WWFM - The Sunday Opera

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WWFM - The Sunday Opera

The Sunday Opera is a weekly four-hour program which features operas from across the United States as well as opera houses around the world.

The repertory also includes lesser known works and performances by forgotten singers.

25/01/2024

Most American’s know Erich Wolfgang Korngold for his film music or possibly his oft revived opera “Die Tote Stadt,” but on this week’s Sunday Opera (1/28 3:00 p.m.), we’ll be listening to a recording of in 1927 opera “Das Wunder der Heliane” which is considered by many to be his greatest work.

The libretto by Hans Muller is seen by some as allegorical and as metaphysical by others and deals with a totalitarian or fascist ruler in an unnamed totalitarian state at an unknown time.

Heliane (Annemarie Kremer) is the wife of The Ruler (Aris Argiris). The Ruler is unnecessarily cruel and has become more so because he cannot win the love of Heliane who does not love him because of his cruelty. Since the ruler is unhappy, he won’t tolerate anyone else being happy, and this is why The Stranger (Ian Storey) has been arrested and sentenced to death: he has the talent to make people happy.

Through the three acts of the opera, Heliane falls in love with The Stranger which, of course, makes The Ruler even more furious, and he doesn’t believe Heliane when she claims that nothing has happened between them. To help her, The Stranger kills himself supposedly making it impossible for The Ruler to prove that Heliane is lying.

The Ruler, however, has a different idea. He tasks Heliane to prove she is innocent before God by bringing The Stranger back to life the next day.

The Stranger does come back to life after a thunder crash and the appearance of stars in the sky, but when Heliane runs into his arms, The Ruler’s rage gets the better of him, and he stabs Heliane. The opera ends with the miracle in which the stranger, holding onto the still alive Heliane, rises to heaven after blessing the people and banishing The Ruler for a strange but happy ending.

Other members of the cast include Katerina H**elkova, Frank van Hove, Nutthaporn Thammathi, and Gyorgy Hanczar. Fabrice Bollon conducts the Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Opera and Extra Choruses of the Freiberg Theatre and members of the Freiburg Bach Chorus.

More of Korngold’s music will be featured after the opera, so if you really aren’t that familiar with his classical work, it should prove a treat. Right now, we’re looking at his lone Symphony among other pieces, but you’ll just have to tune in to see what we end up selecting.

Korngold has long been one of our favorite composers, and we hope you’ll join us this week to see why.

18/01/2024

Rossini was the great musical recycler, and we’ve got one of his operas, on this week’s Sunday Opera (1/21 3:00 p.m.), that you’re sure to recognize passages (including most of the overture!) from “Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra” and “The Barber of Seville.”

Rossini’s “Aureliano in Palmira” premiered in 1813 and was based on an 18th century opera by Pasquale Anfossi’s “Zenobia di Palmira.” The story features a lop-sided love triangle surrounding Roman Emperor Aurelian, Prince Arsace of Persia, and Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra.

Zenobia (Silvia Dalla Benetta) and Arsace (Marina Viotti) are in love, and Arsace uses his Persian forces to try to repel the advancing armies of Aurelian (Juan Francisco). Although unsuccessful, the opera does have a moderately happy ending due to the magnanimity of Aurelian.

The recording from 2017 to which we’ll be listening includes the Camerata Bach Choir, Poznan and the Virtuosi Brunesis with Jose Miguel Perez-Sierra conducting.

After the opera, we’ll have a bit more music from Rossini including one of his string sonatas and two of the extended dance sections written for productions of his works to be performed at the Paris opera.

Join us for an afternoon of some glorious music from a well-known hand.

11/01/2024

We’re very happy to bring you a long-forgotten opera from a forgotten composer on this week’s Sunday Opera (1/14 3:00 p.m.) with Anton Urpruch’s “Das Unmoglischste von Allem” (“The Most Impossible Thing of All”).

During his brief life (1850-1907), Urspruch, who was the favorite pupil of Franz Liszt, only penned two operas, one symphony, one piano concerto, and a collection of songs and piano works, but he was considered one of the most important composers of the late-Romantic period. Sadly, with his untimely death, he was quickly forgotten.

