Doesn’t she sing well?
Four major artists who are based in Stockholm will appear with the Philharmonic in three concerts, featuring up to 40 musicians in front of an empty Konserthuset.
The concerts will be relayed on Facebook.
In addtion to Nina Stemme, who should have been starring this month at Covent Garden, the violinist Janine Jansens will lead one concert and Alan Gilbert and Martin Fröst will conduct two others.
Details below.
Wednesday, 13 May 2020 at 19.00 h CET
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Janine Jansen leader & violin soloist
J. S. Bach: Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major
Beethoven: Septet in E flat major
Wednesday, 20 May 2020 at 19.00 h CET
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Alan Gilbert conductor
Nina Stemme soprano
Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder arr Felix Mottl
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 Unfinished
Wednesday, 27 May 2020 at 19.00 h CET
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Martin Fröst conductor & clarinet soloist
Piazzolla: Oblivión, version for clarinet and string orchestra
Copland: Clarinet Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony No. 1
Houston Grand Opera has hired the Canadian Miah Im as music director of its (young) artists studio.
She has been head of music staff at Los Angeles Opera for the past 4 years. ‘I will bring my passion and experience in support of this wonderful artform and help to inspire the young artists on their journey to becoming world class singers,’ she said.
Jolanta Nicolai has reported to us the death of Claudio Nicolai, a mainstay of the opera in Cologne, where he was dubbed ‘the cavalier baritone.’
He sang 1,066 performances in the city.
Born Claus Hennecke, the son of an admiral in the German navy, he joined Cologne in 1964 and sang through to retirment in 1989.
Friends are sharing news of the sudden death of Mathias Clason, the Swedish director, scenographer, playwright and librettist.
The cause is unknown.
Clason designed or directed some 100 opera productions in Sweden and worldwide over a 37-year career.
The German authorities* have published rules for reopening theatres which are highly impractical for orchestras – for instance, the distances to be maintained by wind players: 12 metres ahead and three metres either side.
The TfN-Philharmonie Hildesheim decided to try out Beethoven’s 7th symphony at prescribed distances in an otherwise empty theatre.
Here’s how it looked:
*UPDATE: We’re advised that these are not Goverrment rules but a guideline by the VBG: Verwaltungs-
The 12-metre rule has been contested by the Charité scientific institute here.
Dame Sarah Connolly has three wonderful stories to share this morning:
I’d love to hear your stories about tussles with concert hall security when you had to make an entry from somewhere other than the stage, or appear at a later time during a performance. 😀
I have two tales as Brangäne – the Wachruf and two from Gerontius.
Tristan. The orchestral manager didn’t check in advance with the venue management or security that I would be singing from the organ loft for the Wachruf. I actually had a physical tussle with a security guard in a Spanish concert hall and had to LOCK MYSELF IN to stop him dragging me out. The responses from the security guard had been a monosyllabic “NO” with much wagging of his finger. With my basic Spanish it was impossible to persuade him. I knew he understood me but he hadn’t been briefed. I could hear my cue approaching so I just pushed past him and thankfully the door had a bolt. He was yelling in the corridor and banging on the door!! Can you imagine..during the closing bars of the duet?!! Einsam wachend in der Nacht had a dual meaning!! I really was being a bold Branny. Fortunately only the people around the loft looked mildly concerned.
A similar thing happened in the Albert Hall Prom with Sir Simon. When I was allowed in to the hall, finally, I was seated to the upper left of the organ loft, among the audience. As I stood up, preparing to sing I was told by some audience members behind me to sit down and when I started to sing I was shushed by one outraged person!
Gerontius. The festival ushers wouldn’t accept that the Angel enters in Part 2. The door backstage in the giant British cathedral was mysteriously locked, so I ran the length of the building to find the other door. The ushers physically barred me from walking back down a side aisle to the stage. The musicians were waiting for me the other end of course so I pushed past the ushers (second time that day..) and wafted down the aisle with ushers chasing me. I also had food poisoning so could have done without the excitement.
The second Gerontius tale was the same day, earlier in rehearsal where again the ushers were over zealous about who is allowed in front of the roped off space. A rather senile usher tried to argue that if I ‘really was a singer’ why wasn’t I already on stage”. No amount of indignant explanations sufficed so he tried to drag me out! When that failed, he went to the festival director, also seated inside the roped off area and who hadn’t seen my drama in the side aisle, and tried to eject him too!
As an addendum, Paul Nilon, Neal Davies & I were locked out of our changing venue afterwards with no one about. We found someone eventually.
Wigmore Hall is to resume its Lunchtime Concerts from June 1, with a live outlet on BBC Radio 3, it was announced this morning.
It will be the first live classical music series on air since the lockdown.
The series will comprise solo recitals and duos, with no audience. The only spectators will be a Radio 3 producer, a BBC sound engineer,a presenter and one Wigmore Hall staff member.
Stephen Hough will launch the series. Other artists include Wigmore regulars: Iain Burnside (piano), Michael Collins (clarinet), Imogen Cooper (piano), Lucy Crowe (soprano), Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Julius Drake (piano) Benjamin Grosvenor (piano), Angela Hewitt (piano), Paul Lewis (piano), Timothy Ridout (viola), Sean Shibe (guitar), Mitsuko Uchida and more.
