SUNDAY, MARCH 26

SPECIAL PROGRAM: The Boston Symphony Orchestra
Adès, “The Dante Project,” and the BSO

Thomas Adès returns to the Boston Symphony to conduct Igor Stravinsky’s dreamy retelling of Perséphone and two of his own works inspired by Dante Alighieri’s 14th-century Italian epic poem Commedia.

Thomas Adès, conductor
Edgaras Montvidas, tenor
Danielle de Niese, narrator
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor

STRAVINSKY Perséphone (libretto and translation)
Thomas ADÈS Inferno Suite
ADÈS Paradiso

KXPR ClassicalStream
Sacramento, California, USA

KXPR Music
Sacramento, California, USA

At the Opera with Sean Bianco: Host Sean Bianco brings you a full-length opera featuring great voices from the past and present followed by “Opera Potpourri.”

Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci (1960), March 25, 2023

Tune in to hear the most famous double-bill in all of opera, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci staring Mario del Monaco, Giulietta Simionato, Cornell MacNeil and Gabriella Tucci, recorded in 1959 and 1960 respectively.

Cavalleria Rusticana, Italian for "rustic chivalry" is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 short story of the same name and subsequent play by Giovanni Verga. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Since 1893, it has often been performed in a so-called Cav/Pag double-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo.
Cast:
Santuzza - Giulietta Simionato
Turiddu - Mario del Monaco
Alfio - Cornell MacNeil
Mama Lucia - Anna di Stasio
Lola - Ana Raquel Satre
Tullio Serafin - conductor
DECCA 1959

Pagliacci is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It is the composer's only opera that is still widely performed. Opera companies have frequently staged Pagliacci with Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni, a double bill known colloquially as "Cav and Pag".
Pagliacci premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on May 21, 1892 conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
Cast:
Canio - Mario del Monaco
Nedda - Gabriella Tucci
Tonio - Cornell MacNeil
Silvio - Renato Capecchi
Beppe - Piero di Palma
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli - conductor
DECCA 1960 (4 hrs.)

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Sunday Opera: Gounod: Faust 古諾：浮士德
Gounod: Faust 150’

Faust: Giacomo Aragall (t)
Marguerite: Montserrat Caballé (s)
Méphistophélès : Paul Plishka (br)
Cho. de l’Opéra du Rhin
Orch. Phil. de Strasbourg / Alain Lombard

古諾：浮士德

浮士德：艾勒高（男高音）

瑪嘉烈：卡芭兒（女高音）

梅菲斯特：皮連殊卡（男中音）

萊恩歌劇院合唱團

史特拉斯堡愛樂樂團 / 龍巴特 (3 hrs.)

Sunday Opera: Verdi's The Sicilian Vespers from La Scala, Milan

Things were going well professionally for Giuseppe Verdi between 1851 and 1853 when he premiered some of the most significant operas in the repertoire: La traviata, Il trovatore, and Rigoletto, and those three followed on from 14 earlier operas.

Commissioned for the 1855 Great Exhibition in Paris for the Paris Opéra, Les vêpres sicilienness did not come with the guarantee of the immense success of his previous three operas.

The libretto is based on Le duc d'Albe by Eugène Scribe and Charles Duveyrier. Originally written for Fromental Halévy, who never proceeded. It was taken up by Gaetano Donizetti in 1839, but he never completed the work. Verdi eventually chose it as a vehicle for the Paris Opéra, albeit insisting that Scribe make important revisions. The original libretto was set in 1573 during a Flemish insurrection against the Duke of Alba, the governor of Flanders.

After its June 1855 Paris premiere, an Italian libretto was quickly prepared using a new title because Verdi realised that it would have been impossible to place the story in Sicily. The Italian libretto was prepared under Verdi's supervision by the poet Ettore Caimi. Original librettist, Eugène Scribe said, "the Duke of Alba should just pack his bags once more and move to Lisbon" and so it became set in Portugal in 1640, at a time when that country was under Spanish rule: the title became Giovanna de Guzman, and variously as Giovanna Braganza, Giovanna di Sicilia. Overall, Verdi was not happy with the translation, and with some improvements made to the Italian libretto, the opera reverted to its translated Italian title after 1861.

