Live Offerings - Saturday, February 20, 2009

Many European stations are carrying the Met broadcast of Ariadne auf Naxos this week, so there a re fewer offerings than usual this week....

• France Musique - From Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, a January 30th performance of Rossini's La Cenerentola, with Antonino Siragusa, Stéphane Degout, Pietro Spagnoli,
• Carla Di Censo, Nidia Palacios, Vivica Genaux and Ildebrando D'Arcangelo.
• Metropolitan Opera Broadcast (on numerous stations) - Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, with Nina Stemme, Kathleen Kim, Sarah Connolly, Lance Ryan, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Anne-Carolyn Bird, (Tamara Mumford, Erin Morley, Tony Stevenson, Sean Panikkar, Mark Schowalter and Markus Werba, conducted by Kirill Petrenko.
• KBIA2 & WDAV - NPR World of Opera: From Houston Grand Opera, Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, with Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Olga Guryakova, Marco Berti, Patrick Carfizzi, Raymond Aceto, Ryan McKinny, Maria Markina and Beau Gibson, conducted by Patrick Summers.
• Espace 2 - From the Vienna State Opera, a December 14, 2009 performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, with Robert Dean Smith, Violetta Urmana, Yvonne Naef, Bo Skovhus, Franz Josef Selig, Clemens Unterreiner, Peter Jelosits, Wolfgang Bankl and Gergely Nemethy, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
• Klara - From the Barbican Hall in London, a concert performance of Martinu's Julietta, with Magdalena Kozena, William Burden, Michel Andreas Jäggi, Rosalind Plowright, Zdenek Plech, Anna Stéphany, Jean Rigby, Frederic Goncalves and Roderick Williams, conducted by Jiri Belohlavek.
• And later on this evening:
• WFMT - Live from Chicago Lyric Opera, Opening Night of Berlioz' Damnation of Faust, with Paul Groves, Susan Graham, John Relyea and Christian Van Horn, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
• ABC Classic FM (Australia) & Concert FM (New Zealand) - From the Metropolitan Opera, Verdi's Stiffelio, with José Cura, Julianna Di Giacomo, Andrzej Dobber, Michael Fabiano, Phillip Ens, Jennifer Check and Diego Torre, conducted by Plácido Domingo.

Happy listening

Live Offerings - Saturday, February 13, 2009

The Met broadcast is now underway, but most other offerings are just about to start:

• Metropolitan Opera Broadcast (on numerous stations) - Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment, with Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Florez, Meredith Arwady, Maurizio Muraro, Donald Maxwell, Roger Andrews and Kiri te Kanawa, conducted by Marco Armiliato.
• Radio 4 Netherlands - From La Monnaie in Brussels, a Gluck double bill: Iphigénie en Aulide, with Andrew Shore, Charlotte Hellekant, Véronique Gens, Avi Klembergand and Henk Neven; and Iphigénie en Tauride, with Nadja Michael, Stéphane Degout, Topi Lehtipuu, Werner van Mechelen and Violet Serena Noorduynconducted by Christophe Rousset.
• France Musique - From Opera Bastille in Paris, a February 12th performance of Massenet's Werther, with Jonas Kaufmann and Lodovic Tezier.
• KBIA 2 - NPR World of Opera: From the Chorégies Festival in Orange, France, Verdi's La Traviata, with Patrizia Ciofi, Vittorio Grigolo, Marzio Giossi, Laura Brioli, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Jean-Marie Delpas and Armando Noguera, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung.
• NRK Klassisk & NRK P2 - From La Monnaie in Brussels, Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride, with Nadja Michael, Stéphane Degout, Topi Lehtipuu, Werner van Mechelen and Violet Serena Noorduynconducted by Christophe Rousset.
• Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) - From Schlosstheater Schönbrunn, an August 2009 performance of Zeller's Der Obersteiger, with Bernhard Berchtold, Santiago Bürgi, Cornelia Zink, Wolfgang Müller-Lorenz, Donna Ellen and Anna Siminska, conducted by Herbert Mogg.
• Espace 2 - From the Ukrainian National Opera, an October 31st performance of Lysenko's Taras Bulba, with Taras Shtonda, Alla Pozniak, Petro Priymak, Pavlo Priymak, Yevghen Orlov, Svetlana Golevska, Vasyl Kolybabiuk, Serghiy Skochelias, Viktor Dudar, Oleksandr Gourets, Andriy Gonkulov and Dmytro Gryshyn, conducted by Volodymyr Kozhukhar.
• HR2 Kultur - From the Vienna State Opera, a June 20th performance of Strauss's Die Schweigsame Frau, with Jane Archibald, Kurt Rydl, Michael Schade, Janina Baechle, Adrian Eröd, conducted by Peter Schneider.
• Klara - Starting at GMT 1900/EST 2:00PM - the Met's La Fille du Régiment.
• Latvia Radio Klasika - From the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, a November 21st performance of Verdi's Don Carlos, with Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavska, Simon Keenlyside, Feruccio Furlanetto and Marianne Korneti, conducted by Semyons Bychkov.
• MDR Figaro - From Staatsoper Dresden, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, with Krassimira Stoyanova, Elina Garanca, Michael Schade and Franz-Josef Selig, conducted by Christian Thielemann.
• Radio Tre (RAI) - From Teatro San Carlo in Naples, a January 27th performance of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, with Gregory Kunde, Teresa Romano, Elena Monti,, Monica Bacelli, Francesca Russo Ermolli and Vito Priante, conducted by Jeffrey Tate.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera on a one-week delay: From Washington National Opera, Puccini's La boheme, with Adriana Damato, Vittorio Grigolo, Nicole Cabell, Paolo Pecchioli, Hyung Yun, Trevor Scheunemann, conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.
• ABC Classic FM (Australia) & Concert FM (New Zealand) - From the Metropolitan Opera, the historic broadcast (February 1, 1958) of Barber's Vanessa, with Eleanor Steber, Nicolai Gedda, Rosalind Elias, Regina Resnik, Giorgio Tozzi, George Cehanovsky and Robert Nagy, conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos.
• And, last but not least, don't forget video feed of the the last (of 4) performance of the Indiana University production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, with Heather Youngquist, Joshua Lindsay, Andrew Kroes, Scott Hogsed, Nikhil Navkal, Samuel Green, Jane Rownd and Amanda Sesler, conducted by Arthur Fagen (Guest Stage Director: James Marvel, Set & Costume Designer: C. David Higgins).

Happy listening (and watching) . . . .

Live Offerings - Saturday, February 6, 2009

Somewhat slimmer pickings than usual. The biggest curiosity will probably bed Placido Domingo singing the title role in Simon Boccanegra (usually tackled by baritones). Also two different performances of Verdi's Macbeth, and from La Scala, a live performance of Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust. Here's the complete lineup:

• DR P2 - From Geneva, Mozart's Don Giovanni, with Pietro Spangnoli, José Fardilha, Diana Damrau, Serena Farnocchia and Christoph Strehl, conducted by Kenneth Montgomery.
• Metropolitan Opera Broadcast (on numerous stations)- Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, with Placido Domingo, Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordano, James Morris, Nicola Alaimo and Richard Bernstein, conducted by James Levine.
• Radio 4 Netherlands - Handel's Ariodante, with Ann Hallenberg, Karina Gauvin, Maarten Engeltjes, Jaël Azzaretti and Krystian Adam, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli.
• Radio Clasica de Espana - From Ukrainian National Opera in Kiev, Lysenko's Taras Bulba, with T. Shtonda, A. Pozniak, P. Priymak, P. Priymak, Y. Orlov, S. Godlevska, T. Kuzminova, O. Gourets, V. Kolybabiuk, S. Skochelias, V. Dudar, A. Goniukov, D. Gryshyn, O. Boyko, M. Gubchuk and O. Vostriakov, conducted by V. Kozhukhar.
• KBIA2 - NPR World of Opera: From Washington National Opera, Puccini's La Boheme, with Adriana Damato, Vittorio Grigolo, Nicole Cabell, Paolo Pecchioli, Hyung Yun and Trevor Scheunemann, conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.
• Radio Tre (RAI) - From La Scala in MIlan, Schumann's Szenen aus Goethes Faust, with Michael Volle, Dorothea Röschmann, Dimitri Ivashchenko, Steve Davislim, Irena Bespalovaite, Adina Aaron, Elena Zhidkova, Maria Radner and Jacheui Kwon, conducted by Pinchas Steinberg.
• Cesky Rozhlas 3-Vltava - From Glyndebourne, Dvorak's Rusalka, with Ana Maria Martinez, Brandon Jovanovich, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Mikhail Schelomianski, Larissa Diadkova, Natasha Jouhl, Barbara Senator, Elodie Méchain, Diana Axentii, Alasdair Elliott and John Mackenzie, conducted by Jirí Behlohlávek.
• Espace 2 - From the Vienna State Opera, a December 7, 2009 performance of Verdi's Macbeth, with Simon Keenlyside, Erika Sunnegardh, Stefan Kocan, Dimitri Pittas, Gergely Nemety, Donna Ellen and Alfred Sramek, conducted by Guillermo Garcia Calvo.
• Klara - From Vlaamse Opera, Bernstein's Candide, with Michael Spyres, Jane Archibald, Graham Valentine, Thomas Oliemans, Andrew Ashwin, Katarina Bradic, Karan Armstrong, Keith Lewis, Adrian Fischer, Gijs Van der Linden, Milcho Borovinov and Thorsten Buettner, conducted by Yannis Pouspourikas.
• HR2 Kultur - A November 1, 2009 performance of Act 2 of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, with Waltraud Meier, John Mac Master, Michelle Breedt, Franz Josef Selig and Kurwenal Michael Vier, conducted by Daniel Harding.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera (on a one week delay): From Bastille Opera in Paris, Verdi's Macbeth, with Dimitris Tiliakos, Violeta Urmana, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Stefano Secco, Alberto Nigro and Letitia Singleton, conducted by Teodor Currentzis.
• ABC Classic FM (Australia) & Concert FM (New Zealand) - Another chance to hear the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Bizet's Carmen, with Elina Garanca, Barbara Frittoli, Roberto Alagna, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Earle Patriarco, Keith Jameson, Keith Miller, Trevor Scheunemann, Elizabeth Caballero and Sandra Piques Eddy, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

. . . And don't forget the live videocast of the Indiana University Lucia di Lammermoor tonightat 8:00PM EST.

Happy listening . . . .

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, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year! The highlights for this afternoon include two different performances of Verdi's Macbeth from the same December run in Vienna, with Simon Keenlyside; a Meistersinger from the Liceu in Barcelona, with Robert Dean Smith and Véronique Gens; Hansel und Gretel from the Metropolitan Opera, with Miah Persson and Angelika Kirchschlager; from Opéra Bastille in Paris, Giordano's Andréa Chenier, with Marcelo Alvarez. Here's the lineup:

• Deutschlandradio Kultur & DR P2 - From the Vienna State Opera, a December 7th performance of Verdi's Macbeth, with Simon Keenlyside, Erika Sunnegardh, Stefan Kocán and Dimitri Pittas, conducted by Guillermo García Calvo.
  
