Philip Langridge (1939 - 2010)

It is with some sadness that I have to mention that passing of English tenor Philip Langridge, who died from cancer last week, aged 70. He was seen in performance as recently as January of this year, when he performed the role of the witch in the Met's production of Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel. While he made a name for himself in operatic roles by composers as diverse as Mozart and Stravinsky, it is his singing of English composers for which I will best remember him. His performances in the operas of Britten were marvels to behold. Opera News had a splendid article about him and you can read it here. The announcement in the Daily Telegraph of his death is here. In addition to his operatic performances, Langridge was a consummate singer of oratorio, and many say that his performances of Handels' Messiah are unequaled.

Here he is singing Comfort Ye and Ev'ry Valley from that work.

He will be missed. His picture appears at the head of this post.

Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981)

On a happier note, tomorrow marks the 100th. anniversary of the birth of Samuel Barber. While he is best known today for his Adagio for Strings, which originally saw the light of day as a movement in his string quartet Number 1 Opus 11, and had a later iteration as a choral work, named Agnus Dei, Barber was also a composer of opera.  Here is Leontyne Price singing an aria from his 1957 opera Vanessa.  The libretto was written by Barber's life partner GianCarlo Menotti.

Placido Domingo

Maestro Domingo has just undergone surgery to remove a malignant polyp from his colon. He has been released from hospital, and is expected to make a full recovery. Let's send him the love, gentle readers. This man is one of the operatic giants of our time, and we need him among us and in good health. Among his many other gigs, Maestro Domingo is General Director of Los Angeles Opera. Here is what the LA Times is reporting.

Le Nozze di Figaro

Yesterday I awoke to a gorgeous Portland morning, and after coffee and breakfast, set off with a ladyfriend to Tacoma where we attended a performance of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, produced by Tacoma Opera. As we drove north it became clear we were entering opera territory, when we saw signs for Figaro Pizza and Norma's Bed and Breakfast. I kept an eye out in case we should see Wotan's Saloon but did not espy it. Once in Tacoma, we found our way to the Pantages Theater, which forms a part of the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, and where the matinée performance was to take place. This theater was built in 1918 and retains a good deal of its old-world charm. It is a relatively small house (I am guessing that it seats around 1200 patrone) which yesterday was gratifyingly full. I need not tell you what a glorious opera Nozze is. What I am most pleased to be able to report to you is that the performance was a total delight! I do not propose to give a full review here but should tell you that all of the principal roles were handled with skill and humour, in particular Thomas Forde as Figaro and Chad Sloane as Count Almaviva. I must make special mention of Hannah Penn as Cherubino. This was her first pants role and it was as thought she was born to it! Her sense of comedic timing was spot on and her singing gave great joy. I was very proud that she is a product of the Portland Opera Young Artists programme and that I get to call her 'friend'. I understand that Chris Mattaliano and Clare Burovac had seen the show on opening night. I am looking forward to chatting with them about it. The director of the show was Elise Sandell, fresh from her success directing Così fan Tutte for Portland Opera. She told me that she had had such a wonderful time with this cast that she stayed for yesterday's performance rather than leaving town after opening night, as is usual with directors.

After the show, my partner and I hung out with Elise and Hannah as well as Joe Muir (Hannah's husband) and Bob Kingston, who like me had come up from Portland. Bob was still buzzing from having been sky-diving on Saturday - an event he described as "The best thing evah!" We also got to chat with Weston Hurt, a friend of Hannah and Joe and who is currently performing the role of Ford in the Seattle Opera production of Verdi's Falstaff.

The drive back to Portland was made in the driving rain but the day had been a huge success. I am very impressed with the work of Tacoma Opera and heartily encourage you to think about putting them on your calendar when planning your next season of opera. It's just a couple of hours from Portland and well worth the trip. This evening I shall be seeing Hannah's voice coach, Christine Meadows, at a Portland State University Opera Workshop. I know Christine had wanted to get up to Tacoma to see Hannah, but that her overwhelming work schedule prevented it. I shall be giving her a full report and I know she will be very happy.

Portland Youth Philharmonic

So, what do one hundred hormone-ravaged high school teenagers do when you put them in a school cafeteria in the evening? Start a food fight? Split into gangs and begin to rumble? Trash the place? I went along to Jackson Middle School last Monday evening to find out. And what did they actually do? They rehearsed Shostakovitch's 5th Symphony and Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso! This was the Portland Youth Philharmonic Orchestra being prepared by Maestro David Hattner for their Winter Concert which takes place this coming Saturday at the Schnitz at 7:30pm. I think you probably know by now that I am a big fan of this organisation and greatly admire conductor David Hattner. It was a pleasure to see him working through the nuts and bolts of a programme and to watch how he encouraged the young musicians to give of their best, to concentrate, and to respond to his instructions. It also impressed me that he knew when they were tired and called the rehearsal earlier than usual. When speaking to me during a break in rehearsal he likened the orchestra to a race horse, saying that once he felt they were 'race-ready' he is anxious they not be over-trained. I am hoping to have a chat with Maestro Hattner within the next couple of days and will report on our discussion here, of course, In the meantime, you can take it from me that this upcoming concert will knock your socks off and you need to be there.

