Metropolitan Opera Mounts Baroque Pastiche
The Enchanted Island, a new opera that premiered at the Met on New Year’s Eve and in movie theaters around the world in January, is a musical pastiche made up of selections from various works by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, Campra, Leclair, Purcell, Ferrandini, and more. Multi-talented writer and director, Jeremy Sams, combined the music of these composers to produce a new opera with an English libretto that relates to Shakespeare’s plays, The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The new work provided a vehicle for some of the company’s singers who excel at Baroque music including Joyce DiDonato and David Daniels. Whether or not the idea of writing a pastiche will have a life of its own has yet to be seen.
www.metoperafamily.org/opera/the-enchanted-island-tickets.aspx
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203462304577136463236157858.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Actor Anthony Hopkins Releases CD of His Music
Well-known actor Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) is also a classical composer and he has released a CD of compositions he has written during his long career. He wrote scores for some of the films which he directed, including the 1996 film August and the 2007 film Slipstream. Last summer the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra introduced some of his works at a concert in the United Kingdom. The concert was recorded and will be distributed by radio station Classic FM.
“For years I mused and dreamt about turning my scribbled thoughts and bursts of melody into pieces of work to be performed by a full orchestra,” Hopkins says. “To see this dream turn into a reality through working with CBSO and now Classic FM is something I treasure very much.”
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-16584155
Austin Lyric Opera Sells Headquarters
Texas’s Austin Lyric Opera has sold its building on Barton Springs Road to a television and film production company for just under $5.5 million. The proceeds from the sale are expected to help the financially ailing company pay off its $2 million debt. In addition, the company has mounted a fundraising campaign that has already brought in close to $1 million that can be put toward leasing space. “This lets us move on without having anything hanging over our heads,” said Jo Anne Christian, chairwoman of the opera’s board. The opera has also received $115, 000 from the city’s Cultural Arts Division. Austin’s acting cultural arts manager says that she sees a brighter future for the city’s arts providers in 2012.
www.statesman.com/business/real-estate/austin-lyric-opera-on-solid-financial-footing-after-2069487.html?page=2&viewAsSinglePage=true”
Errata
In the picture on p. 58 of the January issue, we failed to identify those pictured by name. Participants from the Russian Opera Workshop in the photo are (standing L to R) Steve Williamson, Brad Cawyer, Julian Arsenault, Ashley Thouret, John Viscardi, Youna Jang, Donald St. Pierre (pianist), Fleur Barron, and Efraín Solís, and (seated L to R) Jessica Kasinski, Youngjoo An, Cynthia Cook, Samantha Geraci-Yee, Michael J. Davis, Ryan Brock, and Ghenady Meirson (program director).
Classical Singer would like to apologize for mistakenly printing the wrong ad for the Franz-Schubert-Institut in the February issue. For the correct listing of master teachers at their upcoming 2012 summer program, please see this month’s ad on p. 40.