• HR2 Kultur - From Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, a March 23, 2009 performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger, with Albert Dohmen, Reinhard Hagen, Bo Skovhus, Robert Dean Smith, Norbert Ernst, Véronique Gens and Stella Grigorian, conducted by Sebastian Weigle.
• Metropolitan Opera (on numerous stations) - Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel, with Miah Persson, Angelika Kirchschlager, Rosalind Plowright, Dwayne Croft, Philip Langridge, Jennifer Johnson and Erin Morley, conducted by Fabio Luis.
• Radio 4 Netherlands - Chabrier's L'Etoile, with Jean Paul Fouchecourt, conducted by Jean-Yves Ossonce.
• Dwojka Polskie Radio - From the Vienna State Opera, a June 2009 performance of Gounod's Faust, with Soile Isokoski, Zoryana Kushpler, Roxana Constantinescu, Piotr Beczala, Kwangchul Youn, Boaz Daniel and Hans Peter Kammerer, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.
• France Musique - From Opéra Bastille in Paris, a December 18 performance of Giordano's Andréa Chenier, with Marcelo Alvarez, Sergei Murzaev, Micaela Carosi, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Stefania Toczyska, Maria José Montiel, André Heyboer, Igor Gnidii, Antoine Garcin, David Bizic, Carlo Bosi, Bruno Lazzaretti, Ugo Rabec and Guillaume Antoine, conducted by Daniel Oren.
• KBIA2 & KOHM - NPR World of Opera: From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Tchaikovsky's The Tsarina's Slippers, with Olga Guryakova, Vsevolod Grivnov, Larissa Diadkova, Vladimir Matorin, Sergei Leiferkuss, Maxim Mikhailov, Vyacheslav Voynarovsky, Alexander Vassiliev and John Upperton, conducted by Alexander Polianichko.
• MDR Figaro - From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, an August 23, 2009 performance of Verdi's Don Carlo, with Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, Sonia Ganassi, Ferruccio Furlanetto and John Tomlinson, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
• Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) - From Teatro Comunale in Bologna, an August 9, 2009 performance of Rossini's Zelmira, with Kate Aldrich, Juan Diego Florez, Marinna Pizzolato, Alex Esposito, Mirco Palazzi and Gregory Kunde, conducted by Roberto Abbado.
• Cesky Rozhlas 3-Vltava - From Czech radio archives, a 1964 performance of Dvorak's Jacobin, with Richard Novák, Jindr(ich Jindrák, Antonín Švorc, Milada Šubrtová, Karel Berman, Oldr(ich Spisar, Antonín Votava and Helena Tattermuschová, Marie Ovc(ac(íková, conducted by Jan Hus Tichý.
• Klara - From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, with Changhan Lim, Juan Diego Florez, Pietro Spagnoli, Joyce DiDonato, Alessandro Corbelli, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Jennifer Rhys-Davies, Bryan Secombe, Christopher Lackner and Andrew Macnair, conducted by Antonio Pappano.

Happy listening.....

Live Offerings, Saturday, November 21, 2009 - Part II

Further live offerings for this afternoon:

• Dwojke Polskie Radio - Is also carrying the Szymanowski Król Roger from the Liceu; a correction: Josep Pons is the sonductoir (and not the singer Juan Pons, as I ahd eal;rier supposed).
• France Musique - From Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, a November 9 performance of Donizetti's Don Pasquale, with Nicola Alaimo, Laura Giordano, Mario Cassi, Francisco Gatell and Gabriele Spina, conducted by Riccardo Muti.
• NPR World of Opera - From the Vienna State Opera, Mozart's Don Giovanni, with Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Rene Pape, Ricarda Merbeth, Soile Isokoski, Michael Schade, Michaele Selinger, Boaz Daniel and Eric Halfvarson, conducted by Constantinos Carydis.
• NRK Klassisk & NRK P2 - From Palais Garnier in Paris, Gounod's Mireille, with Inva Mula, Charles Castronovo, Franck Ferrari, Alain Vernhes, Sylvie Brunet, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Sébastien Droy, Nicolas Cavallier and Amel Brahim-Djelloul, conducted by Marc Minkowski.
• Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) - From Theater an der Wien, an October 22 performance of Vivaldi's Armida al Campo d'Egitto, with Sara Mingardo, Furio Zanasi, Monica Bacelli, Raffaella Milanesi, Marina Comparato, Romina Basso and Martin Oro, conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini.
• Cesky Rozhlas-3 Vltava - From trhe Metropolitan Oper archives, a 1959 broadcast pf Verdi's Macbeth, with Leonie Rysanek, Leonard Warren, Carlo Bergonzi, Jerome Hines, William Olvis, Carlotta Ordassy, Gerhard Pechner, Harold Sternberg, Osie Hawkins, Calvin Marsh, Emilia Cundari and Mildred Allen, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.
• Klara - Is running a full day of Purcell programming, and in their opera slot listen to Glyndebourne performance of Purcell's The Fairy Queen, with Lucy Crowe, Claire Debono, Anna Devin, Carolyn Sampson, Robert Burt, Ed Lyon, Andrew Foster-Williams, Sean Clayton, Adrian Ward, and Lukas Kargl, conducted by William Christie.
• Latvia Radio Klasika - From the Grand Theatre in Geneva, a February 28 performance of Strauss's Salome, with Alan Held, Nikola Bellere Karbone, Hedviga Fasbindere and Kim Begley, conducted by Gabriele Ferro.
• NDR Kultur - From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, a September performance of Verdi's Don Carlo, with Jonas Kaufmann, Maria Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, Sonia Ganassi, Ferruccio Furlanetto and John Tomlinson, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
• Radio Tre (RAI) - From Opéra Berlioz, Le Corum, Montpellier, a July 13 performance of Bellini's Zaira, with Ermonela Jaho, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Shalva Mukeria, Wenwei Zhang, Franck Bard, Marianne Crebassa and Carlo Kang, conducted by Enrique Mazzola.
• Radio Tre (RAI) - In their weekend late-night archival broadcast slot, tonight hear an October 25, 1963 broadcast of Leoncavallo's's La Boheme, with Angelo Loforese, Guido Mazzini, Fernando Lidonni, Giorgio Tadeo, Osvaldo Scrigna, Osvaldo Scrigna, Walter Brunelli, Antonio Petrini, Bianca Maria Casoni, Florida Assandri Norelli and Maja Sunara, Orchestra Sinfonica e coro di Milano della Raiconducted by Pietro Argento; tomorrow night hear Puccini's La Boheme, with Agostino Lazzari, Rolando Panerai, Enrico Ciampi, Franco Calabrese, Aristide Baracchi, Melchiorre Luise, Elena Rizzieri, Graziella Sciutti, Walter Artioli and Egidio Casolari, Orchestra Sinfonica e coro di Milano della Rai conducted by Nino Sanzogno.

Happy listening.....

Live Offerings, Saturday, November 21, 2009 - Part I

Getting a late start on this blog today (thanks to a late but great party last night). Some things are already underway:

• Sveriges Radio P2 - Stravinski's The Rakes Progress, from Malmö, with Nikola Matisic, Hulda Björk Gardarsdóttir, Bengt Krantz, Emma Lyrén, Ethel Schelin, Daniel Hellström, Sellem - Rickard Söderberg, Thomas Hildebrandt and Skådespelare - Keijo J. Salmela, conducted by Staffan Larsson.
• WUFT-FM HD2 - From Houston Grand Opera, a Choral Gala.
• Bartok Radio - Its Budapest Ring Cycle continues with a June 14 performance of Gotterdammerung, with Christian Franz, Oskar Hillebrandt, Eric F. Halfvarson, Hartmut Welker, Linda Watson, Markovics Erika, Cornelia Kallisch, Gál Erika, Németh Judit, Szabóki Tünde, Korondi Anna, Fodor Gabriella and Shöck Atala, conducted by Adan Fischer.
• BBC Radio 3 - From Opera North, Massenet's Werther, with Paul Nilon, Alice Coote, Fflur Wyn, Peter Savidge, Donald Maxwell, Richard Burkhard and Joshua Ellicott, conducted by Richard Farnes.

And about to start:

• CBC Two - From La Scala in Milan, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with David Daniels, Rosemary Joshua, Emil Wolk, Daniel Okulitch, Gordon Gietz, and Erin Wall, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From Staatsoper Hannover, a November 14 perfromance of Wagner's Das Rheingold, with Tobias Schabel, Jin-Ho Yoo, Young-Hoon Heo, Robert Künzli, Stefan Adam, Jörn Eichler, Albert Pesendorfer, Young Myoung Kwon, Khatuna Mikaberidze, Arantxa Armentia, Okka von der Damerau, Nicole Chevalier, Julia Faylenbogen and Mareike Morr, conducted by Wolfgang Bozic.
• DR P2 - From the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, an August 29 performance of Haydn's Orlando Paladino, with Tom Randle, Sine Bundgaard, Pietro Spagnoli, Magnus Staveland, Alexandrina Pendatchanska and Sunhae Im, condiucted by René Jacobs.
• Espace Musique - From Vienna State Opera, Wagner's Lohengrin, with Robert Dean Smith, Morten Frank Larsen, Ain Anger, Falk Struckmann, Janina Baechle and Camilla Nylund, conducted by Leif Segerstram.
• KBYU - From Houston Grand Opera, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with Iestyn Davies, Laura Claycomb, Jon Michael Hill, Norman Reinhardt, Liam Bonner, Marie Lenormand, Katie van Kooten, Matthew Rose, Steven Cole, Ryan McKinny, Robert Pomakov and Leann Sandel-Pantaleo, conducted by Patrick Summers.
• Radio 4 Netherlands - From The Liceu in Barcelona, Szymanovsky's Krol Roger, with Juan Pons and Anne Schwanenwilms and Scott Hendricks.
• Radio Clasica de Espana - From Wexford, an October 31 performance of a double bill: Chabrier's Une éducation manquée, with K. Jayasinghe, P. Murrihy; and Rossini's La cambiale di matrimonio, with G. Bellavia, C. Pervin, G. Pelligra, V. Prato, L. Dall’Amico and A. Gill, both conducted by C. Franklin.
• RTP Antena 2 - From Thuríngia, a February 2 performance of Mendelssohn's Soldatenliebschaft, with Gerlinde Illich, Linlin Fan, Joan Ribalta, Bernardo Kim and Serge Noviqueconducted by Eric Solén.
• WETA - From Washington National Opera, one more airing of Handel's Tamerlano, with Placido Domingo, David Daniels, Sarah Coburn, Patricia Bardon, Claudio Huckle and Andrew Foster Williams, conducted by William Lacey.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From Houston Grand Opera, a Choral Gala.
• WQXR - from Los Angeles Opera, Verdi's Requiem, with Adrianne Pieczonka, Stephanie Blythe, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, and René Pape, conducted by Placido Domingo.
• XLNC1- From Houston Grand Opera, Verdi's Rigoletto, with Scott Hendricks, Albina Shagimuratova, Eric Cutler, Andrea Silvestrelli, Maria Markina, Bradley Garvin, Jamie Barton, Adam Cioffari, Shon Sims, Octavio Moreno, Faith Sherman and Tommy Ajai George, conducted by Patrick Summers.

More to come shortly. Happy listening.....

Live Offerings - Saturday, October 24, 2009

Reruns seem to be the order of the day. Most of the available "live" offerings have appeared elsewhere in previous weeks. Exceptions include a Budapest Rheingold from Bartok Radio, BBC 3's Carmen, yesterday's Lady Macbeth from Mtensk from the Vienna State Opera (being carried by three stations), the San Francisco Opera Don Giovanni, France Musique's Die Tote Stadt from Opera Bastille, and last, but certainly not least, the live La Traviata from Seattle Opera later on this evening (Charles Taylor's Germont pere will be worth a listen...).

Here's the complete lineup:

