This Love Between Us – Musica Viva (NY)
Written for exactly the same instrumentation, Reena Esmail’s beautiful This Love Between Us and Bach’s brilliant Magnificat make an interesting pairing, juxtaposing the familiar and the unfamiliar, the past and the present, and a young and talented Indian-American composer and a venerated German master. Both works capture the awe and magnificence of our humanity.
This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity, Reena Esmail
Magnificat, J. S. Bach
https://musicaviva.org/concert/this-love-between-us-bach-and-esmail/
L'Orfeo
Presented by Killer Queen Opera
Stage Direction: Christina Swanson & Karina Parker
Music Direction: Giulia Magarelli
Written in 1607, L’Orfeo adapts the Greek myth of Orfeo as they descend into the underworld to rescue and revive their wife, Eurydice. This production takes the myth of Orfeo out of the ancient world and launches it into a surrealist-modern day. Torn between grief and hope, Orfeo begins to dream that he can rescue Eurydice. Grief – embodied by movement – follows him relentlessly like a chain, awakening him from his dreams, while Hope brings Eurydice into their dreams.
This setting fuses contemporary movement, baroque gesture, and opera. It explores the relentless drone of grief and its impact on our minds, bodies, and spirits. It offers a window into the pain of permanence balances with optimism, hope, and the brain’s process of understanding and accepting loss.
Die Fledermaus
Presented by L’Insitut Canadien d’Art Vocal
In conjunction with the Orchestre Classique de Montréal
An immersive opera experience in a 360° cabaret format, with staging and narration by Lorraine Pintal (Théâtre du Nouveau Monde) and the Orchestre Classique de Montréal conducted by Simon Rivard.
A "mise en abyme" effect will be present with the insertion of a second opera into the action of La Chauve-Souris: The Four Note Opera, staged by Joshua Major (New England Conservatory of Music) and directed by Simon Charette, an absurd opera “that plays on the stereotypes, doubts and triumphs of the singers”.
Geoffrey Schellenberg, baritone – Eisenstein
Megan Henry, soprano – Rosalinde
Abigail Sinclair, soprano – Adele
Sang Yun Jeon, soprano – Ida
Jair Padilla, tenor – Alfred
Kuenwon Park, baryton – Dr Falke
Pétur Ulafrsson, tenor – Dr Blind
Matt Mueller, bass – Frank
Maddie Studt, mezzo-soprano – Prince Orlofsky
The Audition
Get a behind-the-scenes look at an opera audition with the Orchestre de la Francophonie, under the direction of Julien Proulx. A unique experience where talented young singers perform before an international jury likely to hire them. This unique audition offers participants of the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute an exceptional opportunity for development and recognition.
Beethoven: Symphony No.9
Orchestre de la Francophonie
Simon Rivard, Conductor
The interpretation of Beethoven's nine symphonies exceeds the musical challenge, offering a profound exploration of the composer's stylistic evolution. The Orchestre de la francophonie has nevertheless decided to perform them all over five days in a row. It is this concert at the Maison symphonique that closes the event with Symphonies 8 and 9, which are true gems.
Symphony No. 8, full of subtle humor, and Symphony No. 9, with its Ode to Joy , a hymn to brotherhood, embody Beethoven's humanitarian ideals. These complex works, with their universal emotions, invite reflection on current issues, inspiring and deeply touching the audience. An unforgettable emotional experience.
Featuring soloists, Amelia Wawrzon (soprano), Isabella Cuminato (mezzo-soprano), Sébastien Comtois (tenor) & Matt Mueller (bass).
Étienne Dupuis Masterclass
Masterclass in opera singing with the internationally renowned baritone Étienne Dupuis, also the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute co-artistic director and discover his approach to interpretation and technique. An enriching experience for music students, seasoned professionals and all classical music lovers.
Canadian Vocal Arts Institute (ICAV) – Montréal, QC
Opera Gala – ICAV
Stage direction: Nathalie Deschamps
Attend an exceptional opera gala with the international & local participants of the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute 2024 (ICAV), performing the most celebrated opera scenes, staged by Nathalie Deschamps. Come and discover the rising stars of opera singing in an unforgettable evening celebrating excellence and passion for opera.
