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Vancouver Sun
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Bach and Mozart fans rejoice! Early Music Vancouver's Summer Festival brings blockbuster works to life
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Classical fans with a special penchant for music of the past rejoice when midsummer brings Early Music Vancouver's much-loved, long-running annual festival, offering dedicated listeners a rich sampler of events spread over two weeks, not to mention hailing from several centuries. This is actually festival number 55. Back in the day, early music zealots decided to host performers, amateurs, and niche audiences here on the West Coast for an intensive bout of summer music-making. This proved a wonderful idea. As decades passed, the festival morphed almost continuously into what proved to be a lasting strength of the endeavour: as tastes changed, so did focus and logistics. Exploring continuous redefinitions of 'early music' by scholars has become a fascinatingly practical policy. Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Which brings us to this year's theme, Bach & Mozart: In Endless Ascent, which updates the festival's intense commitment to the music of J.S. Bach and adds a blockbuster work by Bach's fervent admirer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in a slightly new form. Two superb Bach extravaganzas are planned for Aug. 5 and 7. A pair of Bach cantatas are on offer Aug. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral, plus his triple concerto and a new complementary work by Canadian composer Grégoire Jaey. Two days later, same place, same time, it's The Musical Offering, Bach's cerebral, wonderful, confoundingly rich gift to Frederick the Great of Prussia. One of Mozart's very greatest hits, his unfinished Requiem, winds up the festival Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Chan Centre, in a 2024 completion by English conductor and composer Howard Arman. Masterworks like Bach cantatas, the Musical Offering, and Mozart's Requiem need no further hype. Some of the more esoteric works demand informed commentary, but this is the real point of the festival: celebrate landmarks of the past, but also revel in some unexpected or unfamiliar scenery along the way. Given a baker's dozen of events, listeners are advised to consult the EMV website to see all the possibilities. Interested in music and movement? This is a special sub-theme of the festival. Things kick off July 26 with Baroque in Motion on Granville Island. On July 30, 7:30 p.m. at the Vancouver Playhouse , The Enchanted Forest with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra is a more formal affair and also a radical rethink of music from the 18th century, directed by Alexander Weimann and Les Jardins Chorégraphiques, co-directed by Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière and Stephanie Brochard. De Juer et de Baler/To Play and Dance will set toes tapping, if not actual dancing in the aisles, at Christ Church Cathedral, Aug. 2, 7:30 p.m., featuring Norbert Rodenkirchen on medieval flutes — a favourite performer who's a stalwart of the Sequentia ensemble — and Pierre Hamon, percussion. And for those far more nimble than I, Yoga & Medieval Music with Norbert Rodenkirchen and Sandra Jara is on Aug. 3, 3 p.m. at Canadian Memorial United Church. (No prior yoga or music experience is necessary, we are advised; just bring your curiosity, an open heart, and a yoga mat.) Like virtually all music presenters, EMV is trying to expand far beyond an exclusively European focus. Silk Strings: A Chinese-Baroque Musical Dialogue, July 29, 7:30 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral, is designed to do just that. Chinese instrumentalists join Festival players, co-directed by Christina Hutten and Edward Top. A real joy of the festival is watching the assortment of hard-working musical guests form the backbone of multiple concert explorations. Guests soprano Magali Simard-Galdès and Simon Poirier on natural horn, will be kept busy with multiple appearances, including Figments & Fragments: Marenzio to Mozart, Aug. 1, 1 p.m. at the Cathedral. This will be an exploration through contrapuntal improvisation on manuscripts that have only partly survived the centuries. Poirier is joined by Abraham Ross on organ and fortepiano in the lunchtime show. That evening Poirier, Simard-Galdès, and Olivier Godin offer music by Schubert and his Biedermeyer-era contemporaries in music for horn, fortepiano, at the Cathedral. Simard-Galdès is also featured in the previously mentioned Bach Cantatas event and the Mozart Requiem. For detailed programs and logistics, check out the website here . Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances.
