#ann hallenberg

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De’ folgori di Giove from Gluck's Il trionfo di Clelia, sung by Ann Hallenberg.

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Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Marian edition (Connolly; Hallenberg)

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: a recurring (though not weekly) feature where, on Monday nights, I blog a list of the upcoming broadcasts that have caught my eye on World Concert Hall. My interests: baroque vocal music, art song recitals, and a list of favorite singers.

This week sees the very welcome, to me, return of Dame Sarah Connolly to the airwaves in a concert recorded on August 1 of this year, one of the performances she completed after announcing that she was beginning treatment for breast cancer but before heavier cuts to her public schedule became necessary. She sings the role of Mary in the world premiere of Bob Chilcott’s Christmas Oratorio, recorded at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester Cathedral. (There appears to be no role for Joseph, but a bevy of other vocal soloists represent characters including the Evangelist, Gabriel, and unnamed Angel, the three wise men, and Herod.) The Chilcott piece is preceded by Britten’s Ceremony of Carols and two other works by Jacobus Handl and Tomás Luis de Victoria. Thursday, December 19 on BBC Radio 3. (Should be available for listening on demand for a month following the broadcast.)

The next day at La Scala, Ann Hallenberg embodies Mary in Berlioz’s Enfance du Christ. Her fellow soloists include Allan Clayton, Lionel Lhote, Nicolas Courjal, and Thomas Dolié. Live broadcast Friday, December 20 on Rai Radio 3. 

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Hello, friends! It’s hard to believe we’ve already reached the end of our first Baroque Music series! We chose the works of George Frideric Handel for this inaugural week, but you can look forward to reveling in music from many composers in what we’ve planned as a recurring series.

When it comes to Handel, it’s difficult not to come back to opera, which is—in my view—where his true genius lived. So I’m sure you’re not surprised to find that today’s selection is in that realm. However, I always think it’s important for me to explore works less familiar to me each time I begin a new series, and though I knew this aria “Stille amare” I’d never given it a really deep listen until now. The opera itself, Tolomeo (a fictionalized account of events in the life of King Ptolemy IX Lathyros), is one I’m barely acquainted with at all, but this absolutely gorgeous rendition of the aria, sung by Ann Hallenberg under the direction of the impeccable Alan Curtis, ensures that I’ll be giving it more attention from now on.

In this aria, the title character is forced to drink what he believes is poison. Though it is eventually revealed to have been a sleeping draught, Tolomeo fully believes is about to die.

Stille amare, già vi sento Tutte in seno, la morte chiamar; già vi sento smorzare il tormento già vi sento tornarmi a bear | Sour drops, I feel you already, all in the breast, calling for death; I already feel you dampening the torture I already feel you returning to rejoice (translation from lyricstranslate.com)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s series! Thanks for joining me! - Melinda Beasi

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Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Panthaki, Costanzo, Bridges, Gerhaher, Alder, Hallenberg, Lindsey, et al.

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: a recurring (though not weekly) feature where, on Monday nights, I blog a list of the upcoming broadcasts that have caught my eye on World Concert Hall. My interests: baroque vocal music, art song recitals, and a list of favorite singers.

It’s that time of year when Handel’s Messiah keeps the jam on vocal soloists’ bread. I’m sure there will be plenty of Messiah broadcasts to choose from between now and the 25th, but here’s a good pick already: Sherezade Panthaki, Daniel Moody, Richard Croft, and Benjamin Bevan are the soloists with the Minnesota Orchestra under Nicholas Kraemer. Live broadcast Friday, December 6 on Classical Minnesota Public Radio. (NOTE: although the live concert broadcast starts at 8:00 p.m. Minneapolis time on the 6th, it is listed in the wee hours of the 7th on World Concert Hall, which uses GMT for all broadcast listings.)

Glass’s Akhnaten has definitely gotten under my skin and into my ear since I saw it in New York last month. I’ve been listening to an old recording that someone put on YouTube, but I look forward to getting the Met cast into my MP3 stash. Personally, I like Anthony Roth Costanzo more in Glass than in Handel, and he seems born to play Akhnaten; J’Nai Bridges and Dísella Lárusdóttir are mesmerizing as Nefertiti and Queen Tye, respectively. Live broadcast Saturday, December 7 on WQXR.

