Saturday, September 26, 2020

Denyce Graves, one of Justice Ginsburg’s favorite opera singers, performs for her one last time.

 

Denyce Graves, one of Justice Ginsburg’s favorite opera singers, performs for her one last time.

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Denyce Graves, one of Justice Bader Ginsburg’s favorite opera singers, performed on Friday during the Capitol ceremony.
Credit...Image by Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Justice Ginsburg was a passionate opera fanfrom her youth, and one of her favorite singers, the American mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, sang for her one last time on Friday at the Capitol ceremony.

Ms. Graves, her voice reverberating off the marble of Statuary Hall, performed the spiritual “Deep River” and Gene Scheer’s “American Anthem.”

A Washington native, Ms. Graves, 56, became famous as a sultry Carmen in Bizet’s opera. She and Laura Ward, her piano accompanist on Friday, also performed at the funeral of Justice Ginsburg’s husband, Marty, in 2010

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/us/denyce-graves-one-of-justice-ginsburgs-favorite-opera-singers-performs-for-her-one-last-time.amp.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/us/denyce-graves-one-of-justice-ginsburgs-favorite-opera-singers-performs-for-her-one-last-time.amp.html

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The Metropolitan Opera Won’t Reopen for Another Year


 

The Metropolitan Opera Won’t Reopen for Another Year

The nation’s largest performing arts organization, shut by the coronavirus pandemic, sends a chilling signal that American cultural life is still far from resuming. 

The Metropolitan Opera announced Wednesday that the still-untamed coronavirus pandemic has forced it to cancel its entire 2020-21 season, prolonging one of the gravest crises it has faced in its 137-year history and keeping it dark until next September.

The decision is likely to send ripples of concern through New York and the rest of the country, as Broadway theaters, symphony halls, rock venues, comedy clubs, dance spaces and other live arts institutions grapple with the question of when it will be safe again to perform indoors. Far from being a gilded outlier, the Met, the nation’s largest performing arts organization, may well prove to be a bellwether.

The outbreak has kept the 3,800-seat opera house closed since mid-March, sapping it of more than $150 million in revenue and leaving roughly 1,000 full-time employees, including its world-class orchestra and chorus, furloughed without pay since April. Now, with the virus still too much of a threat to allow for a reopening on New Year’s Eve, as hoped, Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, is making plans to adapt to a world transformed by the pandemic, including by trying to curb the company’s high labor costs.

“The future of the Met relies upon it being artistically as powerful as ever, if not more so,” Mr. Gelb said in an interview. “The artistic experiences have to be better than ever before to attract audiences back. Where we need to cut back is costs.”


As he canceled the current season, Mr. Gelb announced an ambitious lineup for 2021-22 to reassure donors and ticket buyers that the Met has robust plans. An even more difficult effort will play out offstage: Mr. Gelb said he would ask the company’s powerful unions to agree to cost-cutting concessions that he said would be necessary in the post-pandemic world, and which a number of other prominent performing arts organizations have begun to implement.

The Met plans to return to its stage next September with Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” the first time it will mount an opera by a Black composer — a long-overdue milestone, and part of a new focus on contemporary works alongside the ornate productions of canonical pieces for which the company is famous. The Met will also experiment with earlier curtain times, shortening some operas and offering more family fare as it tries to lure back audiences.


The last time the Met sought major labor concessions, in 2014, a bitter battle ensued, and a lockout that would have closed the theater and cut off pay was averted only when the two sides agreed to more modest cuts. This time, negotiations will be held while the theater is already shut and many of its workers — both unionized and not — are not being paid.


Mr. Gelb told the company on Wednesday that the Met would offer to begin paying its work force again during the dark months ahead if the unions agree to “longer-term reductions that will allow the Met to recover in the future.” The disclosure earlier this week that James Levine, the company’s former music director, had received a $3.5 million settlement after the Met fired him in 2018, citing sexual misconduct, could complicate negotiations.

The offer puts employees, who have gone without pay for nearly six months and are dependent on the Met for their health insurance, in a difficult position. The American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents the company’s choristers, stage directors, dancers and others, said in a statement that “the Met seems uniquely determined to leverage this moment to permanently gut our contract.”

“The Met cannot solve its difficult problems by turning its back on the artists who have built it over generations,” the committee said in the statement. 


And the committee that represents the musicians in the orchestra warned that cuts could jeopardize the quality of the company. “Simply stating that labor costs must be cut is not a solution or plan for the future,” the orchestra committee said in a statement, “especially in light of the fact that no labor costs have been paid by the Met over the last six months.”

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“With the Met at risk of artistic failure,” the statement said, “we will insist on a contract that preserves the world-class status of the Met Orchestra so that when we are able to reopen, our audiences will be able to experience performances at the level that they expect and deserve.”