• Sveriges Radio P2 - From Stadshallen in Göttingen, a May 13, 2008 performance of Handel's Acis and Galatea, with Christoph Prégardien, Julia Kleiter, Wolf Matthias Friedrich and Michael Slattery, condcuted by Nicholas McGegan
• BBC Radio 3 - From the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Bizet's Carmen, with Elina Garanca, Roberto Alagna, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Liping Zhang, Changhan Lim, Henry Waddington, Eri Nakamura, Louise Innes, Adrian Clarke and Vincent Ordonneau, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.
• CBC Two - From Lyric Opera of Chicago, Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, with Matthew Polenzani, Erin Wall, Aleksandra Kurzak, Steve Davislim and Andrea Silvestrelli, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From the Vienna State Opera, Gounod's Faust, with Piotr Beczala, Kwangchul Youn, Soile Isokoski, Boaz Daniel, Hans Peter Kammerer, Roxana Constantinescu and Zoryana Kushpler, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.
• DR P2, Radio Clasica de Espana & Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) - From the Vienna State Opera, an October 23 performance of Shastakovich's Lady Macbeth from Mtensk, with Kurt Rydl, Marian Talaba, Angela Denoke, Misha Didyk, Donna Ellen and Michael Roider, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher.
• Dwojke Polskie Radio - From the 2009 Glyndebourne Festival, Dvorak's Rusalka, with Ana Maria Martinez, Brandon Jovanovich, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Misza Szelomian'ski, Larissa Diadkova, Diana Axentii and Alasdair Elliott, conducted by Jirí Belohlávek.
• Espace Musique - From the Vienna State Opera, Strauss's Die Schweigsame Frau, with Kurt Rydel, Janina Baechle, Adrian Eröd, Michael Schade, Jane Archibald, Caroline Weinborne, Michaela Selinger, Clemens Unterreiner, Janusz Monarcham and Walter Fink.
• RTP Antena 2 - From Teatro da Música in Amsterdam, a June 7, 2008 performance of Messiaen Saint Francois d'Assise, with Camilla Tilling, Hubert Delamboye, Rom Randle, Donald Kaascg, Rod Gilfry, Henk Neven, Arman Arapian, Jan Willen Baljet and André Morsch, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher.
• WETA - From the Grand Theater in Geneva, Verdi's Il Trovatore, with Tatiana Serjan, Irina Mishura, Zoran Todorovich, George Petean and Burak Bilgili, conducted by Evelino Pido.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From San Francisco Opera, Mozart's Don Giovanni, with Mariusz Kwiecien, Oren Gradus, Elza van den Heever, Twyla Robinson, Charles Castronovo, Claudia Mahnke, Luca Pisaroni and Kristinn Sigmundsson, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• WQXR - From San Francisco Opera, Korngold's Die Tote Stadt, with Torsten Kerl,
• Marie/Marietta: Emily Magee, Lucas Meachem, Katharine Tier, Ji Young Yang,: Daniela Mack, Alek Shrader, Andrew Bidlack, Bryan Ketron and Ben Bongers, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• NPR World of Opera - From the 2009 Aix en Provence Festival, Mozart's The Magic Flute, with Marlis Petersen, Magnus Staveland, Anna-Kristiina Kaapola, Daniel Schmutzhard, Sunhae Im, Marcos Fink and Kurt Azesberger, conducted by Rene Jacobs.
• XLNC1 - From San Francisco Opera, Verdi's La Traviata, with Anna Netrebko, Charles Castronovo, Dwayne Croft, Leeann Sandel-Pantaleo, Renee Tatum, Andrew Bidlack, Dale Travis, Austin Kness and Kenneth Kellogg, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• Bartok Radio - From Budapest, a June 11 performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold, with Johan Reuter, Oskar Hillebrandt, Fekete Attila, Christian Franz, Hartmut Welker, Michael Roider, Thomas Jesatko, Ain Anger, Németh Judit, Herczenik Anna, Kovács Annamária, Korondi Anna, Fodor Gabriella and Schöck Atala, conducted by Stephen D´Agostino.
• France Musique - From Opéra Bastille in Paris, Korngold's Die Tote Stadt, with Robert Dean Smith, Ricarda Merbeth, Stéphane Degout, Doris Lamprecht and Elisa Cenni, conducted by Pinchas Steinberg.
• NRK Klassisk & NRK P2 - From the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Haydn's Orlando Paladino, with Henriette Bonde-Hansen, Joan Martin-Roya, Marcel Reijans, Kenneth Tarver, Peter Gijsbertsen, Sharon Rostorf-Zamir Jörg Schneider, Elena Monti, Martijn Cornet, conducted by Alessandro De Marchi.
• Cesky Rozhlas 3-Vltava - From Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila, with Torsten Kerl, Marianna Tarasova, Micho Borovinov, Nikola Mijailovic, Thorsten Büttner, Onno Pels, Gijs Van der Linden and Tijl Faveyts, conducted by Tomáš Netopil.
• Klara - From Vienna, a January 25 concert performance of Vivaldi's Ercole su'l Termodonte, with Vivica Genaux, Roberta Invernizzi, Emanuela Galli, Stefanie Iranyi, Carlo Allemano, Romina Basso, Philippe Jaroussky and Philippo Adami, conducted by Fabio Biondi.
• Radio Tre - From Teatro la Fenice (or possibly Teatro Malibran??) in Venice, an October 9 performance of Handel's Agrippina, with Lorenzo Regazzo, Ann Hallenberg, Florin Cezar Ouatu, Veronica Cangemi, Xavier Sabata, Ugo Guagliardo, Milena Storti and Roberto Abbondanza, conducted by Fabio Biondi.
• Lyric FM - Carlo Pedrotti's opera Tutti in maschera (Everyone in Masks) from last year's Wexford Festival Opera. Bass-baritone Enrico Marabelli heads the cast.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera (on a one-week delay): From Washington National Opera, Handel's Tamerlano, with Placido Domingo, David Daniels, Sarah Coburn, Patricia Bardon, Claudio Huckle and Andrew Foster Williams, conducted by William Lacey.
• Concert FM (New Zealand) - From Opéra Bastille in Paris, Szymanowsky's King Roger, with Mariusz Kwiecien, Eric Cutler, Olga Pasichnyk, Stefan Margita, Wojtek Smilek and Jadwiga Rappé, conducted by Kazushi Ono.
• KING - Live from Seattle Opera, Verdi's La Traviata, with Nuccia Focile, Dimitri Pittas and Charles Taylor, conducted by Brian Garman.
• ABC Classic FM - From the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov, with Alexei Tanovitski, Irina Mataeva, Gennady Bezzubenkov, Nikolay Gassiev, Yuri Vorobyev, Pavel Shmulevich, Mikhaol Vishnyak, Varvara Solovyeva, Ludmila Kanunnikova and Olga Legkova, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Happy listening . . . .

Live Offerings, Saturday, October 17, 2009

Several interesting offerings this afternoon, in particular:

• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From San Francisco Opera, Verdi's La Traviata, with Anna Netrebko, Charles Castronovo and Dwayne Croft, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• BBC Radio 3 - From Covent Garden, Verdi's Don Carlo, with Jonas Kaufmann, Simon Keenlyside, Marina Poplavskaya, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Marianne Cornetti and John Tomlinson, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur & DR P2: From the 2009 Glyndebourne Festival, Dvorak's Russalka, with Ana Maria Martinez, Brandon Jovanovich, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Mischa Schelomianski and Larissa Diadkova, conducted by Jirí Belohlávek.
• Klara - From the Vienna State Opera, a June performance of Gounod's Faust, with Piotr Beczala, Kwangchul Youn, Boaz Daniel and Soile Isokoski, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.
• Latvia Radio Klasika - From Geneva's Grand Theatre, Berlioz's Damnation of Faust, with Elena Garancia and Paul Groves, conducted by John Nelson.
• Sveriges P2 - The historic 1947 Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, with Jussi Björling, Bidú Sayão, Nicola Moscona, John Brownlee, Thomas Hayward and Mimi Benzell, conducted by Emil Cooper.
• NPR World of Opera - Yet another chance to hear the Washington National Opera performance of Handel's Tamerlano, with Placido Domingo, David Daniels, Sarah Coburn, Patricia Bardon, Claudio Huckle and Andrew Foster Williams, conducted by William Lacey.

Happy listening . . . .

Live Offerings, Saturday, October 10, 2009

The big news in radio in these parts has been the conversion of WQXR here in New York City - this week WQXR, which had previously been a commercial station owned by the New York Times, became a public radio station, owned and managed by WNYC. We were curious what would happen to their Saturday afternoon opera programming. In the coming weeks (before the start of the MEt season) they will be picking up the WFMT series, but first they will be inaugurating their new regime with this past summer's Bayreuth Festival Meistersinger.

Here's the rest of the live lineup:

• BBC Radio 3 - From the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia, with Pietro Spagnoli, Juan Diego Florez, Joyce DiDonato, Alessandro Corbelli, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Jennifer Rhys-Davies, Changhn Lim, Bryan Secombe, Christopher Lachner, conducted by Antonio Pappano. On the opening night of this run, Di Donato fell and broke her leg but soldiered on to finish the performance. She performed the rest of the run in a wheelchair. Read her own account of the whole experience in her blog.
• CBC Two - From Chicago Lyric Opera, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, with Patricia Racette, Frank Lopardo, James Westman and Katherine Goeldner, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From the Festivalul George Enescu at Opera Nationala in Bukarest, an August 30 performance of Enescu's Oedipe, with Mihai Lazar, Oana Andra, Franck Ferrari, Crina Zancu, Ionut Pascu, Horia Sandu, Vicentiu Taranu, Adriana Alexandru, Pompeiu Harasteanu, Valentin Racoveanu and Ecaterina Tutu, conducted by Oleg Caetani.
• DR P2 & Klara - From the 2009 Rossini Festival in Pesaro, an August 9 performance of Rossini's Zelmira, with Kate Aldrich, Marianna Pizzolato, Alex Esposito, Juan Diego Flórez and Mirco Palazzi, conducted by Roberto Abbado.
• Espace Musique & Latvia Klasika Radio - From Chorégies d’Orange 2009, Verdi's La Traviata, with Patrizia Ciofi, Laura Brioli, Christine Labadens, Vittorio Grigolo, Marzio Giossi, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Jean-Marie Delpas, Armando Noguera and Nicolas Courjat, conducted by Myung-Whun Chung.
• KBYU - From Utah Opera, a 2008 performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, with Barbara Shirvis, Scott Piper, Jon Kolbet, Andrew Oakden, Kirsten Gunlogson, Brent Turner, Dominick Chenes, Tyler Oliphant, Christopher Clayton and Rachel Willis-Sørensen, conducted by Joseph Mechavich.
• Radio Clasica de Espana - From Teatro Real de Madrid, Berg's Lulu, with A. Eichenholz, J. Larmore, H. Shipp, G. Siegel, R. González, I. Mentxaka and M. J. Suárez, conducted by E. Inbal.
• WETA - From Washington National Opera, Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, with Renee Fleming, Vittorio Grigolo, Kate Aldrich, Ruggero Raimondi, Oleksandr Pushniak, Girgory Soloviov, Jose Ortega, Yingxi Zhang and David B. Morris, conducted by Placido Domingo.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From San Francisco Opera, Puccini's Tosca, with Adrianne Pieczonka, Carlo Ventre, Lado Ataneli, Jordan Bisch, Dale Travis, Matthew O’Neill, Austin Kness and Kenneth Kellogg, conducted by Marco Armiliato.
• NPR World of Opera - From Drottningholm Court Theatre, Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea, with Ingelina Bohlin, Charlotte Hellekand, Matilda Paulsson, Christopher Ainslie, Lars Arvidson and Malin Christensson, conducted by Mark Tatlow.
• XLNC1 - From San Francisco Opera, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, with Joyce DiDonato, Soile Isokoski, Miah Persson, Kristinn Sigmundsson, Jochen Schmeckenbecher and Robert McPherson, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• Dwojke Polskie Radio - From Netherlands Opera, Cavalli's Ercole amante, with Veronica Cangemi, Anna Bonitatibus, Anna Maria Panzarella, Wilke te Brummelstroete, Johannette Zomer, Mark Tucker, Jeremy Ovenden, Luca Pisaroni and Umberto Chiummo, conducted by Ivor Bolton.
• Bartok Radio - From the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, an historic broadcast of Berlioz's Benvenuto Cellini, with Douglas Robinson, Nicolai Gedda, Jules Bastin, Robert Massard, Roger Soyer, Derek Blackwell, Robert Lloyd, Raimund Herincx, Hugues Cuénod, Christiane Eda-Pierre, Jane Berbié and Janine Reiss, conducted by Colin Davis.
• France Musique - From La Scala in Milan, a July 6 performance of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with David Daniels, Rosemary Joshua, Daniel Okulitch, Natasha Petrinsky, Gordon Gietz, David Adam Moore, Deanne Meek, Erin Wall, Matthew Rose, Andrew Shore, Christopher Gillett, Graeme Dandy, Adrian Thompson and Simon Butteriss, conducted by Andrew Davis.
• NRK Klassisk & NRK P2 - An historic Metropolitan Opera broadcast: from February 21, 1959, Verdi's Macbeth, with Leonie Rysanek, Leonard Warren, Carlo Bergonzi, Jerome Hines, William Olvis, Carlotta Ordassy, Harold Sternberg, Gerhard Pechner and Osie Hawkins, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.
• Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) - From Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, a May 23, 2008 performance of Rossini's Tancredi, with Bernarda Fink, Rosemary Joshua, Lawrence Brownlee, Anna Chierichetti, Federico Sacchi and Elena Belfiore, conducted by René Jacobs.
• Sveriges Radio P2 - From Kungliga Operan in Stockholm, Handel's Xerxes, with Katarina Karnéus, Matilda Paulsson, Katarina Leoson, Malin Byström, Ailish Tynan, Lars Arvidson and Mark Stone, conducted by Andreas Stoehr.
• Cesky Rozhlas 3-Vltava - Auber's Fra Diavolo, Sumi Jo, Doris Lamprecht, Kenneth Tarver, Marc Molomo, Antonio Figueroa, Vincent Pavesi, Thomas Dolié and Thomas Morris, conducted by Jean-Claude Malgoire.
• Espace 2 & Radio Slovenia Tretji - From l'Opéra National de Paris, a February 21 performance of Gounod's Mireille, with Inva Mula, Charles Castronovo, Franck Ferrari, Sylvie Brunet, Alain Vernhes, Nicolas Cavallier, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Amel Brahim Djelloul, Sébastien Droy and Ugo Rabec, conducted by Marc Minkowski.
• Radio Tre (RAI) - From the 2009 Glyndeboune Festival, Dvorák's Russalka, with Mischa Schelomianski, Ana Maria Martinez,, Larissa Diadkova, Brandon Jovanovich, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Natasha Jouhl, Barbara Senator, Elodie Mechain, Alasdair Elliott, Diana Axentii, Alasdair Elliott, conducted by Jirì Belohlàvek.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera, on a one week delay: from the Vienna State Opera, Tchaikovsky's Eugen Onegin, with Simon Keenlyside, Tamar Iveri, Ramon Vargas, Ain Anger, Nadia Krasteva and Aura Twarowska, conducted by Seiji Ozawa.
• Concert FM (New Zealand) - From the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Haydn's Orlando Paladino, with Pietro Spagnoli, Marcel Reijans, Kenneth Tarver, Peter Gijsbertsen, Laura Cherici, Nikolay Borchev, Elena Monti and Martijn Cornet, conducted by Alessandro De Marchi.
• KING - From San Francisco Opera, Korngold's Die Tode 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.
• ABC Classic FM (Australaia) - From Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse, Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, with Philippe Talbot, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Allyson McHardy, Stéphane Degout, Françoise Masset, Jennifer Holloway, Bruno Calucci, Jaël Azzaretti, François Lis, Jérôme Varnier, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and Aurélia Legay, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm.

