by Daniel Hathaway
WEBINAR FOR SINGERS TODAY:
Earlier this month a webinar hosted by The National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Chorus America, Barbershop Harmony Society, and Performing Arts Medical Association (PAMA) addressed the near-term future of singing during the pandemic in terms that caused widespread alarm among soloists, choirs, and vocal teachers. The video of that panel discussion has received 107,344 views to date.
Today at 5:00 pm EDT, NATS and associated organizations will present a followup panel discussion, “Singing: What We Can Do,” moderated by Brian Newhouse of Minnesota Public Radio, and focusing on “examples of how singers and singing ensembles are producing their art now, as physical distancing guidelines continue to be in place. A variety of guests will share promising projects and existing and emerging technologies that keep us connected and singing.” Watch here.
APOLLO’S FIRE: MONTEVERDI ON DEMAND
Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra has performed Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 30 times in more than 15 cities. Apollo’s Fire has now merged elements of those performances into a two-part online presentation. Watch the videos in their ongoing “Music for the Soul” series here.
TODAY ON THE WEB AND RADIO:
Listen to Debussy, Schubert, and Bartok in Lunchtime with The Cleveland Orchestra, visit Edvard Grieg’s house in Norway for “A Wild and Wistful House Concert” from the Bergen International Festival (Leif Ove Andsnes and friends visit Beethoven folk song arrangements and Bartók Violin Duets), and enjoy a 2012 performance of Verdi’s Ernani from the MET Opera vaults. Details here.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On this date in 1924, Irish-American cellist and composer Victor Herbert died in New York, leaving a legacy of popular Broadway operettas and classical works. Click here to watch Mark Kosower and the Ulster Orchestra, led by JoAnn Falletta, in a rehearsal clip for their Naxos recording of Herbert’s two cello concertos.
And American composer and pianist William Bolcom was born in Seattle on May 26, 1938. A student of Milhaud and Messiaen, and a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer, he taught his craft at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 2008, and made two dozen recordings of show tunes and parlor and popular songs with his wife, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris. One of his operas, A Wedding, was produced at Oberlin in November of 2011. Click here to watch an uninhibited 2018 Wild Plum Arts interview with Bolcom, where he talks about being a composer, “and many other things.”
In addition to his piano rags, one of Bolcom’s most popular cycles is his Cabaret Songs, setting witty texts by Arnold Weinstein. Click here to watch Eastman School of Music mezzo-soprano Michaela Swan perform several on her senior recital with pianist Jeremy Vigil in February, 2018.