Evening Standard
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
Claudia Winkleman to host Traitors-themed Proms
'The hit BBC TV series, which drew in an average audience of more than 10 million for Series 3, features a variety of classical music to punctuate the action from the Scottish Highlands castle. The Traitors Prom will playfully feature these well-known classical works from composers including Mozart, Puccini and Tchaikovsky alongside so called 'Traitors Pop': gothic and symphonic versions of chart tracks by artists including Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Britney Spears and The Hanging Tree, which plays a very special part in every series of The Traitors.
The Print
a day ago
- Health
- The Print
Legal battle behind her, 8-yr-old with autism can now return to school. HC upheld her ‘right to belong'
In a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court Tuesday directed GD Goenka Public School in New Delhi's Model Town to re-admit the child into an age-appropriate class, reinforcing the legal mandate of inclusive education under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. 'Expelling any child from school can be traumatic, and I was in a situation of uncertainty,' her mother told ThePrint Thursday, adding that the child did not get the attention she needed at school. After two years of legal proceedings and emotional turmoil, this week the child won the right to return to her former school where her sibling is also a student. New Delhi: For more than two long years, the eight-year-old diagnosed with autism remained out of school, confused and isolated as her developmental progress stalled. Her parents first took her out of school temporarily, and later the school refused to take her back. 'Winning the case has brought a big sense of relief. However, there's still apprehension in my mind about whether the school will genuinely treat my child equally and provide the support she deserves,' the mother said. Diagnosed with mild autism in infancy, the child was admitted to the school during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021 under the 'sibling category' and studied online just like other children of her age for the next few months, according to her mother. 'Her milestones had been late. She started walking when she was 17 months old and she began sitting when she was nine months old. The doctors had then only told us that she was at the risk of autism,' the mother said. Problems began when the lockdown came to an end and offline classes were resumed in schools. According to the parents' petition in court, shared with ThePrint, the child began exhibiting behaviours associated with her condition, running around, screaming, and being unable to sit still, behaviours the school did not accommodate or address supportively. Despite repeated requests from her mother to allow a shadow teacher or provide a special educator, the school declined, says the petition. The mother emphasised that autistic children are not 'mentally retarded' but have a 'different way of thinking'. With the right support, she said, autistic children can accomplish things and grow into exceptional leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs, and more. 'Giving them a nurturing environment is not a privilege, it's their right. Look at the lives of people like Einstein, Mozart, Greta Thunberg, or even Ramanujan, many of them displayed traits of neurodivergence,' she told ThePrint. Speaking to ThePrint, Kamal Gupta, the advocate representing GD Goenka Public School in court, termed the institute as 'inclusive' and said all such schools have limitations. 'The child in question had 86 percent progressive autism, which is certified by AIIMS as a multiple disability disorder,' he said. Gupta added that the school is currently catering to the maximum number of children from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and disability categories and does not have any more seats to accommodate more children. 'The provisions of the Persons with Disabilities Act have been interpreted by a division bench… (and) the right to be educated in a school of choice has to be interpreted meaningfully, depending upon the number of seats available (demand & supply),' he said, adding that it was in the 'best interest' of the child to study in a special school. ThePrint reached GD Goenka Public School too with queries through email but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received. Also Read: Dress code for dropping kids at Delhi school: no nightwear, no chappals. Parents call it 'unreasonable' 'Embrace inclusivity' According to the mother, her child was being neglected at school. 'So, we decided to take her out of school temporarily without formally withdrawing her admission,' she said. 