[SanAntone]

I posted this on the Opera YouTube thread before I found this thread.

György Kurtág: Opera "Fin de partie (Endgame) (2010-2017)
Samuel Beckett: Endgame. Scenes and monologues. Opera in one act (2010-2017)

Nagg: Leonardo Cortellazzi (tenor buffo)
Nell: Hilary Summers (mezzo-soprano)
Hamm: Frode Olsen (bass-baritone)
Clov: Leigh Melrose (baritone)

Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, conducted by Markus Stenz

recording of the first performance (Milan, Teatro alla Scala, November 15, 2018)

 

[SanAntone]

I recently watched two contemporary operas:

MUHLY: Marnie
PERFORMANCE DATE: NOV 10, 2018

CONDUCTOR: Robert Spano
MARNIE: Isabel Leonard
TERRY RUTLAND: Iestyn Davies
MARK RUTLAND: Christopher Maltman
MRS. RUTLAND: Janis Kelly
MARNIE'S MOTHER: Denyce Graves

ADAMS: Doctor Atomic
PERFORMANCE DATE: NOV 8, 2008
COMPOSER: JOHN ADAMS
LIBRETTIST: PETER SELLARS

CONDUCTOR: Alan Gilbert
J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER: Gerald Finley
KITTY OPPENHEIMER: Sasha Cooke
EDWARD TELLER: Richard Paul Fink
ROBERT WILSON: Thomas Glenn

Both were well done, IMO, and the Met did a good job with the productions.

 

[SanAntone]

I like Marne quite a bit. I think it's very well designed, and I am a sucker for anything Ms. Leonard does. (She's also a fun follow on Instagram.) I have taken a couple of runs at Dr. Atomic, but never been able to get into it, despite being very familiar with the underlying Oppenheimer/Manhattan Project story.
It has also been great to see the Met doing some new operas. We went to see Fire Shut Up in My Bones in HD last month, and I listened to Eurydice on Saturday. I don't think either one is a great opera, but they are both worth the time to listen.

I haven't seen Fire Shut Up My Bones since The Met hasn't made it available on their Opera on Demand yet.

 

[SanAntone]

Georg Friedrich Haas: Thomas (2013)

Georg Friedrich Haas (*1953)
Thomas, Opera for voice and ensemble (2013)
libretto by Händl Klaus

Otto Katzameier, Thomas
Wolfgang Newerla, Matthias
Kai Wessel, Michael
Daniel Gloger, Dr. Dürer
Michael Feyfar, Dominik
Raminta Babickaite, sister Agnes
Ruth Weber, sister Jasmin
Sarah Wegener, Ms. Fink from the funeral service

Catalina Vicens, Olga Zheltikova, harpsichord
Martin Malaun, zither
Luisa Marxen, Agnieszka Koprowska-Born, percussion
Viviane Chassot, accordion
Estelle Costanzo, harp
Flavio Virzi, mandolin
Wolfgang Sehringer, Andrés Hernandéz Alba, guitar
Michel Galante, conductor

Elisabeth Gabriel, director
Vinzenz Gertler, stage & costumes
Guido Petzold, light
Saskia Bladt, dramaturgy
Heta Multanen, video

 

[SanAntone]

On May 20, the renowned Kronos Quartet will release Mỹ Lai, an acclaimed opera which tells the story of one man's efforts to stop the 1968 massacre of over 500 unarmed civilians by the US Army in Mỹ Lai, Vietnam.

Mỹ Lai premiered to rave reviews in 2017, with the LA Times writing: "It reminds us of our ability to stumble across beauty when there is otherwise no meaning, only insanity, to be found." Now, this definitive recording captures the madness, raw emotion, and musicianship of the performance for all to hear.

The unimaginable brutality of the event impacted all those who witnessed it firsthand, including helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson, who, against orders, intervened to save Vietnamese lives. Thompson's true story is the basis of the opera, composed by Jonathan Berger with libretto by Harriet Scott Chessman, and features Vietnamese multi-instrumentalist Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ and vocalist Rinde Eckert. (Folkways)