Latest news with #BelCanto
Winnipeg Free Press
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Will Crutchfield's Teatro Nuovo revives Verdi's ‘Macbeth' with period instruments
NEW YORK (AP) — Verdi can be played on original instruments, too. While historically informed performances of Baroque music are not surprising, Will Crutchfield and Teatro Nuovo are using period pieces for the rarely heard initial version of 'Macbeth.' 'You wouldn't think that architecture from the mid-19th century would resemble the architecture of today,' cellist Hilary Metzger said. 'The instruments and the way they had to make music back then were very different.' 'Macbeth' and Bellini's 'La Sonnambula' were presented by Teatro Nuovo last weekend at Montclair State's Kasser Theater in New Jersey and repeated this week at New York City Center. 'La Sonnambula' will be performed Thursday. 'I feel like I'm in Scotland,' said soprano Alexandra Loutsion, the Lady Macbeth. 'Modern instruments have a sharpness to them and a pristine quality that period instruments don't.' Crutchfield, 68, was a music critic for The New York Times in the 1980s. He established Bel Canto at Caramoor in Katonah, New York, in 1997, then launched Teatro Nuovo as general and artistic director in 2018, showcasing scholarship and furnishing foundations for singers. 'I got bitten with the bug of historical recordings, and I realized very early on, oh, we think are doing traditional Italian opera nowadays but really what we call traditional means the 1950s,' he said. 'What they were doing in the 1900s was totally different, radically just night and day different from the 1950s. … and that just made me really curious. OK, if it was that different in 1910, what was happening in 1880, what was happening 1860?' Verdi emerged from Bel Canto era Crutchfield noted Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi all were born from 1792 to 1813, and early Verdi is in the Bel Canto manner. 'The only reason we think of Verdi as belonging to another era is because he was still composing in his 80s and writing masterpieces after the others were long gone from the scene,' Crutchfield said. 'He is based on the same tradition. He learned his craft from hearing their operas.' 'Macbeth' premiered at Florence's Teatro della Pergola in 1847, just before Verdi's middle-period masterpieces. Verdi and librettist Francesco Maria Piave revised it for a run at Paris' Théâtre Lyrique in 1865 that was performed in French. The latter version, translated into Italian for Milan's Teatro alla Scala later that year, is the most common score used. Jakob Lehmann conducted the original version from the University of Chicago/Casa Ricordi critical edition. At Wednesday night's performance, Loutsion sang a high-octane 'Trionfai! Securi alfine,' a coloratura showpiece that Verdi replaced with the more dramatic 'La luce langue,' and baritone Ricardo José Rivera was menacing and mellifluous in 'Vada in fiamme,' which ended the third act and was dropped in 1865 for a duet between the Macbeths. 'The lady is a bit more unhinged in this one,' Loutsion said. 'It's basically about how she's gotten everything that she wants and she's triumphed, and nothing's going to stop them now.' Orchestra seated in early 19th century arrangement First violins were seated with backs toward the audience, facing the second violins, whose backs were to the stage. Cellos, double basses and brass were split on sides of the woodwinds in a seating Crutchfield adopted from Naples' Teatro San Carlo. 'Back in Verdi's day, the first violins were the teachers and the second violins were their students,' Metzger said. Double basses have three strings instead of four, string instruments use gut instead of metal, woodwinds are made of wood and brass have no valves. 'There's a certain clarity to it and there's a certain specificity,' chorus master Derrick Goff said. 'The English horn and the oboe sound even more plaintive to me. You can really hear the way that the composers had to write very specifically for those instruments.' An orchestra of about 53 was used for 'Macbeth' and 47 for 'Sonnambula,' accompanied by a chorus of 28, and the pitch was lower than used by modern orchestras. Men in the cast wore mostly tuxedos and women were dressed in black on a stage with a screen showing projections. Majority of money comes from donors, not ticket sales Two performances of each opera cost a total of about $1.4 million, according to general manager Cindy Marino. Ticket sales generate roughly $160,000, with the remainder raised from donors. 'We obviously want bigger choruses. We want a little bit larger orchestra,' Marino said, 'but we know financially we are trying to take it easy on increasing what we need to raise and not just jumping half a million dollars in order to grow the company.' Orchestra rehearsals started about four weeks out. The cast worked intensively on the period techniques. 'Now that I'm leaving here, I feel like I have a whole other color palette,' Loutsion said. 'The luxury of being able to dig in and all of us nerd out is awesome.'