25 singers, 4 pianists, 3 conductors and a string quintet
In the program, excerpts from
BERNSTEIN - West Side Story
BIZET - Carmen
DONIZETTI- L'elisir d'amore, Don Pasquale
JOHNSON - The Four Note Opera
MENOTTI - The Consul
MOZART - Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan tutte
RODGERS - The Sound of Music
ROSSINI - Il barbiere di Siviglia
STRAUSS - Fledermaus
VERDI - Rigoletto
Vespa – An Opera Workshop
Words & Music by Don DiNicola
Music Director, Robert Frankenberry
A New Opera in 4 Acts:
A young girl and her pet wasp lead some friends on a journey into the
mysterious world of insects. Their surprising encounters are hilarious
and sometimes alarming, causing the humans to re-evaluate their
relationship with the natural world.
Cast (in alphabetical order):
Litha Ashforth, Michael Celentano, Alize Francheska, Dana Kinney, Joelle Lachance, Matt Mueller, Daniel Rosenberg, Julie Schoonover
dell'Arte Opera Festival 2024: Wages of Sin – Opening Concert
This opening concert will bring together the talents of principal artists, cherished alumni, and the hidden gems from the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble staff and board in a diverse program inspired by our festival theme: "Wages of Sin". Our intermission-free program will feature an eclectic range of musical pairings: from Cole Porter and Kurt Weill to Verdi and Stravinsky to Zarzuela and songs on Sufi love poetry.
Join us for an evening of sublime music, culminating in a reception where you can mingle with the artists and team that make it all happen.
dell'Arte Opera Ensemble's June festival, themed “Wages of Sin,” features a double bill of Kurt Weill’s THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS (libretto by Bertolt Brecht in the English translation by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman) and Robert Nelson’s TICKETS, PLEASE! with a libretto by Sidney L. Berger after the short story by D.H. Lawrence. A curated song program, CHANSONS DE BAUDELAIRE: Les Fleurs du Mal will receive two performances, and the festival will also include GUILTY PLEASURES, a cabaret program of songs by Weill, Cole Porter, and others. Programming curated and prepared by Artistic Director Chris Fecteau.
Perpetual Light – Musica Viva (NY)
Mozart’s imposing Requiem—a swansong of sorts that has been shrouded in mystery from its inception—has fascinated performers, musicologists, and audiences for almost a quarter of a millennium. Musica Viva NY pairs Mozart’s masterpiece with an equally imposing work by the brilliant Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov.
Oceana, Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960)
Requiem, W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
Exagoge – Untitled Theater Company No. 61
Music by Avner Finberg
Play/Libretto/Direction by Edward Einhorn
Presented in conjunction with La MaMa Experimental Theatre
An immersive opera/play/Passover seder, based on the oldest known Jewish play, written in Alexandria in the second century BCE by Ezekiel the Tragedien. The audience gathers round the seder table or watches from the risers, joining the performers for a traditional 15-part modern seder. An opera composer, Zeke, has brought home his girlfriend Aliyah, a non-practicing Muslim, for the first time. Meanwhile, in the middle of it all, opera performers sing an adaptation of the ancient Greek interpretation of the Book of Exodus.
This program is supported, in part, by the NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program); as well as The Schapiro Fund.
The Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross
This special musical event features the work of English composer Paul Carr. Carr’s Seven Last Words from the Cross is a profoundly-moving work, dramatically describing Christ’s last hours on earth, as sung from Him on the cross. Arrangement featuring orchestra, choir, organ and harp, with a Baritone soloist as the voice of Christ, plus vibrant visual displays.
Emerald Gala – SAS Performing Arts
This program presents music by Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Rossini and others.
Featuring a cast of emerging artists, including:
Sopranos – Monica Camafreita, Rebecca Grady Rucker, Rebecca Kidnie, and Gillian Watson
Mezzo Sopranos – Perri Sussman and Victoria Thomasch
Tenors – Charles Calotta, Christopher Trapani and Thomas Walters
Baritone – Muir Ingliss
Basses – Matt Mueller and Virdell Williams
Collaborative Pianist: Mary Pinto
Bumpy Johnson – Trilogy: An Opera Company
Libretto by Amiri Baraka
Music by Dwayne Fulton
Mobster. Philanthropist. Prince of Harlem. He fought the mafia, but took care of his own, rising up to become a leader of the black community at the heart of the Harlem Rennaissance…The story of a hero gone, but not forgotten.
BECAUSE: Beethoven, Bach, Fauré, Gounod, and The Beatles
Adaptation is at the center of this beautifully interwoven program. Repurposing harmonies and melodies by composers of the past has often been an inspiring point of departure for creative minds. With works by Bach, Beethoven, Gounod and a new commission based on the song “Because” by The Beatles, this is a program that promises a number of rewarding surprises for the listener.
