by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
Oberlin Opera Theater will present two concerts of opera scenes in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel. The 4:30 performance will feature Act I from Wolfgang Amadé Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and the 7:30 program will include selections from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Verdi’s Don Carlo, and Copland’s The Tender Land, both available via livestream.
NEWS BRIEFS:
The Cleveland Orchestra has announced that tickets are now on sale for the final dress rehearsal of director Nikolaus Habjan’s production of The Magic Flute on Monday, May 13. All tickets are general admission seats in the Mandel Concert Hall balcony and dress circle. As part of the evening, Habjan will talk about the giant puppets that appear in the opera (pictured above: the Queen of the Night).
INTERESTING READ:
From the Associated Press: “Met Opera Had Only Four Female Conductors In Its First 133 Years. Last Month It Had Four In One Week.” Read the article here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Jarrett Hoffman
Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter turns 69 today — and with as wide-ranging a career as hers, there are many ways to celebrate.
Lieder? How about a selection from her Grieg album, which won 1993 Gramophone Record of the Year? Have a listen to Våren (“Last Spring”) here, where she is joined by her regular performing partner Bengt Forsberg.
Opera? There are many possibilities to choose from, both in the classics and in contemporary music (including the premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel), but here’s a half-hour recording from a gala concert from 1989 full of wonderful standards.
Oratorio? How about Bach’s “Schlafe, mein Liebster” from the Christmas Oratorio, where she’s joined by the English Baroque Soloists led by John Eliot Gardiner? Listen here.
And pop? One of her better-known entries in that genre is an album titled For the Stars in which she collaborated with Elvis Costello. Click here to listen to their cover of the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder).”
Whichever pill you choose, the outcome is the same: this is one special musician.
