Jakub Józef Orliński is the new countertenor name to add to an ever-growing roster of artists who are selling discs and selling out concert halls in this once rarefied area of the vocal arts. Polish singer Orliński is 27 and Anima Sacra, his debut album, will be released by Erato on 26 October 2018. It contains eleven Neapolitan arias of which eight are world premiere … [Read more...]
Trouble in Turin: Noseda walks as US tour is cancelled and new Intendant appointed
Walter Vergnano, the outgoing Intendant of Teatro Regio in Turin, resigned last week from his post. Three days ago, William Graziosi was appointed his successor. Graziosi left his position as director of Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi just before Christmas 2017, leaving a €600,000 deficit. Turin too is experiencing economic woes and because of this it has decided to cancel a US tour … [Read more...]
Interview with tenor Lawrence Brownlee on being a black man in America: Cycles of My Being
A new song cycle exploring the realities of life as a black man in America will receive its world premiere performance with Opera Philadelphia tonight, then in Chicago at the DuSable Museum of African American History on 22 February, and the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall on 24 April. Cycles of My Being is commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, Carnegie Hall, and Lyric Unlimited, … [Read more...]
Interview with John Nelson, conductor of the new recording of Berlioz’s Les Troyens
An admiring review in the respected Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of a production of Les Troyens, conducted by John Nelson, earlier this year, said, At present there are few conductors who, like John Nelson, can rightly be called 'Berlioz experts'. In an interview more than 20 years ago, Nelson called Berlioz his ‘patron saint in music’. Now, reflecting on that, he ups this … [Read more...]
Founder of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, violinist Bronislaw Huberman, died 70 years ago today
Seventy years ago, on 16 June 1947, virtuoso violinist Bronislaw Huberman died at 64. He founded the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra by bringing Jewish musicians from Nazi Europe to Palestine, giving refuge to 1,000 musicians and their families. Huberman was a child prodigy. He was born in Poland on 19 December 1882, began lessons when he was six, and gave his first public … [Read more...]