Classical Clicks: A Pop-Up Concert in Hanoi
Here, at the WQXR offices, we read about, watch and listen to a lot of classical music. We created The Whole Note as a place to share content that has captivated us from around the web. We hope they...
View ArticleFinding Opera and Freedom in Cincinnati
CINCINNATI — Some old cities have very good bones. Think of Rome, which, despite being sacked, bombed and repeatedly invaded, remains vibrant and inspiring. Cincinnati, an American city that is...
View ArticleListen: 'The Orphic Moment' Makes Its Debut at National Sawdust
On March 23, 2016, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo presented the New York premiere of Matthew Aucoin's interdisciplinary dramatic cantata The Orphic Moment with Manhattan School of Music Orchestra...
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Rossini's 'Otello' from Barcelona
Verdi wasn't the only Italian composer inspired by Shakespeare's play Othello. More than 70 years earlier, Rossini had set this tragic tale of jealousy and revenge to music. Though the latter opera...
View ArticleA Coughing Matter
LONDON — The irksome problem of audience members who endlessly cough in our theaters is not a new one. I am not referring to those people who suddenly swallow wrong or might have a cold or asthma, but...
View ArticleDomingo Does Double Duty in LA Opera Double Bill
Saturday at 1 pm, listen to the 2015–16 season opening production from the LA Opera, featuring Gianni Schicchi and Pagliacci. In the first, Plácido Domingo stars in the title role of Woody Allen’s...
View ArticleIn Studio: Soprano Nadine Sierra Sings Mozart and Foster
Nadine Sierra's love affair with opera started with an overdue library video."When I was 10 years old my mother introduced me to opera in VHS form, it was 1982 production of La Bohème with Teresa...
View ArticleNotes on a Week of High Drama in London
LONDON — “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown,” as Shakespeare’s Henry IV says. On the day I arrived here last week, my taxi from Paddington Station got caught in dense traffic near Buckingham...
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Verdi's 'Otello' from Barcelona
Perhaps no other composer adapted the words of Shakespeare for the operatic stage quite as well as Giuseppe Verdi. His Macbeth, Falstaff and Otello are not just some of the best operas based on works...
View ArticleClassical Clicks: John Williams Answers to a 'Star Wars' Fanfare
Here, at the WQXR offices, we read about, watch and listen to a lot of classical music. We created The Whole Note as a place to share content that has captivated us from around the web. We hope they...
View ArticleAngela Meade and Jamie Barton Star in "Norma"
This Saturday at 1 pm, listen to Bellini's opera Norma, starring soprano Angela Meade as the druid princess with the showstopping aria "Casta diva." The strong cast features mezzo Jamie Barton as...
View Article#2209: A Jazz/Medieval Mass
A quirky reworking of a medieval mass by the early-music vocal group, the Orlando Consort, and the modern jazz quartet, Perfect Houseplants takes center stage on this edition of New Sounds. From the CD...
View ArticleReview: Long Dormant, Mascagni's 'Iris' Opens at Bard
Whether or not the Bard SummerScape festival successfully rehabilitates little-known operas by well-known composers, this year's choice — Pietro Mascagni's Iris— shows how the work that goes on here,...
View ArticleWe Love Carol Vaness
I have a dear friend in London who, only on special occasions, uses the words "we love" to describe someone or something that reliably gives pleasure and a sense of comfortable intimacy as well as...
View ArticleReview: 'The Illuminated Heart' Opens Mostly Mozart Festival
The sublime ending to Mozart's Marriage of Figaro usually comes at the end of a four-hour-plus journey that, in the final stretch, includes some tiresome arias for minor characters. But is that finale...
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What We Learned from the First New York Opera Fest
There may be no better time than the present to be an opera fan in New York City, which is currently home to approximately 80 companies. Throughout this past May and June, the New York Opera Alliance...
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Röschmann Stars in 'Jenufa' from Vienna
This week, World of Opera presents Janacek's devastating Jenufa, from the Vienna State Opera, starring German soprano Dorothea Röschmann in the title role. Lisa Simeone hosts the broadcast.The strong...
View ArticleBefore HD, the Met Tour Brought Opera to the US and World
From 1883, the year the Metropolitan Opera was founded, until 1986, the company went on extensive annual tours across the United States with occasional excursions abroad. Until the Cincinnati Opera was...
View ArticlePlácido Domingo Stars in Verdi's 'The Two Foscari'
Saturday at 1 pm, Plácido Domingo and Francesco Meli star as father and son in Verdi's The Two Foscari, based on the play by Lord Byron. James Conlon conducts the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and Chorus...
View ArticleFrom Punk to Purcell: Vivienne Westwood Outfits Monteverdi Choir
Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who dressed the Sex Pistols and forged a punk style, has recently funneled her attention in a different direction: Baroque vocal music.Late last week, the Monteverdi...
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