Hamilton Spectator
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Will Crutchfield's Teatro Nuovo revives Verdi's ‘Macbeth' with period instruments
NEW YORK (AP) — Verdi can be played on original instruments, too. While historically informed performances of Baroque music are not surprising, Will Crutchfield and Teatro Nuovo are using period pieces for the rarely heard initial version of 'Macbeth.' 'You wouldn't think that architecture from the mid-19th century would resemble the architecture of today,' cellist Hilary Metzger said. 'The instruments and the way they had to make music back then were very different.' 'Macbeth' and Bellini's 'La Sonnambula' were presented by Teatro Nuovo last weekend at Montclair State's Kasser Theater in New Jersey and repeated this week at New York City Center. 'La Sonnambula' will be performed Thursday. 'I feel like I'm in Scotland,' said soprano Alexandra Loutsion, the Lady Macbeth. 'Modern instruments have a sharpness to them and a pristine quality that period instruments don't.' Crutchfield, 68, was a music critic for The New York Times in the 1980s. He established Bel Canto at Caramoor in Katonah, New York, in 1997, then launched Teatro Nuovo as general and artistic director in 2018, showcasing scholarship and furnishing foundations for singers. 'I got bitten with the bug of historical recordings, and I realized very early on, oh, we think are doing traditional Italian opera nowadays but really what we call traditional means the 1950s,' he said. 'What they were doing in the 1900s was totally different, radically just night and day different from the 1950s. ... and that just made me really curious. OK, if it was that different in 1910, what was happening in 1880, what was happening 1860?' Verdi emerged from Bel Canto era Crutchfield noted Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi all were born from 1792 to 1813, and early Verdi is in the Bel Canto manner. 'The only reason we think of Verdi as belonging to another era is because he was still composing in his 80s and writing masterpieces after the others were long gone from the scene,' Crutchfield said. 'He is based on the same tradition. He learned his craft from hearing their operas.' 'Macbeth' premiered at Florence's Teatro della Pergola in 1847, just before Verdi's middle-period masterpieces. Verdi and librettist Francesco Maria Piave revised it for a run at Paris' Théâtre Lyrique in 1865 that was performed in French. The latter version, translated into Italian for Milan's Teatro alla Scala later that year, is the most common score used. Jakob Lehmann conducted the original version from the University of Chicago/Casa Ricordi critical edition. At Wednesday night's performance, Loutsion sang a high-octane 'Trionfai! Securi alfine,' a coloratura showpiece that Verdi replaced with the more dramatic 'La luce langue,' and baritone Ricardo José Rivera was menacing and mellifluous in 'Vada in fiamme,' which ended the third act and was dropped in 1865 for a duet between the Macbeths. 'The lady is a bit more unhinged in this one,' Loutsion said. 'It's basically about how she's gotten everything that she wants and she's triumphed, and nothing's going to stop them now.' Orchestra seated in early 19th century arrangement First violins were seated with backs toward the audience, facing the second violins, whose backs were to the stage. Cellos, double basses and brass were split on sides of the woodwinds in a seating Crutchfield adopted from Naples' Teatro San Carlo. 'Back in Verdi's day, the first violins were the teachers and the second violins were their students,' Metzger said. Double basses have three strings instead of four, string instruments use gut instead of metal, woodwinds are made of wood and brass have no valves. 'There's a certain clarity to it and there's a certain specificity,' chorus master Derrick Goff said. 'The English horn and the oboe sound even more plaintive to me. You can really hear the way that the composers had to write very specifically for those instruments.' An orchestra of about 53 was used for 'Macbeth' and 47 for 'Sonnambula,' accompanied by a chorus of 28, and the pitch was lower than used by modern orchestras. Men in the cast wore mostly tuxedos and women were dressed in black on a stage with a screen showing projections. Majority of money comes from donors, not ticket sales Two performances of each opera cost a total of about $1.4 million, according to general manager Cindy Marino. Ticket sales generate roughly $160,000, with the remainder raised from donors. 'We obviously want bigger choruses. We want a little bit larger orchestra,' Marino said, 'but we know financially we are trying to take it easy on increasing what we need to raise and not just jumping half a million dollars in order to grow the company.' Orchestra rehearsals started about four weeks out. The cast worked intensively on the period techniques. 'Now that I'm leaving here, I feel like I have a whole other color palette,' Loutsion said. 'The luxury of being able to dig in and all of us nerd out is awesome.'
