berkshirereview

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The Art of Jürek Zamoyski and Jeffery van der Visse at the Whitney Center for the Arts, Pittsfield, March 17 to late April

The Art of Jürek Zamoyski and Jeffery van der Visse at the Whitney Center for the Arts, Pittsfield, March 17 to late April

  The Whitney Center for the Arts is proud to announce that our next show will feature two spectacular artists, Jürek Zamoyski and Jeffery van der Visse, whose dramatically different work juxtaposes splendidly. The show will open with a reception on March 17th, Saint Patrick’s Day, from 4 to 7PM at the Whitney Center for the Arts, 42 Wendell Avenue, Pittsfield, MA. Please get your green on and…

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A Flood of Unfamiliar Operas by Rossini, Saint-Saëns, and Others, Now on CD

A Flood of Unfamiliar Operas by Rossini, Saint-Saëns, and Others, Now on CD

  Paesiello’s La grotta di Trofonio, from 2016 Valle d’Itria Festival Over the past year or so (2017), an unusually large number of fascinating and rarely performed operas were made available, mostly for the first time ever, on CD. New York Arts/Berkshire Review for the Arts has asked me to share some of my delighted discoveries from this flood of new arrivals, as well as—in separate articles—my…

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A Brilliant, Touching Adaptation: John Joubert’s Opera Jane Eyre, Finally (and Finely) Performed and Recorded

A Brilliant, Touching Adaptation: John Joubert’s Opera Jane Eyre, Finally (and Finely) Performed and Recorded

  Composer John Joubert. Photo Graham Boulton.   John Joubert, Jane Eyre (1987-97, revised 2016) April Frederick – Jane Eyre Mark Milhofer – St. John Rivers David Stout – Edward Rochester Gwion Thomas – Brocklehurst English Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Woods SOMM263 [2 CDs] 125 minutes (opera alone: 107 minutes) In a separate article, I have discussed fifteen unusual operas that were…

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A Master Already at 23: Vincenzo Bellini’s Adelson e Salvini, Now Superbly Recorded

A Master Already at 23: Vincenzo Bellini’s Adelson e Salvini, Now Superbly Recorded

Vincenzo Bellini, Adelson e Salvini (1824) Simone Alberghini – Lord Adelson Nelly – Daniela Barcellona Enea Scala – Salvini Maurizio Muraro – Bonifacio Rodion Pogossov – Colonel Struley David Soar – Geronio Kathryn Rudge – Fanny Leah-Marion Jones – Madama River BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniele Rustioni Opera Rara ORC56 [2 CDs] 154 minutes This past year, I was privileged to get to…

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Two Superb New Recordings of a Ravel Operatic Masterpiece: 1. Stéphanie d’Oustrac Singing L’heure espagnole (with an alert Shéhérazade as bonus) 2. L’heure espagnole, with the magnificent Gaëlle Arquez

  Stéphanie d’Oustrac in the 2012 Glyndebourne production. Maurice Ravel, Shéhérazade and L’heure espagnole Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, conducted by Stéphane Denève SWRmusic 19016–66 minutes Stéphanie d’Oustrac – Concepción Jean-Paul Fouchécourt – Torquemada Yann Beuron – Gonsalve Alexandre Duhamel – Ramiro Paul Gay – Don Iñigo Gomez The two works on this CD make an apt and welcome pair. First we…

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Inbal Segev talls to Michael Miller about Christopher Rouse's Cello Cencerto, Coming Up February 10 and 11th at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's New Music Festival

Inbal Segev talls to Michael Miller about Christopher Rouse’s Cello Cencerto, Coming Up February 10 and 11th at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival

  Cellist Inbal Segev with her 17th century cello at her home on the Upper East Side of New York on Nov. 5, 2015. Photo Benjamin Chasteen/Epoch Times.   [powerpress] Last month I had the pleasure of chatting with Inbal Segev, a young cellist from Israel, who has been making a mark in contemporary music and the classics. She was discovered by Isaac Stern as a high school student in Israel, and he…

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2017: A Film Festival Restrospective from the Northeast, above all, the Berkshire and the Nitrate Picture Show at the George Eastman Museum, Rochester

  Film festivals have become an integral part of film-going life. They are no longer the preserve of industry professionals, now attended by a variety of cinephiles and even casual viewers, who may have read a title or a preview that struck their fancy. Not a few worthy films will never make it into general distribution. We take that for granted, and a festival award may be the best many…

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Two New Releases of Lohengrin, part 1: Knappertsbusch’s Only Recorded Lohengrin, Available for the First Time

  Hans Knappertsbusch Two New Releases of Lohengrin, Part 1: Knappertsbusch’s Only Recorded Lohengrin, Available for the First Time Richard Wagner, Lohengrin Ingrid Bjoner – Elsa Astrid Varnay – Ortrud Hans Hopf – Lohengrin Hans-Guenter Noecker – Telramund Josef Metternich – Herald Kurt Boehme – King Heinrich Bavarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra/ Hans Knappertsbusch Orfeo C900153D [3 CDs,…

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Two New Releases of Lohengrin, part 2: Mark Elder, in a Live Concert Performance from Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw (2015)

  Sir Mark Elder Two New Releases of Lohengrin, part 2: Mark Elder, in a Live Concert Performance from Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw (2015) Camilla Nylund – Elsa Katarina Dalayman – Ortrud Klaus Florian Vogt – Lohengrin Evgeny Nikitin – Telramund Falk Struckmann – King Heinrich Samuel Youn – herald Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Dutch National Opera and Netherlands Radio choruses, conducted by Mark…

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Two New Releases of Lohengrin, part 1: Knappertsbusch’s Only Recorded Lohengrin, Available for the First Time by The Editor

Read the full article at http://berkshirereview.net/two-new-releases-of-lohengrin-part-1-knappertsbuschs-only-recorded-lohengrin-available-for-the-first-time/

Two New Releases of Lohengrin, part 1: Knappertsbusch’s Only Recorded Lohengrin, Available for the First Time

Hans Knappertsbusch was one of the most renowned Wagner conductors who ever lived. His recordings of Parsifal, especially, are near-legendary among confirmed Wagnerians. It was thus with some excitement that I opened a new 3-CD set from Orfeo, consisting of the first release ever of any performance of Lohengrin conducted by the conductor sometimes known among musicians and opera-goers as “Kna.”

