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Grey’s Opera Frankenstein at La Monnaie

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Frankenstein

The Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels), 2015/16 season will premiere a new opera by Mark Grey on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein.
The powerhouse cast and artistic team includes: Scott Hendricks, Sasha Cooke, Malena Ernman, Christopher Gillett, Andrew Schroeder, Robert Hayward, Hendrickje van Kerckhove
Àlex Ollé and La Fura dels Baus creative team. Conductors Leo Hussain and Bassem Samir Akiki

http://www.lamonnaie.be/en/502/579/Frankenstein

Life and death in the light of technological progress

‘Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?’ Unlike the film that was later made of it, Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein told the sad story of a creature born out of a scientific experiment who strives for good, yet does evil and is consequently disowned by his creator. As a philosophical reflection on the human condition, on the technology that gives humanity power over life and death, and as a warning to a society that threatens to cast out the individual, the American composer Mark Grey returns to this original story for his first full-length opera, 200 years after Mary Shelley wrote it. Thanks to the extremely opulent visual idiom of Àlex Ollé and the inspiring conducting of Leo Hussain and Bassem Akiki, this world premiere promises to be a treat for both the eye and the ear.

Paterson/Campbell The Whole Truth premieres at UrbanArias

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The Whole Truth is a short comic opera with music by Robert Paterson and a libretto by Mark Campbell (Bastianello & Lucrezia), based on a short story by author Stephen McCauley. A married women attempts to delude herself into thinking she can carry on two affairs at the same time.  The first with a fellow dentist and the new affair with a young carpenter who has come to work on her and her husband’s home.

“The Whole Truth is like Opera Espresso: short, concentrated, and energizing.”–DC Metro Theater Arts

Performances are at Atlas Performing Arts Center (in the heart of DC’s vibrant and eclectic H Street neighborhood) and produced by UrbanArias.

Starring Amedee Royer, Kate Jackman, Andrew McLaughlin and Jeffrey Gates

Accompanied by R. Timothy McReynolds (piano)

Directed by Courtney Kalbacker

Toronto Symphony Premiere’s Fung Violin Concerto No. 2

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The world premiere of Violin Concerto No. 2, commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for concertmaster Jonathan Crow, will be featured at TSO’s New Creations Festival.

“A Mind of Winter” Program:

Dai Fujikura: Tocar y Luchar (Canadian Premiere)
George Benjamin: A Mind of Winter (Canadian Premiere)
Vivian Fung: Violin Concerto 2 (World Premiere/TSO Commission)
Dutilleux: Métaboles

Performers:

Peter Oundjian, conductor and host
George Benjamin, conductor
Barbara Hannigan, soprano
Jonathan Crow, violin

Fung’s first Violin Concerto will be played by the Milwaukee Symphony on May 14-17 with soloist Kristin Lee.

125 Commissions for Carnegie Hall’s 125th Anniversary

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Carnegie Hall celebrates its 125th anniversary by honoring the present and looking to the future with the launch of an unprecedented commissioning project. Between the 2015 and 2020 seasons, at least 125 new works will be commissioned from leading composers—both established and emerging—and premiered at Carnegie Hall. New solo, chamber, and orchestral music, including BHM composer Kevin Puts, who will write a new work for the Baltimore Symphony.

Kennedy Center names Mason Bates as their First Composer in Residence

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One of today’s most innovative and in-demand composers, Mason Bates will join the Kennedy Center in the 2015-2016 Season as its first Composer-In-Residence. During his three-year residency, Bates will compose music across artistic genres and curate a new music series. He will also advance initiatives that use technology to educate audiences and will encourage the inclusion of local artists and DJs in performances at the Kennedy Center. The new music concerts will present the works of living composers using Bates’s signature re-imagining of the classical music experience. His innovative ideas have been extremely effective at bringing large and enthusiastic audiences to new music concerts throughout the United States and abroad.

Mason’s compositions use an expanded electro-acoustic palette to bring to life unusual and imaginative narrative forms, a uniquely 21st century approach to musical storytelling. He was recently named the second-most performed living composer, and the widespread embrace of his music has done much to change the sound of the orchestra. When he received the Heinz medal in the Humanities in 2012, Teresa Heinz said of Mason’s work:

“Mason Bates illustrates what can happen when a truly talented artist dares to stretch and even reinvent the boundaries of an art form. By merging symphonic orchestration with electronic sound and tackling broad creative themes, he is breathing new life into orchestral music and translating it for a new generation.”

Under the new vision of President Deborah F. Rutter, the Kennedy Center is re-imagining ways of presenting the arts in the 21st century through immersive audience engagement and inter-disciplinary programming. The artist’s creative vision will be at the center of the dialogue between the Kennedy Center and its patrons, allowing audiences to experience the vibrancy of the creative process more directly. By presenting new art to new audiences in new ways, Mason Bates will initiate a new era of creative programming at the Kennedy Center that will advance the Center’s ambition of discovering and nurturing the next generation of artistic expression.

Planned Kennedy Center commissions over the course of Bates’s residency include works for the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, the Fortas Chamber Music Concerts, and performances of his contemporary dance programming. He will also be featured as a performer at many Kennedy Center performances across genres.

Read the Washington Post announcement here.

Colina REQUINAUTS CD

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Michael Colina’s Requinauts, recently released on Naxos with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Chorus, has received wide attention and praise for its excellence.

Read the Opera News review here.

Purchase the CD here.

Joshua Roman premieres Mason Bates’ Cello Concerto

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Mason Bates, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla (conductor) and Joshua Roman (cello)

Mason Bates, Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla (conductor) and Joshua Roman (cello)

Joshua Roman, the former 22-year-old principal of the Seattle Symphony, returned as soloist in December to give the premiere of Mason Bates’ new Cello Concerto. The Seattle Times writes “Bates’ history in techno music is evident in the strong rhythmic pulse of the concerto, which culminate in a fast-moving ‘Leger’ finale that starts off as a high-spirited jig and moves on to passages of phenomenal dexterity.”

The Seattle Times Review

Gil Shaham premieres David Bruce’s Violin Concerto

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Gil Shaham gave the premiere of David Bruce’s new Violin Concerto “Fragile Light” with the San Diego Symphony in three performances over 12-14 December, with a further performance already scheduled for Palm Springs in January.

Jahha Ling (conductor), Gil Shaham (violin), and David Bruce

Jahha Ling (conductor), Gil Shaham (violin), and David Bruce

The performance had a profound effect on Garrett Harris from SanDiegoReader.com who said about the piece “It took me deep… I’m not sure where I was headed but it was a place I’ve never been to before with music… How can you like something that changes your perception of what music is capable of?… It’s beyond ‘like,’ it’s beyond ‘love.’ ” and Ken Herman at San Diego Story said “this Violin Concerto has a future,” calling it a “serious, probing accomplishment.”

 

Kahane THE AMBASSADOR at BAM

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Gabriel Kahane’s astonishing tour of THE AMBASSADOR comes to Brooklyn’s BAM this week for 3 performances at the BAM Harvey Theater. You can view the Ambassador Atlas here.

#TheAmbassadorLA opened last night at BAM and Josh Goleman is real good at taking pictures. Tickets are still available tonight through Saturday. 

Purchase the album here.

View the BAM Trailer:

You can read more and listen to excerpts here.