Atlantic
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
A Writer Who Slows Down the Speed-Reader
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Welcome back to The Daily's Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer or editor reveals what's keeping them entertained. Today's special guest is Ashley Parker, a staff writer who has covered the decline and fall of Elon Musk, interviewed President Donald Trump for The Atlantic 's June cover story, and written about miscarriage and motherhood. Ashley is a fan of anything by Ann Patchett, recommends watching The Studio for a comedy break, and considers Wonder Boys the rare movie that surpasses the book. The Culture Survey: Ashley Parker An author I will read anything by: Ann Patchett. I came to her late, and the first book I read was Bel Canto, but then I was hooked. I went back and read everything else she'd written, and I now read everything she writes, as soon as it comes out. My dirty secret is that I'm basically a modern-fiction speed-reader and very little I read stays with me, but Patchett has a way of creating entire worlds and characters that linger. (I actually met her at the Martha's Vineyard Book Festival a few years ago, when we were both panelists, though it was far more exciting for me than it was for her, alas.) For literary mysteries, I am also obsessed with Tana French, and because I have to wait for each new book to come out, I have since discovered the Maeve Kerrigan series, by Jane Casey. The television show I'm most enjoying right now: My husband and I just binged The Survivors in a single night—me because I found it addictive, and him because he claims he wanted to 'get it over with.' We've since moved on to The Studio with Seth Rogen, which is consistently funny and well done. My favorite art movie: Wonder Boys. And this is not a question you asked, but I'm going to offer up anyhow that this is the rare—perhaps only!—instance where the movie is better than the book. (No offense, Michael Chabon.) It's got an amazing cast (Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Frances McDormand, plus Katie Holmes in red cowboy boots) and an age-appropriate, middle-age romance. Enough said. An actor I would watch in anything: Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg—their essences are somehow endearingly familiar to me. Specifically: They both remind me of my dorky high-school guy friends, and I've always loved the movies they end up choosing. I recently watched Eisenberg's A Real Pain, which did not disappoint. And though I feel like I'm familiar even with Cera's more obscure work (see: Paper Heart), my all-time-favorite movie of his is probably Juno. Best work of nonfiction I've recently read: Invisible Child, by Andrea Elliott. On principle, I read almost zero nonfiction unless I have to for work, but I loved her series of stories for The New York Times on Dasani Coates, a young girl who comes of age in Brooklyn's homeless shelters. The book is similarly cinematic, and absolutely gripping. Also, for work—because I am interviewing the authors (separately) at Politics and Prose this month—I just read Empire of the Elite, by Michael Grynbaum, and 2024, by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf. They are very different books: Grynbaum's is an inside look at the golden years of Condé Nast and how it shaped our culture, and 2024 is an inside account of Donald Trump's, Joe Biden's, and Kamala Harris's 2024 campaigns. But they're both engaging, fantastic reads, and I'm glad I had an excuse to get early copies and violate my no-nonfiction rule. And on the topic of campaign books: I am wildly biased, but I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention my husband's 2020-Trump-campaign book, Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, which I read a bajillion times—chapter by chapter, often out of