“The Most Impossible Thing of All” is based on a comedy by Lope de Vega that begins with a bet made between a queen (Rebecca Broberg) and one of the noblemen in her service, Roberto (Robert Fendl) that the most impossible thing of all is to stop a woman who is in love from pursuing that love. Roberto says he can, but his sister, Diana (Anne Wiebon) has other ideas. Who wins the wager? That’s the fun of the story.

Other members of the cast include Diana’s maid, Celia (Caterina Maier), the queen’s counsel, Lisardo (Matthias Gratzel) who inadvertently falls in love with Diana, and a host of others who help with all of the intrigues. They are played by Ralf Sauerbrey, Victory Petitjean, Martin Schmidt, Johannes Fottinger, Laurent Martin, and Stephanie Firnkes.

Israel Yinon conducts the PPP Music Theatre Ensemble of Munich and the Orchestra of the Sorbian National Ensemble.

The afternoon will continue with more music from the pen of Urspruch which is fortunately finally starting to be recorded. The work for which we’ll have time is his 1878 Piano Concerto in E flat major which he had dedicated to Joachim Raff. This charming piece features pianist Oliver Triendl who’s joined by the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by George Fritzsch.

Tune in for some delightful music by a composer who is too good to be forgotten.

04/01/2024

The second “dance opera” of Jean Phillippe Rameau is the centerpiece of this week’s Sunday Opera (1/7 3:00 p.m.) in an excellent recording from 2022. The opera is “Les fetes d’H**e, ou Les talens lyriques” (“The Festivities of H**e, or The Lyric Talents”) which had it’s premier on the 21st of May 1739.

The opera was well received initially (except for the second act which was rewritten), and it was shown 80 times during its first year and follows the standard form of many operas of this time – there is a prologue followed by three acts.

The prologue finds H**e (the goddess of youth and the prime of life) being pursued by Momus (a hyper-critical and satirical, in all the worst ways, god). Cupid persuades H**e to come away to escape Momus’s advances to the banks of the Siene where they witness three “pageants” showing the triumph of poetry, music, and dance.

The cast includes Olivia Doray, Chantal Santon Jeffery, Mathias Vidal, Lorant Najbauer, Marie Prebost, Judith van Wanforij, David Witczak, Philippe Estephe, and Reinoud Van Mechelen. Gyorgy Vashegyi conducts the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Orchestra.

A wonderful aspect of this recording is that they’ve included the initial version of that ill-fated second act which seems to have received the negative criticism because of the weak libretto and character development by librettist Antoine Gautier de Montdorge who’s inexperience seems evident.

After the opera, we’re turning to a composer with whom you may not be familiar in his classical guise and a ballet he wrote when he was 19 for Diaghilev.

You might know songs like “Taking a Chance on Love,” “April in Paris,” and “Autumn in New York,” but you might not know that they were written by Russian émigré Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky. Of course, we know him as Vernon Duke, but it’s wonderful that we’re finally getting to hear some of the pieces written by this classical composer, trained at the Kiev Conservatory.

The ballet is “Zephyr et Flore” and is performed here by the Residentie Orchestra The Hague with Gennady Rozhdestvensky conducting.

30/12/2023

To You and Yours...

28/12/2023

Back by popular demand! (I’ve always wanted to write that.) Actually, only six listeners requested it, but we aim to please. Because of this, we’ll once again enjoy a European tradition on this week’s Sunday Opera (12/31 3:00 p.m.) as we prepare you for your New Year’s celebrations with Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus.”

In brief, the plot centers on the actress Rosalinde and her husband Eisenstein who are in Vienna to celebrate the New Year. At the suggestion of their friend Dr. Falke, they are staying at the Imperial Hotel. Unbeknownst to them, Falke has hired the hotel concierge as part of his revenge plot on Eisenstein, two years in the making. Most of the fun takes place at the New Year’s Eve ball thrown by Count Orlafsky and includes a disguised Rosalinde flirting with her philandering husband, and a pocket watch that is an important plot device.

This delightfully comic battle-of-the-sexes features some stellar singing from some old favorites including Hilde Guden, Regina Resnik, Waldemar Kmentt, Erika Koth, and Walter Berry.