Happy listening . . . .

Live Offerings - Saturday, September 26, 2009 - Part I

• Sveriges Radio P2 - already underway, from Göteborg Opera, Börtz's Goya, with Anders Larsson, Anders Lorentzon, Fredrik Zetterström, Michael Weinius, Mats Persson, Linus Börjesson, Iwar Bergkwist, Johan Schinkler, Henric Holmberg, Ann-Kristin Jones, Ann-Marie Backlund, Katarina Giotas and Natalie Hernborg, conducted by Joakim Unander.
• BBC Radio 3 - From the Grand Theatre in Leeds (Opera North), the British premiere of Gershwin's Let 'em Eat Cake, with William Dazeley, Rebecca Moon, Steven Beard, Nicholas Sharratt, Martin Hyder, Rob Edwards, Richard Morris and Graham Howes, conducted by Wyn Davies.
• CBC Two - From the Vienna State Opera, Strauss's Die Schweisame Frau, with Kurt Rydel, Michael Schade, and Diana Damrau, conducted by Peter Schneider.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From the Vienna State Opera, a February 13 performance of Verdi's Stiffelio, with José Cura, Hui He, Anthony Michaels-Moore, Gergely Németi, Alexandru Moisiuc, Benedikt Kobel and Elisabeta Marin, conducted by Michael Halász.
• DR P2 - From the Aix-en-Provence Festival, a July 30 performance of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, with Daniel Behle, Marlis Petersen, Anna-Kristiina Kaapola, Daniel Schmutzhard, Sunhae Im, Marcos Fink and Kurt Azesberger, conducted by René Jacobs.
• Espace Musique & Radio Oesterreich International (OE1)- From Festival de Radio-France et Montpellier 2009, Bellini's Zaira, with Ermonela Jaho, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Shalva Mukeria, Wenwei Zhang, Gezim Myshketa, Franck Bard and Marianne Crebassa, conducted by Enrique Mazzola.
• Radio 4 Netherlands & France Musique - From Paris Opera, Gounod's Mireille, with Inva Mula, Charles Castronovo and Franck Ferrari, conducted by Marc Minkowski.
• RTP Antena 2 - From the 2009 Bayreuth Festival, Wagner's Parsifal.
• WETA - From the NPR World of Opera archives, from Houston Grand Opera, Verdi's Aida, with Zvetelina Vassileva, Marco Berti, Dolora Zajick, Gordon Hawkins, Tigran Martirossian, Bradley Garvin and Tamara Wilson, conducted by Carlo Rizzi.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From San Francisco Opera, Puccini's La Boheme, with Angela Gheorghiu, Piotr Beczala, Quinn Kelsey, Norah Amsellem, Oren Gradus, Brian Leerhuber, Dale Travis, Chester Pidduck, Colby Roberts, Ryan Hedrick, David Kekuewa and Jere Torkelsen, conducted by Nicola Luisotti.
• NPR World of Opera - From Capitole Theatre in Toulouse, Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, with Bernard Richter, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Allyson McHardy, Stephane Degout, Fancoise Masset, Jennifer Holloway, Bruno Calucci, Jael Azzaretti and Francis Lis, conducted by Emmanuelle Haim.
• XLNC1 - From San Francisco Opera, Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore, with Inva Mula, Ramon Vargas, Giorgio Caoduro, Alessandro Corbelli and Ji Young Yang, conducted by Bruno Campanella.
• NRK P2 & NRK Klassisk - From The Metropolitan Opera, the February 1, 1947 broadcast of Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, with Bidú Sayão, Jussi Björling, Mimi Benzell, Claramae Turner, John Brownlee, Nicola Moscona, Anthony Marlowe, Kenneth Schon, Thomas Hayward, George Cehanovsky, Philip Kinsman and William Hargrave, conducted by Emil Cooper.

More to come shortly . . .

Live Offerings - Saturday, September 19, 2009

Lots of interesting performances from all over on offer today and this evening. Highlights include - Verdi's Macbeth from Edinburgh with the Lady Macbeth of Susan Neves; from Pesar, Rossini's Zelmira with Juan Diego Florez and Kate Aldrich; from Rome, Glück's Iphigénie en Aulide, with Krassimira Stoyanova; from Vienna, Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau with Diana Damrau. Here's the menu:

• BBC Radio 3 - From this summer's Edinburgh Festival, Verdi's Macbeth, with Lado Ataneli, Susan Neves, John Relyea, Vsevolod Grivnov, Katherine Broderick, Nicholas Phan, Vuyani Mlinde, Wade Kernot, Michael Yeoman and Niall Docherty, conducted by David Robertson.
• CBC Two & (much later) Concert FM - From the Vienna State Opera, a May 25 performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni, with Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, René Pape, Ricarda Merbeth, Michael Schade and Soile Isokoski, conducted by Constantinos Carydis.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From Studio Lukaskirche Dresden, an August performance of Offenbach's La Pericole, with Sabine Brohm, Ralf Simon, Gerd Wiemer, Bernd Könnes, Marcus Günzel, Jessica Glatte, Elke Kottmair, Tanja Höft, Annegret Reißmann, Frank Ernst, Christian Grygas, Mirko Poick and Dietrich Seydlitz, conducted by Ernst Theis.
• Espace Musique & RTP Antena 2 - From the 2009 Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Italy, Rossini's Zelmira, with Kate Aldrich, Marianna Pizzolato, Alex Esposito, Juan Diego Flórez, Gregory Kunde, Mirco Palazzi, Francisco Ruben Brito and Savio Sperandio, conducted by Roberto Abbado.
• France Musique & Cesky Rozhlas 3-Vltava - From Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, a March 17 performance of Glück's Iphigénie en Aulide, with Beatriz Diaz, Alexey Tikhomirov, Ekaterina Gubanova, Krassimira Stoyanova, Avi Klemberg, Mario Cassi, Maxim Kuzmin-Karavaev, Carlos Garcia-Ruiz, Alessandra Ruffini, Sara Allegretta, Miljana Nikolich, Monica Tarone, Francesco Marsiglia and Marta Moretto, conducted by Riccardo Muti.
• KBYU - From San Francisco Opera, Korngold's Die Tode 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.
• Radio 4 Netherlands - From La Scala in Milan, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with David Daniels, Rosemary Joshua and Gordon Gietz, conducted by Andrew Davis.
• Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) - From Theater an der Wien, Britten's Death in Venice, with Kurt Streit, Russell Braun, Christophe Dumaux, Erik Arman and Klemens Sander, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• WETA - From the NPR World of Opera archives: From the 2009 Schwetzingen Festival Handel's Ezio, with Yosemeh Adjei, Netta Or, Rosa Bove, Hilke Andersen, Donat Havar and Marcell Bakonyi, conducted by Attilio Cremonesi.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From San Francisco Opera, Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore, with Inva Mula, Ramon Vargas, Giorgio Caoduro, Alessandro Corbelli and Ji Young Yang, conducted by Bruno Campanella.
• NPR World of Opera - From Grand Theatre of Geneva, Verdi's Il Trovatore, with Tatiana Serjan, Irina Mishura, Zoran Todorovich, George Petean and Burak Bilgili, conducted by Evelino Pido.
• XLNC1 - From San Francisco Opera, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, with Samuel Ramey, Vsevolod Grivnov, John Uhlenhopp, Vladimir Ognovenko, Vitalij Kowaljow, Andrew Bidlack, Ji Young Yang, Jack Gorlin, Catherine Cook, Daveda Karanas, Matthew O’Neill, Nicolai Janitzky, Kenneth Kellogg and Mityukha Valery Portnov, conducted by Vassily Sinaisky.
• MDR Figaro - From the Vienna State Opera, a June 18 performance of Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau, with Diana Damrau, Kurt Rydl, Janina Baechle and Michael Schadeconducted by Peter Schneider.
• Sveriges Radio P2 - From La Scala, an April performance of Rossini's Il Viaggio a Rheims, with Carmela Remigio, Patrizia Ciofi, Nicola Ulivieri, Alastair Miles, Annick Massis, Juan F. Gatell Abre, Daniela Barcellona, Dmitry Korchak, Fabio Capitanucci, Bruno Praticò, Alessandro Guerzoni and Enrico Iviglia, conducted by Ottavio Dantone.
• Espace 2 - From l'Opéra National de Paris, a July 24 performance of Szymanowski's Le Roi Roger, with Mariusz Kwiecien, Olga Pasychnik, Eric Cuttler, Stefan Margita, Wojtek Smilek and Jadwiga Rappé, conducted by Kazushi Ono.
• Klara - From the 2009 Drottningholm Festival, an August performance of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, with Ingelina Bohlin, Charlotte Hellekant, Matilda Paulsson, Christopher Ainslie, Lars Arvidson, Malin Christensson, Rickard Söderberg, Lars Johansson Brissman, Johan Christensson, Daniel Carlsson and Thomas Walker, conducted by Mark Tatlow.
• Latvia Klasika Radio - From Vienna, Tchaikovsky's Eugen Onegin, with Simon Keenlyside, Tamara Iveri, Ramon Vargas, and Nadia Kresteve, conducted by Seiji Ozawa.
• Radio Tre - Direct from La Scala, Montiverdi's Orfeo, with Roberta Invernizzi, Sara Mingardo, Luca Dordolo, Leonardo Cortellazzi, Martin Oro, Luigi De Donato, Raffaella Milanesi and Giovanni Battista Parodi, conducted by Rinaldo Alessandrini.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera (on a one week delay) - From Washington National Opera, Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, with Renee Fleming, Vittorio Grigolo, Kate Aldrich, Ruggero Raimondi, Oleksandr Pushniak, Girgory Soloviov, Jose Ortega, Yingxi Zhang and David B. Morris, conducted by Placido Domingo.

And later on this evening:

• WCLV - From Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, a September 19, 2002 performance of Haydn's Creation, with Malin Hartelius, James Taylor, and Thomas Quasthoff, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst.
• KING - Yet another chance to hear the Los Angeles Opera performance of Shore's The Fly, with Daniel Okulitch, conducted by Placido Domingo.
• ABC Classic FM (Australia) - From the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Haydn's Orlando Paladino, with Marcel Reijans, Henriette Bonde-Hansen, Pietro Spagnoli, Kenneth Tarver, Peter Gijsbertsen, Laura Cherici, Nikolay Borchev, Elena Monti and Martijn Cornet, conducted by Alessandro de Marchi.