I should report that during the orchestral break the youngsters reverted to their more usual way of being, playing pat-a-cake, whooping and hollering when told there were Three Musketeer candy bars for them and generally behaving as one might expect - only without the rumbles or food fights.

Washington National Opera

As I mentioned to you last week, I have exciting news! Believe it or not, it is almost a year since Priscilla's Great Adventure (see here and subsequent entries if you missed it first time around). I think that something I did not mention in my blogging about the events last year, is that about two weeks before the Opera Ball, Michelle Pendoley from Washington National Opera called me and said that, notwithstanding I had given my #operaplot prize away, WNO would like to invite me as their guest to attend the functions in addition to Priscilla and Larry Barrow, who had been the beneficiaries of my prize. I declined with thanks. It seemed to me (and I still feel like this, actually) that it was important that nothing take attention away from Priscilla on her special nights, and that my presence could be a distraction. Imagine, then, my delight when a few days ago I received an email from WNO inviting me to attend this year's Opera Ball, to be held at the Russian Embassy, and to see a performance at the opera house the following evening "as our special guest." This time I am going! I have a delightful, fun and beautiful partner to go with me who is already in I-shall-need-a-new-ball-gown mode and initial arrangements are being made. I shall keep you informed as we go along, gentle readers and you can take it from me that I AM VERY EXCITED!!

Have a happy and productive week and be sure to come back here on Thursday for my mid-week post.

"Whether the angels play only Bach praising God, I am not quite sure. I am sure, however, that en famille they play Mozart!"
(Karl Barth 1886 - 1968)

Das Rheingold Baywatch

Tonight I went to the final performance of Opera Theater Oregon's latest production and had just the best time! I am delighted to report that not only was the Clinton Street Theater almost totally full but, that some of Portland's brightest and best were in attendance. Our very own Chris Mattaliano was there with Director of Music Administration for Portland Opera, Clare Burovac, and they were both clearly entering into the spirit of the evening. Stephen Marc Beaudoin was there and in great form. He is currently involve with the Electric Light Opera Company. We agreed that he and I should meet over a glass of wine very soon so he can tell me all about this organisation. With Stephen involved, much fun is pretty well guaranteed. I'll tell you all about it after he and I have chatted. Angela Niederloh, who was such a hit in our recent production of Così fan Tutte, was there and was, of course, her usual shy and retiring self - not!

This show was a huge success for Opera Theater Oregon and I cannot tell you how proud I am to be associated with the organisation. Particular plaudits are due to Artistic Director, Katie Taylor, who brought this delicious idea to fruition and to Erica Melton, for somehow managing to distill Wagner's opera to a reasonable length and to score it for orchestra and rock band.

News from the right coast

I know that quite a few of you travel to New York where you attend opera at the Met and lots more of you attend the high-def screenings of Met operas on a Saturday morning or listen to the weekly radio broadcasts. You may all wish to bookmark this page which provides details of the Met's 2010/2011 season.

A number of the productions are of particular interest to me. The first thing that struck me is that after 24 years they are finally getting around to mounting a production of John Adams's Nixon in China. The direction will be by Peter Sellars who was responsible for the original production (and much else by Adams). This is Sellars' directorial debut at the Met. I am wondering whether the role of Nixon has yet been cast. I know I can hardly be thought of as objective in this regard, but I cannot imagine why the Met would look any further than our old friend Robert Orth. Bob has become the definitive Nixon - the hunched shoulders, raised chin and other body mannerisms just perfectly calculated to fall short of parody, and an ability somehow to make this a sympathetic role.

A present? For me? Really?

This was a busy musical weekend in Portland. I have now lived here for about five years but am sometimes still astounded by the rich variety and high quality of the musical life in this city. It seems like it never stops. We are so lucky.

