Opera Music

As Opera Australia prepare their new Ring Cycle, they celebrated Wagner's 200th birthday earlier today via the traditional medium of cake. A specially-commissioned life-sized Valkyrie helmet, full of chocolatey goodness, was taken on a tour of the building before the ritual demolition.

This is SOME VOICE!!!! Kipnis sings scenes from Seraglio, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlo, Meistersinger, Parsifal (with Fritz Wolff) and then three Russian folk songs,followed by the Brahms "Vier ernste Gesange" and then Brahms' "Von ewige liebe" and finally Schubert's "Erlkonig" "Heidenroslein" and "Ungeduld." (72 minutes)

Morgan PearseAussie barihunk Morgan Pearse, who created quite an internet sensation with our last post, was just named one of five artists to be represented by the prestigious Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT) in the United Kingdom. Over 100 applicants competed in the preliminary and semi-final rounds, and only five artists were selected for representation. Pearse was the only singer selected. Set up in 1984, YCAT provides a unique stepping stone for exceptional young artists who have the potential for international performing careers. The group introduces these artists at home and abroad. The organization provides artists with a secure management base and works with event promoters in the United Kingdom and abroad in securing performance opportunities. Soprano Elizabeth Watts and the Sacconi Quartet were previous musicians selected for the honor. Pearse is the Royal College of Music’s inaugural Joan Sutherland Scholar studying with Russell Smythe. He was recently awarded top prize in the Singers Section of the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition.

That most profound and controversial of all operatic composers was born 200 years ago today. In celebration of the natal day, WKCR is broadcasting a Wagner marathon, all the operas from Rienzi to Parsifal, over the next two days. La Cieca expects the cher public will assist in the festivities by sharing favorite YouTube clips of Wagnerian brilliance.

Benjamin CoveyCanadian barihunk Benjamin Covey will be performing in a concert celebrating the life and poetry of Scottish poet Robert Burns. The first half of the concert will explore Burns' world through word and song. He'll be joined by soprano Virginia Hatfield in performing "Comin' thru the rye," "Ye Banks and Braes," "Sweet Afton," "My love is like a red, red rose" and "Auld Lang Syne."The second half of the program will feature music from the Broadway musical Brigadoon. Songs include "The Heather on the Hill," "Almost like being in Love," "Waitin' for my Dearie" and "Go Home to Bonnie Jean."The concert is on Friday, June 7th at 7:30PM at the Church of the Redeemer in Toronto, Ontario. For more information, or to purchase tickets by phone, call 416-755-7158.A Graduate of the University of Toronto and an Alumni of Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist Development Program, Covey debuted as Morales/Dancaire in Carmen with Manitoba Opera. He graduated from San Francisco’s prestigious Merola Opera Program in 2010, where he sang Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore.

It’s Verdi’s bicentenary year and Rolando Villazón has two new CDs to plug — titled somewhat confusingly, ‘Villazón: Verdi’ and ‘Villazón’s Verdi’, the latter a ‘personal selection’ of favourite numbers performed by stars of the past and present.

Baritone Gareth John is rapidly accumulating a war-chest of honours. Winner of the 2013 Kathleen Ferrier Award, he recently won the Royal Academy of Music Patrons’ Award and was presented the Silver Medal by the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

This second revival of Jonathan Miller’s La bohème was the first time I had caught the production.

A Wagner documentary without Howard Goodall or Stephen Fry? Yes, it can be done. Here's the earliest effort: Carl Fröhlich's 1913 silent movie The Life and Works of Richard Wagner. The series of reverential vignettes was put together to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth. Ideally it would have been accompanied by an orchestra playing Wagner's music at each showing, but the makers didn't want to stump up the required royalties. So they commissioned Giuseppe Becce to craft a Wagner-like score; close enough to sound like the real thing, but different enough to avoid legal retaliation. Becce bore such an uncanny resemblance to Wagner that he was drafted in to act the part of the composer as well. There's no sound on the video above, so feel free to slam on some Daft Punk. For a more traditional dose of Wagnerian bombast, there's Tony Palmer's 8 hour bio-fiction Wagner. It's a patchy effort, but there's plenty of music, and Richard Burton is as watchable as ever: Finally, here's an oddity from 1982: Petr Ruttner's more fartsy than artsy Wagner e Venezia, with Orson Welles voicing the composer:

At the end of this week we'll be celebrating the beginning of summer, 2013, and we'll begin getting ready for our exciting 2014 International Season! What better way to do that then to have a few podcasts dedicated to a 'refresher' course in opera? Today Nicolas Reveles, our Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera takes a look at the essence of the art form, how