Lieder at The Century
An evening of Lieder at The Century Association
David and Susan Rockefeller host this very special, exclusive event to support Musica Viva NY.
Limited tickets available. Cocktails and canapés, followed by selections of Mahler, Strauss, and Schubert Lied, as performed by Musica Viva soloists.
Accompanied by Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, piano.
Crimson Roses – Musica Viva (NY)
This program of gorgeous music by living American composers Richard Einhorn, Gilda Lyons, and Joseph Turrin highlights one of Musica Viva NY’s most important missions: the commissioning of new works. This performance is part of a journey that will culminate in an ambitious professional recording of the pieces presented on this program.
Richard Einhorn, The Luminous Ground
Joseph Turrin, Cantata And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair
Gilda Lyons, Momotombo
The Oral History Project – Marshall Opera
The purpose of the Marshall Opera Oral History Project is to collect, preserve, and disseminate the stories of seasoned and distinguished living composers. Young artists conduct interviews and present selections in concert along with works from other distinguished composers that are also part of the project.
Featuring: Vayter un Vayter, by Judith Shatin (b. 1949)
Concert in the Garden – Losaida Harvest Festival
CANCELED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER
A community festival in a lush beautiful green space. Listen to glorious voices raised up in song!
Songs by Brahms, Bizet, Mozart, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and many more
Featuring:
Matthew Mueller, bass
Frederick Schlick, tenor
MaKayla McDonald, soprano
with Chris Fecteau, piano
in conjunction with dell’Arte Opera Ensemble (NYC)
The Soul of Ukraine
Read a review of this concert by clicking the link below:
http://www.vocedimeche.reviews/2023/08/the-soul-of-ukraine.html
Repertoire includes:
Songs of Reinhold Glière (assorted)
Ein Roman, Op.35, Serge Bortkiewicz
Songs of Mykola Lysenko (assorted)
Album from the Summer of 1902, Op.41, Mykola Lysenko
Event organized by the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, in conjunction with the Harvard Club of New York
H.M.S Pinafore – Ohio Light Opera
Libretto by William S. Gilbert
Music by Arthur Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan’s rollicking romp through naval life, class distinctions, and melodramatic villainy has entertained millions since its London premiere. Where else can one find a First Lord of the Admiralty who had never seen a ship, or a seafaring captain who gets seasick, or a nursemaid who can’t tell one baby from another? Josephine, the Captain’s daughter, is in love with able seaman Ralph Rackstraw. But her father has other plans for her: an advantageous union with the exalted Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B. When the young couple’s elopement is thwarted by cantankerous seaman Dick Deadeye, it remains for Little Buttercup to confess that her baby farming techniques had left something to be desired … a many years ago. Never mind the why and wherefore—to list the catchy tunes in Pinafore is to cite the entire musical score.
Camelot – Ohio Light Opera
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Based on the novel The Once and Future King by T. H. White
Music by Frederick Loewe
“Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot.” With these words—some of Broadway’s most unforgettable—King Arthur instills in a young boy the hopes and ideals of a once enchanted kingdom, where he himself had promoted justice and civility over battle and greed. These dreams are shattered, however, when Queen Guenevere falls in love with Arthur’s most trusted knight, Lancelot. Lerner and Loewe’s masterful score includes Arthur’s enchanting title song, Guenevere’s “The Simple Joys of Maidenhood” and “I Loved You Once in Silence,” “Arthur and Guenevere’s “What Do the Simple Folk Do?,” Mordred’s “The Seven Deadly Virtues,” and a perennial hit parade favorite, Lancelot’s “If Ever I Would Leave You.” Join us on this musical and theatrical journey, and its promise—albeit for maybe only that shining moment—of a better world.
World Central Kitchen Benefit Concert
Soprano Jennifer Gliere and Bass Matt Mueller sing songs by Slavic composer Reinhold Glière, accompanied by Chris Fecteau on piano. Produced by dell'Arte Opera Ensemble to raise funds for World Central Kitchen in support of their efforts to benefit Ukrainians suffering in the current conflict:
Songs of Reinhold Glière (assorted)
Album from the Summer of 1902, Op.41, Mykola Lysenko
Donation Link: https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/119631
Transgression – Bluegrass Opera & Music Theatre
Debut of the original opera Transgression by composer and University of Kentucky Professor of Russian Studies Gerald Janecek.