Happy listening,

Live Offerings - Saturday, September 12, 2009

The summer festival season comes to an official end with the Last Night of the Proms - and half of all the radio stations we list seem to be carrying it. But there are a few other items of interest to hear this afternoon: From Pesaro, Rossini's La Scala di Seta with Ann Malavasi, a repeat of this summer's Bayreuth Festival Tristan und Isolde with Robert Dean Smith, and from Dortmund Verdi's I Due Foscari with Francisco Casanova. Here's the complete lineup:

• Dr P2 - From the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, an August 10 performance of Rossini's La Scala di Seta, with Anna Malavasi, Olga Peretyatko, Paolo Bordogna, Carlo Lepore and José Manuel Zapata, conducted by Claudio Scimone.
• CBC Two - From the Canadian Opera Company, a February performance of Dvorak's Russalka, with Julie Makerov, Michael Schade, Richard Paul Fink, Irina Mishura and Joni Henson, conducted by John Keenan.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From Schloss Weikersheim, and August 1 performance of Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, with Sebastian Pilgrim, Viktoria Varga, Patrick Ruyters, Dorothee Schlemm, Artur Grywatzik, Camille Butcher, Martin Platz, Gae¨l Mercier and Glenn Desmedt, conducted by Peter Kuhn.
• Espace Musique - From Festival international d'opéra baroque de Beaune 2009, Handel's Ariodante, with Ann Hallenberg, Karina Gauvin, Maarten Engeltjes, Jaël Azzaretti, Kristian Adam and Sergio Foresti, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli.
• Latvia Radio Klasika - From the 2009 Bayreuth Festival, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.
• Radio 4 Nertherlands - From Netherlands Opera, Halévy's La Juive, with Angeles Blancas Gulin, Dennis O'Neill, John Osborn and Annick Massis, conducted by Carlo Rizzi.
• WETA - From the Grand Theatre in Geneva, Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, with Marc Laho, Nicolas Cavallier, Stella Doufexis, Patricia Petibon, Rachel Harnisch, Maria Riccarda Wesseling, Francisco Vas, Bernard Deletre, Gilles Cachemaille and Eric Huchet, conducted by Patrick Davin.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From San Francisco Opera, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, with Samuel Ramey, Dimitry Vsevolod Grivnov, John Uhlenhopp, Vladimir Ognovenko, Vitalij Kowaljow, Andrew Bidlack, Ji Young Yang, Jack Gorlin, Catherine Cook, Daveda Karanas, Matthew O’Neill, Nicolai Janitzky, Kenneth Kellogg and Valery Portnov, conducted by Vassily Sinaisky.
• NPR World of Opera - From Washington National Opera, Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, with Renee Fleming, Vittorio Grigolo, Kate Aldrich, Ruggero Raimondi, Oleksandr Pushniak, Girgory Soloviov, Jose Ortega, Yingxi Zhang and David B. Morris, conducted by Placido Domingo.
• XLNC1 - From San Francisco Opera, Mozart's Idomeneo, with Kurt Streit, Alice Coote, Genia Kühmeier, Iano Tamar, Alek Shrader, Robert MacNeil, Kenneth Kellogg, Mary Finch, Natasha Ramirez Leland, Chester Pidduck and David Kekuewa, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• Cesky Rozhlas 3-Vltava - Handel's Partenope, with Christine Schäfer, Kurt Streit, David Daniels, Patricia Bardonová, Florian Boesch and Matthias Rexroth, conducted by Christophe Rousset.
• NRK Klassisk & NRK P2 - From Dortmund, a performance from earlier this summer of Verdi's I Due Foscari, with Renato Bruson, Francisco Casanova, Monan Feubel, Alexander Teliga, Viktor Sawaley and Francisca Devos, conducted by Carlo Montanaro.
• Bayern 4 Klassik, BBC Radio 3, Catalunya Musica, DR P2, Dwojke Polskie Radio, France Musique, KBYU, Klassikaraadio, KUSC, MDR Figaro, Musiq3, NDR Kultur, Radio Clasica de Espana, Radio Oesterreich International (RAI), Radio Tre (RAI), RBB Kulturradio, RTP Antena 2, Sveriges Radio P2, WCLV, WDR3, WFMT and YLE Klassinen - Last Night of the Proms from the Royal Albert Hall in London, with Sarah Connolly conducted by David Robertson, featuring works by Knussen, Purcell, Haydn, Mahler, Villa-Lobos, Arnold, Ketelby, Gershwin, Piazzola, Handel, Arne, Parry and Elgar.
• Klara - From the Aix en Provence Festival, Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, with Magnus Staveland, Marlis Petersen, Anna-Kristiina Kaapola, Daniel Schmutzhard, Sunhae Im, Marcos Fink, Kurt Azesberger, Inga Kalna, Anna Grevelius, Isabelle Druet, Konstantin Wolff, Joachim Buhrmann, conducted by René Jacobs.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera (on a one-week delay) - From Washington National Opera, Janacek's Jenufa, with Patricia Racette, Catherine Malfitano, Kim Begley, Judith Christin, Raymond Very, Charles Robert Austin, Janice Meyerson, Leslie Mutchler, Elizabeth Andrews Roberts, Jeffrey Wells, Christina Martos and Madgalena Wor.

And later on this evening:

• WQXR - From the Conceretgebouw, Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe.
• Concert FM (New Zealand) - From La Scala, Milan, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, with David Daniels, Rosemary Joshua, Emil Wolk, Daniel Okulitch, Natasha Petrinsky, Gordon Gietz, David Adam Moore, Deanne Meek, Erin Wall, Matthew Rose, Andrew Shore, Christopher Gillett, Graeme Danby, Adrian Thompson and Simon Butteriss, conducted by Andrew Davis.

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

Live Offerings - Saturday, August 16, 2009

The 2009 Bayreuth Ring Cycle continues this weekend on five German stations - Siegfried on Saturday and Gotterdammerung on Sunday . . . Another Ring Cycle, from Seattle Opera gets underway this afternoon . . . Simon Boccanegra from San Francisco Opera . . . from Prague, Janacek's Makropoulos Affair . . . from Potsdam Sanssouci, Haydn's L'Infidelta Delusa . . . Rossini's Zelmira from Pesaro . . . Gilbert and Sullivsan's Patience, Purcell's The Fairy Queen and a Beethoven Ninth Symphony from the Proms in London . . . and more.

Here's the complete lineup:

• Bayern 4 Klassik, MDR Figaro, NDR Kultur, RBB Kulturradio & WDR3 - From the 2009 Bayreuth Festival, Wagner's Siegfried; and on Sunday catch Gotterdammerung.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From San Francisco Opera, Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, with Dimitri Hvorostovsky, Barbara Frittoli, Marcus Haddock, Vitalij Kowalojow and Patrick Carfizzi, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• CBC Two - From the National Theatre in Prague, Janacek's Makropoulos Affair, with Gun-Brit Barkmin, Gustáv Belácek, Gianluca Zampieri and Alzbeta Polácková, conducted by Tomás Hanus.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From Musikfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci, a June performance of Haydn's L'Infidelta Delusa, with Gemma Bertagnolli, Raffaella Milanesi, Andreas Karasiak, Daniel Auchincloss and Christian Senn, conducted by Andreas Spering.
• DR P2 - From Pesaro, and August 9 performance of Rossini's Zelmira, with Kate Aldrich, Marianna Pizzolato, Alex Esposito, Juan Diego Flórez and Mirco Palazzi, conducted by Roberto Abbado. Correction: from London, Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, with Anna Netrebko, Dario Schmunck, Eric Owens, Giovanni Battista Parodi and Elina Garanca, conducted by Mark Elder.
  
• Espace 2 - From the International Baroque Opera Festival in Beaune, a July 11 performance of Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, with Lawrence Zazzo, Juliette Gastian and Maria Riccarda Wesseling, conducted by Lopez Banzo.
• KBYU - From Los Angeles Opera, Braunfels' The Birds, with Désirée Rancatore, Brandon Javanovich, James Johnson, Stacey Tappan, Martin Gantner, Valerie Vinzant, Courtney Taylor, Brian Mulligan, Matthew Moore, John Kimberling and Daniel Armstrong, conducted by James Conlon.
• Radio 4 Netherlands - From the Proms in London, Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience, with Rebecca Bottone, Felicity Palmer, Pamela Helen Stephen, Elena Xanthoudakis and Sophie-Louise Dann, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras.
• RTP Antena 2 - From Vienna State Opera, an October 11, 2008 performance of Gounod's Faust, with Angela Gheorghiu, Michaela Selinger, Janina Baechle, Roberto Alagna, Adrian Eröd, Alexandru Moisiuc and Kwangchul Youn, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.
• WETA - From La Scala, Rossini's Il Viaggio a Rheims, with Patricia Ciofi, Annick Massis, Carmela Remigio, Juan F. Gatell Abre, Dmitry Korchak, Alastair Miles, Nicola Ulivieri and Fabio Capitanucci, conducted by Ottavio Dantone.
• XLNC1 - From Los Angeles Opera, Verdi's Requiem, with Adrianne Pieczonka, Stephanie Blythe, Arturo Chacón-Cruz and René Pape, conducted by Placiso Domingo.
• Bartok Radio - From Amsterdam, a June 7 performance of Messiaen's Saint-François d'Assise, with Camilla Tilling, Rod Gilfry (bariton), Hubert Delamboye, Henk Neven, Rom Randle, Donald Kaasch, Armand Arapian, Jan Willem Baljet and André Morsch\, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher.
• BBC Radio 3 & France Musique - From the Royal Albert Hall, Prom 40, a Stravinsky and Beethoven program, including Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with Rebecca Evans, Caitlin Hulcup, Anthony Dean Griffey and James Rutherford, conducted by Ilan Volkov.
• NPR World of Opera - From Grand Theatre of Geneva, Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, with Marc Laho, Nicolas Cavallier, Stella Dufexis, Patricia Petitbon, Rachel Harnisch, Maria Riccarda Wesseling, Eric Huchet, Francisco Vas, Bernard Deletre, Rene Schirrer and Gilles Cachemaille, conducted by Patrick Davin.
• Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) - From the Metropolitan Opera, an historic broadcast from Feberuary 1, 1947 of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, with Bidu Sayao, Jussi Björling, Nicola Moscona, John Brownlee, Anthony Marlowe and Mimi Benzell, conducted by Emil Cooper.
• Sveriges Radio P2 - From Läckö slott, a July 29 performance og Rossini's L'Italiana in algeri, with Markus Schwartz, Åsa Danielsson, Astrid Robillard, Andreas Lundmark, Fredrik Strid, Ulrika Skarby and Anders Kjellstrand, conducted by Simon Phipps.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera on a one-week delay: From Royal Albert Hall, the London Proms performance of Purcell's The Fairy Queen, with Lucy Crowe, Claire Debono, Anna Devin, Carolyn Sampson, Robert Burt, Ed Lyon, Sean Clayton, Adrian Ward and Andrew Foster-Williams.
• KING - From Seattle Opera, recorded live earlier this month, Wagner's Das Rheingold (first installment of a complete Ring cycle to be heard over the next four weeks), with Greer Grimsley, Richard Paul Fink, Stephanie Blythe, Kobie van Rensburg and contralto Maria Streijffert, conducted by Robert Spano.
• Concert FM (New Zealand) - From Teatro Real in Madrid, Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, with Terry Way, Luigi Da Donato, Hanna Bayodi-Hirt, Claire Debono, Christine Rice, Marina Rodríguez-Cusí, Ed Lyon, Kobie van Rensburg, Joseph Cornwell, Robert Burt, Cyril Auvity, Humberto Chiummo, Xavier Sabata, Juan Sancho and Sonya Yoncheva, conducted by William Christie.

Happy listening . . .