order—as he was writing it. It remains the best Trump-campaign book I've read, in part because, in addition to having a slew of scoops, it explains the Trump phenomenon and what motivates the MAGA base, including Trump's now-famous 'Front Row Joe' uber-loyalists. A musical artist who means a lot to me: Billy Joel. Long story, but the first cassette tape I ever discovered was my dad's copy of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits—Volume I & Volume II, and for a year or two in elementary school, I absolutely refused to listen to anything else—or to allow my family to listen to anything else. The last museum or gallery show that I loved: Yayoi Kusama's 'Infinity Mirrors,' when it came to the Hirshhorn a few years ago. I like that she's basically a hipster nonagenarian, and that her work is very accessible and fun, because I'm a philistine. Visiting the exhibit was also one of the first dates my now-husband and I went on, and on our honeymoon in Japan, we ended up seeing more of her work, so her show has a nice full-circle quality for me. Something I recently revisited: I keep meaning to reread The Secret History, by Donna Tartt, which my first boss, Maureen Dowd, introduced to me one day in an airport bookstore and correctly predicted that I'd love. A favorite story I've read in The Atlantic: I will read anything by Caitlin Flanagan; in fact, she is the reason I finally subscribed to The Atlantic several years ago. But the specific article that still stays with me, now more than a decade later, is Scott Stossel's ' Surviving Anxiety.' The writing is so vivid and honest, and as someone who has dealt with various phobias of my own, I found it imminently relatable. Something delightful introduced to me by a kid in my life: Kuk Sool Won, a Korean form of martial arts that my 6-year-old is currently obsessed with. We discovered it randomly, when I signed her up for a Kuk Sool after-care club, and she instantly fell in love. She is now a yellow-striped belt and takes it so seriously. Nothing brings me more joy than watching her bark out Korean words I don't understand and practice her various 'forms,' her mouth set in a line of grim determination. A poem, or line of poetry, that I return to: These words, from Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, aren't technically poetry, but they might as well be. Now that I'm a mom and in my 40s, I find them regularly drifting through my thoughts, unbidden: 'Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.' The Week Ahead Superman, a superhero movie starring David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan (in theaters Friday) Too Much, a comedy series co-created by Lena Dunham about a workaholic who moves to London to find love (premieres Thursday on Netflix) Vera, or Faith, a novel by Gary Shteyngart about the eccentric family of a precocious 10-year-old (out Tuesday) Essay The Christian Rocker at the Center of MAGA By Ali Breland After wildfires erupted in Los Angeles County earlier this year, a team from the Department of Housing and Urban Development descended on the wreckage. Led by HUD Secretary Scott Turner, the entourage walked through the rubble in Altadena, reassuring victims that the Trump administration had their back. At Turner's request, a Christian-nationalist musician named Sean Feucht tagged along. 'I can't overemphasize how amazing this opportunity is,' Feucht had posted on Instagram the day before. 'I'm bringing my guitar. We're going to worship. We're going to pray.' More in Culture Catch Up on The Atlantic Congressional Republicans didn't have to do this. The whole country is starting to look like California. The birth-rate crisis isn't as bad as you've heard—it's worse. Photo Album Take a look at these photos of people across Europe doing whatever they can to keep cool during days of oppressive heat. Play our daily crossword.