'The school had advised us to focus on therapy to help improve her condition. But when we returned after a year-long break to resume her studies at school, they refused to take her back.' Instead, the administration allegedly pushed the family to withdraw the girl from school, claiming she was better suited for a school for children with special needs. In October 2022, the school authorities, according to the petition, suggested that the child attend classes for only two hours a day or just two days a week. In December 2022, the mother said, she wrote to the school complaining about an injury to the child. A meeting was subsequently scheduled between the school principal and the mother, during which she was shown letters of complaints from other parents but wasn't allowed to examine them closely, the petition states. This was followed by an ultimatum given to the parents by the school, asking them to withdraw the child, said the mother. Adding, 'From January 2023, she didn't go to school.' Faced with continuous denials from the school, the family moved the Delhi High Court, challenging what they described as 'illegal, arbitrary, and discriminatory' action by the school. During the 2024-25 session, the child was allotted a seat at the school under the children with special needs category but later denied admission again, her mother said. After this, the parents approached the court seeking enforcement of their child's right to education. 'Parents should never give up fighting for their child's rights. The journey is hard, especially for children with special needs, but justice can prevail. Schools should work with parents, not against them, and truly embrace inclusivity, not just on paper but in practice,' the mother told ThePrint. 'It is about belongingness' Justice Vikas Mahajan, delivering the verdict this week, underscored the constitutional and statutory guarantee of inclusive education. 'It needs no emphasis that 'inclusive education' is not merely about access to education; it is about belongingness,' the court stated. 'Every child has a place in the classroom not because they are the same, but because they are different, and that difference enriches the learning environment for all.' In a significant move, the court directed the Directorate of Education to constitute a board to assess what would be in the child's best interest. The committee's report concluded that the child should continue in the same school with age-appropriate class placement and the support of a shadow teacher. 'The school must ensure that the child avails all the accommodations/adaptations a child with special needs is entitled for,' the committee advised. Accepting the findings, the Delhi High Court has directed GD Goenka to re-admit the child with immediate effect. It also mandated that the Directorate of Education monitor the implementation of suggestions and ensure she is not harassed again. 'It is her constitutional right to study in an inclusive school system. And they (GD Goenka) have done wrong by denying it. And that's why we got directions to re-admit her,' her counsel Ashok Agarwal told ThePrint, adding that the school can put her in any appropriate class and the parents are willing to provide a shadow teacher. 'The court has recognised that she has the right to study in a mainstream school, and that denying her that right amounts to discrimination.' (Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui) Also Read: Infra & safety gaps to poor digital learning record, what Centre's index says about Bengal schools
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Renée Fleming makes directing debut with wrestling-themed 'Così fan tutte' at Aspen Music Festival
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Renée Fleming's 'Così fan tutte' was ready to rumble. Long a star soprano, Fleming made her directing debut Monday night at the Aspen Music Festival and School by transporting Mozart's masterpiece from 18th century Naples, Italy, to a gym in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, amid professional wrestling's rise in 1980. Posters on stage display Sylvester Stallone as Rocky, wrestler Randy Savage and Jane Fonda hawking her workout video. In Fleming's concept, Fiordiligi and Dorabella are workout-obsessed high school sisters. This image released by Aspen Opera Theater shows co-director Renée Fleming during a rehearsal with the cast of Mozart's Così fan tutte at the historic Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colo. (Diego Redel/Aspen Opera Theater via AP) 'It's a coming of age for the protagonists and a loss of innocence,' Fleming said. An outstanding student cast ages 25-32 mostly making role debuts, was accompanied by conductor Patrick Summers leading a 45-piece orchestra at the 375-capacity Wheeler Opera House, opened in 1889 during the Colorado Silver Boom. There are two additional performances through Saturday at a festival that includes about 200 public events from July 2 to Aug. 24. Lauren Carroll, the 26-year-old soprano who sings Fiordiligi, did a split. Dorabella, 27-year-old mezzo-soprano Ashlyn Brown, struggled to lift a heavy barbell. Michelle Harvey's scenic design in the tight space of a 25-foot-wide proscenium included punching bags, bo staffs and ThighMasters. Fleming sang her first Countess in Mozart's 'Le Nozze di Figaro' as an Aspen student in 1984. Now 66, she has, since 2017, limited her singing to concerts, a few contemporary operas and Broadway. Staging spark was at a hockey game Fleming had a circuitous route to her concept. 