What concerts are you looking forward to? (Part II)

[Mookalafalas]

Sapporo Symphony has new conductor--Elias Grandy. This is his first concert. Mahler 1 (he wants to do the whole series), and Hindemith Viola Concerto with Nils Monkmeyer. I'm leaving directly...

[Christo]

Winter Tour by the National Youth Orchestra under Jurjen Hempel, just within a short walking distance from our home,
doing three sentimental youth favourites:

Maurice Ravel - Alborada del gracioso
Piotr Ilyich Tschaikovski - Capriccio Italien opus 45
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 2 in G ("A London Symphony")

https://www.jeugdorkest.nl/concerten/concertagenda/jon-wintertournee-24-25

[brewski]

Tonight, this livestream from the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society:

Valentin Kovalev, saxophone
Amy Yang, piano
 
Debussy: Rhapsodie for Saxophone and Orchestra (Arr.)
Brahms: Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 120, No. 2 (Arr.)
R. Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 73 (Arr.)
Say: Suite for Saxophone and Piano, Op. 55 (Sel.)
Yoshimatsu: Fuzzy Bird Sonata

-Bruce

[brewski]

Now this is my idea of a New Year's Eve concert. And since it happens at 12 noon on the US East Coast, plenty of time for a nap before evening revelry. 

Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Pekka Kuusisto, violin
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra

R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra
Bryce Dessner: Violin Concerto
Ravel: Boléro

-Bruce

[Wanderer]

Last week in Naples:

[color=var(--titles)]Rusalka[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Lyric fairy tale in three acts
Music by Antonín Dvořák
Libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Opening of the Opera Season 2024/25[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Conductor | Dan Ettinger[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Stage direction and Setting Design | Dmitri Tcherniakov♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Costumes Design| Elena Zaytseva♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Lighting Design | Gleb Filshtinsky♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Video | Alexej Poluboyarinov♭
Dramaturgy | Tatiana Werestschagina♭[/color]

[color=var(--text)]Cast
Princ / The Prince | Adam Smith♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Cizí kněžna / The foreign Princess | Ekaterina Gubanova[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Rusalka | Asmik Grigorian♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Vodník | Gabor Bretz♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Ježibaba | Anita Rachvelishvili[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Hajný / Gamekeeper | Peter Hoare♭
(in the director's vision, Rusalka's Father)
Kuchtík / Kitchen Boy | Maria Riccarda Wesseling♭
(in the director's vision, Rusalka's Mother)
1. lesní žínka / First Wood Spirit | Julietta Aleksanyan♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]2. lesní žínka / Second Wood Spirit  | Iulia Maria Dan♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]3. lesní žínka / Third Wood Spirit  | Valentina Pluzhnikova♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Lovec / The hunter | Andrey Zhilikhovsky♭[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro di San Carlo[/color]
[color=var(--text)]Chorus Master | Fabrizio Cassi[/color]
[color=var(--text)]New Production of Teatro di San Carlo[/color]
[color=var(--titles)]♭ debut at Teatro di San Carlo[/color]

A sensational evening. Grigorian was a mesmerising, luminous Rusalka and everyone else sang (and played) at a more or less exceptional level. Having seen some of Tcherniakov's past work, I had some misgivings about what he would do in his directorial escapades, but gladly saw that he managed to procure something very modern but also entirely appropriate (that is, no outlandish Regiecrap or extraneous politics). And he also managed to find a way to frame scenes that were entirely cool-looking from a technical point of view. A very successful production and a superbly sung and played performance! 

[Christo]

The organization's poster ugly as night, our singing -- and especially the orchestra, professional refugee Ukrainians -- better. Tonight:

[brewski]

Of a few New Year's Eve livestream choices, this one also looks quite interesting. Not familiar with Alfred Walker, but Julia Bullock is fantastic.

Bernstein: Divertimento
Jessie Montgomery: Five Freedom Songs
Gershwin: Suite from Porgy and Bess

Julia Bullock, soprano
Alfred Walker, baritone
WDR Rundfunkchor
Marvin Kernelle, director
WDR Sinfonieorchester
Andris Poga, conductor

-Bruce

[ritter]

Just bought tickets for my children and me to see Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the Teatro Real here in Madrid next Thursday. The new production (a collaboration with the Liceo in Barcelona, the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, La Monnaie in Brussels and the Finnish National Opera) is directed by David MacVicar and conducted José Miguel Pérez-Sierra. Soprano Lisette Oropesa is Mary Stuart, mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina is Elizabeth I, and they are joined by tenor Ismael Jordi and bass Roberto Tagliavini.



