by Jarrett Hoffman
IN THIS EDITION:
•Tonight: BW Opera presents The Coronation of Poppea
•Competition and job listings: one-minute works for clarinetist-vocalist Kristen Mather de Andrade (pictured), and openings at the Beck Center for the Arts
•Almanac: reflecting on the music of Isang Yun
HAPPENING TODAY:
Tonight at 7:30 pm, BW Opera presents Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), in what is billed as a minimalist production set in the present day. Another modern twist: the production “leans into the code of ethics, morals, and politics featured in movies such as the Godfather films, which reference characters and scenarios from this opera.”
The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles, and the performance will be with chamber orchestra. It takes place at the Helen Theater at Playhouse Square. Tickets are available online.
COMPETITION & JOB LISTINGS:
A Youngstown native is featured in the latest Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame competition from Vox Novus. That New York City-based organization devoted to new music is calling for one-minute pieces composed for clarinetist and vocalist Kristen Mather de Andrade, principal clarinet in the West Point Band as well as a solo artist with an interest in world music. Fifteen works will be chosen, and will be premiered during a live-streamed concert in April 2023. The deadline for applications is December 16.
And of course, even a one-minute piece can pave the way for something more. As Mather de Andrade said in an interview, a project like this “gives you the opportunity to build a relationship…” More information here.
And there are a couple of job openings over at the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood. The organization is looking for a full-time music therapist and a part-time piano instructor. Details here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
There are reasons both musical and geopolitical to reflect on Korean-born German composer Isang Yun, who died on this date in 1995.
First, he was widely admired for his inventive melding of East and West in music. One of the early pieces to bring him international renown was Réak (1966) for orchestra, which incorporates elements of Korean ceremonial music and imitations of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese traditional instruments into the avant-garde style that he had developed during his time studying at Darmstadt. Listen to a recording here by the Berlin Deutsches Symphony Orchestra led by Stefan Asbury.
For our purposes, his 1976 Cello Concerto provides a transition into the political side of his life: it recalls his two years of imprisonment after he and his wife were kidnapped from their home in West Berlin by South Korean agents. He was given a life sentence for treason, having visited North Korea, while his wife was given three years in prison for her involvement. International pressure, as well as a petition from musicians including Luigi Dallapiccola, Herbert von Karajan, György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Igor Stravinsky, eventually led to their release.
As for the concerto, it is riveting — intensely virtuosic and emotionally painful. The cadenza starting around 8:08, lighter in mood and full of pizzicati and expressive glissandi, is also quite something. Listen to a live recording here from 1986 by cellist Heinrich Schiff and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies.
That was not the only imprisonment Yun experienced in his lifetime. An activist from an early age, he was arrested in 1943 for his activities as part of an underground group opposed to the Japanese occupation of Korea. Later, he became a strong advocate for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
That all just scratches the surface of Yun’s fascinating life and career. Read more about him in Allan Kozin’s 1995 obituary for The New York Times, and in his highly detailed Wikipedia entry.