cello repertoire, but also introduces his listeners to lesser-known works. These are exemplary performances that will please both the heart and mind.” Two of Moser’s previous recordings with Rivinius – Brahms...

Gerstein Rejoins Dutoit with Philadelphia Orchestra (Aug 6); Gives Recital at Tannery Pond (July 31); Plays Chamber Music at Saratoga (Aug 9); Performs with Royal Philharmonic in Shanghai (Aug 18); and Concludes Summer at Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival (Aug 31 – Sep 4) Kirill Gerstein has had a momentous season. In January, he became the sixth recipient of the coveted Gilmore Artist Award, worth $300,000 and described by the New York Times as “music’s answer to the MacArthur Foundation ‘genius’ grants.” Only two months later, he followed this coup with a second major triumph when he was named the winner of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. Not surprisingly, this Russian-born pianist is much in demand this summer. He makes his Boston Symphony debut at Tanglewood on July 30, performing Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto under the direction of Charles Dutoit. The following night, as part of the Tannery Pond Concerts’ landmark 20th-anniversary season, he gives...

As Artist-in-Residence at NYC’s Mostly Mozart Festival, “Brilliant French Pianist” Pierre-Laurent Aimard Curates and Leads Six Programs Exploring “Bach and Polyphonies” (Aug 13-16), after Return to Tanglewood (Aug 10) Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s summer opened in Europe, where the “ferociously intelligent musician” ( Financial Times ) won esteem for his second tenure as Artistic Director of England’s fabled Aldeburgh Festival. After returning to the UK to play George Benjamin and Mozart at London’s BBC Proms, the “brilliant French pianist” (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times ) now turns his attention to festivals on this side of the Atlantic. At Tanglewood (Aug 10) he performs chamber music by Bach, Ligeti, and Elliott Carter, as he will also do in his first appearance at New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival. As Artist-in-Residence of this venerable four-week festival, Aimard curates and leads six concerts exploring “Bach and Polyphonies,” with musical partners including the Chamber Orches...

Anna Betrebko returns to the Salzburg Festival to sing the doomed heroine in Bartlett Sher's production of Gounod's Romeo et Juliette . Last season she worked with the Tony Award-winning director on his production of Les contes d'Hoffmann at the Met. The performances mark the first time the Russian soprano will sing Juliette, now one of her signature roles, at the Austrian summer festival.

New Release Available on iTunes Music Store on August 3rd on Ancalagon Records SACD/CD Hybrid Available Nationwide on October 12th On August 3rd, violinists Lara and Scott St. John present a new Mozart recording to be released exclusively on iTunes two months prior to the Hybrid SACD/CD release on October 12th. The siblings St. John share the spotlight in three of the composer’s violin concerti recorded on Lara’s Ancalagon label. The focal point of the album is Mozart’s monumental Sinfonia Concertante (K. 364), the last and greatest of his string concerti. This piece is rarely recorded in its original form, with the viola part in scordatura (with open strings tuned a semi-tone higher than standard tuning). Scott St. John takes up the viola to join his sister on the recording, making this the first time the Sinfonia Concertante has ever been recorded by siblings. The remainder of the album lets each St. John take center stage. The Violin Concerto No. 1 (K. 207) is led by Scott, and L...

SummerScape 2010 Includes 21st Season of World-Renowned Bard Music Festival, “Berg and His World”, and New Production of Oscar Straus’s Operetta The Chocolate Soldier (Aug 5–15) The eighth annual Bard SummerScape’s opera presentation, Franz Schreker’s The Distant Sound (“ Der ferne Klang ,” 1910), though familiar in Europe, has never yet – in the century since its composition – been fully staged in North America. Schreker, whose music synthesized elements from Romanticism to expressionism, was hailed early in his career as the most significant musical dramatist since Wagner, and The Distant Sound is a key work of Viennese modernism. Thaddeus Strassberger, visionary director of last season’s lavishly praised Huguenots presentation and winner of the 2005 European Opera Directing Prize, returns to direct the landmark production, with set designs by Narelle Sissons, whose credits include Babes in Toyland at Lincoln Center (2008), and costume design by Mattie Ullrich, who created the...