Live Offerings - Saturday, July 18, 2009 - Part II

More live offerings today:

• Espace Musique & Latvia Radio Klasika - From Paris, a rebroadcast of a March 12 performance of Massenet's Werther, with Rolando Villazon, Susan Graham, Adriana Kucerova, Ludovic Tézier, Christian Jean, Christian Tréguier, Vincent Delhourne and Letitia Singleton, conducted by Kent Nagano.
• KBYU - From Los Angeles Opera, Wagner's Die Walkure, with Plácido Domingo, Anja Kampe, Eric Halfvarson, Vitalij Kowaljow, Linda Watson, Michelle DeYoung, Ellie Dehn, Susan Foster, Erica Brookhyser, Ronnita Miller, Melissa Citro, Buffy Baggott, Jane Gilbert and Margaret Thompson, conducted by James Conlon.
• Klassikaraadio - From Tallinna XXIII Rahvusvahelise Orelifestivali, Handel's Theodora, with Kädy Plaas, Charles Humphries, Teele Jõks, Mati Turi and Uku Joller, conducted by Toomas Siitan.
• KUHF - From the Metropolitan Opera on February 22, 2009, the Met Opera National Council Finals Concert 2009.
• Radio Clasica de Espana - From Théâtre Municipal in Lausanne, a December 3, 2008 performance of Verdi's La Traviata, with V. Tola, S. Pirgu, S. Catana, B. Hool, C. Cornu, B. Bernheim, M. Mazuir, M. Signorini, B. Capt, Y. François, J. Etchepareborda and N. Woldi, conducted by P. Arrivabeni.
• RTP Antena 2 - From Teatro Régio in Turin, an October 18, 2008 performance of Cherubini's Medea, with Anna Caterina Antonaci, Cinzia Forte, Erika Grimaldi, Luísa Francesconi, Sara Mingardo, Giuseppe Filianoti, Giovanni Battista Parodi and Diego Matamoros, conducted by Evelino Pidò.
• WETA - From the Metropolitan Theatre of Lausanne, Handel's Faramondo, with Max Emanuel Cencic, Sophie Karthäuser, Marina de Liso, Insung Sinn, Philippe Jaroussky, Xavier Sabata Corominas, Fulvio Bettini and Johann Ebert, conducted by Diego Fasolis.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From Los Angeles Opera, the Verdi Requiem, with Adrianne Pieczonka, Stephanie Blythe, Arturo Chacón-Cruz and René Pape, conducted by Placido Domingo.
• XLNC1 - from Los Angeles Opera, Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, with Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Anthony Dean Griffey, Robert Wörle, Donnie Ray Albert, John Easterlin, Mel Ulrich, Joe Stevn Humes, Catherine Ireland, Karen Vuong, Rena Harms, Natasha Flores, Sharmay Musacchio, Priti Gandhi, Derek Taylor and Mark Kelley, conducted by James Conlon.
• Bartok Radio - From Magyar Állami Operaház, a June 28 performance of Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani, with Fekete Attila, Sümegi Eszter, Rácz István, Fokanov Anatolij, Vadász Dániel, Ulbrich Andrea, Tóth János, Daróczi Tamás, Horváth Ádám, Cserhalmi Ferenc and Derecskei Zsolt, conducted by Matthias Stegmann.
• Cesky Rozhlas 3-Vltava - From La Scala in Milan, Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims, with Carmela Remigio, Patrizia Ciofi, Nicola Ulivieri, Alastair Miles, Annick Massis, Juan F. Gatell, Daniela Barcellona, Dmitrij Korc(ak, Fabio Capitanucci, Bruno Praticó, Alessandro Guerzoni, Enrico Iviglia, Paola Gardina, Aurora Tirotta, Annamaria Popescu, Filippo Polinelli, Patrizio Saudelli and Fabrizio Mercurio, conducted by Ottavio Dantone.
• NPR World of Opera - From Royal Albert Hall in London, Purcell's Fairy Queen, with Lucy Crowe, Claire Debono, Anna Devin, Carolyn Sampson, Robert Burt, Ed Lyon, Sean Clayton, Adrian Ward, and Andrew Foster-Williams.
• Lyric FM - Opera Ireland's production of Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa with Valeri Alexeev and Sinead Mulhern.
• Sveriges Radio P2 - From Drottningholm, Monteverdi's L'Incorinazione de Poppea, with Ingela Bohlin, Charlotte Hellekant, Matilda Paulsson, Christopher Ainslie, Lars Arvidson, Malin Christensson, Rickard Söderberg, Thomas Walker, Lars Johansson Brissman, Johan Christensson and Daniel Carlsson, conducted by Mark Tatlow.
• Dwojke Polskie Radio - From Aix-en-Provence, a July 20 performance of Offenbach's Orpheus aux Enfers, with Pauline Courtin, Julien Behr, Mathias Vidal, Vincent Deliau, Marie Gautrot, Jérôme Billy, Paul Cremazy, Emmanuelle de Negri, Soula Parassidis, Marie Kalinine, Estelle Kaique and Sabine Revault d'Allonnes, conducted by Alain Altinoglu.
• Radio Tre (RAI) - From Teatro San Carlo in Naples, an April 23 performance of Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, with Peter Simonischek, Jane Archibald, Valentina Farcas, Yi Jie Shi, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke Kristinn Sigmundsson and Giulio Barbato, conducted by Jeffrey Tate.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera on a one week delay: From Houston Grand Opera, Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen, with Lisa Saffer, Hector Vasquez, Jennifer Root, Ekaterina Gorlova, Fiona Murphy, Meredith F. Flores, Alina Slavik, Jon Kolbet, Allan Lawrence, Maria Markina, Laurie Lester, Rebeka Camm, Albina Shagimuratova, Alicia Gianni, Ryan McKinny, Bradley Garvin, Beau Gibson, Liam Bonner and Tamara Wilson, conducted by Patrick Summers.
• ABC Classic FM (Australia) - A double bill: From Göttingen Handel Festival, Handel's Acis and Galatea (arr Mendelssohn), with Julia Kleiter, Christoph Prégardien, Michael Slattery and Wolf Friedrich, conducted by Nicholas McGegan; and from the Baltic Sea Festival, Janacek's From the House of the Dead, with Esa Ruuttunen, Robert Künzli, Tuomas Katajala, Gabriel Suovanen, Dan Karlström, Jussi Myllys, Petri Bäckström, Anna Danik and Hannu Niemelä, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
• Concert FM (New Zealand) - From Göttingen Handel Festival, Handel's Acis and Galatea (arr Mendelssohn), with Julia Kleiter, Christoph Prégardien, Michael Slattery and Wolf Friedrich, conducted by Nicholas McGegan.
  

Happy listening . . . .

Live Offerings - Saturday, August 9, 2009 - Part I

• Bayern 4 Klassik, MDR Figaro, NDR Kultur, RBB Kulturradio & WDR 3 - Continue with their traversal of this summer's Bayreuth Festival Ring Cycle, with Die Walküre.
• Radio Oesterreich International (OE1) - From the Salzburg Festival, Rossini's Moise et Pharaon ou le Passage de la Mer Rouge, with Ildar Abdrazakov, Juan Francisco Gatell, Nicola Alaimo, Nino Surguladze, Eric Cutler, Marina Rebeka, Barbara Di Castri, Alexey Tikhomirov and Ante Jerkunica, conducted Riccardo Muti.
• CBC Two - From Teatro Real, an October 4, 2008 performance of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, with Marcelo Alvarez, Violeta Urmana, Ludovic Tézier and Elena Zaremba, conducted by Jesús López-Cobos.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Verdi's Aida, with Kristin Lewis, Salvatore Licitra, Ekaterina Gubanova, Marco Vratogna, Giacomo Prestia, Christian Van Horn, Lana Kos and Kenneth Roberson, conducted by Daniele Gatti.
• DR P2 - From Montpellier, a July 13th performance of Bellini's Zaira, with Ermonela Jaho, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Shalva Mukeria, Wenwei Zhang and Gezim Myshketa, conducted by Enrique Mazzola.

More to follow. . . .

Live Offerings - Saturday, April 25, 2009 - Part I

Today is the last of the Met's Matinee Ring Cycle, Götterdämmerung, and also the final broadcast of the season from the Met. James Levine was ill on Thursday evening and did not conduct Rheingold, so we hope he is feeling well enough for today's marathon performance (the Met website still lists him).

Many stations in the Met network will start next Saturday with an eight-week series of operas from Lyric Opera of Chicago and other will segue to NPR World of Opera - stay tuned as our Saturday page for next week fills in as we figure out who's airing what...

Here's the rest of today's live lineup:

• Metropolitan Opera (on numerous stations) - Wagner's Götterdämmerung, with Christian Franz, Iain Paterson, Richard Paul Fink, John Tomlinson, Katarina Dalayman, Margaret Jane Wray, Yvonne Naef, Wendy White, Elizabeth Bishop, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Lisette Oropesa, Kate Lindsey and Tamara Mumford, conducted by James Levine.
• Dwojkie Polsjie Radio, DR P2, Radio 4 Netherlands, Radio Clasica de Espana & Radio Tre (RAI) - From Teatro Real in Madrid, a performance of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria, with Christine Rice, Kobie van Rensburg, Cyril Auvity, Sonya Yoncheva, Ed Lyon, Luigi De Donato, Xavier Sabata and Terry Wey, conducted by William Christie.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From Aachen, a March 29th performance of Mozart's Lucio Silla, with Juan Tralla, Antonia Bourvé, Iva Danova, Eva Berard, Michaela Maria Mayer and Louis Kim, conducted by Marcus Bosch.
• France Musique - From Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, with Bernard Richter, Anne-Catherine Gillet, Allyson McHardy, Stéphane Degout, Françoise Masset, Jennifer Holloway, Bruno Calucci, Jaël Azzaretti, Francis Lis, Jérôme Varnier, Emiliano Gonzales Toro, Aurélia Legay, Nicholas Mulroy and Nicolas Letilleux, conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm.
• KBIA2 - NPR World of Opera: From Washington National Opera, the American Premier of Maw's Sophie's Choice, with Angelika Kirchschlager, Rod Gilfry, Gordon Gietz, Corey Evan Rotz, Clayton Brainerd, Erin Elizabeth Smith and Trevor Scheunemann, conducted by Marin Alsop.
• Radio Oesterreich International - From the Vienna State Opera, a February 13th performance of Verdi's Stiffelio, with José Cura, Hui He, Anthony Michels-Moore, Gergely Nemeti, Alexandru Moisiuc, Benedikt Kobel and Elisabeth Marin, conducted by Michael Halász.
• Sveriges Radio P2 - From Berwald Hall in Stockholm, an April 18th concert performance of Torstensson's Expeditionen, with Charlotte Riedijk, Göran Eliasson, Mats Persson and Olle Persson, Niklas Willén.

More to follow in few minutes.....

Live Offerings - Saturday, April 18, 2009 - Part II

If you missed the start of the Met's Matinee Ring Cycle, you can catch it late this evening on Australian Radio (ABC Classic FM) .... Stephen Gould in Peter Grimes looks like a definite listening possibility .... From Radio Oesterreich International, an interesting-looking cast for Damnation of Faust .... Another chance to hear Rolando Villazon in magnificent form in a late March performance of Werther from Opera Bastille .... Here's the the lineup:

• Espace 2 - From the Grand-Théâtre in Geneva, an April 9th performance of Britten's Peter Grimes, with Stephen Gould, Gabriele Fontana, Peter Sidhom, Carole Wilson, Julianne Gearhart & Laurence Misonne, Elizabeth Sikora, Michael Howard, Clive Bayley, Adrian Thompson, Daniel Belcher, Simon Kirkbride, Luke Clare-Wrigley and Dominique Dupraz, conducted by Donald Runnicles.
• KBIA2 - NPR World of Opera: from Houston Grand Opera, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, with John Del Carlo, Heidi Stober, Norman Reinhardt and Brian Leerhuber, conducted by Patrick Summers.
• MDR Figaro - A historic April 9, 1959 broadcast of Handels Poros, with Pietro Metastasio, Günther Leib, Philine Fischer, Margarethe Herzberg, Hellmuth Kaphahn, Werner Enders and Franz Stumpf, conducted by Horst Tanu-Margraf.
• NRK Klassisk - a rebroadcast of Massenet's Werther from Opera Bastille in Paris, with Rolando Villazon, Susan Graham, Adriana Kucerova, Ludovic Tezier, Christian Jean, and Christian Treguier, conducted by Kent Nagano.
• Radio Oesterreich International - From Wiener Konzerthaus, an April 2nd concert performance of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, with Olga Borodina, Ramón Vargas, Ildar Abdrazakov, Ante Jerkunica and Nina Bernsteiner, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.
• Sveriges Radio P2 - From Göteborg Opera, a February 27th performance of Carl Unander-Scharin's Sömnkliniken, with Ann-Christine Larsson, Mats Persson, Karl Rombo, Peter Loguin, Linus Flogell, Susanne Sundberg and Erika Andersson, conducted by Martin Andersson.
• Klara - From the Vienna State Opera, a performance of Bizet's Carmen, with Vesselina Kasarova, José Cura, Ilderbrando d'Arcangelo, Genia Kühmeier, Janusz Monarcha, Ileana Tonca, Sophie Marilley, Hacik Bayvertian, Clemens Unterreiner and Benedikt Kobel, conducted by Asher Fisch.
• Latvia Klasika Radio - From Vienna, a September 8, 2008 performance of Verdi's Stiffelio, with José Kura, Hui He and Anthony Michaels-Moore, conducted by Mihaels Halašs.
• RBB Kulturradio - From Dresden, Handel's oratorio, Jeptha, with Markus Schäfer, Miriam Meyer, Britta Schwarz, Patrick Von Goethem, Gotthold Schwarz, Birte Kulawik, conducted by Matthias Grünert.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera (one week delayed): From Bavarian State Opera, Verdi's Macbeth, with Zeljko Lucic, Nadja Michael, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Dimitri Pittas and Fabrizio Mercurio, conducted by Nicola Luisotti.
• Concert FM (New Zealand) - From the Metropolitan Opera in New York, a rebroadcast of Dvorak's Rusalka, with Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Stephanie Blythe, Aleksandrs Antonenko and Kristinn Sigmundsson, conducted by Jirí Belohlávek.
• ABC CLassic FM (Australia) - From the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the start of the Matinee Ring Cycle, Wagner's Das Rheingold, with James Morris, Charles Taylor, Garrett Sorenson, Kim Begley, Yvonne Naef, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Jill Grove, Richard Paul Fink, Gerhard Siegel, Franz-Josef Selig, John Tomlinson, Lisette Oropesa, Kate Lindsey and Tamara Mumford, conducted by James Levine.

