Alex Ross: “Tosca” at the Met. Sep 30, 2009
Although Bondy has conceived potent stagings of Salome, Don Carlos, and Handel s Hercules, among other operas, he has failed to find a clear angle on Tosca, and instead delivered an uneven, muddled, weirdly dull production that interferes fatally with the working of Puccini s perfect contraption. Karita Mattila was miscast in the title role. (New Yorker)
* Remixers get a handle on Handel Sep 17, 2009
Remixers get a handle on Handel. High-profile composers are busy remixing Handel X a prospect that could thrill or horrify fans of his music ... Thats the one thing everyone involved agrees on X the beauty of Handels music. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
Classical music events this fall Sep 13, 2009
HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY The Society spotlights the countertenor Andreas Scholl in works by Handel and Vivaldi ... BOSTON BAROQUE Martin Pearlman opens his ensemble s season with Handel s opera Amadigi di Gaula, directed by Paul Peers ... BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL For its annual chamber opera, BEMF sets its period sights on Handel s Acis and Galatea, directed by Gilbert Blin. (Boston Globe)
Eight arts leaders provide new direction in their first seasons Sep 13, 2009
HARRY CHRISTOPHERS, 54 Artistic director, Handel and Haydn Society. Recently: Founder/director of the Sixteen, an early music choral group in London. (Boston Globe)
Chamber Orchestra to play Northern Michigan venues Sep 12, 2009
Titled Baroque Fireworks, the program includes Handel s popular Royal Fireworks Music and a Concerto by Tomaso Albinoni ... Handel s Messiah will be presented at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Petoskey on two evenings, Tuesday, Dec. 15, and Thursday, Dec. 17. (Gaylord Herald Times, MI)
Weekend Events Sep 11, 2009
The Sunday Morning Music Program, 10 a.m., at the Luther Memorial Church, 225 West 10th St., will feature Molly Dugan, soprano, accompanied by organist Erik Meyer, performing selections from Handel, Mahler, Bach and Schubert. Cost: Free. (Erie Times-News, PA)
Diva with good things to say - about others Sep 5, 2009
Since winning the Richard Tucker Award in 1999, she has been dazzling audiences with her dark, capacious sound and formidable dramatic intelligence - not only in operatic roles by everyone from Handel to Stravinsky but in a wide range of song repertoire as well. First opera role here. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Celebrating 100 years of community music Sep 4, 2009
The 2009-10 season opens Oct. 16-17 with Handel s rarely performed Amadigi di Gaula ... Other entries include Monteverdi s towering Vespers of 1610, the annual New Year s Eve and Day concerts at Harvard s Sanders Theatre, and performances of Handel s Messiah. (Boston Globe)
Boston Landmark Orchestra’s free concert on the Hatch Shell Sep 1, 2009
Honor the earth and the arts tonight at Boston Landmark Orchestra s Green Masterpiece, an eco-friendly, carbon-neutral concert featuring nature-inspired music by composers including Mendelssohn, Handel, and Mozart. There will also be a performance of Thomas Oboe Lee s composition The Story of Frederick Law Olmsted, commissioned by the orchestra and based on the life of the renowned landscape architect. (Boston Globe)
Gardner museum to host Callithumpian Consort in new music series Aug 28, 2009
Handel at the movies The Goethe Institut-Boston and the Coolidge Corner Theatre are presenting screenings of two Handel operas in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the composer s death. A 2003 production of Rodelinda from the Bavarian State Opera will be shown this Sunday; it features the excellent soprano Dorothea Rschmann in the title role and is conducted by Ivor Bolton. (Boston Globe)
Taking Liberties Aug 24, 2009
Each summer at the Caramoor Festival, in Katonah, New York, he presents two or three works from the golden age of bel canto Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi, with Handel, Gluck, and Mozart also in the mix and through an extended rehearsal process he pushes singers to cast off the rigid habits that they have been trained to adopt ... rion XXI, and Richard Egarr, in a new recording of Handel s organ concertos, responds imaginatively to passages marked ad libitum. (New Yorker)
Classical music: Historical feast Aug 20, 2009