Basing it on an actual event, Verdi reset it in Sicily at the onset of the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). It tells the story of the occupation of Sicily by the French in the thirteenth century. The work culminates with the slaughter of the unarmed French by the Sicilians, the signal for which is the ringing of the bells at the wedding of Arrigo, a young Sicilian and the Duchess Elena, daughter of the French governor.

Sung in Italian.

Live concert recording from La Scala, Milan, Italy on January 28th, 2023 courtesy of Euroradio.

Program

Giuseppe Verdi: I Vespri siciliani

Artists

Luca Micheletti (baritone, Guido di Monforte)
Adriano Gramigni (bass, Count Vaudemont)
Piero Pretti (tenor, Arrigo)
Simon Lim (bass, Giovanni da Procida)
Marina Rebeka (soprano, Duchess Elena)
La Scala Chorus
La Scala Orchestra
Fabio Luisi (conductor) (3 hrs.)

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Opera: Franz Lehár: Tatjana.

Opera o 3 dějstvích, libreto Felix Falzari a Max Kalbeck podle cestopisů George Kennana Život ve stanech na Sibiři a Sibiř a exilový systém. ; Osoby a obsazení:; Sergej, starý volžský rybář (bas) Roland Schubert,; Tatjana, jeho dcera (soprán) Dagmar Schellenberger,; Alexis, řadový voják z Poltavy (tenor) Herbert Lippert, ; Saša, Kyrgyz ze stepi (baryton) Karsten Mewes,; Džerid, Kyrgyz ze stepi (basbaryton) Carsten Sabrowski,; Pimen, vyhnanec (baryton) Sebastian Bluth, ; Punin, vyhnanec (baryton) Olaf Lemme, Raisa, selská dívka (mezzosoprán) Hanne Fischer, Nikolajev, její otec (basbaryton) Carsten Sabrowski, Starosta obce Verchnyj Uslon (bas) Dieter Scholz, Katinka, selská dívka / Věra, selka (soprán) Isabelle Voßkühler, Vasilij, sedlák / Nikuša, rybář (tenor) Thomas Kober, ; Vladimir, sedlák / Dimitrij, rybář / Ivan, voják (baryton) Georg Witt. Zpívá Rundfunkchor Berlin, sbormistr Sigurd Brauns, hraje Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, řídí Michail Jurowski. Nahrávka vydavatelství CPO z roku 2002. Připravil Libor Dřevikovský. (2 hrs., 20 min.)

Martine Dumont Mergeay, de La Libre Belgique
Camille De Rijck, producteur sur Musiq3 et fondateur de Forum Opera
Albane Carrère (mezzo-soprano) (2 hrs.)

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WWUH
Hartford, Connecticut, USA

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera: Mendelssohn: Paulus

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy completed two oratorios, Elias or Elijah (1846) and Paulus or St. Paul (1836). Elijah is much better known and has a considerable discography. At Easter of 1996 I broadcast a Telarc CD recording of it with Robert Shaw leading the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. The earlier work, Paulus, is Mendelssohn's successful experiment in combining the eighteenth-century oratorio traditions of Bach and Handel with the new romantic style of the nineteenth century. It was Mendelssohn who revived the Bach St. Matthew Passion at Berlin in 1829 and in so doing began the general revival of J. S. Bach's music in modern times. Mendelssohn was consciously trying to follow in the master's footsteps.

On Easter Sunday of 2002, I presented the Chandos CD release of Paulus with the late Richard Hickox conducting the BBC National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales (a Musical Heritage Society release in the US). Thereafter, on March 14, 2010 came another recording of Paulus issued through Hänssler/Profil in 2008, like the Telarc recording, sung in the original German. I return to the Chandos/MHS recording as my offering on this fifth and last Sunday of Lent. (3 hrs., 30 min.)

Metropolitan Opera House: GIUSEPPE VERDI

LA TRAVIATA

GRAVAÇÃO REALIZADA NO DIA 11 DE MARÇO DE 2023
ANGEL BLUE, DMYTRO POPOV E ARTUR RUCIŃSKI
CORO E ORQUESTRA DO METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE SOB REGÊNCIA DE NICOLA LUISOTTI (3 hrs.)

