‘Mein lieber Schwan’: can a 1986 Met Lohengrin teach us anything 34 years later?

United StatesUnited States Wagner, Lohengrin: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / James Levine (conductor). 10.1.1986 performance from the Metropolitan Opera House reviewed as a Nightly Met Opera Stream on 20.5.2020. (JPr)

Peter Hofmann (Lohengrin), John Macurdy (Henry) & Éva Marton (Elsa)

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Educating Rita, says who?

The OED on education refers an inquirer through a Middle English (ME) root of educe meaning to bring out or develop (something latent or potential): very much Willy Russell’s territory in his melodramatic farce of 1980 at the Royal Shakespeare Company;  which in turn became an even more successful (1983) film of the same name. whose stage version also had the same leading actors as the film. But that is only half the story.

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Opera Philadelphia’s Digital Festival O Presents We Shall Not Be Moved

United StatesUnited States Roumain, We Shall Not Be Moved: Soloists, Opera Philadelphia Orchestra / Viswa Subbaraman (conductor). Opera Philadelphia, Wilma Theater, Philadelphia. Performance of 20.9.2017 reviewed as part of Digital Festival O. (RP)

Lauren Whitehead (Un/Sung) in We Shall Not Be Moved (c) Dominic M. Mercier

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Looking back at Petra Lang’s vividly sung Brünnhilde in Vienna State Opera’s 2017 Götterdämmerung

AustriaAustria Wagner, Götterdämmerung: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera / Peter Schneider (conductor). Performance of 5.6.2017 from the Vienna State Opera and reviewed as a Wiener Staatsoper Live stream on 19.5.2020. (JPr)

Petra Lang (Brünnhilde), Falk Struckmann (Hagen), and Markus Eiche (Gunther)

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Looking back at Rattle and the LSO’s new Turnage and Mahler Six in 2017 proves consoling rather than tragic

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Turnage, Mahler: London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle (conductor). Barbican Hall performance from 19.1.2017 and reviewed on 18.5.2020 as an Always Playing full-length concert from the LSO’s archive. (JPr)

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the LSO (c) Tristram Kenton

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IN CONVERSATION: Soprano Renée Fleming and ENB’s Artistic Director Tamara Rojo on the Art of Empathy

On Friday 15 May at 5pm BST (12pm EST), Renée Fleming (internationally renowned soprano, arts & health advocate, Artistic Advisor at Large to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) and Tamara Rojo, CBE (Artistic Director and Lead Principal Dancer, English National Ballet) will meet for a virtual conversation discussing how the arts can contribute to holistic routes to wellbeing.

The Art of Empathy: Renée Fleming and Tamara Rojo on Creativity and Wellbeing will be led by Susan Boster (Founder and CEO, Boster Group). The conversation brings together these respected artists and arts leaders to discuss the cutting-edge work being done at the intersection of arts and science. They will also explore the inventive ways in which the arts aid physical recovery and measurably reduce depression and anxiety.

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The Met’s first live TV broadcast: memories of Pavarotti and Scotto in a 1977 La bohème

United StatesUnited States Puccini, La bohème: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York / James Levine (conductor). 15.3.1977 performance reviewed as the Viewers’ Choice Nightly Met Opera Stream on 9.5.2020. (JPr)

Renata Scotto (Mimì) and Luciano Pavarotti (Rodolfo) (c) Met Opera Archives

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