Rather, musical works and stylistic movements are presented in context so that, for example, the origins of the dynamic, dramatic style of Mozart and Haydn are shown to lie in Italian opera buffa rather than in the architecturally static idiom of Bach and Handel. Second, and despite the sense of flying through the terrain at breakneck speed, the level of detail remains high, with extended commentaries on individual works that show how they were originally conceived and understood. (The Economist)
'Provocative' work opens festival Aug 14, 2009
Judas Maccabaeus by Handel was first performed in 1747, just a year after the battle and includes a famous tribute to the Duke of Cumberland ... Handel was seen as the chief propagandist of the Hanoverian royal family ... The chorus - "see the conqu'ring hero comes" is dedicated to the duke - and is one of Handel's most popular arias. (BBC News -- UK)
Magical mystery tour is full of delights Aug 4, 2009
Over the next 200 years the works were variously attributed to a Carlo Ricciotti, Pergolesi and even Handel before the count s autographed score was found in 1979 ... Bach s Ich habe genug was a thoughtful bridge from the abstract sound of Wassenaer to the drama of Handel. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Vintage Brandys celebrate 21st Aug 3, 2009
The popular Brandenburg Choir, which Dyer refers to as his baby , has been handed a Handel blockbuster, the Coronation Anthems, in July and August. In May the Italian violinist Federico Guglielmo makes his first appearance with the orchestra. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
'Agrippina' less than gripping Jul 29, 2009
There must be an alternate universe in which Handel is the frat-house genius of some small Midwestern college, turning out scores for the sophomore class show ... The show, directed by Thomas S. Dean, took Handel's early opera, a cheerfully cynical tale of dynastic and amorous intrigue in imperial Rome, and recast it with the inhabitants of the White House from the Clinton and Bush years ... That left a stream of Handelian arias to be sung with greater or lesser success by a cast of seven,... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Reality hits for budding opera stars Jul 21, 2009
Parkin, secure and serene, performed arias by Handel and Dvorak. The night before she had been in Melbourne to play the title role in Madame Butterfly for Oz Opera. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Skaneateles Festival to celebrate 30 years Jul 21, 2009
Other Week Two concerts will include pieces by Mendelssohn and his contemporaries, such as Bach, Handel and Mozart. On Saturday, 15-year-old pianist Conrad Tao returns to the festival to perform Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor at Brook Farm. (Auburn Citizen, NY)
Making music, bridging cultures Jul 17, 2009
Next season s selection is a chamber version of Handel s Acis and Galatea, with tenor Aaron Sheehan and soprano Amanda Forsythe in the title roles. The sole performance is Nov. 28. (Boston Globe)
Evening of enchantment Jul 16, 2009
They include baritone Kevin Mathews, of Helena, who sang the part of Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro in April; baritone Charles Robert Stephens, of Seattle, who sang with New York City Opera for 15 years and has sung in several of the Helena Symphony s performances of Handel s Messiah; soprano Anne Basinski, director of the University of Montana s Opera Theater who also performed here with solos in Messiah; and soprano Saundra DeAthos, who starred in Figaro, as Susanna. All of the... (Helena Independent Record, MT)
Bang on a Can to perform and teach in North Adams Jul 10, 2009
Among local music groups to receive the grants of between $25,000 and $50,000 are the Boston Academy of Music, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Emmanuel Music, and the Handel and Haydn Society. Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company. (Boston Globe)
BSO kicks off Tanglewood season Jul 3, 2009
Along with a few Handel arias, the festival presents John Gay s satirical Beggar s Opera of 1728 (the same work that was later adapted by Weill and Brecht to create The Threepenny Opera. The cast includes Nancy Armstrong, Kristen Watson, Deborah Rentz-Moore, Frank Kelley, David Ripley, and Robert Honeysucker The chamber ensemble will be led by violinist Daniel Stepner. (Boston Globe)
La Crosse Concert Band series begins June 10 May 31, 2009
Steve Bina will conduct the June 17 concert with music that has been heard in Bugs Bunny cartoons, from The Rabbit of Seville and George Frideric Handel s Water Music Suite to Richard Wagner s Ride of the Valkyries and Bugs greatest hits medley, What s Up at the Symphony. For the third straight summer, the La Crosse Concert Band will move indoors to Viterbo s Fine Arts Center Main Theatre for a concert on June 24. (La Crosse Tribune, WI)