Opera în interpretări de referinţă: In memoriam Virginia Zeani
Giuseppe Verdi - Traviata
cu:
Virginia Zeani (Violetta Valery)
Ion Buzea (Alfredo Germont)
Nicolae Herlea (Giorgio Germont)
Elisabeta Neculce-Carţiş (Flora)
Elena Simionescu (Annina)
Vasile Moldoveanu (Gastone)
Constantin Dumitru (Baronul Douphal)
Valentin Loghin (Marchizul d'Obigny)
Nicolae Rafael (Doctorul Grenvil)
Corul (pregătit de Stelian Olariu)
Orchestra Operei din Bucureşti
Dirijor: Jean Bobescu (3 hrs.)

RBB KULTURRADIO
Berlin, GERMANY

SPECIAL PROGRAM: rbbKultur Radiokonzert
Aus der Berliner Philharmonie

LIVE: ROBIN TICCIATI DIRIGIERT DAS DEUTSCHE SYMPHONIE-ORCHESTER BERLIN
Festival "Music and Healing" IV

Das Festival “Music and Healing” beleuchtet die verschiedenen Wirkungen von Musik und Musizieren auf Körper und Geist. Die insgesamt vier Konzerte sind von Vorträgen umrahmt, die sich mit Heilung in mythischen, religiösen und medizinischen Kontexten befassen.

Im letzten Konzert des Festivals am 26. März stellen Robin Ticciati und das Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin zwei Werke vor, die sich dem menschlichen Leiden entziehen. Jonathan Harveys "… towards a Pure Land“ versucht einen schmerzlosen Zustand zu schaffen, der der Vorstellung des Paradieses, Elysiums oder Nirwana nahekommt. Im Gegensatz dazu steht der Klagegesang im dritten Aufzug von Richard Wagners Oper "Tristan und Isolde“, in dem sich das unaushaltbare Liebesleid in Verklärung auflöst.

Jonathan Harvey "...towards a Pure Land"

Richard Wagner
Tristan und Isolde
Dritter Aufzug (konzertante Aufführung)
Michael Weinius – Tristan
Dorothea Röschmann – Isolde
Claudia Mahnke – Brangäne
John Relyea – Marke
Shenyang – Kurvenal (3 hrs.)

SWR2 Oper: Ludwig van Beethoven: "Fidelio"

Oper in 2 Aufzügen

Don Fernando, Minister: Günther Groissböck
Don Pizarro, Gouverneur eines Staatsgefängnisses: Johannes Martin Kränzle
Florestan, ein Gefangener: Christian Elsner
Leonore, seine Gemahlin unter dem Namen Fidelio: Lise Davidsen
Rocco, Kerkermeister: Georg Zeppenfeld
Marzelline, seine Tochter: Christina Landshamer
Jaquino, Pförtner: Cornel Frey
Erster Gefangener: Aaron Pegram
Zweiter Gefangener: Chao Deng
Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden
MDR-Rundfunkchor
Dresdner Philharmonie
Leitung: Marek Janowski

Ludwig van Beethovens einzige Oper "Fidelio" ist zugleich das Schmerzenskind des Klassikers. Ursprünglich hieß die revolutionäre Befreiungsoper noch "Leonore" dann wandelte sie sich durch mehrfache Überarbeitung zum "Fidelio". Vieles blieb umstritten, vor allem das Libretto von drei Autoren mit allerlei sprachlichen Kruditäten, der Rang der Musik stand aber außerhalb jeder Diskussion. Die Titelpartie ist eine Herausforderung bis auf den heutigen Tag. Aber mit ihr brillierten stimmlich wie darstellerisch so herausragende Interpretinnen wie die von Richard Wagner in dieser Partie so bewunderte Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient. (3 hrs.)

WDR 3 Oper: Der neumodische Liebhaber Damon oder Die Satyrn in Arkadien
Oper von Georg Philipp Telemann

Telemanns "Damon" ist eine heitere, streckenweise regelrecht komische Oper, die geradezu überquillt von spritzigen und abwechslungsreichen musikalischen Einfällen.

