By ANDREW POWELL Published: January 31, 2016 MUNICH — Three years ago Bavarian State Opera’s yearly Silvester performances of Die Fledermaus came to a sudden, poorly excused halt. Never mind that they were a global signature of the company; Carlos Kleiber famously led ten of them. As substitutes, the powers-that-be provided La traviata (Verdi was […]
Read the rest of this article »Inevitably, and despite perfect planning and rehearsal, things go wrong. What do you do? Composer / conductor Victoria Bond discusses handing problems with composure and a steady hand. A major force in 21st century concert music, Victoria Bond leads a dual career as composer and conductor. Her compositions have been praised by the New York […]
Read the rest of this article »In Recognition of Mozart’s 260th birthday and in anticipation of LA Opera’s upcoming performances of The Magic Flute. By James Conlon “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe… the starry heavens above me, and the moral law within me.”—Immanuel Kant The Magic Flute is amongst the world’s most popular and beloved operas, […]
Read the rest of this article »By: Frank Cadenhead There was a torrent of boos at the December 11 opening of Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust at the Paris Opéra and it started even before the intermission. Critical reaction to the production was of a similar nature. When I saw the production on December 29, there was only a single person booing […]
Read the rest of this article »Pulitzer Prize winning composer Kevin Puts talks with Eugenia Zukerman and Emily Ondracek-Peterson of http://notedendeavors.com about the importance of recordings for composers. How good do the recordings need to be? Do they need to be commercial? Watch to find out! Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for his debut opera Silent Night, Kevin Puts has […]
Read the rest of this article »News from the new concert hall in Paris, the Philharmonie. This is the press release for Yesterday’s one year anniversary: 1,203,056 people visited the Philharmonie de Paris during its first year. On 14th January 2016, one year to the day since its opening, the attendance figures confirm and highlight the success that the Philharmonie de […]
Read the rest of this article »Do women face challenges in the conducting and composing worlds? What are they? Here, trailblazing composer and conductor Victoria Bond discusses those challenges and her view of what the future might hold. Bond has a masters and doctorate from the Juilliard School, where she was the only female in the conducting program, and a Bachelor’s […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: January 14, 2016 MUNICH — Framed by an andante Kyrie and a beguiling instrumental Communion marked grave, Cherubini’s 1825 Coronation Mass for Charles X is one handsome piece of music. No, its movements are not exactly symphonic. They sound bonded to the flow of the service, so much so that unset […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: January 7, 2016 MUNICH — Bavarian State Opera will defy the heirs of Francis Poulenc and proceed with revival performances of its literally explosive staging of Dialogues des Carmélites later this month, the company said today. The 2010 production by Dmitri Tcherniakov departs from the scheme of the composer and the […]
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