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Two New Releases of Lohengrin, part 2: Mark Elder, in a Live Concert Performance from Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw (2015) by The Editor

Read the full article at http://berkshirereview.net/two-new-releases-of-lohengrin-part-2-mark-elder-in-a-live-concert-performance-from-amsterdams-concertgebouw-2015/

Two New Releases of Lohengrin, part 2: Mark Elder, in a Live Concert Performance from Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw (2015)

There have been dozens of capable, and more than capable, recordings of Lohengrin. Among the most-often praised are the Sawallisch/Bayreuth (1962), Kempe (1963), Solti (1985), and Abbado (1991). Recording a major Wagner opera involves heavy costs that a record company may be unable to recoup. Hence the appeal of recording a concert performance. This CD set was edited from two such performances in Amsterdam’s famed Concertgebouw (literally: “concert building”) on December 18 and 20, 2015. The performance was semi-staged, i.e., done without costumes and sets. Some evocative lighting was employed. Characters made entrances and exits through various doors, and characters and (I gather) brass players appeared on balconies.

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Glimmerglass 2017: Opera in Angustiis: Commentaries for our Troubled Times in Stunning Glimmerglass Season Siege of Calais

Glimmerglass 2017: Opera in Angustiis: Commentaries for our Troubled Times in Stunning Glimmerglass Season Siege of Calais

Glimmerglass 2017: Opera in Angustiis: Commentaries for our Troubled Times in Stunning Glimmerglass Season Siege of Calais Music Gaetano Donizetti Libretto Salvatore Cammarano Conductor Joseph Colaneri Director Francesca Zambello Sets James Noone Costumes Jessica Jahn Lighting Mark McCullough Projected Text Kelley Rourke Hair & Makeup J. Jared Janas & Dave Bova Cast Aurelio Aleks Romano…

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Glimmerglass 2017: Opera in Angustiis: Commentaries for our Troubled Times in Stunning Glimmerglass Season Siege of Calais by The Editor

Read the full article at http://berkshirereview.net/glimmerglass-2017-opera-in-angustiis-commentaries-for-our-troubled-times-in-stunning-glimmerglass-season-siege-of-calais/

Glimmerglass 2017: Opera in Angustiis: Commentaries for our Troubled Times in Stunning Glimmerglass Season Siege of Calais

The late Donizetti masterpiece, L’assedio di Calais (The Siege of Calais) is a rarity indeed, even in Europe. Four years after the first performance, l’assedio was not performed again until 1990.  One hundred and eighty-one years after its premiere in 1836, this Glimmerglass production marked the American premiere.  During its composition, Donizetti had struggled with it and bent operatic conventions to seek performances in Paris. Ultimately, the opera was a tactical failure and Donizetti wound up with two versions, with an unequal number of acts. In preparation for this production, Francesca Zambello and Joseph Colaneri worked on a new performing edition that tightened loose ends and yielded a satisfactory, if not compelling, conclusion.  Some ballet music was lost in the cuts, but dance (to curry favor with French opera goers) would be an awkward addition to the nobility and gravity of the plot. In the Zambello/Colaneri conclusion, the final exculpation of six sacrificial hostages was emotionally and musically heartrending.

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We hope you enjoy our new look.

We hope you enjoy our new look.

  WordPress themes are rather like cars. They begin to look old, then parts nobody but the admin sees start to fail. One can refurbish them and update them until they stop working together. The Berkshire Review for the Arts has had the same theme since 2009. The company that built its foundations went out of business several years ago, as web design firms often do. An update was long overdue. We…

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We hope you enjoy our new look. by The Editor

Read the full article at http://berkshirereview.net/hope-enjoy-new-look/

We hope you enjoy our new look.

WordPress themes are rather like cars. They begin to look old, then parts nobody but the admin sees start to fail. One can refurbish them and update them until they stop working together. The Berkshire Review for the Arts has had the same theme since 2009. The company that built its foundations went out of business several years ago, as web design firms often do. An update was long overdue. We hope you like it. Comments are welcome.

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The Sixth Concert Series at Camphill Ghent is about to begin with a Recital by Pianist Gilbert Kalish

The Sixth Concert Series at Camphill Ghent is about to begin with a Recital by Pianist Gilbert Kalish

The Sixth Concert Series at Camphill Ghent, Gili Melamed-Lev, Director In my preview of last year’s concert series, I believe I may have used some culinary metaphor to characterize the general tendency of the programming. While you will hear some short, not always trivial pieces thrown in for fun, one can rely on serious taste of Ms. Melamed-Lev and the musicians she brings to Camphill Ghent. A…

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The Sixth Concert Series at Camphill Ghent is about to begin with a Recital by Pianist Gilbert Kalish by The Editor

Read the full article at http://berkshirereview.net/sixth-concert-series-camphill-ghent-begin-recital-pianist-gilbert-kalish/

The Sixth Concert Series at Camphill Ghent is about to begin with a Recital by Pianist Gilbert Kalish

The Sixth Concert Series at Camphill Ghent, Gili Melamed-Lev, Director In my preview of last year’s concert series, I believe I may have used some culinary metaphor to characterize the general tendency of the programming. While you will hear some short, not always trivial...