Met orchestra to play at US Open tennis final
NewsThis Sunday’s men’s final will be preceded by a performance of America the Beautiful by baritone Will Liverman and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, with music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on piano. The arrangement of ‘America the Beautiful’ and ‘Lift Every Voice’ for voice, piano and brass is by John Sheppard and Tetsuro Hoshii. The other participating musicians are Billy Hunter (trumpet), Brad Gemeinhardt (French horn), Anne Scharer (French horn), Sasha Romero (trombone), and Weston Sprott (trombone).
Liverman opened the Met’s 2021–22 season as the lead in Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” the first opera by a Black composer in the company’s history. He returns in November to star in Anthony Davis’s “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.”
If only all of those fans (and tennis players) would then come to the opera house to return the favor.
Yeah, that’s going to happen. It won’t fare any better than Billie Jean King throwing tennis balls off the Grand Tier. Peter is desperate (yet again).
They will – as soon as there’s an opera about tennis!
Peter Gelb presents Kate Lindsey as Martina Navritalova.
I doubt the Debussy/Nijinsky ballet “Jeux” created any new tennis fans…and that was over a century ago. It, too, was forgotten.
The two aren’t mutually exclusive. I love tennis and opera and go to both
Literally nobody will be able tk tell the difference if they are Met orchestra musicians or the people playing on the park around Arthur Ashe every sunday.
Well, ‘literally nobody’….I guess there could be some music lovers who can tell the difference. Many musicians I like love watching tennis.
And this will achieve what? “Service utilisation” so no one can say that available slots for orchestra rehearsals or concerts during the week aren’t wasted?
It’s simple — promote Yannick and boost his ego. He’s using the Cooper-Bernstein movie for the same purpose, parading during the premiere at the Venice Festival, and posing like one of LB’s biggest protégés… but he never was one…
Amen and Thank You! Y N-S isn’t charismatic or interesting on his own, so he and his PR machine have to resort to making him appear on red carpets when nobody even cares he’s there. He’s in over his head. Nowhere near Levine in terms of knowledge. He’s learning the repertoire at the audience’s expense and time. Gelb hired him because he saves a lot of money with a conductor who isn’t really a star. And the ignorant public fawns over his tattoos… where were Karajan’s tats? And Kleiber’s? Bernstein only knew a handful of operas, which he didn’t do very well, but at least he was a huge talent who basically stuck to symphony gigs.
Bradley and Carey were narrators for Yannick’s Concert performances of “Candide” in Philadelphia several years ago. It was then that he became Cooper’s conducting coach at the start of the Maestro project. He is uncredited but probably conducted the Ely Cathedral Cambridge Orchestra and Chorus in the portions of Mahler’s 2nd featured in the film. At one point Dudamel was part of the plan but I guess he was Yannicked.
Having been in that crowd years ago, I can guarantee the majority will get up and either use the restrooms or buy a drink.
So, which orchestra will play prior to the Women’s Final?
I think it’s a great idea.
‘course it is. It’s outreach — participating in a major even in the same city. It will be televised, and commented on. And people hear anthems sung at these events and occasionally wonder who it was, and fan bases expand. It could happen here — or it could just be a short, pleasant gig that joins music and sport in amity. No downside.
Nobody there will care. Another gimmick to distract from the Met’s failing ticket
sales and mediocrity. In the past, when such ‘greats’ as Fleming and DiDonato have sung at NFL and other games, fans just ignored them. This country has no actual culture artistically speaking. Netflix and sports are our culture. Gelb is so ignorant. Sad.
If it were up to Gelb, they would be playing at Costco Grand Openings.
They could just broadcast a recording onto the TVs that are for sale inside Costco…great screens and more clear than the movie theater.
Great comment! Gelb is a gimmick-maker, and his
gimmicks aren’t even good.
He’s P.T.Barnum minus
the talent.
Not one tennis fan present is going to care. Another sad
attempt to try to make an
elitist art form part of our
‘culture’… our ‘culture’ is
movies and sports.
How classy treatment for all those spectators, I’m so jealous, But I wish God’s blessing for those musicians will perform there, I will watch the performance on my 80′ TV screen in California.
Thank you so much.
Cassie
Darn, I thought it would be the full orchestra. At least they get to hear Will.
