#asvo

[verdiprati]

Mezzos ON Monday: Lemieux recital and ASvO Rückert-Lieder

I usually post my World Concert Hall finds late on Monday nights in my time zone—when it’s already Tuesday in Europe—and make a list of concert broadcasts for the week ahead. I did not, however, make a “Mostly Mezzo Mondays” post last week, and now I want to point out a couple broadcasts happening today, Monday, May 11:

Marie-Nicole Lemieux sings a recital with Daniel Blumenthal including songs by Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, F. Mendelssohn, Wolf, Fauré, Debussy, Duparc, and more. Recorded in Brussels November 2019;  deferred broadcast Monday, May 11 on RTBF Musiq 3.

Anne Sofie von Otter sings Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a concert recorded back in 2017. Deferred broadcast Monday, May 11 on NPO Radio 4.

[verdiprati]

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Röschmann; Prina, Genaux, Im, & Invernizzi; Persson & Davidsen; von Otter; Baráth, Cangemi, & Galou; D’Angelo

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.

Dorothea Röschmann sings Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder as part of a concert with the Orchestre de Paris; Karina Cannelakis conducts. Wednesday, September 4; video livestream on Arte and simultaneous audio broadcast on Radio Clasique. 

I can’t say I’m very familiar with Handel’s Lucio Cornelio Silla, but I have heard good work from Sonia Prina, Vivica Genaux, Sunhae Im, and Roberta Invernizzi, all of whom are among the cast for a performance by Europa Galante at the Enescu Festival. Live broadcast Thursday, September 5 on Radio România Muzical.

Lise Davidsen has made a splash in dramatic soprano roles, but she also has mezzo repertoire, and is scheduled to sing the alto solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Bergen Philharmonic and massed choirs; Miah Persson takes the soprano solo. Live broadcast Thursday, September 5 on NRK Klassik.

Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 is also on the broadcast schedule this week, with Anne Sofie von Otter singing the alto solo for the NDR Radiophilharmonie. Live broadcast Saturday, September 7th on NDR Kultur. 

Handel’s Silla isn’t the only baroque opera based on Roman history we get from the Enescu Festival this year: Vivaldi’s Giustino is up for broadcast, too. Names catching my eye among the cast include Emőke Baráth, Veronica Cangemi, and Delphine Galou. Live broadcast Sunday, September 8 on Radio România Muzical.

Dedicated mezzophiles may have their eye on the rising star of Emily D’Angelo. Along with Morgan Pearse and Marie Lys, she recently sang a program of “arias and duets from operas from the 17th and the 18th centuries” at the Innsbruck Festival, with its resident orchestra. Deferred broadcast Monday, September 9 on Ö1.

[verdiprati]

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Connolly!!!, Williams, Piau (x2), Gens, Koch, Devieihle, ASvO, & 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.

Sarah Connolly sings the title role in a live broadcast of the opening night of Ariodante from the Wiener Staatsoper. Her co-stars include Christoph Dumaux, Chen Reiss, Hila Fahima, Rainer Trost, and Wilhelm Schwinghammer. Saturday, February 24 on Ö1.*

Roderick Williams sings the title role in a deferred broadcast of Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria from the Royal Opera (performed at the Roundhouse with the Early Opera Company Orchestra). I hear that Williams is very good in this role. Mezzo fans may also want to listen out for Caitlin Hulcup, Susan Bickley, and Catherine Carby. Saturday, February 24 on BBC Radio 3.*

Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites is not my usual cuppa but I couldn’t help but take note of this cast: Patricia Petibon, Sophie Koch, Véronique Gens, Sabine Devieihle, and Sandrine Piau are the top billed soloists in the WCH listing. Deferred broadcast from the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Sunday, February 25 on France Musique.*

Fans of Sandrine Piau can hear her again in the deferred broadcast of a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra featuring Poulenc’s Gloria and Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass. Sunday, February 25 on WFMT. (NOTE: because WCH uses GMT for all schedule listings, this concert is displayed on WCH as taking place early in the morning of Monday, February 26, It is in fact scheduled for broadcast at 8:00 pm local Chicago time on February 25.)

Broadcasts marked with an asterisk (*) are on channels known to me to have a history of making most if not all of their live concert broadcasts available for catch-up listening for at least a week afterward. I can’t guarantee that any of these will be archived online but if you miss the live broadcast, there may be hope!

[verdiprati]

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Baráth, Galou, Erraught, ASvO, Hannigan (x2), Röschmann, Graham, and Mingardo

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.

Broadcasts marked with an asterisk (*) are on channels known to me to have a history of making most if not all of their live concert broadcasts available for catch-up listening for at least a week afterward. I can’t guarantee that any of these will be archived online but if you miss the live broadcast, there may be hope!

Handel’s early oratorio La resurrezione is full of baroque goodness and is especially a gift to those of us who enjoy the contralto voice: listen for Delphine Galou in the role of Maria Cleofe. Emőke Baráth leads things off with the brilliant opening aria “Disseratevi, oh porte d’Averno.” Tuesday, October 24 on France Musique.*

Fans of Tara Erraught may want to catch her Nicklausse in the Met’s Les contes d’Hoffman. Tuesday, October 24 on the Met’s audio livestream.

Anne Sofie von Otter sings the role of Marcellina in the current Bayerische Staatsoper production of Le nozze di Figaro. Much of the rest of the cast is new to me but I admire Christian Gerhaher—the Almaviva—very highly. You have two chances to catch this: a radio broadcast Thursday, October 26 on BR Klassik* and a video livestream direct from the BayStaats on Saturday, October 28.