In addition to these, the gala concert at Count Orlafsky’s ball includes stellar turns from Renata Tebaldi, Birgit Nilsson, Mario del Monaco, Teresa Berganza, Joan Sutherland, Jussi Bjorling, Leontyne Price, and a particularly charming duet by Giulietta Simionato and Ettore Bastianni among others.

After the opera, we’ll enjoy another European New Year’s tradition and a selection of waltzes by Johann Strauss, Jr., Josef Strauss, Emile Waldteufel, and Sergei Prokofiev.

It truly is a great performance of a wonderful work, and you just can’t go wrong with some wonderful waltzes to tie the afternoon up in a musical bow.

21/12/2023

Our Christmas Opera this year on The Sunday Opera (12/24 3:00 p.m.) is one by Tchaikovsky that seems to have been overlooked by many. The title is “Cherevichki” which has been translated in many ways including “The Slippers” “The Little Shoes,” “The Tsarina's Slippers,” “The Empress's Slippers,” “The Golden Slippers,” and “The Little Slippers” among others.

The work is a delightful fantasy that is very much in the European tradition at Christmas time, and it’s based on the story "Christmas Eve" which is part of the 1832 collection of short stories entitled “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka” by Nikolai Gogol. The opera is a revision of Tchaikovsky's earlier opera “Vakula the Smith” and was first performed in 1887 in Moscow. The source material was also used by Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera “Christmas Eve” which has also been heard on The Sunday Opera.

It is Christmas Eve, and Vakula is in love with Oksana, but it’s a difficult relationship because he accidentally attacks her father, Chub, whom he doesn’t recognize because he is covered with snow after returning home in a blizzard.

To try to appease Oksana, Vakula decides that he will somehow travel to St. Petersburg to get her the Tsarina’s slippers as a Christmas gift.

There is a bit of a problem, however. Vakula has upset the devil because he drew unflattering pictures of him on the wall of the church. The devil then tries to woo Vakula’s mother, Solokha, a witch, and get her to steal the moon so that the lovers will not be able to be romantic. The devil’s plans are complicated because as he is wooing Solokha, three other of her suitors, including Chub, visit her. She gets them to all climb into large sacks, and when Vakula returns home, Solohka tasks him with getting rid of the sacks which he removes from the house.

Before he can go too far, he runs int a group of carolers, one of whom is Oksana. She scolds Vakula and threatens him by saying that she won’t marry him unless he gets the slippers. Vakula then runs away with one of the sacks, and as he goes, he threatens su***de.

The sack he is carrying contains the devil, and apparently, when one captures the devil in a sack, one can control him which Vakula does. He flies through the night sky on the devil's back, arrives in St. Petersburg, and charms the Tsar and Tsarina with his story, winning the shoes.

He returns home just as the morning bells are ringing in Christmas morning, and everyone rejoices.

Our cast, in this excellently produced live recording, includes Ekaterina Morosova, Valery Popov, Albert Schagidllin, and Ludmila Semcluk and they’re joined by the Chors and Orchestra of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari with Gennedi Roshdestvensky conducting.

After the opera, we’ll have more music for Christmas including carols performed by Camellia Johnson, Roberto Alagna, and the Bowie Brass as well as the charming “A Carol Symphony” of Victor Hely-Hutchinson performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Gavin Sutherland.

13/12/2023

This week’s Sunday Opera (12/17 3:00 p.m.) features two contemporary works that look at the human stories surrounding slavery in the United States.

Our main work comes to us from LA Opera On-Air. It’s the 2022 work by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels that is based on the remarkable life of Omar Ibn Said, a West African Islamic scholar who was abducted when he was 37 and taken to Charleston where he was sold to a rather harsh master. The story is based on Omar’s memoir which is thought to be the only slave memoir written in Arabic. The opera is a wonderful study in resilience that is told “in a way that is gripping and beautiful.”