Mr. Gelb said in the interview that he hoped an agreement could be reached, and that some reductions could be restored as box office returned to pre-pandemic levels. “These are not normal times,” he said. “These are pandemic times. There’s going to be a residual fallout from this that is going to go on for several years.”

Grand opera is in some ways uniquely vulnerable to the pandemic: It is so expensive to produce that it is financially difficult to sustainably perform to reduced-capacity audiences, and it attracts older people, who are among the most vulnerable to the virus. (The average age of Met operagoers was 57 last season.) But the broader question — when will it be safe to hold large-scale indoor performances again in the United States, which has been much less successful at curbing the spread of the coronavirus than many of the nations in Europe where theaters are gingerly beginning to reopen — is being asked throughout the arts world.


It seems unlikely that indoor events with anywhere near regular capacity will be possible until after the wide distribution of a vaccine, and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert, said this month that it would likely be more than a year before people could feel comfortable returning to theaters without masks.

Other major New York arts organizations, which had canceled performances through early January, are weighing their next steps. The New York Philharmonic said it expected to give an update on its plans in early October, while Carnegie Hall said it would be assessing its next steps in consultation with medical experts and government officials. The Broadway League said that no return date for shows had yet been set.

The virus has already claimed at least two lives at the Met: Vincent J. Lionti, a violist, and Joel Revzen, an assistant conductor. Anna Netrebko — opera’s reigning diva, who is scheduled to star as Puccini’s Turandot at the Met next season — announced this month that she had been hospitalized with the virus after singing alongside an ill colleague at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

The impact on arts organizations and artists, often in a precarious financial condition even before the pandemic hit, has been brutal. Now many hard-hit institutions that have had their activities put on hold or curtailed are taking extraordinary steps to survive. The Boston Symphony Orchestra, one of the richest ensembles in the nation, announced this month that its players had agreed to a new three-year contract reducing their pay by an average of 37 percent in the first year, and increasing as the orchestra’s revenues return. The San Francisco Opera agreed to a new deal that will cut its orchestra’s salary in half this season, gaining back some ground over the next two years.

The Met, whose budget of roughly $300 million in a normal season makes it the biggest performing arts organization in the nation, is taking a series of steps to try to ensure its survival and adapt to a changed world. It is publicizing its entire 2021-22 season, months ahead of schedule, partly in the hopes that people who bought tickets to canceled performances — roughly $20 million in tickets has already been sold — can be persuaded to exchange them for the newly announced operas.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra, one of the richest ensembles in the nation, announced this month that its players had agreed to a new three-year contract reducing their pay by an average of 37 percent in the first year, and increasing as the orchestra’s revenues return. The San Francisco Opera agreed to a new deal that will cut its orchestra’s salary in half this season, gaining back some ground over the next two years.

The Met, whose budget of roughly $300 million in a normal season makes it the biggest performing arts organization in the nation, is taking a series of steps to try to ensure its survival and adapt to a changed world. It is publicizing its entire 2021-22 season, months ahead of schedule, partly in the hopes that people who bought tickets to canceled performances — roughly $20 million in tickets has already been sold — can be persuaded to exchange them for the newly announced operas.

“Fire Shut Up in My Bones” will be one of three contemporary works at the Met next season — the most since 1928. (The others are Matthew Aucoin’s “Eurydice” and Brett Dean’s “Hamlet.”) The Met will stage the original five-act, French-language version of Verdi’s “Don Carlos” for the first time, in a new production by David McVicar that will be conducted by the company’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

There will also be new productions of Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” directed by Bartlett Sher, and Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor,” directed by Simon Stone, whose staging of “Yerma” at the Park Avenue Armory caused a sensationin 2018. A veteran soprano, Nina Stemme, will star in Strauss’s “Elektra” alongside a rising one, Lise Davidsen, who also appears in that composer’s “Ariadne auf Naxos” and Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.” “Die Meistersinger” will be conducted by Antonio Pappano, the music director of the Royal Opera in London, returning to the Met for the first time in decades. And Susanna Malkki will lead Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress”; she is one of five female conductors scheduled to appear, the most in a season in Met history.


“Fire Shut Up in My Bones” will be one of three contemporary works at the Met next season — the most since 1928. (The others are Matthew Aucoin’s “Eurydice” and Brett Dean’s “Hamlet.”) The Met will stage the original five-act, French-language version of Verdi’s “Don Carlos” for the first time, in a new production by David McVicar that will be conducted by the company’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

There will also be new productions of Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” directed by Bartlett Sher, and Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor,” directed by Simon Stone, whose staging of “Yerma” at the Park Avenue Armory caused a sensationin 2018. A veteran soprano, Nina Stemme, will star in Strauss’s “Elektra” alongside a rising one, Lise Davidsen, who also appears in that composer’s “Ariadne auf Naxos” and Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.” “Die Meistersinger” will be conducted by Antonio Pappano, the music director of the Royal Opera in London, returning to the Met for the first time in decades. And Susanna Malkki will lead Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress”; she is one of five female conductors scheduled to appear, the most in a season in Met history.



