Watching the Radio – JDD and TH in live Orchestral Programs

OK, so if it's not a master class blog, is this becoming a blog full of gratuitous mentions of Joyce DiDonato and Thomas Hampson? Probably. 

But don't worry, I am not forgetting my other obsessions! It's just what's happening now is you can hear both TH's and JDD's recent orchestral programs online in the radio archives, thanks to NPO Radio 4 in the Netherlands and WQXR in New York, NY. 

Thomas Hampson recently participated in Mariss Jansons' farewell concert with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (March 20), singing Mahler (natürlich), Copland (of course), and Berio (not as surprising as you might think).

And Joyce DiDonato brought her Carnegie Hall residence to a close on March 18 with a wonderful bel canto concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra, sharing the stage with Laura Claycomb and Lawrence Brownlee. 

I caught most of TH's program (including a fine orchestral reading of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra) but I totally zoned out and missed JDD's concert. Now we all can relive (or live for the first time these two outstanding programs!

Enjoy!

Lawrence Brownlee's Tiny Desk Concert at NPR

Most of NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts feature relatively obscure indie, folk, rock, or jazz performers. This program is not Rossini (Lawrence Brownlee's specialty), but it's probably the first appearance of an opera singer in this series. Mr. Brownlee sings three spirituals in this little concert.

Here's a bit of the blurb from the NPR website:

...there's a special place in Brownlee's heart for African-American spirituals. Growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, Brownlee sang gospel music in church, and now he's returning to that tradition by releasing a new album, Spiritual Sketches — and singing selections from it here in the NPR Music offices.

Brownlee bases much of his operatic success on his sturdy church-music grounding. "I would say that the flexibility I have with my voice is in large part because I sang gospel in church," Brownlee told NPR in 2007. "It's a lot of improvisational singing with a lot of riffs or runs."

More Hints from JDD

Here is another hint from JDD about her impending new project:

And because every time I go on YT (one of life’s biggest time-sinks, not that I am complaining), I find something new (to me, at least) to get excited about, here are hints from Joyce DiDonato and her colleagues about singing.