The cast includes James McCorkle as Omar, Amanda Lynn Bottoms as Fatima, Omar’s mother, Norman Garret as Abdul, Omar’s brother, and Jacaqueline Echols as Julie, another slave who leads Omar to a better life. Other members of the cast include Daniel Okulitch as the two opposing slave owners Johnson and Owens and Deepa Johnny as Owen’s Daughter, Eliza. The conductor for this performance is Kazem Abdullah.

We’ll turn to three shorter works by Michael Abels after the opera. These are: Global Warming, Winged Creatures, and Delights and Dances, and each is wonderful in its own way.

After this, we’ll end our time together with another piece based on the plight of slaves in the United States in the contemporary “American historical oratiorio” featuring music by Paul Moravec, “Sanctuary Road.” The text by Michael Campbell is based on the incredible writing of William Still, an African American abolitionist who lived in Philadelphia. Still, while working for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, compiled personal histories taken through interviews with escaping slaves as they passed through Philadelphia. The resulting book, “The Underground Railroad Records” which was finished in 1872, chronicles the stories of 649 slaves who escaped through the Underground Railroad.

“Sanctuary Road” features soloists Laquita Mitchell, Raehann Bryce-Davis, Joshua Blue, Malcolm J. Merriweather, and Dashon Burton, and they’re joined by the Oratorio Society of New York Chorus and Orchestra. Kent Tritle conducts.

07/12/2023

Claude Debussy’s only opera, “Pelleas et Melisande,” is featured on this week’s Sunday Opera (12/10 3:00 p.m.). Based on a play of the same title by Maurice Maeterlinck, the opera premiered at the Oprea-Comique on 30 April 1902 to wildly mixed reviews, but it has gone on to be considered by many as a “landmark in 20th century music.”

The plot is rather long and meanders, but in brief, it focuses on a love triangle that includes Prince Golaud (Kyle Ketelsen) and Melisande (Sydney Mancasola) whom he finds wandering in a forest and marries. He brings her back to the castle of his grandfather, King Arkel (Ferrucio Furlanetto) where Melisande finds herself becoming more and more attracted to Golaud’s younger half-brother, Pelleas (Will Liverman) which causes Golaud to become increasingly jealous.

Throughout the rest of the opera, Golaud goes to great lengths to find out the truth regarding the relationship between Pelleas and Melisande, even forcing his son, Yniold (Kai Edgar) to spy on them.

Eventually, Pelleas decides to leave and arranges to meet Melisande one last time. Overhearing this, Golaud hides, and when he hears the two confess their love for each other, he attacks Pelleas, stabbing him to death. Shortly afterwards, Melisande delivers a baby girl and dies.

The cast also includes Susan Graham as Golaud and Pelleas’ mother. James Conlon conducts the LA Opera Chorus and Orchestra.

After the opera, host Michael Kownacky will change things up a bit with Bruckner’s incredible Symphony No. 3 in D minor performed by the Aachen Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marcus Bosch. Also known as his “Wagner Symphony,” it’s the symphony where Bruckner truly came into his own. One of the most revised symphonies with no fewer than six, Michael is extremely happy to be offering the original 1873 version to fill an hour in your afternoon.

30/11/2023

The Sunday Opera is off to 18th Century Spain and Italy via the Royal Opera House, Covent Gardens this week (12/3 3:00 p.m.) with Giuseppe Verdi’s “La forza del destino” (“The Force of Destiny”).

Don Alvaro (Brian Jadge) is a newcomer to Seville, probably from South America. He has fallen in love with Leonora (Sondra Radvanovsky), the daughter of the Marquis of Calatrava (James Creswell) who has forbidden the match. The lovers plan to elope, but Leonora hesitates at the last minute, and they are caught by her father who challenges Alvaro. To try to prove Leonora is pure, Alvaro throws down his gun which accidentally discharges, killing the Marquis. This accident sets the wheels of fate in motion.

Through the remaining three acts, Leonora’s brother, Don Carlo (Etienne Dupuis), seeks revenge, and fate deems that he and a disguised Alvaro end up serving together in the Spanish army. Eventually, Carlo and Alvaro fight, and they end up outside of the cave where Leonora has been living her ascetic life (as one does). Carlo is mortally wounded, and Alvaro runs off to get a surgeon. Meanwhile, Leonora leaves her cave, recognizes Carlo, and bends down to him to try to embrace her dying brother. However, he stabs her in the heart as he dies, and Leonora pleads with Alvaro to stop blaming God and cursing fate which he does as she dies. No one is really happy in this opera.