Barbara Hannigan sings and conducts in a concert of works by Debussy, Schönberg, Berg, and Gershwin. Thursday, October 26 on France Musique.*

Speaking of Berg, Dorothea Röschmann performs three fragments from Wozzeck in a concert also including Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, conducted by Daniel Harding. Friday, October 27 on BR Klassik.*

Susan Graham sings Marguerite in La damnation de Faust along with Paul Groves (Faust), John Relyea (Mephistopheles), and David Kravitz (Brander). Charles Dutoit conducts. NOTE: the concert is scheduled to be broadcast at 8:00 p.m. Boston time on Saturday, October 28, which happens to be right at the moment when the clocks change in Europe; expect possible hiccups on the WCH website, or just point your browser directly to the WCRB site.*

If you like contraltos singing baroque repertoire, you are in luck this week: Sara Mingardo sings Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. Sunday, October 29 on NDR Kultur. (Double check the broadcast time after the time change in Europe.)

Barbara Hannigan sings Sciarrino’s La nuova Euridice secondo Rilke in a concert also including works by Stravinsky and Berlioz, conducted by David Zinman. Monday, October 30 on NDR Kultur. (Double check the broadcast time after the time change in Europe.)

BONUS ADVANCE LISTING: It hasn’t yet appeared on World Concert Hall, but Sarah Connolly’s recital with Joseph Middleton recorded at Spivey Hall in March is scheduled for broadcast on Tuesday the 31st. Mark your calendars! It’ll be in the late evening of the Eastern time zone, which means it will be in the middle of the night in the UK and Europe—the kind of situation that makes timed/scheduled audio recording software really useful. 

[verdiprati]

Mostly Mezzo Mondays: Connolly, von Otter, DiDonato, and Murrihy

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 was going to be an even bigger all-mezzo edition of MMM until I realized that the Susan Graham broadcast would probably be over by the time I finished this post. 

Sarah Connolly is scheduled to sing Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” with Maria Bengtsson and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Vladimir Jurowski on Wednesday; the concert will be broadcast Thursday, September 21 on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. (I think this will be available on demand for a while afterward via the station’s Mediathek; go to the 21st on the little calendar and scroll down the day’s playlist to find the concert.)

Swedish national treasure Anne Sofie von Otter leads the cast of an operatic adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s last film, Autumn Sonata, by Finnish composer Sebastian Fagerlund, with what appears to be a Swedish and Finnish cast. This one is not a radio broadcast but a video livestream! Saturday, September 23 on the Opera Platform. (I think the Opera Platform archives videos for a while after they’re streamed.) 

This performance of Handel’s Semele from Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society features a strong cast including Sarah Tynan in the title role, opera Tumblr fave Paula Murrihy in the dual role of Juno and Ino, Jeremy Budd as Jupiter, and one of my personal faves, Matthew Brook, as Cadmus and Somnus. Tim Mead plays Athamas, a sort of wet noodle role that is usually (IMO) undercast; I may try to catch this broadcast just out of sheer curiosity to see what Athamas is like when sung by a top-shelf countertenor. Sunday, September 24 on WCRB.

DiDonato fans can hear her sing Adalgisa to Sondra Radvanovsky’s Norma in a live broadcast from the Met. Monday, September 25 on the Met Opera’s free audio stream. 

[islanderinlondon-blog]

My First Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

In June of this year I travelled to Montezuma Costa Rica to volunteer with an organisation called ASVO. They have projects set up all around Costa Rica that specialise in helping various exotic creatures but the Conservation Station in Montezuma focuses on sea turtles, in particular the Olive Ridley turtle, otherwise known as the Pacific Ridley. 

The first time I saw a mother sea turtle I was awe-stuck! She looked like a dinosaur, ancient and beautiful, lying on the sandy beach oblivious to the staring humans surrounding her. This mama turtle had a two chunks missing from the bottom edges of her shell that enhanced the overall heart shape of her. She only laid nine eggs, instead of the usual average of one hundred, so whether the trauma to her shell had anything to do with her low egg count, we simply do not know. However, she still dug a full nest, using her rear flippers to scoop and throw the sand away before laying her eggs, covering the nest back over and returning to the sea. 

Watching a sea turtle journey to the ocean has become one of my all-time favourite things after this trip to Costa Rica. It is a slow process as the mama turtle is not used to carrying their own weight but that allowed us lucky humans extra time with her. This turtle was particularly slow turning around and making her way down the beach as she would stop every couple of feet for a rest. However, once that first wave of water hit her back, she disappeared with the speed and efficiency of any other mama turtle who knows that her work here is done. 

I’m glad to report that all nine of her eggs hatched 52 days later and were safely conveyed to the ocean by the wonderful volunteers and interns at the project.

The photo below is of a different sea turtle I saw during my time in Montezuma, as I was too excited to remember my camera when Mandi, the intern at the time, woke me and all the other volunteers up to come see our first turtle. 

[verdiprati]

I didn’t do a Mostly Mezzo Mondays post this week but those of the mezzophilic persuasion might like to scope out the following upcoming broadcasts on World Concert Hall: Coote singing the Duruflé Requiem, Hallenberg singing Les nuits d’été, and von Otter singing Dowland / Purcell / Pärt / Björk / etc. 

[verdiprati]

ASvO broadcast alert

By the way, if you dig great mezzos singing modern repertoire, you might like this broadcast on Sveriges Radio P2 of Anne Sofie von Otter and Brooklyn Rider performing works by Glass, Adams, Muhly, Björk, et al. It’s scheduled for Friday, November 11, at 7:00 p.m. Swedish time.