'I can't do the opera relating to hockey, but I did think of another sport that reminds me so much of opera and that's professional wrestling. There's a suspension of disbelief that is huge,' she said. 'Fans believe these characters are real and that the moves are real, and of course it's all completely choreographed.' Fleming at first spoke with Francesca Zambello, the Washington National Opera's artistic director. 'I said, `Convince me, sell me, tell me,'' Zambello related, '`you really have to work it through from the overture to the final curtain.' WNO's 'Così' in 2021 was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, Fleming and Summers launched Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS, with 15 singers annually attending an eight-week program that covers their $12,325 tuition, room and board plus pays a $1,500 stipend. Wrestling family history Ashlyn Brown, the 27-year-old mezzo-soprano who performs Dorabella, is a granddaughter of Don Stansauk, the wrestler known as Hard Boiled Haggerty. 'I grew up with wrestling culture,' she said. 'I used to go to the Cauliflower Alley Club meetings when I was a kid. He brought all of his buddies, like Andre the Giant.' Carroll was a cheerleader and her mother is an aerobics instructor. 'She really invests in young artists and it's authentic,' she said of Fleming. 'She really means it and backs it up with action.' In creating the look, Fleming thought back to her time at Churchville-Chili Senior High School in New York. 'I have photographs of me with a really bad mullet and overalls,' she said. Just before intermission ended, a Fonda dress-alike led the audience in calisthenics. Despina (soprano Laura Miah), a gym manager here instead of a maid, uses a blender to make protein shakes and heads stretching exercises. 'Renée of course demanded a lot of herself as a singer in that way and that's extended itself to her demands on them in this,' Summers said. Mozart's opera has the two boyfriends adopt hidden identities and romance each other's girlfriend to test their virtue. Both women fall for the other's boyfriend, and while the two couples get back together in the original, Fleming has both relationships come apart. Fiordiligi ends up wearing an 'ERA YES' shirt. Don Alfonso is a gym owner. Guglielmo and Ferrando, the boyfriends (baritone Finn Sagal and tenor Jonghyun Park), wear Amanda Seymour's colorful clothes, including powder blue and light gray tuxedos with ruffled shirts. Peter Barber, a 31-year-old bass-baritone who sings Don Alfonso, boxes to keep in shape. 'When I was I think 8 or 9 years old after watching `Rocky,' I had a custom boxing robe made for me,' he said. Role a part of Fleming's life for more than 30 years Fleming sang Fiordiligi for the first time at Geneva in March 1992. She greeted the cast at the first rehearsal on June 30 by telling them: 'Toi toi toi. Let's have some fun,' using a performers' expression for good luck. 'I'm astonished that someone who is such an extraordinary singer and performer, they are also an extraordinary stage director,' choreographer Sara Erde said. 'She knows every note of the music, every word of the text.' Fleming learned that unlike with singing, directing requires 'million decisions that have to be made day to day.' At WNO, Fleming had envisioned a set with a stadium-sized video screen. She hopes the staging has an extended life. 'If anybody wanted to do it, it would be really fun in a bigger theater with a budget,' she said. 'Especially the time we're in, it's not a bad time to bring pro wrestling into opera because of the similarities, for the sheer novelty of it.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Renée Fleming makes directing debut with wrestling-themed 'Così fan tutte' at Aspen Music Festival