Other members of the cast include Evgeny Stavinsky, Vasilisa Berghanskaya, rodion Pogossov, Carlo Bosi, and Chanae Curtis. Sir Mark Elder conducts the Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra.

Stay tuned after the opera for a short look at the classical music output of a man who is perhaps better known for his film music, Sir Arthur Bliss. The piece is his delightful A Colour Symphony where its four movements are based on Bliss’ impressions of the colors purple, red, blue, and green. David Lloyd-Jones conducts the English Northern Philharmonia in this recording.

23/11/2023

We’re heading back to Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts for this week’s Sunday Opera (11/26 3:00 p.m.) and a production of Richard Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman” by the Bayreuth Opera.

Their production is a long one-act (well over two hours) that tells the story of Senta (Elisabeth Teige) the daughter of a Norwegian sailor named Daland (Georg Zeppenfeld). Daland wants Senta to marry, and the hunter Erik (Tomislav Muzek) is happy to oblige, but Senta is in love with the fabled stories of ‘The Dutchman” who has been cursed to sail the seas of the world until he finds a faithful wife.

Senta decides that she will save The Dutchman, but he doesn’t believe her after overhearing a conversation between Senta and Erik. The Dutchman sullenly departs, not believing Senta, and to prove her faithfulness, she throws herself into the sea and to her death.

The cast is joined by Nadine Weissmann as Mary and Attilio Glaser as Daland’s steersman. Oksana Lyniv leads the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Chorus.

After the opera, we’ll stay down at the sea as Michael Kownacky brings you Ralph Vaughan Williams’ one-act opera “Riders to the Sea” based on the play by John Millington Synge about an Irish mother who loses all of the male members of her family to the sea. After that, it’s two more works about the briny by Frank Bridge and Henry Hadley.

We’ll wrap up our time together with an absolutely charming piece arranged by Paul Hindemith based on Wagner in the chamber work with the mindboggling title, “Overture to the Flying Dutchman as Played at Sight by a Second-Rate Spa Orchestra at the Village Well at 7 o’Clock in the Morning” which is delightfully played by members of the Berlin Philharmonic in a live recording.

We won’t be heading to the sea in ships, but we will be going there with some excellent music!

16/11/2023

We’re off to Alta California with Opera Southwest on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/19 3:00 p.m.) with their production of Hector Armienta’s “Zorro.”

Described by some as a “Spanish Robin Hood,” Zorro is a young man of noble blood who becomes aware of the suffering of the poor in the area and, after donning the famous black mask, he sets out to right all of the wrongs the people are facing.

Starring as Zorro is Cesar Delgado, and Laura Leon is his love, Ana Maria. Other members of the cast include Stephanie Sanchez, Octavio Moreno, Olga Perez Flora, Jose Maria Gomez, Javier Ortiz, and Laura Soto-Bayomi. Anthony Barrese conducts the Opera Southwest Chorus and Orchestra.

We’ll continue with music of Spain and an excerpt from a Zarzuela (the operatic tradition of Spanish speaking countries) by Jacinto Guerrero entitled “Los Gavilanes” (“The Sparrowhawk”) about a man who returns home after making his fortune and falling in love with the daughter of his former love to the consternation of everyone in town.

We’ll close out our time together with two orchestral pieces.

The first is by Joaquin Rodrigo who brought the Spanish guitar into prominence in the world of classical music. It’s the Concierto Madrigal, a concerto for two guitars and orchestra. It features the Amadeus Guitar Duo and the Internationale Philharmonie. Our final selection is an excerpt of dances by Enrique Granados. These were originally written for guitar, but here we have them in an orchestral arrangement.

It's an afternoon of Spanish music, and we hope you’ll join us on the journey.

09/11/2023

We’re sampling operas and singers from around the world on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/12 3:00 p.m.) during a live program as part of our Fall Membership campaign for The Classical Network.