I don’t know much about Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust but I do know that this cast has a high quotient of noteworthiness: Christian Gerhaher, Christiane Karg, Louise Alder, Ann Hallenberg, Claire Barnett-Jones, Werner Güra, Tareq Nazmi, and Kurt Rydl. John Elliot Gardiner conducts. Live broadcast Sunday, December 8 on NPO Radio 4.

The world premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Orlando is up for broadcast from the Wiener Staatsoper, with Kate Lindsey in the title role. Live broadcast Sunday, December 8 on Ö1. 

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Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Hallenberg, DiDonato, and d’Oustrac

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: a recurring (though not weekly) feature where, on Monday nights, I blog a list of the upcoming broadcasts that have caught my eye on World Concert Hall. My interests: baroque vocal music, art song recitals, and a list of favorite singers.

I think of Ann Hallenberg as a baroque specialist, but here she is doing The Dream of Gerontius with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Live broadcast Friday, October 18 on Sveriges Radio P2 (just five days behind the canonization of John Henry Newman, author of the text set by Elgar, incidentally). 

Joyce DiDonato sings the title role in Handel’s Agrippina in Barrie Kosky’s production at Covent Garden; others in the cast include Lucy Crowe (Poppea), Franco Fagioli (Nerone), Iestyn Davies (Ottone), and Gianluca Buratto (Claudio). Deferred broadcast Saturday, October 19 on BBC Radio 3.

My favorite French mezzo Stéphanie d’Oustrac sings a selection of works by Schubert, Weber, and Louis Spohr in a concert with Simon Crawford-Phillip and the Nash Ensemble at Wigmore Hall. Live broadcast Monday, October 21 on BBC Radio 3.

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Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Hallenberg, Connolly, Gerhaher, Summers, De Bique, van Sandwijk, Invernizzi, Mameli, von Otter, Desandre, Arquez, AND MORE

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: a recurring (though not weekly) feature where, on Monday nights, I blog a list of the upcoming broadcasts that have caught my eye on World Concert Hall. My interests: baroque vocal music, art song recitals, and a list of favorite singers.

This week: the summer music festivals go out with a burst of vocal fireworks.

Ann Hallenberg sings an assortment of baroque works with Stile Galanti at the Utrecht Early Music Festival. Live webcast (it seems there are both audio-only and video livestream options) Tuesday, August 27 on NPO Radio 4.*

Sarah Connolly sings Elgar’s The Music Makers as part of a BBC Proms concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. (And yes, as of this writing, Dame Sarah is still on the roster for the concert even while very publicly wrestling with cancer treatment decisions. There has been some confusion because she withdrew from a different BBC Proms concert earlier in August, but as far as I know, she’s still on for the Elgar.) Live broadcast Thursday, August 29 on BBC Radio 3.*

Christian Gerhaher sings Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder as part of a concert with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. (Lucky youths.) Live broadcast Thursday, August 29 on NPO Radio 4.*

Handel’s oratorio Jeptha gets the star treatment at the Proms, with a cast including Allan Clayton, Hilary Summers, Jeanine De Bique, and Tim Mead. Live broadcast Friday, August 30 on BBC Radio 3.*

Rosanne van Sandwijk sings Mozart’s “Ch’io mi scordi di te” and “Abendempfindung an Laura” as part of a concert with Kristian Bezuidenhout and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Live Broadcast Friday, August 30 on Dwójka.

Roberta Invernizzi and Roberta Mameli are among the singers in a performance of Giovanni Battista Bononcini’s serenata Polifemo, which makes up the latter part of a concert by the Ensemble 1700. Deferred broadcast of a concert recorded in June; it airs Saturday, August 31 on Deutschlandfunk Kultur.

The Salzburg Orphée aux Enfers is getting some buzz, and not just from Jupiter. The cast includes Joel Prieto, Kathryn Lewek, Anne Sofie von Otter, Nadine Weissmann, and Lea Desandre, among others. Deferred broadcast Saturday, August 31 on Ö1.*

The names of Gaëlle Arquez and Stéphane Degout caught my eye among the cast of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, in a production recorded earlier this summer at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Deferred broadcast Saturday, August 31 on France Musique.*

Broadcasts marked with an asterisk (*) are on stations known to me to have a history of making (most, if not all) concerts available for listening on demand for at least a week after the initial broadcast.

