Well-known Film Score Composer Also Wrote Opera
Nino Rota, the Italian composer who wrote the music for the movie The Godfather, is best known for that genre, but he was more prolific than most music lovers realize. He also composed symphonies, concertos, dance scores, choral music—and 10 operas.
This summer, the Vienna Chamber Opera presented Rota’s short work I due timidi (The Two Timid People), to critical acclaim. His best-known opera is Il capello di paglia di Firenze (The Florentine Straw Hat), but his other works are certainly worth looking through when planning church music, concerts, or recitals.
www.wienerkammeroper.at/opernsommer.en.php
www.ninorota.com/ www.m? les.co.uk/composers/Nino-Rota.htm
Conlon to Teach at Juilliard
Starting with the fall term, James Conlon, Los Angeles Opera’s music director, will begin a two-year residency at Juilliard, reports the New York Times. He expects to help prepare students for the challenges classical musicians face in the United States.
One focus of his course will be the damage done to the 20th century repertoire by Germany’s Third Reich, which condemned the music of composers the regime did not like. Much of that music has seldom been heard, said the report.
www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/arts/02arts-004-001.html http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2005/12/o-mensch-james-conlon-leads-juilliard.html
www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6732.html
Opera Embraces New Technology
Technology has been a part of opera since the 17th century, but most of it has been on the stage. The latest inventions are in the upper reaches of the auditorium and outside of the hall. San Francisco Opera has hung two 5.5-foot by 9.5-foot screens from its ceiling, so audiences seated in the highest balcony can see close-ups of the singers. SFO has also installed high de? nition technology in a permanent facility that replaces some of? ce space, so other audiences can see the performances.
www.sfopera.com/press/SFOOperaVisionKoretMediaSuite.pdf
www.sfgate.com Search for Grand Opera Gets Grander
http://philanthropy.com/news/philanthropytoday/2471/san¬francisco-opera-invests-in-new-technology
Regine Crespin Dies at 80
French dramatic soprano Regine Crespin passed away in a Paris hospital on July 5 at the age of 80, the Associated Press reported. Born in Marseille, she took her ?rst singing lessons at the age of 16. Later, Crespin studied at the Paris Conservatory, making her debut in 1948 as Charlotte in Werther at the opera house of Reims. She went on to sing many German dramatic roles, but paid homage to her French origins by portraying Berlioz and Bizet heroines.
Crespin appeared at all the major opera houses of Europe and sang at the Met for 25 years. In 1976, when she retired from singing, she taught at the French National Conservatory. In 1977, she wrote of her life in a book: On Stage, Off Stage: a Memoir.
www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/
www.nycoperafanatic.com/crespin/regine.html
Art Generates Wealth, Says Foundation
Creative industries in the UK have outperformed those of every other European country economically since the dawn of the 21st century, says the Work Foundation. Will Hutton, CEO of the British organization, maintains that the creative sector of the economy should be seen as a driver in the production of employment and wealth, rather than a burden on less glamorous endeavors. The foundation is attempting to study the mechanism by which creativity generates value in artistic industries, and in the economy as a whole.
www.theworkfoundation.com/aboutus/media/pressreleases/ britainscreativeindustries.aspx
Met to Feature More New Works
American audiences have become used to looking to opera companies in the West and Midwest for premieres of contemporary operas. The new leadership at the Met, however, has announced plans to change that. The New York City company has commissioned a number of new works to be staged at either the Met or the Lincoln Center.
Composers expected to write opera or classical musical theatre include Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza), Michael John LaChiusa (See What I Wanna See), Jeanne Tesori (Caroline or Change), Jake Heggie (Dead Man Walking), Rachel Portman (The Little Prince), Michael Torke (Bright Blue Music), Scott Wheeler (Democracy), Ricky Ian Gordon (The Grapes of Wrath), and Osvaldo Golijov (Ainadamar).
www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/about/index.aspx
Musicians Often Suffer Hearing Loss, Says Study
One half of all musicians, not just those playing rock & roll, incur some degree of hearing loss, says a study by the University of North Texas Center for Music and Medicine.
Surprisingly, it is not the short blasts of very loud notes that cause serious harm—it is sustained levels of 100 decibels, the sound level of a marching band, that do the most damage. Singers were not included in this study.
www.unt.edu/northtexan/archives/p01/thesoundofhealing.htm
www.hearinglossweb.com/Medical/Causes/nihl/mus/unt.htm