Happy listening . . . .

Live Offerings - Saturday, April 11, 2009 - Part II

Lots of Handel today - Orlando, Partenope, Acis and Galatea, and Tamerlano....Klara is probably not alone in running a Handel marathon over the next two of three days.

Here's this afternoon's lineup:

• Bayern 4 Klassik - a 2008 performance of Handel's Acis and Galatea, with Julia Kleiter, Christoph Prégardien, Michael Slattery and Wolf Matthias Friedrich, conducted by Nicholas McGegan.
• Deutschlanadradio Kultur - From Deutsche Oper in Berlin, an April 9th performance of Respighi's Marie Victoire, with Takesha Meshe Kizart, Markus Brück, German Villar, Stephen Bronk, Jörn Schümann, Simon Pauly, Martina Welschenbach, Gregory Warren, Nicole Piccolomini, Yosep Kang, Anna Fleischer, Stephen Bronk, Krzysztof Szumanski, Nathan Myers, Tomislav Lucic, Thomas Blondelle, Andrew Ashwin and Hyung-Wook Lee, conducted by Michail Jurowski.
• DR P2 - From the Vienna State Opera, a February 13th performance of Verdi's Stiffelio, with osé Cura, Hui He, Anthony Michaels-Moore and Gergely Németi, conducted by Michael Halász.
• RAdio 4 Netherlands - From the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, with Hans Peter König, Anja Kampe, Thorsten Kerl and Bryn Terfel, conducted by Marc Albrecht.
• Sveriges Radio P2 - From last season's Bayreuth's Festival, Wagner's Parsifal, with Detlef Roth, Fujimura, Arnold Bezuyen, Friedemann Röhlig, Julia Borchert, Ulrike Helzel, Clemens Bieber, Timothy Oliver, Julia Borchert, Martina Rüping, Carola Guber, Anna Korondi, Jutta Böhnert, Ulrike Helzel and Altsolo Simone Schröder, conducted by Danielle Gatti.
• KBIA2 - NPR World of Opera: From Bavarian State Opera, Verdi's Macbeth, with Zeljko Lucic, Nadja Michael, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Dimitri Pittas and Fabrizio Mercurio, conducted by Nicola Luisotti.
• Klara & Espace 2 - From Theater an der Wien, Handel's Partenope, with Christine Schäfer, Kurt Streit, David Daniels, Patricia Bardon, Florian Boesch and Mattias Rexroth, conducted by Christophe Rousset.
• Latvia Radio Klasika - A February 5th performance of Handel's Orlando, with Viljams Tovers, Dominika Labelle, Daiana Mu-ra, Suzanna Ri-dena, Volfs Matiass Fridrihs, conducted by Nikolass Makgegans.
• NRK Klassisk - From Berwald Hall in Stocjholm, a September 28th performance of Haydn's Creation, with Dorothea Röschmann, Mark Padmore, Thomas Quasthoff, conducted Daniel Harding.
• Radio Oesterreich International - From Washington National Opera, an April 2008 performance of Handel's Tamerlano, with Placido Domingo, David Daniels, Sarah Coburn, Patricia Bardon, Claudia Huckle and Andrew Foster-Williams, conducted by William Lacey.

Part III to come....

Live Offerings - Saturday, April 4, 2009

Four main items of interest for this afternoon: the Met's L'Elisir d'Amore with Gheorghiu and Giordani; La Monnaie's La Grande Macabre, by Ligeti, with Chris Merritt; from NPR World of Opera comes a Mariinsky Theatre performanc of The Maid of Pskov, with an all-Russian cast, conducted by Gergiev; and from Dwojke Polskie Radio, a recent performance of Werther with Rolando Villazon (who will be returning to the Met's L'Elisir cast this coming week) and Susan Graham. Also, three Met broadcasts from earlier this season are airing again: Il Trovatore with Radvanovsky, Doctor Atomic with Gerald Finley, and Dvorak's Rusalka with Renée Fleming.

• Radio 4 Netherlands, Musiq3 & Radio Tre (RAI) - From La Monnaie in Brussels, Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, with Chris Merritt, Frances Bourne, Ilse Eerens and Werner van Mechelen, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth.
• Metropolitan Opera - Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, with Massimo Giordano, Angela Gheorghiu, Franco Vassallo, Ying Huang and Simone Alaimo, conducted by Maurizio Benini.
• Dwojke Polskie Radio - From the Opera Bastille in Paris, a March 28th performance of Massenet's Werther, with Rolando Villazon, Alain Vernhes, Susan Graham, Adriana Kucerová, Ludovic Tézier, Christian Jean, Christian Tréguier, Vincent Delhoume and Letitia Singleton, conducted by Kent Nagano.
• KBIA2 - NPR World of Opera: From Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov, with Alexei Taovitski, Irina Mataeva, Nikolai Gassiev, Gennady Bezzubenkov, Yuri Vorobyev, Mikhail Vishnyak and Varvara Solovyeva, conducted by Valery Gergiev.
• MDR Figaro - From Thomaskirche in Leipzig, a March 21st performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, with Sally Matthews, Anna Zander, Martin Petzold, Stephan Genz and Egbert Junghanns, Georg Christoph Biller conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Thomanerchor Leipzig.
• Klara - From Grand Théâtre in Geneva, a performance of von Weber's Der Freischütz, with Nikolai Schukoff, Alexander Puhrer, Peter Wimberger, Jaco Huijpen, Olga Pasichnyk, Ellie Dehn, Jean Lorrain, Rudolf Rosen, and Feodor Kuznetsov, conducted by John Nelson.
• Latvia Radio Klasika - Another chance to hear the Metropolitan Opera's November 8, 2008 broadcast of Adams's Doctor Atomic, with Penny Woolcock, Gerald Finley, Sacha Cooke, Meredith Arwady, Richard Paul Fink, Eric Owens, Earle Patriarco, Roger Honeywell and Thomas Glenn, conducted by Alan Gilbert.
• WDAV - NPR World of Opera (one week delayed): From Vienna State Opera, Verdi's Stiffelio, with Jose Cura, Hui He, Anthony Micheals-Moore, Gergely Nemeti, Goran Simic, Peter Jelosits and Elisabeth Marin, conducted by Nicola Luisotti.
• Concert FM (New Zealand) - Another chance to hear the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Verdi's Il Trovatore, with Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Kwangchul Youn, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.
• ABC Classic FM (Australia) - Another chance to hear the Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Dvorak's Rusalka, with Renée Fleming, Aleksander Antonenko, Christine Goerke, Kristinn Sigmundsson, Stephanie Blythe, David Won, James Courtney and Kate Lindsey, conducted by Jirí Belohlávek.

Happy listening . . . .

Comfort Food

Sam Shirakawa was present for the premiere of the Met's new production of Il Trovatore on Monday night:

IL TROVATORE

METROPOLITAN OPERA
16 February

Premiere New Production

Once upon a time, when opera was an affordable passion, I regarded Il Trovatore as Verdi's Smorgasbord, a cucina toscana laden with comfort food. Who cared if a mezzo was day-old, a baritone bland, or a soprano overcooked? Trovatore has so much melody to munch on! In those halcyon days, Trovatores were also as plentiful as pizza parlors. Easy to cast.

Now that the Metropolitan Opera is about to bang its neediest patrons with a 33 percent price increase, though, Trovatore is turning into white truffle. And casting a competent quartet of leads has long since turned tougher than lining up a Marfa in Mauritius.

Then too, the Met has had little luck with mounting Trovatore in the past 20 years. Remember that awful production by Fabrizio Melano for Joan Sutherland in 1987? Graham Vick's attempt at producing an opera in 2000 lasted two seasons.

If third time lucky and multiples of three exert a positive influence, David McVicar's elaborate production was unveiled Monday night on the occasion of the Met's 600th performance of the opera. Except for the final scene, the Met now has a palatable if not delectable mounting of the opera. Thanks to a revolving stage (whose gears need a grease job -- it squeaks and creaks alarmingly), scene changes take less than 30 seconds. Thick high walls -- separating Charles Edwards' innocuously realistic sets -- also serve as massive sounding boards. They bounce the voices out into the house to create marvelous reverb enhancement. (The wide stairs dominating the unit set of the Met's I Vespri Siciliani and the oval wall in the second act of Tannhäuser create a similar effect.) But the final scene fails to make sense. It's supposed to be a prison dungeon, but it's unmistakably the gypsies' camp of Act II. A lot of press was given to the influence of Goya on the current production, but the only vestige of the Spanish master I could discern was the scrim, covered with cartoons of horrified facial expressions, that's used as the house curtain.

Of course, attractive resonant sets serve no purpose unless they're amplifying world-class voices. It's hard to imagine a more tantalizing cast than the one the Met has convened. I first heard Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora at the Met almost ten years ago to the day. She was good but green. She is now at the threshold of a huge career that sadly keeps receding before her for some reason. She should be up there with Anna, Karita and Renee, but she's still Sondra Who? Hers is one of the few voices before the public today that has a distinctive instantly recognizable timbre. It may not appeal to all tastes. A quick poll among acquaintances during intermission wrinkled some noses. But I can't get enough of it. There's room for some work on the lower register, but the middle and top are firmly in hand. The interpolated high notes are thrilling. "D'amor sull' ali rosee" has a way to go before it smacks down memories of Leontyne, but the anticipation it aroused at the premiere was compelling indeed. Radvanovsky, as I've commented before, is about as close to a real Verdi soprano as we're likely to get.

Reporting on a recent Adriana, I wished that Borodina would cut loose a bit more. Delora Zajick's Azucena, however, bolted with her usual high-gear elan. She's capable of endless nuance, but fortunately for those who like their Azucenas wild, she left her fennel at home.

Marcelo Alvarez' Manrico tends to swing toward the lighter side, but his way with "Ah si, ben mio" and the stentorian declamations that followed elicited an ovation that only a happily surprised audience can confer. He merits more work at the Met.

Dimitri Hvorostovsky as Luna is also capable of deliriously nuanced vocalism, but he might do well to remember that Luna is, and always will be, a meatball role. Put in some more Parmesan, Dimitri! and take the cue from the character's name: Be looney, a la the late and still lamented Lenny Warren!

Perhaps the little-noticed surprise of the premiere was the admirably lyrical conducting of Gianandrea Noseda. But his work, too, could use a fistful of peperoncino. You're Italian, Gianni, so don't fuggetaboutit!

"The characters are always on their feet, singing their hearts out," proclaims the program note. Actually, in McVicar's production, Leonora and Azucena spend a lot of time on the floor. Radvanovsky even hits a high note just before she collapses on her back. Which only goes to suggest that among the celebrities in attendance at the premiere was the spirit of Magda Olivero, who will be 100 years young next year. Were you there in 1975, when she sang the first part of "Vissi d'arte" flat on her back, after Ingvar Wixell as Scarpia threw her to the floor? Scrumptious!

© Sam H. Shirakawa 2009

Live Offerings - Saturday, November 15, 2008

Some promising live, live offerings: Marshner's Der Vampyr from Bologna; Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov from English National Opera; and Opera Ireland's performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

More chances to hear historic Met broadcasts: Beethoven's Fidelio from 1966 with Nilsson, King, et al; Verdi's Otello with Vickers, Te Kanawa (Met debut) and Stewart.

From Houston Grand Opera (all part of the WFMT opera Series): Mozart's Magic Flute and Abduction from the Seraglio, Britten's Billy Budd.

And THIS, just in (as of 1PM EST): WRTI in Philadelphia has preempted its airing of the WFMT Opera Series Billy Budd to offer us the Academy of Vocal Art's performance of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, with Angela Meade (who filled in so affectingly for Sondra Radvanovsky in Trovatore at the Met last season), Taylor Stayton, Olivia Vote, Ben Wager, Cynthia Cook, Nicholas Masters, and Noah Van Niel, conducted by Christopher Macatsoris. Starts at 1830/1:30PM. NOT TO BE MISSED!!!