Thursday, September 17, 2020

Opera Star Anna Netrebko Is Hospitalized With Covid-19

Opera Star Anna Netrebko Is Hospitalized With Covid-19 “Everything will be fine!” she said on Instagram, but the news is the latest sign of the challenges singers face returning to work.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/arts/music/anna-netrebko-coronavirus-bolshoi.html


LONDON — Anna Netrebko, the star Russian soprano, is in the hospital with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, she said in an Instagram post on Thursday. “I have been in the hospital for 5 days with Covid-19 and will recover soon,” Ms. Netrebko wrote, adding: “Everything will be fine! The devil is not so terrible as it is described.” She was admitted to a Moscow hospital just days after performing at the city’s Bolshoi Theater with another singer who later tested positive for the virus. Scientists have identified singing indoors as a risky activity, and the news will cause concern among the world’s opera companies, which had been closely watching the starry Bolshoi performances as they forged ahead. Maxim Berin, Ms. Netrebko’s Russian manager, said in a telephone interview that the soprano had been unwell since Sept. 9, but he said she was now recovering. “Doctors told me everything is fine, and now Anna has started to sing in hospital, which is why she made the post,” he said of her Instagram announcement. Ms. Netrebko, who lives in Vienna, had been in Russia since the start of September, Mr. Berin said. She performed with pianist Denis Matsuev, among others, in Moscow on Sept. 2. Then, on Sept. 6 and 8, she appeared at the Bolshoi in two performances of Verdi’s “Don Carlo,” the first opera at the venue since it was shuttered in March because of the pandemic. The soprano was scheduled to appear there for a third time on Sept. 10, but the company canceled that performance after the bass Ildar Abdrazakov became unwell with a slight fever. He later tested positive for the coronavirus. The Bolshoi immediately tested those who had been in close contact with Mr. Abdrazakov, Katerina Novikova, a spokeswoman for theater, said in a telephone interview. That included all of the other soloists in “Don Carlo,” as well as employees working in makeup and wardrobe. Three tested positive and were ordered to isolate for two weeks, Ms. Novikova said, but Ms. Netrebko was not among them. Mr. Berin said that Ms. Netrebko had been tested “several times” after the Bolshoi outbreak and had been negative each time. The virus was confirmed only when she was at the hospital, he added. Ms. Netrebko used the Instagram post largely to defend her decision to go to back to work. “I had two choices,” she wrote: to “stay at home and be afraid of getting infected” or “start working, traveling around, performing at the risk of getting sick.” “I unconditionally chose 2 and do not regret anything,” she said. The incident is not the first to affect a Russian cultural institution since music and dance performances resumed shortly after President Vladimir V. Putin declared in July that the battle against the coronavirus had been won. Last month, the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg suspended all performances, classes and rehearsals after over 30 people in the company contracted the virus. Those infections occurred despite the ballet’s adopting a wide range of measures to keep staff members safe, such as regular testing, temperature checks and mandatory mask wearing. Similar safety measures were in place at the Bolshoi, Ms. Novikova said, though regular testing is not. Other countries in Europe have also seen outbreaks since performances resumed. In Austria, the health authorities reported a cluster of 46 infections after an operetta performance by students at the Vienna Music and Arts University early this month. Among those infected was a member of the Vienna State Opera who was at the event, Bernhard Mayer-Rohonczy, a spokesman for the university, said in a telephone interview. Two other State Opera employees became infected in a rehearsal with that person, the opera company said in a statement, and all three have been in quarantine since. On Wednesday, the Budapest Operetta and Musical Theater in Hungary also canceled all performances after an artist tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a statement on its website. But regardless of the outbreaks, it seems activity is unlikely to slow down. Ms. Novikova of the Bolshoi said that the theater was doing all it could to keep people safe, but that singers and musicians “really want to work.” “We can’t wait, sitting at home,” she said. In her Instagram post, Ms. Netrebko seemed to agree. Her next performance is scheduled for Oct. 1. “Do not worry!” she wrote. “You won’t take me so easily.”

Wednesday, September 09, 2020

Adagio for Strings - Covid Cello Project




Tuesday, September 08, 2020

'Beethoven was black': why the radical idea still has power today

 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/07/beethoven-was-black-why-the-radical-idea-still-has-power-today?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other