20th century fox
Next week at The Morgan Library and Museum, New York City Opera General Manager-Designate Gerard Mortier will discuss his vision of opera. The lecture, entitled “The Excitement of 20th-Century Opera,” will focus on classic works composed by Claude Debussy, Leos Janácek, Olivier Messiaen, Karol Szymanowski, Mieczyslaw Weinberg, and others. Tickets for the program, scheduled for Friday, November 7 at 6:30 pm, are $20 and $25. More details may be found here.
UPDATE: A new production of Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen has just opened at the Opéra Bastille; according to the program it’s a co-production with the NYCO. Says reviewer George Loomis in the International Herald Tribune, “Happily, André Engel’s staging will warm the hearts of even those most wary of the radical production style linked to Mortier.”
La Cieca:
I love your “teaser photo-ad” for this thread—I’m a ‘39 NY World’s Fair enthusist (no , contrary to what some might say, I wasn’t there….maybe)
I GUESS/HOPE ? that by this event still on the books, all is not lost for NYCO, yet…?
(sounds very well worth attending—if I had the moola..)
Well. My mother was ‘39 and I was at ‘64. ANd I still don’t give a damn about Mortier
Oh I would so go to that if I were in NY. I’m not convinced that he’s the right man for this particular job, but he does know his shit when it comes to 20th century opera.
Gerard Mortier in action….
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/gerard-mortier/41
Classic works composed by Mieczyslaw Weinberg.
Come again?
Turandot, you’ve never heard of Passazhirka?
or wikipaedia? ;p
turandot: for example,
Turandot:
Weinberg was a compatriot and close friend of Shostakovich; and pretty prolific, in his own right.
Sanford–I inherited my ma’s Heinz pickle pin, from the ‘39 Fair—and even though I grew up just miles from Flushing Meadow, only got to the 64/65 Fair–ONCE!!(where I promptly got violently sick, in the fountain of the IBM pavilion–)
I still remember (or have heard about so many times, which amounts to the same thing) Dino the Dinosaur at the entrance, and I remember riding the monorail and a log flume.
Sanford… youve ridden SO MANY LOG FLUMES… please be more specific!
Thanks Lady M for bringing the interview to my attention.
Mortier is brilliant – who else talks about catering to the aged and frail – about the REAL thing in a theater with good sound,
not some multiplex – about what operas are actually about,
not conventional expectations which amount to viewing a diorama at the Museum of Natural History. I want to swim
in his flood of REGIE THEATER!
Thanks Lady M for bringing the interview to my attention.
Mortier is brilliant – who else talks about catering to the aged and frail – about the REAL thing in a theater with good sound, not some multiplex – about the sensibility operas actually inhabit, not conventional expectations which amount to viewing a diorama at the Museum of Natural History.
I want to swim in his flood of REGIE THEATER!
Gelb – so far – ‘Satyagraha’ not withstanding – is a major disappointment – but debuts by the likes of Le Page and Chereau loom. Hope springs eternal …
Judge for yourselves: The Cunning Little Vixen will be streamed live from the Opera de Paris on http://www.medici.tv on November 4 at 6:30 pm French time. It should stay up on the Medici site for a couple of weeks after that, free of charge.
Correction: the Paris Opera website says 7:30 pm, though the Medici.tv site says 6:30 pm.
Yes, I know he who he is. The point is … he’s never written any “classics” or even any opera that any opera fan has ever heard of yet alone seen.
Turnandot:
Instead of sneering at a composer that YOU are unfamilar with…you might want to check out this site:
http://www.classicalarchives.com/artists/weinberg.html
which has excerpts of some of Weinberg’s works—and decide for youself—or for your stud boyfriend…
As for “no operfans ever having heard or seen his work before”, I was at a concert version of “Passazhirka”, in Moscow, in 2006—portions of which were quite beautiful and moving…
When somebody is little known, I don’t know why some trivia buffs feel the need to pretend otherwise. And they don’t trivia trivia for nothing.
seems to me that mortier should be focusing on raising funds to resurrect CO (or has he gotten bored with that already)
with the financial crisis $ for the arts will become the rarest of birds.
Instead of sneering at a composer that YOU are unfamilar with…you might want to check out this site:
Thanks for the link. I never underestimate how timid and risk-averse most opera fans are.
When somebody is little known, I don’t know why some trivia buffs feel the need to pretend otherwise
Oh for fuck’s sake. Yeah, those trivia buffs should have just shut the hell up about Handel, whose opera’s went largely unperformed for 150 years but some of which are standard rep these days.
seems to me that mortier should be focusing on raising funds to resurrect CO (or has he gotten bored with that already)
You *have* heard of multi-tasking right?
hey henry,
what was for lunch? 4 martinis?