SPECIAL PLUG: World Concert Hall, a free online service, celebrates its 50,000th broadcast listing this week. That’s a lot of broadcasts! If you enjoy reading Mostly Mezzo Mondays or browsing World Concert Hall, I encourage you to support the site on Patreon.

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Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Lemieux, Mameli, Prina, Erraught, Hallenberg (x2), Gauvin, Baráth, Lindsey (x2)

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: a recurring (though not weekly) feature where, on Monday nights, I blog a list of the upcoming broadcasts that have caught my eye on World Concert Hall. My interests: baroque vocal music, art song recitals, and a list of favorite singers.

Marie-Nicole Lemieux sings Berlioz’ Les nuits d’été with the Orchestre National de France. Live broadcast Wednesday, September 18 on France Musique.

Roberta Mameli and Sonia Prina make up two thirds of the vocal team for a performance of Handel’s Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo with Labarroca at the Enescu Festival. Live broadcast Thursday, September 19 on Radio România Muzical (and presumably a video livestream from the festival as well).

Tara Erraught sings lieder by Wolf, Schubert, Mahler, and Brahms in a recital at Schwarzenberg with clarinetist Jörg Widmann and pianist Malcolm Martineau. Deferred broadcast Thursday, September 19 on Ö1. 

Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Enescu Festival features a countertenor Cesare (Christopher Lowry) but mezzophiles may enjoy hearing Ann Hallenberg in the role of Sesto. Also notable: Karina Gauvin as Cleopatra. The Cornelia, Eve-Maud Hubeaux, is unknown to me; her YouTube clips give evidence of a mahogany-toned voice. The orchestra is Les Talens Lyriques conducted by Christophe Rousset. Live broadcast Friday, September 20 on Radio România Muzical (and video livestream, I assume).

Emőke Baráth sings the role of Euridice in a performance of Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Other names that stand out to me on the cast list are Cyril Auvity and Nuria Rial. Live broadcast Friday, September 20 on the Müpa Budapest website (it’s not clear to me whether this will be audio-only or a video livestream). 

Ann Hallenberg leads the cast of Handel’s Agrippina at the Enescu Festival. Much of the casting of Cesare is repeated (including Lowrey and Gauvin), as are the orchestra and conductor. Live broadcast Saturday, September 21 on Radio România Muzical (and, presumably, in a livestream on the Festival’s website). 

Kate Lindsey sings, I assume, the role of Juliet in Berlioz’ Romeo et Juliette. Andrew Staples and Shenyang are also on the roster. Deferred broadcast Saturday, September 21 on RBB Kultur.

Kate Lindsey also sings—or rather, sang, eight years ago—a recital of works by Liszt, Bizet, Fairouz, Arlen and Argento. With Kim Pensinger Witman. Very, very deferred broadcast Sunday, September 22 on WETA. 

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Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Gerhaher, DiDonato, and Hallenberg

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: a recurring (though not weekly) feature where, on Monday nights, I blog a list of the upcoming broadcasts that have caught my eye on World Concert Hall. My interests: baroque vocal music, art song recitals, and a list of favorite singers.

Christian Gerhaher and his regular accompanist Gerold Huber perform repertoire by Britten, Brahms, and Mussorgsky in a recital at the Salzburg Festival. Deferred broadcast Wednesday Tuesday, August 13 on Ö1.

Joyce DiDonato sings Berlioz’ Les nuits d’été with the National Youth Orchestra of the USA as part of a concert on tour in Hamburg. Video livestream Thursday Wednesday, August 14 on the Elbphilharmonie’s YouTube channel.

Ann Hallenberg sings the title role of Handel’s Ariodante in the current production at the Drottningholms Slottsteater; notable co-stars include Roberta Mameli (Ginevra), Francesca Aspromonte (Dalinda), and Christophe Dumaux (Polinesso). The director is Nicola Raab; Ian Page conducts. Deferred radio broadcast Sunday Saturday, August 17 on Sveriges Radio P2.