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Author: Paul Hertelendy

Exemplary Maestro Michael Morgan, 63

Exemplary Maestro Michael Morgan, 63

It was a 1976 young conductors competition of the Baltimore Symphony, with a predictable array of well-scrubbed young men in their early- to mid-20s competing. And in this group appeared a striking youth, barely 17, seemingly from another world, wearing the casual togs he’d used for any day at his public high school. For the finals he conducted a movement from a Brahms symphony that propelled me to my feet to watch intently. He evoked ear-caressing sounds of ethereal beauty,…

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AGAIN, THE SUBS SAVE THE OPERA

AGAIN, THE SUBS SAVE THE OPERA

If the Santa Fe Opera’s “Eugene Onegin” lacks the direct punch of the Pushkin poem originating it, perhaps it’s that Tchaikovsky never wrote an opera at all, but rather these “lyric scenes,” as he called them. The SFO brought it off rather miraculously, once again dealing with major cast changes attributable to Covid and related border lockdowns—by now, General Director Robert Meya has likely had enough casting headaches to deal with to run his own headache commercials. Here, Lucas Meachem…

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Bard, Britten, Britain, Combined

Bard, Britten, Britain, Combined

SANTA FE, NM—Another brave start to live, in-person performances, where apart from your required masks, you can pretend there’s no pandemic any more. After the 2020 shutdown, the Santa Fe Opera (summer) Festival has resumed with a near-full complement of four operas, playing in the semi-outdoor Crosby Theatre with its spectacular views of the high desert and Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This is arguably the most breath-taking site for opera in America, with open side vistas and yet a solid…

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NEW OPERA, AGELESS MYSTERIES

NEW OPERA, AGELESS MYSTERIES

SANTA FE, N.M.—The best review of the new opera runs thusly: “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Never mind that the quote came from Winston Churchill the better part of a century ago, never mind that it dealt with an unrelated topic. The great new enigma spanning millennia is John Corigliano’s “The Lord of Cries.” In Mark Adamo’s evasive and elusive libretto you get spooks, Greek gods, werewolves, oracles, nightmares, a very bloody murder with…

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GOOD MANNERS = GOOD MUSIC

GOOD MANNERS = GOOD MUSIC

SANTA FE, N.M.—Call it the battle of the sexes. A group of mostly female composers produced new works to be played by an all-male string quartet at the Santa Fe (N.M.) Chamber Music Festival. The first came equipped with pens and printers, the second with bows more eloquent than any archer’s weaponry. And music was in flux, matching the name of the ensemble. Happily, the outcome was harmonious, and the fest’s latest package of the new and latest evolved without…

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Operatic Lives and Loves, despite Family

Operatic Lives and Loves, despite Family

Orinda, CA—Give an E for Effort to the feisty West Edge Opera resuming live outdoor opera despite all adversity and fielding a strong central cast to try to make you forget all its shortcomings. After 16 months with our center stages hogged by virus and little else, WEO celebrated the improving health dip by producing the wrenching drama of love lost, “Katya Kabanova” by the Czech composer Leos Janacek, one of the great late bloomers in operatic history—live, on stage,…

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Firsts: Overlooked composer, a bridge-crossing conductor

Firsts: Overlooked composer, a bridge-crossing conductor

It was a grand night to remember. An unprecedented new breeze blew into Davies Hall and inspired an audience moved to its feet, clapping with vigor. The salient firsts for the S.F. Symphony were the jovial conductor Michael Morgan on the podium and music by the greatly underrated composer Louise Dumont Farrenc. By the time it was over, folks virtually forgot just which brilliant Rossini overture had opened the program. The debut of Morgan resulted in far greater audience representation…

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BRRR’S AND BRAVOS IN OPERA, SOCIALLY DISTANCED

BRRR’S AND BRAVOS IN OPERA, SOCIALLY DISTANCED

Necessity is anew the mother of invention. Even in opera premieres, a tradition dating back four centuries. When singers and orchestras couldn’t congregate during the pandemic, Opera Parallèle brought to bear imagination with a capital I. They went at their challenge piecemeal with an arresting experiment in animation. Using adaptation techniques from robotics, they brought on well-drawn faces, closeups and graphic-novel formats for Joby Talbot’s one-act mountain-climbing saga reworked for streaming, “Everest,” based on the Dallas Opera world premiere production…

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New Horizons, and a Tribute

New Horizons, and a Tribute

In keeping with a Black Lives Matter theme, a new SFCMP chamber-concert stream features leading black composers in lucid quality performances capped by a tribute to the late Olly Wilson. Wilson achieved a goal that music professors strive to emulate: as habile a teacher as a composer. Wilson is well remembered for his 22 years as composer on the UC Berkeley music faculty and his later strong support for the Young Musicians Program training underserved students in the S.F. Bay…

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Today’s Sounds Streaming Today

Today’s Sounds Streaming Today

When most every one else has been forced to silence, count on the S.F. Contemporary Music Players to sound out, ranging from the listenable to the contemporary/experimental. Even VERY contemporary. The grand-daddy of our professional new music ensembles here just winding down its 50th season, it has jumped from the post-pandemic starting blocks with the streaming of “Voices in Reverberation” with a wide stylistic array of composers. Yea, living composers at that! The most recent piece is the SFCMP-commissioned world…

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