David Osenberg will be joining Sunday Opera host Michael Kownacky for this four-hour excursion through arias, duets, and more from operas sung in Italian, French, German, English, Russian, Czech, and more.

We’ll also be looking at some of the singers of the early twentieth century who are often overlooked today.

Please join us for the music and membership, this Sunday, November 12th, at 3:00 p.m.

02/11/2023

Be prepared for some operatic tomfoolery on this week’s Sunday Opera (11/5 3 p.m.) with Gioachino Rossini’s 1828 comedy “Le Comte Ory.” Although the opera might not be that familiar, the music may be since Rossini, the king of recycling, used a great deal of the score from “Il Viaggio a Reims” which had been written for the coronation of Charles X three years before.

“Le Comte Ory” follows the romantic escapades of the count of the title who, while all of the knights are away at the Crusades, tries his hardest to seduce the wife of another with little success even as he masquerades as a hermit and a nun. The cast includes Christopher Bozeka as the randy count along with Lindsay Ohse, Laurel Semerdijian, Amanda Crider, Tim Mix, Matthew Hanscom, and Mary Brzezinski. Anthony Barrese is the conductor leading the Opera Southwest Orchestra and Chorus.

We’re turning to music of Bedrich Smetena to fill our afternoon after the opera, and his collection of symphonic poems featured under the title of Ma vlast or My Fatherland. Written as separate entities by Smetana, they are often heard that way, so we’re very happy to be bringing them to you as a set that paints a delightful, musical picture of the Czech landscape and history. It’ll be performed by the Hardec Kralove Philharmonic Orchestra with Marek Stilec conducting.

26/10/2023

Just two artistic faces of internationally known bass Andrea Silvestrelli will be featured on this week’s Sunday Opera (10/29 3:00 p.m.) when we’ll hear him in two diverse roles he performed for the Opera Festival of Chicago.

This incredibly versatile bass who performs roles in works by composers from Puccini and Verdi to Wagner to Mozart appears first as cleric Thomas Becket in Ildebrando Pizzetti’s 1958 work “Assassinio nella cattedrale” bast on T.S. Eliot’s 1935 play “Murder in the Cathedral” which looks at the life of the pious Becket who runs afoul of Henry II of England and is assassinated in Canterbury Cathedral because of it.

The second opera is quite a departure as he adroitly handles the title character in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Attila.” The opera focuses on the legendary Hun’s final days as he invades Italy unknowingly being targeted to be assassinated by the Roman general Ezio (Franco Pomponi), the knight Foresto (Ben Gulley), and Foresto’s fiancee Odabella (Jenny Schuler).

Both works are conducted by Emmanuele Andrizzi leading the Opera Festival of Chicago Orchestra and Chorus.

Filled with some exceptionally fiery music, especially Odabella’s opening aria, it’s an incredibly exciting work.

19/10/2023

The Sunday Opera heads to Illinois for this week’s program (10/22 3:00 p.m.) that begins with one of Handel’s oratorios: the biblical tale of “Jephtha” featuring a production by Music of the Baroque conducted by Dame Jane Glover.

In a nutshell, Jephtha (David Portillo) heads off to war to lead the Israelite army against the Ammonites, under whose rule they have suffered for 18 years. As he leaves, he promises God that he will sacrifice the first living thing he sees upon his return if he is victorious. Unfortunately, that first living thing is his daughter, Iphis (Lauren Snouffler), who lovingly runs out to meet her victorious father.

True to his word, he begins to sacrifice her, but an angel (Katelyn Lee) appears who tells Jephtha that God finds human sacrifice abhorrent, so Iphis can live, but she must remain a virgin and dedicate herself to serving God.

The remainder of the cast includes Clara Osowski as Storge, Jephtha’s wife, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen as Hamor, the young man in love with Iphis, and Neal Davies as Zebul, Jephtha’s brother who recalls Jephtha from exile so that he can liberate the Israelites.

We’re once again changing things up after the opera when host Michael Kownacky will be bringing you a historic performance of Wilhelm Furtwangler’s powerfully brooding Symphony No. 2 in E minor in a live recording from 1954. Eugen Jochum planned to lead the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in a celebration for the composer Furtwangler, but it became a memorial for him with Furtwangler’s death just a few days before the performance.