* [ THE WEEKENDER ] The virtues of innovation and minimalism May 25, 2009
While Lin is capable of filling an entire stage, the score for Small Songs was an intriguing mix of songs by the Mexican-American singer Lhasa de Sela, P.S. I Love You from the film of the same name, Love You to Death from Cape No. 7 (C), a nanguan (n) piece, excerpts from Handel and Mozart and Song to the Moon from the Czech opera Ruslaka. The latter was used in the segment titled A song of Wenchung and Ruping danced by Chiu Yu-wen ({) and Chang Chih-chieh (i) that... (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Sports)
Music review: Handel lineup of fervor, finesse May 17, 2009
In an all-Handel program marking the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, Labadie gave audiences a glimpse of the musical courtier at work. Three of the four Coronation Anthems that Handel wrote for the ascension of King George II occupied the first half of the program, along with the Organ Concerto in G Minor, Op ... This, in other words, was Handel in his most public and civic-minded guise - trumpets and drums ablaze, the orchestra mustering great blocks of sound, and the chorus lustily... (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Secession, nullification … Is Georgia this crazy? May 15, 2009
A spokesman for Secretary of State Karen Handel said he assumes that she too would support the resolution. And Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine says that if he had been a state senator, not only would I have voted for it, I would have been one of the original sponsors. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Opinion)
Sampler for May 7 May 7, 2009
The presentation will feature the music of Mozart, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Bernstein, Lerner & Loewe, Gilbert & Sullivan, Cole Porter, Rogers & Hart and more. Hazel Miele of Marlborough, president of the Middlesex County Chapter Massachusetts Society of Genealogists , has announced a meeting of the group on Saturday, May 9, at 1:30 p.m., at the Waltham Public Library, 735 Main St., Waltham. (Marlborough Enterprise, MA)
Music review: Australian Chamber Orchestra Apr 29, 2009
For some listeners, Sunday's headliner was countertenor Andreas Scholl, who joined the orchestra for six Handel arias (divided, after a little last-minute program shuffling, onto either side of the intermission) ... Still, the lyrical phrases of Handel's more intimate writing registered beautifully, and in "Va tacito e nascosto" from "Giulio Cesare," ably partnered by hornist Robert Johnson, Scholl created a strong dramatic scene without worrying too much about vocal weight. (San Francisco Chronicle)
A Norrington farewell Apr 28, 2009
Sir Roger Norrington ended his three seasons as artistic adviser to the Handel and Haydn Society this weekend with a pair of concerts titled "Haydn in London." The widely varied program approximated a concert the composer might have heard on his visits to London in the 1790s, landmark events in his career ... HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY Sir Roger Norrington, conductor. (Boston Globe)
Classical TV Debuts With the Web's Richest Array of Free and Pay-Per-View Performing Arts Videos, at www.classicaltv.com Apr 20, 2009
" (The soprano drew raves for her "Dance of the Seven Veils. 99, include the Dutch National Ballet's Giselle; the Metropolitan Opera's 125th Anniversary Opening Night Gala Starring Renee Fleming; the Zurich Opera's Cosi Fan Tutte, with Cecilia Bartoli; and a "Celebration of Dance" from the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet. (Canada Newswire)
Spice and variety, and an acute sense of vocal colour Apr 20, 2009
The concert began with an elegantly turned sigh, at the start of Handel's insomniac aria O sleep, why dost thou leave me ... There was a lot of spice and variety in her performances of three other Handel songs, though like many singers capable of extreme beauty of sound and line, Fleming sometimes let the words go mushy. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Actors union relents in tentative studio deal Apr 18, 2009
"Their endless stalemate really amounted to them pouring sugar in their own gas tank," said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment lawyer who has followed the talks closely. "The SAG hard-liners have inflicted serious damage on their own union.". (Anchorage Daily News)
Venezuela's Famed Youth Orchestra Visits U.S. Apr 6, 2009