To distill the complex psychology and plot of Crime and Punishment into a two-hour opera requires considerably greater adjustment, than turning it into a play, since the libretto has to be even more succinct than a script for the work…On the other hand, Dostoevsky's well-known polyphonic dialogism lends itself to operatic treatment by providing many opportunities for vocal ensemble as well as highly emotional scenes…The new title, Transgression, conveys the key image of "stepping over the limit" and suggests the motivic image of the door threshold…the door to the pawnbroker's apartment, to Raskolnikov's garret, to Porphiry's office and to Sonya's flat…
– Gerald Janecek (Composer)
King of Glory – Bluegrass Opera & Music Theatre
Based entirely on text from the Bible (both the Old and New Testaments), King of Glory tells the Easter story in a vivid, new way. The music precisely follows the meaning of the text, from its lush harmonies to its pulse-pounding rhythms. And all the while, unforgettable melodies provide the gifted singer-actors of Bluegrass Opera a unique vehicle to bring the text to life with visceral energy.
“It’s like Handel’s “Messiah,” but meant for today’s listeners instead of 18th-century ears”
ICELAND
From composers O-Lan Jones & Emmett Tinley (World premiere):
A contemporary love story that plays with the ancient mythology of the country itself, ICELAND begins with a seemingly chance encounter between Vala, a disillusioned architect in search of answers, and Mundi, a dispirited wilderness guide mentally scarred by a climbing accident some years before. The heroine and hero embark on separate journeys across the physical and emotional terrain of a glacier, which catapults them into the realm of The Hiddenfolk and the Mythic Beasts. Through Vala and Mundi’s opposing trajectories and eventual union, ICELAND explores – using movement, music, and design – how longing, courage, and the transcendent power of love create a vibrant relationship between the intimacy of human life and the vast dynamic life of the earth.
The Sorrow and the Beauty – Musica Viva (NY)
Described as a 21st century classic, the Pulitzer Prize winning The Little Match Girl Passion by David Lang (2007) combines the Hans Christian Anderson story with form elements from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, to create an emotional and transformational journey. Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel (1978) for viola and piano is a minimalist, meditative piece that gently invites us into its calm presence. Super Flumina Babylonis (2013) is a sumptuous and expressive choral setting of Psalm 137 by New York City composer Caleb Burhans, who seamlessly combines classical, ambient and post-rock styles. The music of Eric Whitacre was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as being “of unearthly beauty and imagination”, while Cloudburst (1995) was described by the composer himself as reverent, meditative and centered, adjectives which also convey the message of this entire program:
The Little Match Girl Passion, David Lang
Spiegel im Spiegel, Arvo Pärt
Super Flumina Babylonis, Caleb Burhans
Cloudburst, Eric Whitacre
Brahms in 3/4 Time – Libero Canto (NY)
An evening of song by German composer Johannes Brahms (1833–1897).
Showcasing performances by singers Alexandra Selawsky, Lily Arbisser, Sandra Goodman, Kayla Faccilongo, Daniel Kamalic, Alonso Jordan Lopez, Peter Ludwig, and Matt Mueller. Pianists Jason Wirth and Georgi Lekov will also feature.
Program including:
Deutsche Volkslieder, WoO 33
Vergangen is mir Glück und Heil, Op.62
Hungarian Dances, WoO 1
Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op.52
Songs of Love, Fate and Fortune – Musica Viva (NY)
Musica Viva NY and The Allen-Stevenson School Select Chorus perform Carl Orff’s most iconic work, Carmina Burana, kicking off our first choral concert of the 2022–23 season with energy and excitement. Finished in 1936, and based on 11th and 12th century poetry, Carmina Burana evokes timeless states of the human condition from happiness all the way to despair. Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer (1869) – love-song waltzes – similarly explore the gamut of emotions from passion and longing to joy and sadness. Set to folk song texts from various Eastern European countries, and coupled with the oom-pah-pah rhythm of the Austrian folk dance ländler, these pieces are romantic and light-hearted, but also complex and sophisticated.
Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op.52, Johannes Brahms
Carmina Burana, Carl Orff
The Joy: David Geffen Hall Opening Gala
Celebrating the New York Philharmonic’s return to its revitalized home, this special concert led by Music Director Jaap van Zweden inaugurates the newly renovated David Geffen Hall. The concert features a performance of “Ode to Joy” as the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony along with a world premiere work by Puerto Rican composer Angélica Negrón celebrating the ritual of gathering around music and art.
Canzon in Echo duodecimi toni, Giovanni Gabrieli
You Are the Prelude, Angélica Negrón (World premiere – commission)
Symphony No.9 in D Minor, Op.125, Ludwig van Beethoven