12/10/2023

Two contemporary operas by British composer George Benjamin are on the menu on this week’s Sunday Opera (10/15 3:00 p.m.).

We’ll begin with a surreal piece entitled “Picture a Day Like This” from the Aix-en-Provence Festival. The libretto by Martin Crimp follows the journey of a woman (Marianne Crebassa) who seeks to bring her dead child back to life and must find a truly happy person to achieve this. Her journey brings her into contact with several individuals (Anna Prohaska, Beate Mordal, Cameron Shahbazi, and John Brancy) who all seem happy at first, but that happiness is superficial. Finally, the woman is lead to a glorious garden where she finds her inner peace and happiness. George Benjamin conducts the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Our second Benjamin opera also features the composer at the podium. This opera is a retelling of “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” that is open for interpretation in several ways. “Into the Little Hill” features a soprano (Hila Plitmann) and contralto (Susan Bickley) who each embody five roles in this short opera that is supported by the London Sinfonietta.

We’ll continue in the world of fairytales and fantasy with some glorious music from the pen of Sergei Prokofiev and his ballet “Cinderella.” For this, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Koln is conducted by Michail Jurowski.

05/10/2023

We’re off to the “Old West” via Italy and China on this week’s Sunday Opera (10/8 3:00 P.M.) with Giacomo Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West” in a production from Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts.

The libretto by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini was based on a play of the same name (“The Girl of the Golden West”) by David Belasco that romanticized the gold rush of the middle of the19th century in the mythical Cloudy Mountains in California.

Minnie (Amarilli Nizza), the “girl” of the title, is a fixture in the Polka Saloon where she teaches the miners reading by using the Bible, and although it’s a rough and tumble time, Minnie keeps the men in line.
All of the men love Minnie, but one, the dubious sheriff Jack Rance (Claudio Sgura) turns from love to obsession. However, Minnie doesn’t love him, as she is taken by a newcomer to the area named Dick Johnson (Marco Berti) who is actually a bandit named Ramerrez, and the triangle, which could become fatal for Ramerrez at any moment, plays out against the lives of the other miners to a fortunately happy ending.

The rest of the cast contains visiting artists and members of the NCPA company. Andrea Battistoni conducts.

After the opera, we’ll turn to more music inspired by the Western U.S. by composers like Virgil Thomson, Meredith Willson, Antonin Dvorak, and Aaron Copland.

28/09/2023

We continue our visit to Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts for this week’s Sunday Opera (10/1 3:00 p.m.) and Gaetano’s delightful “La Fille du Regiment.”

Marie (Sabina Puertolas), the adopted daughter of the 21st Regiment of the French army lead by her main “father,” Sgt. Sulpice (Giovanni Romeo), has fallen in love with Tonio (Shi Yijie), a young villager who saved her life, but he happens to be from an enemy nation. The regiment is hostile to Tonio at first, but they accept him when they hear how he saved Marie and even enlisted in the French army so that he can court Marie.

Marie and Tonio plan to wed, but a wrench is thrown into those plans, when news about Marie’s birth family arises, and she must leave the regiment to live with the Marquise of Berkenfield (Doris Lamprecht) and learn how to become a lady with the help of Berkenfield’s comic butler, Hortensius (Wang Hexiang), which she hates.

Tonio resolves to rescue Marie with the aid of the other soldiers, and through some comic adventures and a near marriage to the nephew of the Duchess of Crackenthorp (Daniela Mazzuccato), Marie and Tonio find their happy ending.

The NCPA Orchestra and Chorus are conducted by Matteo Beltrami.

We’ll continue our visit with the music of Donizetti after the opera when host Michael Kownacky will feature four more of Donizetti’s works beginning with his first opera, completed when he was 19 but never staged in his life. “Il Pigmalione” features Antonio Siragusa as Pygmalion and Aya Wakizono as the statue Galatea who comes to life.

We’ll complete our afternoon visit with a string quartet, a sinfonia, and dance excerpts from another of Donizetti’s operas, “La Favorite.”

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