Renée Fleming's 'Così fan tutte' was ready to rumble. Long a star soprano, Fleming made her directing debut Monday night at the Aspen Music Festival and School by transporting Mozart's masterpiece from 18th century Naples, Italy, to a gym in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, amid professional wrestling's rise in 1980. Posters on stage display Sylvester Stallone as Rocky, wrestler Randy Savage and Jane Fonda hawking her workout video. In Fleming's concept, Fiordiligi and Dorabella are workout-obsessed high school sisters. 'It's a coming of age for the protagonists and a loss of innocence,' Fleming said. An outstanding student cast ages 25-32 mostly making role debuts, was accompanied by conductor Patrick Summers leading a 45-piece orchestra at the 375-capacity Wheeler Opera House, opened in 1889 during the Colorado Silver Boom. There are two additional performances through Saturday at a festival that includes about 200 public events from July 2 to Aug. 24. Lauren Carroll, the 26-year-old soprano who sings Fiordiligi, did a split. Dorabella, 27-year-old mezzo-soprano Ashlyn Brown, struggled to lift a heavy barbell. Michelle Harvey's scenic design in the tight space of a 25-foot-wide proscenium included punching bags, bo staffs and ThighMasters. Fleming sang her first Countess in Mozart's 'Le Nozze di Figaro' as an Aspen student in 1984. Now 66, she has, since 2017, limited her singing to concerts, a few contemporary operas and Broadway. Staging spark was at a hockey game Fleming had a circuitous route to her concept. 'I can't do the opera relating to hockey, but I did think of another sport that reminds me so much of opera and that's professional wrestling. There's a suspension of disbelief that is huge,' she said. 'Fans believe these characters are real and that the moves are real, and of course it's all completely choreographed.' Fleming at first spoke with Francesca Zambello, the Washington National Opera's artistic director. 'I said, `Convince me, sell me, tell me,'' Zambello related, "`you really have to work it through from the overture to the final curtain.' WNO's 'Così' in 2021 was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, Fleming and Summers launched Aspen Opera Theater and VocalARTS, with 15 singers annually attending an eight-week program that covers their $12,325 tuition, room and board plus pays a $1,500 stipend. Wrestling family history Ashlyn Brown, the 27-year-old mezzo-soprano who performs Dorabella, is a granddaughter of Don Stansauk, the wrestler known as Hard Boiled Haggerty. 'I grew up with wrestling culture,' she said. 'I used to go to the Cauliflower Alley Club meetings when I was a kid. He brought all of his buddies, like Andre the Giant.' Carroll was a cheerleader and her mother is an aerobics instructor. 'She really invests in young artists and it's authentic,' she said of Fleming. 'She really means it and backs it up with action.' In creating the look, Fleming thought back to her time at Churchville-Chili Senior High School in New York. 'I have photographs of me with a really bad mullet and overalls,' she said. Just before intermission ended, a Fonda dress-alike led the audience in calisthenics. Despina (soprano Laura Miah), a gym manager here instead of a maid, uses a blender to make protein shakes and heads stretching exercises. 'Renée of course demanded a lot of herself as a singer in that way and that's extended itself to her demands on them in this,' Summers said. Mozart's opera has the two boyfriends adopt hidden identities and romance each other's girlfriend to test their virtue. Both women fall for the other's boyfriend, and while the two couples get back together in the original, Fleming has both relationships come apart. Fiordiligi ends up wearing an 'ERA YES' shirt. Don Alfonso is a gym owner. Guglielmo and Ferrando, the boyfriends (baritone Finn Sagal and tenor Jonghyun Park), wear Amanda Seymour's colorful clothes, including powder blue and light gray tuxedos with ruffled shirts. Peter Barber, a 31-year-old bass-baritone who sings Don Alfonso, boxes to keep in shape. 'When I was I think 8 or 9 years old after watching `Rocky,' I had a custom boxing robe made for me,' he said. Role a part of Fleming's life for more than 30 years Fleming sang Fiordiligi for the first time at Geneva in March 1992. She greeted the cast at the first rehearsal on June 30 by telling them: 'Toi toi toi. Let's have some fun,' using a performers' expression for good luck. 'I'm astonished that someone who is such an extraordinary singer and performer, they are also an extraordinary stage director,' choreographer Sara Erde said. 'She knows every note of the music, every word of the text.' Fleming learned that unlike with singing, directing requires 'million decisions that have to be made day to day.' At WNO, Fleming had envisioned a set with a stadium-sized video screen. She hopes the staging has an extended life. 'If anybody wanted to do it, it would be really fun in a bigger theater with a budget,' she said. 'Especially the time we're in, it's not a bad time to bring pro wrestling into opera because of the similarities, for the sheer novelty of it.'