Das sagenumwobene, idyllische Arkadien ist in Aufruhr! Der Satyr Damon und sein bacchantisches Gefolge sind in das poetische Fantasieland eingefallen. Damon will sich an den Arkadiern rächen, die ihn einst aus ihrer Idylle verjagt hatten. Weshalb der liebestolle Satyr jetzt in frivolster Weise einigen Arkadierinnen nachstellt. Außerdem will er es dem Schäfer Tyrsis heimzahlen, den er für den Drahtzieher seiner damaligen Vertreibung hält. Doch der weiß Damons Rachefeldzug listig auszuweichen, nicht zuletzt indem er sich als Nymphe verkleidet, in die Damon sich - ohne die Verstellung zu erkennen − verliebt.
"Der neumodische Liebhaber Damon" ist eine von rund 35 Opern, die Telemann für die Hamburger Oper am Gändemarkt komponierte. Uraufgeführt wurde das Werk 1724 zur Wiedereröffnung des Opernhauses nach Umbaumaßnahmen.

Tyrsis: Mechthild Georg, Mezzosopran
Mirtilla: Ann Monoyios, Sopran
Elpina: Camille van Lunen, Sopran
Laurindo: Gotthold Schwarz, Bass
Ergasto: Carl-Christof Gebhardt, Bass
Damon: Michael Schopper, Bass
Hippo: Erik Biegel, Tenor
Nigella: Stefanie Smits
Nymphen / Schäfer / Schäferinnen / Satyrn: Vokalensemble La Stagione Frankfurt
La Stagione Frankfurt, Leitung: Michael Schneider (2 hrs., 56 min.)

RADIO BEETHOVEN
Santiago, CHILE

La Opera: Giacomo Puccini

Turandot

Grabación realizada en el Parco della Musica en Roma, entre el 28 de febrero y el 8 de marzo de 2022, y editada recientemente por el sello Warner Classics.

Turandot : Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano
Principe Calaf : Jonas Kaufmann, tenor
Liu : Ermonela Jaho, soprano
Timur : Michele Pertusi, bajo
Ping : Mateo Olivieri, barítono
Pang : Gregory Bonfatti, tenor
Pong : Siyabonga Maqungo, tenor
El emperador Altum: Michael Spyres, tenor
otras voces solista
, Orquesta y Coro de la Academia Nacional de Santa Cecilia bajo la dirección de Antonio Pappano (3 hrs.)

RADIO CLASSIQUE
Paris, FRANCE

Samuel Mariño, Eric Jurenas, Siman Chung, Nicolò Balducci, countertenors, and the Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal conducted by Stefan Plewniak

Attilio ARIOSTI: Il Vespasiano: Overture.

VIVALDI: Amor hai vinto RV 683: Se a me rivolge il ciglio; Vedro con mio Diletto.

HÄNDEL: Atalanta: Non sarà poco, se il mio gran foco/ Berenice, Regina d’Egitto: Se il mio amor fu il tuo delitto.

PORPORA: Polifemo: La gioia immortal che alletta.

HÄNDEL: Giulio Cesare: Svegliatevi nel core/ Solomon: Arrival of the Queen of Sheba/ Xerxes: Crude furie degli orridi abissi/ Giulio Cesare in Egitto: Piangero la sorte mia.

PORPORA: Germanico in Germania: Temi lo sdegno mio, perfido traditore.

Recorded 13 March.

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The WWFM Sunday Opera: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya"

It’s back to the world of folklore and fantasy on this week’s Sunday Opera featuring a work by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov that has never been done at the Metropolitan Opera; it’s “The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya.”

The libretto for this 1907 work is by Vladimir Belsky who looked to two folk legends for the story that combines the city of Kitezh which is said to have disappeared when it was attacked by Tatars. Fevroniya, who was to become St. Fevroniya, falls in love with a prince, is kidnapped and tormented by Tatars, and eventually finds her way into Kitezh which is tantamount to heaven where she is reunited with her love, Prince Vsevolod, and his father who had both been killed in battle.

The cast in this recording features Tatiana Monogarova as Fevroniya, Vitaly Panfilov as Prince Vsevolod, and Mikhail Kazakov as his father, Prince Yuiiy. Alexander Vedernikov is the conductor who leads the Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.

Directly after the opera, we’ll turn to some familiar music with Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Sheherazade” in a recording featuring the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with Peter Oundjian conducting. Tags (3 hrs., 30 min.)

In Concert: No opera this week (2 hrs.)