The production and cast have received rave reviews. I'm looking forward to seeing Mrs. Oropesa live onstage. She, along with Nadine Sierra (whom I saw in La Sonnambula a couple of years ago), are widely regarded as the reigning bel canto prima donnas of the present.

[Christo]

Will hear this piece by Khatsatur Avetissian (Avetisyan, Avetisian, etc.) live, a concert on the theme of the Silk Road, in the rather beautiful 1891 Buitensociëteit in the even more wonderful medieval (pre Hanseatic, just partly bombed by the British or Americans -- like most cities in the eastern Netherlands around 1944/45 were often heavily bombed) town of Zutphen, 15 February. By the Ciconia Consort, lead by Dick van Gasteren.
Also:

• Nino Rota: Concerto per archi
• Sultan Abdülaziz: Gondol Şarkısı
• Ulvi Cemal Erkin: Sinfonietta
• Khachatur Avetisyan: Tsaghkats Baleni & Im Yegheg
• Alexander Arutiunian: Concerto for violin and string orchestra
• Erzerumi Shoror (Armenian traditional)
• Fikret Amirov: Nizami Symphony
• Zhou Long: Song of the Ch'in

[Christo]

Winter Tour by the National Youth Orchestra under Jurjen Hempel, just within a short walking distance from our home,
doing three sentimental youth favourites:

Maurice Ravel - Alborada del gracioso
Piotr Ilyich Tschaikovski - Capriccio Italien opus 45
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 2 in G ("A London Symphony")

https://www.jeugdorkest.nl/concerten/concertagenda/jon-wintertournee-24-25

[ritter]

Just bought tickets for my children and me to see Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the Teatro Real here in Madrid next Thursday. The new production (a collaboration with the Liceo in Barcelona, the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo, La Monnaie in Brussels and the Finnish National Opera) is directed by David MacVicar and conducted José Miguel Pérez-Sierra. Soprano Lisette Oropesa is Mary Stuart, mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina is Elizabeth I, and they are joined by tenor Ismael Jordi and bass Roberto Tagliavini.



The production and cast have received rave reviews. I'm looking forward to seeing Mrs. Oropesa live onstage. She, along with Nadine Sierra (whom I saw in La Sonnambula a couple of years ago), are widely regarded as the reigning bel canto prima donnas of the present.

Just a quick note to say that yesterday's performance of Maria Stuarda was very satisfactory at all levels (David McVicar's traditional production, the conducting of José Miguel Perez-Sierra, the choir, and the singing, particularly mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina as Elisabetta, bass Roberto Tagliavini as Talbot and tenor Ismael Jordi as Leicester).

But Lisette Oropesa as Mary Stuart was stratospheric. Bel canto singing from the golden age, with a control of her vocal resources which was superb, and a vocal characterisation and expressiveness which were outstanding. A really moving portrayal.

I told my children that, if Mrs. Oropesa's career continues like this,  she'll become the stuff of legends, and they'll someday be able to tell their grandchildren "I saw Lisette Oropesa live in Maria Stuarda in Madrid in 2024!". 

"Figlia impura di Bolena, parli tu di disonore?
Meretrice, indegna e oscena, in te cada il mio rossore
Profanato è il soglio inglese, vil bastarda, dal tuo piè!" 

[ritter]

And now, for something completely different... 

The commemorations of the centennial of Pierre Boulez's birth kick off next week in Paris.

I have just bought a ticket for the concert Les Siècles, led by Frank Ollu, and soprano Sarah Aristidou will give at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on Tuesday January 7th. The program is Pli selon pli (yes!!!) and, after the intermission, an (unknown to me) arrangement by Heinz Holliger of Debussy's Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, followed by La Mer.

I'll be arriving in Paris on the 6th in the morning. The concert that evening in the Philharmonie, by the Ensemble Intercontemporain "and friends" -—including Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Jean-Guihen Queyras—-, is sold out, but I'm on the waiting list for returns. The programme is Boulez's Mémoriale, Messagesquisse and Sonatine, plus Debussy's En blanc et noir, in the first half, and Répons after the intermission.

[brewski]

And now, for something completely different... 

The commemorations of the centennial of Pierre Boulez's birth kick off next week in Paris.

I have just bought a ticket for the concert Les Siècles, led by Frank Ollu, and soprano Sarah Aristidou will give at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on Tuesday January 7th. The program is Pli selon pli (yes!!!) and, after the intermission, an (unknown to me) arrangement by Heinz Holliger of Debussy's Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, followed by La Mer.

I'll be arriving in Paris on the 6th in the morning. The concert that evening in the Philharmonie, by the Ensemble Intercontemporain "and friends" -—including Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Jean-Guihen Queyras—-, is sold out, but I'm on the waiting list for returns. The programme is Boulez's Mémoriale, Messagesquisse and Sonatine, plus Debussy's En blanc et noir, in the first half, and Répons after the intermission.

