by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
Tonight at 7:30, in the final event of the Cooper International Violin Competition, Julia Xiaozhuo Wang, Edna Unseld, and Tiantian Lu perform complete concertos with the Columbus ProMusica Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Norman Huynh in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel. Free and streamed live at oberlin.edu and via The Violin Channel.
For details of upcoming events, visit our Concert Listings.
INTERESTING READ:
The Controversial Hams That Helped a French Cathedral Save Its Organ
Read Emily Monaco’s article in Atlas Obscura about a bell tower in the Saint-Pierre cathedral that hides a meaty secret.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
The great American baritone Sherrill Milnes, a native of Downer’s Grove, Illinois, turns 90 today.
With over 650 Metropolitan Opera performances on his resume, Milnes is best known as one of the preeminent Verdi baritones of his time — and YouTube contains several clips of his bread and butter. Here’s one excellent example: “Ah, fu giusto il mio sospetto” from Luisa Miller in a production from the Met, led by James Levine.
For a more intimate look at his artistry, how about his wide-ranging program with pianist Jon Spong in Cleveland at Severance in 1980? Watch here.
And for a peek inside Milnes’ mind, read Daniel Hathaway’s 2018 interview with the baritone, focusing in particular on his teaching in master class settings. One of the most memorable sections delves into the subject of language and pronunciation.
“Language is a kicker,” Milnes said. “English speakers have to be able to sing in French, German, Italian, Russian, and these days, some Czech. I always tell singers first of all that we’re faking it. We’re actors, and that’s what actors do. The good ones — and who doesn’t love Tom Hanks or Robert De Niro — make us buy it. We can’t feel completely at home in a language we don’t speak, but there are certain specific sounds in every language that are peculiar to that language. Be sure those sounds get out there, because the audience’s perception is everything. It sounds like double-talk, but what the audience thinks we know is more important than what we know.”