I attended the PSU Symphony Orchestra's concert at Kaul Auditorium, Reed College, yesterday afternoon. As I sauntered around the lobby I spotted conductor Ken Selden approaching me, his hand stretched out in greeting. "I have a present for you today!" he said, gleefully. "As we had some flexibility in the programming and I knew you would be here, I have included some Elgar for you!" Is this a sweet man, or what? The center-piece of the concert was a performance of Concierto de Aranjuez with Cuban guitarist Manuel Barrueco. I happen to know this work extremely well and am very fond of it, so my over-riding feeling when attending a live performance of it is usually along the lines "Please don't mess up one of my favourite pieces!" Yesterday I had no such concerns. Maestro Barrueco is a consummate artist and his performance thrilled me. Yes, actually thrilled me. I could have wished for larger orchestral forces but the playing was crisp and had all the right feel to it. The frighteningly exposed cor anglais solo in the second movement was played with aplomb. I chatted with Maestro Barrueco during the intermission and was immediately struck by what a warm and charming man he is (that's us in the picture). I hope he comes back to Portland very soon. Oh, the Elgar piece? The Serenade in E minor. Played beautifully.

Bravo, PSU Symphony and two thumbs up and my thanks to Maestro Selden.

This is a busy weekend for Operaman. Today at 3pm I shall be at PSU to attend a rehearsal by the PSU Symphony Orchestra under Ken Seldon in preparation for their 'Soundscapes' concert at Kaull Auditorium, Reed College, on Sunday afternoon. The programme includes a performance of the famous guitar Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo. The guitar soloist is Manuel Barrueco. Tickets for this concert, I am told, will be available at the door. This sounds like a splendid way to spend a couple of hours on Sunday and I am looking forward to it. On Saturday I will be at Hagg Lake at not-quite crack of dawn to watch Holly run a 25 k trail race. It's usually a mud race but with the weather having been dry and sunny the course should be somewhat easier to traverse. On Saturday afternoon at 3pm I shall be found at Sherman Clay in Southwest Portland for a violin/piano recital being given by Susan Chan and Madeleine Mitchell. This will include works by Mozart, Brahms and Bridge. This is a freebie! Let's go!

Back in October I wrote about the gentleman who owns the grocery store near to my apartment, and how I found out that he is an opera fan and that he is married to a lady named Thaïs, after the Massanet opera of that name. The blog post about them is here. Well, last week, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and it seemed to me that the occasion provided the perfect excuse for me to invite them to Portland Opera as my guests. Yes, I know it may seem that Così fan tutte is not quite the message of congratulations one might wish to give a couple on their Golden Wedding Anniversary, but I thought that, after having been together so long, with all of the ups and downs marriage brings over that time, that they would be able to laugh at an opera that accuses women of being fickle and doesn't exactly show men in the kindest of lights, either. So, on Saturday evening, Wendel and Thaïs Pilger joined me at the Keller Auditorium for the opera's closing night. They had dressed to the nines and turned up bang on time and looking maaahvellous!

Metropolitan Opera

There was something I should have mentioned about last Saturday's performance of Simon Boccanegra that I omitted. Most importantly, the role of Gabriele Adorno was sung by tenor Marcello Giordani, a singer who is having a tremendous career, not just at the Met but worldwide, and seems to be getting better and better. Why does that have anything to do with us? Because, gentle readers, Giordani made his US debut with our very own Portland Opera in 1988, playing the role of Nadir in Bizet's Pêcheurs de Perles. Didn't he do well? He obviously just needed something only Portland could give him.

News has issued from the Met that Peter Gelb has hired his predecesor, Joseph Volpe, (seen above with Beverley 'Bubbles' Sills), to undertake, on behalf of the Met Opera management, the negotiations with unions and other employees over fresh contracts. For a number of reasons this was not a ho-hum announcement. I could explain to you why that is the case, but Zach Woolfe has written a splendid article about it in The New York Observer, and I encourage you to read it. This is important stuff and Woolfe gives us some tremendous insights into the machinations at our premier opera house. I suspect Volpe is the perfect man for this job. He began life at the Met as a carpenter and worked his way up to being the boss of the whole shebang. Now, there's a guy who knows how to get along with people.

Nixon in China. Orth in Portland.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had been to the Stars of Così concert where, among others, Robert Orth had performed. What I did not tell you was that on that very day I had purchased a copy of the new, concert version of Nixon in China, starring Bob Orth and Tracy Dahl, both of whom appeared in Portland Opera's production a few seasons ago, and both of whom will be reprising their roles in the upcoming Vancouver Opera production. I asked Bob to sign the insert to the CD package and that is what you can see right here. "To Operaman!" Incidentally, while on the subject of Vancouver Opera's production I should mention that they have just begun an excellent on-line study guide for Nixon in China which will last for a total of four weeks. It is free of course. I have signed up for a couple of reasons: I think I would like to learn more about this opera which, while I enjoyed it when I saw it here, I believe would improve with a more detailed understanding. Also, I just love Vancouver Opera! Their web-site and all of their communications and community stuff (Twitter, etc.) is first class. And who can resist their manga strips? I'll be reviewing the album and the study guide within the next week or two.

Super Bowl XLIV

Plàcido Domingo