    

OK, officially envious. What great programs, and though no one wishes misfortune on anyone ( ), surely someone will be unable to go, and a spot will appear for that incredible-looking concert. "And friends," indeed.

[Iota]

And now, for something completely different... 

The commemorations of the centennial of Pierre Boulez's birth kick off next week in Paris.

I have just bought a ticket for the concert Les Siècles, led by Frank Ollu, and soprano Sarah Aristidou will give at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées on Tuesday January 7th. The program is Pli selon pli (yes!!!) and, after the intermission, an (unknown to me) arrangement by Heinz Holliger of Debussy's Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, followed by La Mer.

I'll be arriving in Paris on the 6th in the morning. The concert that evening in the Philharmonie, by the Ensemble Intercontemporain "and friends" -—including Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Jean-Guihen Queyras—-, is sold out, but I'm on the waiting list for returns. The programme is Boulez's Mémoriale, Messagesquisse and Sonatine, plus Debussy's En blanc et noir, in the first half, and Répons after the intermission.

Wow, mouth-watering!

[ritter]

Well, I'm exhilarated that I could get hold of a (rather good) return ticket from the Paris Philharmonie's webpage      . So, on Monday Jan. 6, I'll be seeing this programme in the Grande Salle Pierre Boulez:

[Christo]

Some major Ralph Vaughan Williams heard live in concerts, all in the Netherlands, many with major orchestras in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam:

Symphonies:
No. 2, A London Symphony (in 2015, Utrecht, and last Sunday next door a stunning performance, see before)
No. 3, A Pastoral Symphony (in 2015, Rotterdam)
No. 4 in F minor (in 2017, under Sir Mark Elder, Rotterdam Phil)
No. 5 in D major (in 1987, Amsterdam)
No. 7, Sinfonia Antartica (in 1993, Den Bosch, and last week: Rotterdam Philharmonic under Tarmo Peltokoski, paired with The Planets -- absolutely superb, The Planets even better than anyone on CD, Johan Herrenberg and I agreed)

Some other pieces:
Concerto for two pianos and orchestra (c. 1990, Amsterdam)
Violin concerto, Concerto Accademico (c. 1986, Amsterdam)
Concerto for oboe and string orchestra (1985, Amsterdam)
Concerto Grosso for string orchestra (1987, Amsterdam)
Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis (2016, Amsterdam; one time more with small ensemble, Rotterdam c. 2008)
Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus for harp and strings (2015, Utrecht)
The Lark Ascending, for violin and orchestra (2017, Rotterdam Phil, under Sir Mark Elder and paired with La Mer & Prélude a l'après-midi d'un faune)
Flourish for Wind Band (2019, Utrecht)
Dona Nobis Pacem (2012, Nijmegen; 2024, Amsterdam, and one time more in Amsterdam c. 1990)
On Wenlock Edge (2024, Utrecht)

[brewski]

On Saturday, Jan. 18, at 8:00 pm (EST), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will livestream the following concert, with conductor Daniele Rustioni and violinist Francesca Dego:

Camille Pépin: Les Eaux célestes
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

[Iota]

Boulez: Sonatine Pour Flûte et Piano, Messagesquisse

Sophie Cherrier (flute), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
Jean Guihen-Queyras (cello), Pierre Boulez (conductor)

In a nod to the very lucky @ritter managing to get a ticket for the amazing-looking Boulez Anniversaire tonight (see upcoming concerts thread), I put on these two works full of Boulezian thrills and spills, and placing some pretty extraordinary demands on the musicians. Great stuff.

[ritter]

Boulez: Sonatine Pour Flûte et Piano, Messagesquisse

Sophie Cherrier (flute), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)
Jean Guihen-Queyras (cello), Pierre Boulez (conductor)

In a nod to the very lucky @ritter managing to get a ticket for the amazing-looking Boulez Anniversaire tonight (see upcoming concerts thread), I put on these two works full of Boulezian thrills and spills, and placing some pretty extraordinary demands on the musicians. Great stuff.

Greetings from the Grande Salle Pierre Boulez of the Philharmonie de Paris. The concert starts in 5 minutes (and the Sonatine and Messagesquisse will be performed by the same soloists as in those recordings). 

[Iota]

Greetings from the Grande Salle Pierre Boulez of the Philharmonie de Paris. The concert starts in 5 minutes (and the Sonatine and Messagesquisse will be performed by the same soloists as in those recordings). 

Good to get a despatch from the front! Hope the spirit of Pierre is abroad tonight! 

(Meant to post this in the WAYLTN thread, hence the now superfluous reference to this one ..  )