But the South American country is now recognized as one of the world's most dynamic vessels of classical music, thanks to a 34-year-old program that gives violins, French horns and batons to poor barrio kids and lets them interpret Handel and Tchaikovsky with a Latin verve that last year led Simon Rattle, director of the Berlin Philharmonic, to declare, "The future of classical music lies in Venezuela.". Related. (Time.com)
Go&Do: Community Chorus concerts and jump roping! Apr 4, 2009
"When George Frideric Handel wrote his Messiah he was hoping for a hit. He was in poor financial and physical health and wanted to give the public something new and popular. But he probably did not anticipate that his oratorio would be an enduring masterwork playing to enthusiastic audiences around the world 250 years after his death in April 1759."To mark this anniversary, the Community Chorus at South Berwick will perform Messiah Parts II and III, which some call the 'Easter Messiah,' over... (Seacoast New Hampshire)
Queen embraces first lady Apr 3, 2009
The program included music by Handel and a dance performance by Ballet Black, a troupe set up to give performing opportunities to black and Asian classical dancers. Related Subjects. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Michelle Obama dares to hug queen Apr 3, 2009
The program included music by Handel and a dance performance by Ballet Black, a troupe set up to give performing opportunities to black and Asian classical dancers. Wearing a bright teal blue dress by Jason Wu who designed her inauguration gown and a sweater by Junya Watanabe, Mrs. Obama posed for photographs with Sarah Brown, Therese Rein, wife of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's wife Chikako Aso, and Laureen Harper, who is married to Canadian... (MSNBC -- International)
Essential tracks Apr 1, 2009
Fatto inferno / Pastorello d'un povero armento, Rolando Villazon, Gabrieli Players & Paul McCreesh, from Handel Arias (DG). The star Mexican tenor has spent so much time steaming up the opera stage with Anna Netrebko, nobody knew he had a soft spot for Handel. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
On Barack Obama, legalising drugs, Kenya, Handel Apr 1, 2009
SIR The first thing I learned in a musicology course given by Paul Henry Lang, a distinguished Handel scholar at Columbia University, was how to pronounce the great composer s name correctly ( , March 21st). Omitting the umlaut in texts is bad enough, but forgivable if you don t have a German keyboard on your computer. (The Economist)
Symmetrical Planning Mar 28, 2009
Thursday night's program by Harry Bicket and the English Concert, featuring countertenor David Daniels in a starring role, might have been set up as a controlled experiment to investigate the differences between Bach and Handel ... Bach's home base was the church, Handel's the theater - and from there all things flow, including the spiritual probing of the one and the vivid showmanship of the other ... In the Orchestral Suite No. 1 of Bach and again in Handel's A-Major Concerto Grosso, Op. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Composers of past and future find audiences Mar 28, 2009
In 2008, the orchestra made its first visit to the United Arab Emirates, where it performed works by Bach, Handel and Francesco Geminiani in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Al Ain. The McCarter program offers an impressive selection, highlighting Albinioni's Concerto for two oboes and strings in C, Bach's Concerto for violin in E and three varied pieces by Vivaldi, including his concerto for bassoon and strings in E minor. (NJ.com -- Times)
Critic's picks: classical music Mar 27, 2009
MURRAY PERAHIA The eloquent pianist stops by Symphony Hall for a Celebrity Series recital devoted to music by Bach (Partita No. 1, BWV 825); Mozart (Sonata in F Major, K. 332); Beethoven ("Appassionata"); and Brahms ("Handel Variations"). March 29 at 3 p.m., $38-$72, 617-482-6661 or. (Boston Globe)
History in the making Mar 24, 2009
"I like old buildings because they have more character and you can embrace history there," says Handel Lee, executive chairman of the Ch'ien Men 23 (www ... Handel Lee, executive chairman of the Ch'ien Men 23. (Xinhuanet, China)
Music: Georgian splendour Mar 21, 2009
Handel's anniversary ... As spring begins, the 250th anniversary of Handel s death is being honoured with a glorious splurge of his music ... By the time the organ-player died in London on April 14th 1759, aged 74, he had become the great and good Mr Handel. (The Economist)