Take a look and listen:

• Espace Musique - From Pacific Opera Victoria, Blitzstein's Regina, with Kimberly Barber, Kathlenn Brett, Robyn Driedger-Klassen, Doug MacNaughton, Gregory Dahl, Dean Elzinga, Lawrence Williford, Tracie Luck, DeAndre Simmons and Louise Rose, conducted by Timothy Vernon.
• LRT Klasika - From Vienna, Gounod's Faust, with Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu, conducted by Bertrand de Billy.
• KBYU - A rebroadcast of this summer's Bayreueth Festival performance of Wagner's Parsifal.
• CBC Two - A double bill: From Los Angeles Opera, Puccini's Tosca, with Neil Shicoff, Adrianne Pieczonka, Juan Pons and Robert Pomakov, conducted by Sir Richard Armstrong; and from Opera Australia, Puccini's Suor Angelica, with Nicole Youl, Hye Seoung Kwon, Milijana Nikolic, Elizabeth Campbell, Dominica Matthews, Rosemary Gunn, Elizabeth Ellis, Adele Johnston and Teresa La Rocca, mezzo-soprano, conducted by Andrea Licata.
• Deutschlandradio Kultur - From Gdansk, Poland, a June 28th performance of Siegfried Wagner's Der Schmied von Marienburg, with Marek Kalbus, Till Schulze, Anton Leiß-Huber, Christoph von Weitzel, Karl Schneider, Maacha Deubner, Johannes Föttinger, Therese Glaubitz, Ralf Sauerbrey and Rebecca Broberg, conducted by Frank Strobel.
• DR P2 - From Lausanne, an April 25th perforomance of Hande's Julius Cæsar, with Andreas Scholl, Yannis Francois, Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Max Emanuel Cencic, Elena de la Merced, Christophe Dumaux, Riccardo Novaro and Florin Cezar-Ouatu, conducted by Ottavio Dantone.
• France Musique - From l'Opéra Bastille in Paris, an October 13th performance of Janácek's La petite renarde rusée (The Cunning Littel Vixen), with Jukka Rasilainen, Michèle Lagrange, David Kuebler, Roland Bracht, Paul Gay, Elena Tsallagova and Hannah Esther Minutillo, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies.
• Radio 4 Netherlands, Radio Clasica de Espana & Radio Tre (RAI) - From Teatro Comunale in Bologna, a live performance of Marschner's Der Vampyr, with Harry Peeters, Carmela Remigio, John Osborn, Detlef Roth, Roberto Tagliavini, Manuela Bisceglie, Paolo Cauteruccio, Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi, Thomas Morris, Mario Bolognesi, Gabriele Ribis, Conal Coad, Monica Minarelli, Adrian Sampetrean and Karl Heinz Macek, conducted by Roberto Abbado.
• RTP Antena 2 - From l'Opéra Bastille in Paris, a March 8th performance of Verdi's Luisa Miller, with Ana Maria Martínez, Elisa Cenni, Ramón Vargas, Vincent Morell, Andrzej Dobber, Ildar Abdrazakov and Kwangchul Youn, conducted by Massimo Zanetti.
• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From Houston Grand Opera, Britten's Billy Budd, with Andrew Kennedy, David Brooks Horn, Tommy Ajai George, Ryan McKinny, Richard Sutliff, Philip Cutlip, Beau Gibson, Chad Freeburg, Rodell Rosel, Liam Bonner, Jeremy Galyon, Phillip Ens, Joseph Evans, Wesley Landry, Daniel Belcher, James J. Kee, Gwynne Howell and David Ziemnicki, conducted by Patrick Summers.
• WQXR - From Houston Grand Opera, Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, with Karen Armstrong, Paul Groves, Andrea Silvestrelli, Heidi Stober, Nicholas Phan and Richard Spuler, conducted by William Lacey.
• XLNC1 - From Houston Grand Opera, Mozart's The Magic Flute, with Rebekah Camm, Eric Cutler, Patrick Carfizzi, Albina Shagimuratova, Raymond Aceto, Jon Kolbet, Alicia Gianni, Chen-Ye Yuan, Tamara Wilson, Maria Markina and Jamie Barton, conducted by Steven Sloane.
• BBC Radio 3 - Live from English National Opera, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, with Peter Rose, John Graham-Hall, David Stephenson, Brindley Sherratt, Gregory Turay, Yvonne Howard, Jonathan Veira, Anton Rich, Sophie Bevan, Ann Grevelius, Deborah Davison, James Gower, Paul Napier-Burrows, Charles Johnston, Philip Daggett, and Robert Murray, conducted by Edward Gardner.
• Bartok Radio - From Teatro Regio in Turin, an October 9th performance of Cherubini's Medea, with Anna Caterina Antonacci, Cinzia Forte, Sara Mingardo, Giuseppe Filianoti, Giovanni Battista Parodi, Erika Grimaldi, Luisa Francesconi, Diego Matamoros, conducted by Evelino Pido.
• NPR World of Opera - From Washington National Opera, yet another chance to hear Handel's Tamerlano, with Placido Domingo, David Daniels, Sarah Coburn, Patricia Bardon, Claudio Huckle and Andrew Foster Williams, conducted by William Lacey.
• Lyric FM - Live from Opera Ireland, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, with Yunah Lee and Keith Olsen, conducted by Bruno dal Bon.
• NRK Klassisk & NRK P2 - From Opéra Garnier in Paris, Gluck's Iphegenie en Tauride, with Mireille Delunsch, Stéphane Degout, Yann Beuron, Franck Ferrari, Salomé Haller, conducted by Ivor Bolton.
• Radio Oesterreich International - From the Metropolitan Opera, an historic broadcast of Beethoven's Fidelio (January 22, 1966), with Birgit Nilsson, James King, Geraint Evans, Otto Edelmann, Mary Ellen Pracht, Charles Anthony and Sherill Milnes, conducted by Karl Böhm.
• Sveriges Radio P2 - From this past summer's Bayreuth Festival, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.
• Espace 2 - From the Metropolitan Opera, an historic broadcast of Verdi's Otello, with Jon Vickers, Kiri Te Kanawa, Thomas Stewart, Jean Kraft, William Lewis, Andrea Velis, Robert Goodloe, Paul Plishka and David Holloway, conducted by James Levine.
• Klara - From Berwaldhallen in Stockholm, an August 29th performance of Strauss's Elektra, with Larisa Gogolevskaya, Elena Vitman, Elena Nebera, Vasily Gorshkov, Eduard Tsanga, Pavel Shmulevich, Ludmila Kanunnikova, Ludmila Kasyanenko, Andrey Popov, Andrey Spekhov, Irina Loskutova, Olga Legkova, Kristina Kapustinskaya, Maria Uvarova, Tatiana Kravtsova and Lia Shevtsova, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Happy listening . . . .

Live offerings - Saturday, August 30, 2008

Late summer on the opera scene offers several live offerings on interest, including an historic 1976 Puritani from the Met with Sutherland, Pavarotti and Milnes, all at or near the peak of their powers; Paolo Gavanelli in Verdi's Nabucco; from Glimmerglass Opera, another chance to hear Britten's Death in Venice; and a concert featuring vocal works by Messiaen, Liszt and Mendelssohn, with Ruth Ziesak.

Just underway as I post this:

• Espace Musique - From the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Italy, Rossini's Maometto II, with Francesco Meli, Marina Rebeka, Daniela Barcellona, Enrico Iviglia, Michelle Pertusi and Cosimo Panozzo, conducted by Sylvia L'Écuyer.

And starting shortly:

• CBC Two - From Vienna State Opera, a rebroadcast of Mozart's Così fan tutte, with Barbara Frittoli, Angelika Kirchschlager, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Francesco Meli, Laura Tatulescu, Natale de Carolis, conducted by Riccardo Muti.


• KUHF & XLNC1 - Another chance to hear Olga Borodina star in Saint-Saens's Samson et Dalilah from San Francisco Opera; her colleagues are Clifton Forbis, Juha Uusitalo (High Priest of Dagon), Oren Gradus (Old Hebrew), Eric Jordan (Abimélech), Noah Stewart (Philistines' messenger), Richard Walker (First Philistine) and Jere Torkelsen (Second Philistine), with Patrick Summers conducting.


• RTP Antena 2 - From Ópera Estatal da Baviera, today's leading Verdi baritone, Paolo Gavanelli, stars in Verdi's Nabucco, with Maria Guleghina, Daniela Sindram, Lana Kos, Alexander Antonenko, Kevin Conners, Giacomo Prestia and Andreas Kohn, conducted by Paolo Carignani.


• WFMT Opera Series (on numerous stations) - From San Francisco Opera, Wagner's Tannhäuser, with Peter Seiffert, Petra Maria Schnitzer, Petra Lang, James Rutherford, Eric Halfvarson, Stefan Margita ,Gregory Reinhart, Ricardo Lugo, Matthew O'Neill and Ji Young Yang, conducted by Donald Runnicles.


• NPR World of Opera - From Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, New York, Britten's Death in Venice, with William Burden, David Pittsinger, Bruce Reed, Craig Phillips, John Gaston and Nicola Bowie, conducted by Stewart Robinson.


• Radio Clasica de Espana - A live broadcast from Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, of Tchaikovsky's Eugen Onegin, with F. Maria Capitanucci, S. Vassileva, D. Korchak, A. Abdrazakov, T. Tramonti, M. Pardo, A. Vespasiano and M. Bolognesi, conducted by J. Mena.


• Radio Oesterreich International - A September 22, 2007 performance of Berlioz's Les Troyens, from the Grand Théatre in Geneva, with Anna Caterina Antonacci, Kurt Streit, Anne Sofie von Otter, Isabell Cals, Marie-Claude Chappius and Jean-François Lapointe, conducted by John Nelson.


• France Musique, MDR Figaro & RBB KulturRadio - From the Frauenkirche in Dresden, a concert featuring among other works, two by Messiaen: O sacrum convivium with Ruth Ziesak, Mojca Erdmann, Christian Elsner, Alexander Marco-Buhrmester; and Apparition de l'église éternelle, with Johannes Unger playing the organ; Liszt 's San Francesco, Preludio per II cantico del Sol di San Francesco, with Johannes Unger playing the organ; Mendelssohn's Symphonie-cantate n°2 en si bémol Majeur op.52 "Lobgesang", with Ruth Ziesak, Mojca Erdmann, Christian Elsner, and Alexander Marco-Buhrmester, all works conducted by Jun Märkl.


• Latvia Radio Klasika - From the Metropolitan Opera in New York, an historic broadcast of Bellini's I Puritani, from March 13, 1976, with Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti and Sherrill Milnes, conducted by Richard Bonynge.


• WDAV - A rebroadcast from NPR World of Opera of Donizetti's Lucie de Lammermoor (French version) from Glimmerglass Opera, with Sarah Coburn, Chad A. Johnson, Earle Patriarco, Raúl Hernández, Craig Phillips and Bryon Grohman, conducted by Beatrice Jona Afron.

Happy listening....

Notes on Ernani - Met, March 27, 2008

Sam Shirakawa's short take on the Met's Ernani - Thanks, Sam!

Why has Sondra Radvanovsky appeared infrequently at the Met in recent seasons? What ever the reason, she's back. Hooray for that.

At Monday's first Ernani of the season, the audience was told that she would sing in spite of suffering from a virus. What virus? Excepting a tentative moment or two during "Ernani involami" she sounded better than ever. That electric vibrato as she ascends the scale is bringing her about as close to becoming a real Verdi soprano as we're likely to hear in this day and age. For some reason, though, she's yet to surge into the realms of Divadom. She remains the opera world's best kept secret.

Her lover for the evening was Marcello Giordani in the title role. His hi-def appearances at the house have gained him a cache of glamor in recent seasons, and he is among the emerging tenors heading into the spotlight that L and P held for decades. Some don't like him; I do, at least, when he's performing Verdi. The voice is attractive, the top notes are usually secure, and he has pleasant if not recondite stage presence.

Why is Thomas Hampson singing Carlo, much less Verdi? He still maintains a gorgeous, evenly placed voice, but it would better serve the Gallic repertoire, modern works or Lieder, where his sun really shines.

Ultimately it was veteran Ferruccio Furlanetto as Silva, who dominated the performance, showing everybody what superb singing is all about. The voice has character and the kind of warm, dark verve often associated with Pinza and Pasero.

Conductor Roberto Abbado kept the beat going, despite one or two ensemble issues between the pit and the stage. Pier Luigi Samaritani's utility sets from 1983 are holding up.

© Sam H. Shirakawa 2008