Malaysian Reserve
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malaysian Reserve
A night at the Geneva opera — that is a literal snoozefest
by AGNÈS PEDRERO IN MOST places, a night at the opera conjures up images of polite audiences in eveningwear sitting upright to enjoy a bit of Bel Canto. In Geneva, though, once a year the crowd includes children, the eveningwear is pyjamas and socks — and the seats are scoped out for how comfortable they are to sleep in. Welcome to Sleepover in the city's 19th-century opera house, when it opens its doors to a small number of enthusiasts. From 8pm they wander its fresco-covered foyers, listen to performed music…and spend the night dozing in an auditorium lit up like a starry night. 'It's pretty crazy,' said law professor Carine Lutz, as a friend next to her rolled out a sleeping bag at the foot of the stage. They were among 180 people who rushed in with suitcases and shopping bags stuffed with quilts to stake out a nocturnal niche in the Grand Theatre. Among them were many families with children, who marvelled at the giant mirrors with gilded frames, the angels and nymphs painted above, and, of course, some music. 'I think purists might find it difficult to imagine that one could sleep here, on the same stage where major operas are usually performed,' Lutz told AFP. Grand Theatre dramaturge Clara Pons explained that the unusual offering was designed 'to open up spaces to things you don't usually do there, like for instance running around in your pyjamas,' rather than in ultra-formal attire. 'We feel closer to people than when we're all sitting in the 1,500-seat auditorium,' she said. Rush to the Balconies The connoisseurs know to flock to the balconies and the auditorium's red velvet armchairs, considered the most comfortable places to spend the night. Adrien Mangili was relishing the experience for the third time with family and friends. 'You have to come early to get a dressing room, to be able to sleep and have a little privacy,' he said, as his seven-year-old daughter Phedre enthusiastically pulled on pyjamas. If you get a good spot, 'it is easier for the kids to fall asleep,' he said. Before turning in, the children and adults spend hours exploring the darkened opera house, guided by ushers holding fluorescent rods. Their strolls were punctuated by musical interludes performed by a Baroque music ensemble called 'The Argonauts'. 'It's soothing, but it doesn't put you to sleep,' said Heloise Garcia, a 20-year-old student stretched out on the main stage. Those unable to secure a box rolled out their sleeping backs in corridors, foyers and on the floor of the auditorium, under a ceiling spotted with a thousand pinholes of light in the shape of the Milky Way. Carolina Marques Lopes, a lawyer, showed off a yellow dog soft toy she brought along. 'This is in case the Phantom comes to visit,' she joked. Stefanie Neves, captivated by the main foyer with its frescoes and paintings, said: 'We brought inflatable queen-size beds.' She and her friends wanted 'to be able to fully enjoy the music and still get a few hours of sleep,' she explained. Before lying down, Neves looked up at an overhead imposing chandelier and pushed her mattress farther away, just in case. Chopin to Pink Floyd Later that night, she and others dozed as an Italian pianist and performer, Marino Formenti, played piece after piece, at whim. 'I decided not to impose a programme, but to bring a number of very different compositions that I like to play, from Baroque to Chopin, to rock music, Pink Floyd, the Beatles,' he told AFP. Near the piano, a young couple danced, entwined, one barefoot and the other in socks, as a woman and child wearing matching panda pyjamas wandered past. Nicolas Wisard, stretched out on his mat, savoured the view. 'It's almost as good as Versailles, the Palace of Mirrors,' he said. As dawn ticked closer, snoring filled the Great Hall's acoustics, while a silent black and white movie played on a giant screen. 'It was really cool,' said Megan Bonfils as she groggily woke to music. 'Being with the artists and in this incredible place…in socks.' — AFP This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition
Al Etihad
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Etihad
Jessica Pratt and Javier Camarena perform opera gala at Abu Dhabi Festival
17 Apr 2025 23:49 ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)The Abu Dhabi Festival has presented some world-class acts this year and this weekend is no the Red Theater at NYUAD's Art Center on Saadiyat Island, this Sunday, April 20, at 7.30pm, star soprano Jessica Pratt and top tenor Javier Camarena bring their artistry to a thrilling opera gala with the Korean National University of Arts Symphony Orchestra conducted by Toufic Maatouk. Hailed by the New York Times as possessing "gleaming sound, free and easy high notes, agile coloratura runs and lyrical grace", British-born Pratt is one of today's most admired interpreters of the Bel Canto repertoire. Mexican Opera star Camarena was recognised as Male Singer of the Year by the International Opera Awards in 2021and has made a name for himself in operas by Puccini, Bellini, Donizetti and Mozart. Together, they will perform arias and duets from Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Mascagni, Massenet and Verdi. Maatouk has earned global recognition for leading ensembles around the world and has been praised for his insightful direction and consummate command of the orchestra.