Cathy’s Corner — Classical music takes me somewhere else Mar 20, 2009
It features music composed by Johann Pachelbel, Tomaso Albinoni, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jeremiah Clarke, Christoph Gluck, George Handel and others. The majority of the music was composed during the late 1600s and the 1700s. (Brenham Banner, TX)
Going for Baroque: Symphonys fired-up season ender is April 3 Mar 19, 2009
Mix a bit of J.S. Bach with several blazing dashes of Handel, Vivaldi and Jeremiah Clark, together with the violin sparks of Mark Rush and you have the incendiary ingredients for a conflagration that is sure to brighten everyone s vision and warm every soul ... George Frideric Handel s Water Music is not apt to douse the evening s flickering flames, but instead provide a musical hot beverage in the movements performed. (Sierra Vista Herald, AZ)
Bill Leith, at 80; financier led stock exchange, was BSO chairman Mar 18, 2009
That prodigious recall came in handy years later as he served first on the board of Boston's Handel and Hayden Society, then as an overseer, trustee, and chairman of the BSO.. "I always enjoyed going to a concert with him because he knew everyone from the musicians to all the ushers and all the people back stage," his son said. (Boston Globe)
Lawrenceville singer gets prize in vocal competition Mar 12, 2009
He sang Una Furtiva Lagrima from Donizetti s L Elisir d Amore, Total Eclipse from Handel s Samson and Rodelinda, and a Spanish folk song arrangement called Noche Serena. Recent headlines. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Metro)
LETTERS: The Californian, March 3, 2009 Mar 3, 2009
""And I heard a voice within me answer him: 'Where is He. Here He is ---- He is hanging here on this gallows. (North County Times)
* [CLASSICAL DVD REVIEWS] Feb 25, 2009
This year is the 250th anniversary of Handels death, but the revival of interest in his operas is already 20 years old. Previously hed been best known for oratorios such as Messiah, but opera directors had become tired of the standard repertory and, with over 40 to choose from, Handels long-forgotten products in the field proved a gold mine ... Handels compulsive, rhythmic music is shown to be a cover for barely repressed passion. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
Music for Organ and Trombone Feb 23, 2009
As trombonist, Wauchope has performed with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops and Esplanade Orchestras, the Boston Opera Company, the Handel and Haydn Society. He also has been the bass trombonist for the Chorus of Westerly under George Kent for 38 years. (Westerly Sun, RI)
Entertainment Briefing Feb 19, 2009
The concert will feature an array of classical and contemporary choral works, including a commemoration of the 250th anniversary of G.F. Handel s death with Coronation Anthem III ( The King Shall Rejoice ), composed for the coronation of King George II and Queen Caroline in 1727. Other works to be performed are Vaughan Williams motet Lord, Thou hast been our refuge, Einojuhani Rautavarra s Suite de Lorca, Josquin des Prez s Gaude Virgo, Mater Christi, Eric Whitacre s A Boy and a Girl and J.S.... (Mason City Globe-Gazette, IO)
Music review: Kelsey shows command of phrasing Feb 18, 2009
There were airier, brighter pleasures on the first half, beginning with an expert group of Handel arias and continuing with three excerpts from Gerald Finzi's Shakespeare cycle "Let Us Garlands Bring.". Baritones and basses often come to grief in the intricate passagework of Handel's writing. (San Francisco Chronicle)
From a vault in Paris: The sound of opera in 1907 Feb 17, 2009
Although Mozart was hardly in vogue in 1907, he makes the list with arias from "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Don Giovanni," but there is no room for Gluck, Handel or Monteverdi, who in recent times have been called on to satisfy the opera world's need for novelty. The quality of the recordings themselves is much as might be expected. (International Herald Tribune)
Sarasa Ensemble goes from intimate to grand Feb 10, 2009
The first half featured Handel and Purcell, both composers men of the theater, but the performances were more objective or intimate than theatrical. While Handel's cantata "Tanti strali al sen mi scocchi" provided Labelle and Chance with floridly romantic opportunities, both music and singing were more elegant than torrid ... For Handel's first keyboard Suite, Cole created more personal intimacy, the Prelude's loose arpeggiation prompting an exploratory rhythmic flexibility. (Boston Globe)
