Live Offerings - Saturday, January 16, 2009

Getting a late start today. Two or three things stand out from the crowd of live offerings this afternoon: The Met's new production of Carmen (also being shown in HD in move theaters today), with Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna, from Radio Clasica de Espana a live 1960 Bartered Bride with Irmgard Seefried and a wonderful ensemble cast, and from Sveriges Radio P2 a 1954 Signor Bruschino (Rossini) with Elisabeth Söderströmand Hugo Hasslo. Here's the complete lineup:

• Sveriges Radio P2 - A live 1954 perfromance of Rossini's Signor Bruschino from Kungliga Opera, with Elisabeth Söderström, Eleonora Collin, Arne Hendriksen, Sture Ingebretzen, Sigvard Berg, Hugo Hasslo and Anders Näslund, conducted by Lamberto Gardelli.
• BR Klassik - An October 10, 2008 performance of Schubert's Winterreise, with Christoph Prégardien and Ensemble Berlin.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, a November 22, 2009 performance of Verdi's Don Carlo, with Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, Marianne Cornetti, Ferruccio Furlanetto, John Tomlinson, Robert Lloyd, Pumeza Matshikiza, Eri Nakamura and Robert Anthony Gardiner, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
• DR P2 - From the Vienna State Opera, a January 8th performance of Massenet's Manon, with Diana Damrau, Ramón Vargas, Markus Eiche and Dan Paul Dumitrescu, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.
• Metropolitan Opera (on numerous stations) - Bizet's Carmen, with Elina Garanca,
• Roberto Alagna, Trevor Scheunemann, Barbara Frittoli, Mariusz Kwiecien, Earle Patriarco, Keith Jameson, Keith Miller, Elizabeth Caballero and Sandra Piques Eddy, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
• Radio Clasica de Espana - From the Vienna State Opera, a November 11, 1960 performance of Smetana's The Bartered Bride, with I. Seefried, W. Kmentt, H. Braun, H. Konetzni, M. Dickie, L. Weber, R. Anday, O. Czerwenka, L. Szemere, L. Maikl and H. Schweiger, conducted by B. Klobucar.
• KBIA2 & KOHM - NPR World of Opera: From the Vienna State Opera, Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, with Kurt Rydl, Marian Talaba, Angela Denoke, Mischa Didyk and Donna Ellen, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher.
• Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) - Another chance to hear the Metropoltian Opera's December 19th broadcast of Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, with Joseph Calleja, Kathleen Kim, Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Kate Lindsay, Alan Held, Alan Oke and Rodell Rosel, conducted byJames Levine.
• Cesky Rozhlas 3-Vltava & WDAV - From Teatro alla Scala, a December 19th performance of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, with Roberta Invernizzi, Georg Nigl, Sara Mingardo, Luigi De Donato, Raffaella Milanesi, Giovanni B. Parodi and Furio Zanasi, conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini.
• Espace 2 - From The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, a December 1, 2009 performance of Tchaikovsky's The Tsarina's Slippers, with Vsevolod Grivnov, Olga Guryakova, Larissa Diadkova, Maxim Mikhailov, Vladimir Matorin, Vyacheslav Voynarovsky, Alexander Vassiliev, John Upperton, Sergey Leiferkus, Jeremy White, Changhan Lim, conducted by Alexander Polyanicko.
• HR2 Kultur - From Deutsche Oper Berlin, an April 9, 2009 performance of Respighi's Marie Victoire, with Marie de Lanjallay, Takesha Meshé Kizart, Maurice de Lanjallay, Markus Brück, Clorivière German Villar, Simon Simon Pauly and Cloteau Stephen Bronk, conducted by Michail Jurowski.
• Radio Tre (RAI) - From Teatro Communale di Bologna, Strauss's Salome, with Robert Brubaker, Dalia Schächter, Nadja Michael, Mark S. Doss and Mark Milhofer and Nora Sourouzian, conducted by Nicola Luisotti.
• ABC Classic FM (Australia) & Concert FM (New Zealand) - Another chance to hear the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Strauss's Elektra, with Susan Bullock, Deborah Voigt, Felicity Palmer, Alan Held and Wolfgang Schmidt, conducted by Fabio Luisi.

Happy listening,

Live Offerings - Saturday, August 29, 2009

On a dark and dreary Saturday (at least here in the Northeast, courtesy of tropical storm Danny), there are some very worthwhile live offerings to while away the afternoon. Here's a short list of the best items:

• WFMT Opera Series (on . Here's a short list of the best items) - From San Francixco Opera, Korngold's Die Todt Stadt, with Torsten Kerl, Emily Magee, Lucas Meachem, Katharine Tier. Ji Young Yang, Daniela Mack, Alek Shrader, Andrew Bidlack, Bryan Ketron and Ben Bongers, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• Bayern 4 Klassik, MDR Figaro, NDR Kultur, Radio Oesterreich International, RBB Kulturradio & WDR3 - From Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Haydn's Orlando Paladino, with Tom Randle, Sine Bundgaard, Pietro Spagnoli, Magnus Staveland, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Sunhae Im and Victor Torres, conducted by René Jacobs.
• CBC Two - From Switzerland, a November 8, 2008 performance of von Weber's Der Freischutz, with Nikolai Schukoff, Ellie Dehn, Jaco Huijpen and Feodor Kuznetsov, conducted by John Nelson.
• NPR World of Opera - From Houston Grand Opera, Verdi's Aida, with Zvetelina Vassileva, Marco Berti, Dolora Zajick, Gordon Hawkins, Tigran Martirossian, Bradley Garvin, Tamara Wilson, Beau Gibson, conducted by Carlo Rizzi.
• XLNC1 - From San Francisco Opera, Wallace's The Bonesetter's Daughter, with Zheng Cao, Ning Liang, Qian Yi, Hao Jiang Tian, Wu Tong, James Maddalena, Valery Portnov, Madelaine Matej, Rose Frazier, Catherine Cook, Mary Finch, Natasha Ramirez Leland and Erin Neff, conducted by Steven Sloane.

There's more, but I'm composing this on a bus en route to Boston, so I will quit while I'm ahead.

Happy listening