Marvellous idea! I can’t wait for tennis matches on stage at the MET during intermissions! Something for everyone! It could really insure full houses!
Not knowing of the Met’s music director, I thought for a minute Yannick Noah (French Open Title 1983 and current Captain of France’s Davis & BJK Cup teams) had a new career. I envy the US Open. So much better an idea than “The Hundred” or “T20” cricket brands where ears are assaulted by over-loud pop music at every end of over, catch, 4, 6, wicket etc, and “The Hundred” also has DJs. It just isn’t Cricket.
Oh Katie, I can tell you don’t watch tennis much. Every tennis tournament with the exception of Wimbledon has music played at the changeover. Though I was agreeably pleased to hear the DJ on Arthur Ashe play “I believe in a thing called love” by The Darkness last night
On the contrary, I’ve watched loads of Tennis but particularly more so this year, only on BBC: Surbiton, Nottingham, Edgbaston, Eastbourne, Queen’s, Roehampton, Wimbledon because I was forcibly laid up at home, rather than be there. Muzak is there to control spectators – and annoy those of us who don’t like that type of music. I’d rather listen to Classical. As for Cricket, whatever happened to the gentle sound of leather on willow and polite applause? And as Zarathusa said, perhaps Tennis on the Opera stage? One day, they’ll be playing a Super Bowl final in the middle of a pop concert…
Why even have a US Open? Just have multiple performances
of Debussy’s Jeux instead
Five members of the brass section cannot truthfully be described as the “Met Orchestra”, Norman.
Yes, i as misled by that headline too. Maybe down the road — this is testing the waters.
Perhaps the Met Orchestra will play: “Match Point” by Gwyneth Walker or Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: “Lawn Tennis; Johann Strauss II has “Lawn Tennis Chorus” in his opera “Waldmeister; there’s “Tennis at Trianon” by Sibelius; “Le Tennis” by Satie. How about Dmitri Shostakovich: “Dance of the Tennis Players and Training Session.”
Should I go on?
Please do Larry, you’ve opened my eyes (or should I say ears) to a load of music of which I was unaware and should have been. Will check them out. And perhaps Gymnasts could perform floor routines to Satie’s “Gymnopedie”, though not in the buff… I did know Debussy’s “Jeux” mentioned by Murray Citron.
Gymnasts would do “Dance of the Tumblers” (aka “Dance of the Clowns”) by Rimsky Korsakov!
There’s Mauricio Kagel: “Match” the Argentine-born Mauricio Kagel, used tennis to highly novel and theatrical effect. His “Match” features two cellist “tennis players” and a percussionist “umpire”.
Kevin Scott: “A Point Served…In Remembrance Arthur Ashe”
Danny Gould: “Tennis Anyone?”
That’s all I have!
I have no problem with this; it reaches out.
Sport is the great public forum today. It is absolutely logical and sensible that excellence in the arts should – whenever possible – ride shotgun on the massive popularity of sport. And it works. Look at the buzz generated by the Superbowl HT show. Reach is all about knowing where the numbers are, and hitching a ride. Great initiative my the MET / US Open. It makes perfect sense for the city to showcase its very best assets in such a moment. The next step is to reverse engineer the process; invite Alcaraz or Messi to the opera, and snap them on the red carpet beforehand. Their ambassadorship for the artform – in just a few instagram pictures – would be transformational. It is exactly this kind of cross-cultural connections we ought to be making.
And I, for one, love sport as much as I love classical music. I am as happy at the MET and Elbphilharmonie as I am at Lansdowne Road or Wimbledon. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Me too. I am always chuffed when conductors make bets with one another over World Series outcomes in their respective cities and the loser usually end up wearing the winning team’s shirt at a selected concert. It shows, aside from good humour and good nature, a sense that orchestras do NOT exist in some sort of elite vacuum wherein other interests do not exist.
I remember hearing that when Pinchas Zukerman went to Ottawa he became a devoted fan of their hockey team, the Senators — had box seats for home games, etc. And when he toured the Orchestra to Israel — a long-planned and very big deal for him — it coincided with the Sens making either the playoffs or the Stanley Cup finals (not a hockey fan, so I am unclear) and that he kept a phone line in his dressing room open to Ottawa so he could check the scores whenever he came off the stage.
Have to go now — I am following the Vuelta and it starts early here. Roll on the Ryder Cup!
Tennis will be well served.