Hercília Block News
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2024-03-29
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2024-03-07 09:28:01
Britten’s atmospheric, strange and beautiful opera, the last he wrote, comes to life in this new production from Welsh National Opera in a collaboration with No Fit State CircusDeath in Venice is Benjamin Britten’s final opera, written when he was ill with the heart condition that would kill him three years after its premiere at Snape Maltings in 1973. “It’s a deeply personal and intimate piece. Britten wasn’t a well man at the time of its composition, and he didn’t know how much music he had left in him. The epilogue, the last 20 bars, is the most serene and profound music he ever wrote. It’s Britten’s requiem for not only himself, but for his life partner, Peter Pears,” says Leo Hussain, conducting this production for Welsh National Opera – the first time the company have staged the work.Mark Le Brocq sings Aschenbach, the role Britten wrote for Pears. The […]
2024-02-07 00:24:00
Raehann Bryce-Davis in Recital
Raehann Bryce-Davis | Credit: Isamar Chabot Mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis gave a spectacular recital about ten days ago at Herbst. My review is on the formal side and missed out in one area: I'd actually wanted to mention what she and pianistJeanne-Minette Cilliers were wearing after the intermission, because Bryce-Davis's fiancé Allen Virgo designed both outfits and they were spectacular. But, I also didn't manage to grab a curtain call photo. The only disappointing thing about the recital was the turnout; the audience was tiny. This might have been because of Michael Tilson Thomas's valedictory Mahler 5 down the Block, but I know there are plenty of opera folks who didn't turn out for this wonderful recital.Lisa Hirsch, SFCVPatrick Vaz, The Reverberate Hills
2024-01-11 10:54:00
Jenůfa, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, 7 January 2024
Grandmother Buryja – Hanna Schwarz Kostelnička Buryja – Rosie Aldridge Jenůfa – Vida Miknevičiūtė Laca Klemeń – Stephan Rügamer Števa Buryja – Pavol Breslik Foreman – Grigory Shkarupa Jano – Victoria Randem Barena – Adriane Queiroz Mayor – David Oštrek Mayor’s Wife – Natalia Sckrycka Karolka – Maria Kokareva Herdswoman – Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein Auntie – Rebecka Wallroth Voices – Olga Vilenskaia, Ben BloomfieldDirector – Damiano MichielettoRevival director – Marcin ŁakomickiSet designs – Paolo FantinCostumes – Carlo TetiLighting – Alessandro CarlettiChoreography – Thomas Wilhelm Staatsopernchor Berlin (chorus director: Dani Juris)Staatskapelle BerlinAxel Kober (conductor)Images: Bernd Uhlig (from 2021 premiere, with different cast)Damiano Michieletto’s 2021 production of Jenůfa, now receiving its first revival, offers a relatively straightforward retelling of the story without prettifying or sentimentalising. Paolo Fantin’s set designs are stark: semi-transparent, enabling one to see, as in a small rural community, most of what is going on, whilst still maintaining some degree of […]
2023-11-04 09:31:00
Music knows no borders: countertenor Reginald Mobley on the music of Ignatius Sancho, spirituals as Early Music and the importance of diversity
Christine Plubeau, Violaine Cochard & Reginald Mobley at the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival in September 2023 (Photo Bayreuth.Media)We caught American countertenor Reginald Mobley in recital at the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival in September [see my review], when he performed a programme of music by Purcell, Handel and Ignatius Sancho, a former slave who in the 18th century became the first known British African to have voted in Britain. Reginald will be returning to Sancho's music in 2024 as part of his project Sons of England with the Academy of Ancient Music. Reginald became the first-ever programming consultant for the Handel & Haydn Society following several years of leading its community engagement Every Voice concerts. He also holds the position of Visiting Artist for Diversity Outreach with the Baroque ensemble Apollo’s Fire and is also leading a research project supported by the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council to uncover music […]
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