Longborough Festival Opera launches podcast and extraordinary generosity of the audience

The Longborough Festival Opera has launched a podcast series that will feature conversations with many of opera’s biggest stars. For more information about LFO’s podcasts click here

The company has released four episodes to this point, with three of them focused on Wagner’s Ring cycle.

In the first, journalist Richard Bratby, Longborough music director Anthony Negus, and bass-baritone Paul Carey Jones talk about Wotan’s journey through the tetralogy.

In a second episode, Writer and librettist Sophie Rashbrook, soprano Lee Bisset, and historian Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough analyse the role of women in the cycle.

The third installment features a conversation on The Cunning Little Vixen hosted by Richard Bratby.

Finally, in the fourth installment, Opera director and librettist Sir David Pountney and Longborough’s artistic director Polly Graham delve into the comedic aspects of Wagner’s magnum opus

Longborough artistic director Polly Graham notes: ‘What we hope to achieve from this podcast is a chance to open up some of the amazing works we had programmed for 2020, and to celebrate the thinking of the artists we work with. The lockdown has been hugely challenging for the performing arts, but it has given us the opportunity to think creatively about different experiences we can still offer audiences. We miss our audiences so much and cannot wait to connect with them again through live theatre and music. In the meantime, we hope this podcast will continue to feed their imagination. We are so grateful for their continued support at such a challenging time.’

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Lincoln Center honors Pride with a light installation on its iconic plaza

For the first time in its 60+ year history, Lincoln Center is celebrating Pride by illuminating its plaza with a rainbow design and by flying the Rainbow Flag in front of its campus. For the rest of June, the installation acknowledges the histories, struggles and contributions of LGBTQIA+ communities and celebrates the full spectrum of queer identity.

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Baritone Federico Longhi’s Rigoletto is part of Parma’s June Verdian renaissance

After the success of his debut as Conte di Luna in Il trovatore and his missed debuts (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) as Roberto Devereux at Teatro Massimo Palermo and as Nabucco at Erfurt DomStufen-Festspiele, and also his awaited return to Nice Opera House for Lucia di Lammermoor, Italian baritone Federico Longhi returns on the stage with one of most significative role of his repertoire, Rigoletto, in an extraordinary context, the Music Parc of Parma, in front of the Paganini Auditorium, home of the Philarmonic Orchestra Arturo Toscanini.

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2020 Celebration of Aldeburgh Festivals with BBC Radio 3 and BBC Four – 12-28 June

A Celebration of Aldeburgh Festivals – 12 – 28 June

Highlights include:

  • ‘Opening Night’ broadcast of Britten on Camera on BBC Four followed by Struan Leslie’s Illuminations – a staging including circus performers of Britten’s Les Illuminations – seen for the first time on Britten Pears Arts’ YouTube Channel
  • Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach will be available on BBC iPlayer later this month
  • Create your own Aldeburgh Musicircus experience online
  • BBC Radio 3 to broadcast six archive performances from Aldeburgh Festival between 19 – 26 June
  • Aldeburgh Festival invites audiences to share their memories from its 72 festivals

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