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Joyce DiDonato

Liked · May 5 

 

As I continue to embrace the 21st Century, I invite you to sign up for a not-too-frequent Newsletter that will bring you up-to-date news, fabulous miscellany, and the chance for you to share the word with friends and family! Please sign up HERE (and rest assured, we will not share your information with ANY other sources.) http://eepurl.com/TL-q5

And Luca Pisaroni posted this short and sweet video right before today's Met in HD broadcast of La Cenerentola. 

Weekend at the Opera with Radio 4 Concerthuis

Baroque, Classical, and 20th Century opera are all on the menu at the Netherlands Radio 4 Concerthuis. Each recording will be available for about 2 to 3 months.

Vivaldi's Farnace from June 2012, with a cast that includes Max Emanuel Cencic, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Daniel Behle, and Vivica Geneux with Diego Fasolis conducting.

Vivaldi: Farnace

Die Zauberflöte from 1958, with a young, vibrant Fritz Wunderlich, and an otherwise all-Dutch ensemble that includes the young Elly Ameling as the First Boy, and a young Bernard Haitink at the helm. 

The Magic Flute

Richard Strauss' Arabella, from April 2014 with rising star American soprano Jacquelyn Wagner (who seems to be making a specialty of the title role), Agneta Eichenholz as Zdenka, and Marc Albrecht leading this performance from the Netherlands National Opera.

Arabella

Unapologetic Awesomeness

The headline below from the Washington Post is not about Emmanuelle Haïm, the conductor (of opera blog Haïm Hair fame);  it's actually a review of the rock group, who performed at the 9:30 Club last night. 

However, I think "unapologetic awesomeness" is a perfectly appropriate way to describe the way Emmanuelle Haïm makes music!

Screen cap from her recent Monteverdi concert.

Gratuitous Friday – Richard Croft Sings Handel (audio only)

Richard Croft sings I Must With Speed Amuse Her, Jupiter’s aria from Act II of Handel’s Semele. (He’s Jupiter! See, I told you he was god-like!) This clip also includes the chorus: Now love that everlasting boy invites.

Bonus track: Where’er you Walk, also from Semele (lightly and tastefully ornamented).

Both clips feature Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset from a performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, 07/02/2010.

Carlos Kleiber und Der Rosenkavalier (The Conductorcam Edition)

Anyone can watch what's happening on the stage, including the conductor. But during an opera, the only people who can (or need to) watch the conductor are the musicians—the singers and instrumentalists.

Here are about 90 minutes of the orchestra-eye view of the great maestro Carlos Kleiber in action—not a rehearsal (there are a lot of those clips around, too), but a live performance; not “just” an orchestra concert, but an opera. I am a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. If I can see into the wings from my seat, I watch what’s going on backstage almost as much as what’s on stage. If I am sitting high enough to see into the pit, I watch the orchestra a lot, too.