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WHAT CAN WE WATCH THIS WEEK? Lots of gorgeous voices. Opera, cabaret, more opera, jazz, more opera, ballet, architecture, and a song by Leonard Cohen. And no, before you say it, it’s not the same as seeing it live. If it were, there would be no point in this compulsive scouring of the Internet to find the best of the arts on-screen to tell you about. But a sample Sunday evening which, for me, encompassed a full-length opera from Glyndebourne, a terrific jazz film from San Francisco, and a concert of Cole Porter songs, was enough to convince me that until and unless we can get our backsides back on seats in person, this is as good as it gets and that’s pretty damn good. In the meantime, try these: The Fairy Queen - Glyndebourne Opera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-esDHd6CPc&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=Master+List&utm_campaign=4f5e197e75-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_5_25_2018_20_58_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_087289d63a-4f5e197e75-202441125 Taking us from rowdiest, raunchiest comedy to bewitching beauty and pathos, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen is a theatrical fantasy unlike any other. Based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Jonathan Kent’s production opens up a 17th-century cabinet of curiosities to reveal the contemporary magic within. This is both play and opera with the wonderful Desmond Barrit as Bottom. Ancient Music specialist conductor William Christie and a huge cast including Lucy Crowe, Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Millson and Ed Lyon find the anarchic energy at the heart of this unusual work. Available Aug.23-30. Bay Area Blue Notes https://www.sfsymphony.org/CURRENTS/Bay-Area-Blue-Notes This comes from the San Francisco Symphony's online series CURRENTS which focuses on jazz in that beautiful city and has been recommended by a music critic friend who lives and writes there. This is a lovely film featuring jazz contributions of music professionals from different branches of San Francisco music – teachers, jazzers, and the San Francisco Symphony orchestra itself. What they have to say is important and, be patient, eventually they stop talking and start playing and, when they do, it’s worth waiting for. These are passionate artists who believe that Jazz—its freedom, movement, and expression—is a state of mind, a way of life. Giuditta https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbf4Eu2RcW4 If you love the other-worldly sound of the counter-tenor voice, as I do, this one’s for you. The criticism usually levelled at the counter-tenor is that it sounds unnatural. Instead, to me, it has a combination of purity and technique that is irresistible. Discovered by a U3A group leader who has also been scouring YouTube for gems, this is an aria from the oratorio Giuditta, composed by Alessandro Scarlatti in 1697 and sung by Filippo Minecchia. Concerto rehearsal – Royal Ballet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qHFoFTEdDw Many of you have commented that the most enjoyable element of the dance events I’ve chosen for you has been the possibility to see dancers close up, both in performance and rehearsal. A friend this week pointed out how interesting it is that dancers learn mostly from one another, at least as much as from teachers, although of course most dance teachers are themselves former or current dancers. So I thought you would like to see this rehearsal for Macmillan’s Concerto. Here are Yasmine Naghdi and Ryoichi Hirano, both Principal Dancers with the Royal Ballet, working with coaches Alfreda Thorogood and Gary Avis (both former Royal Ballet Principals) but, while you’re watching them, notice the two young dancers ‘shadowing’ them from the back of the room. They are senior students at the Royal Ballet School and the rehearsal is soon taken over by the dancers, who are helping the students to master the finer points of Macmillan’s difficult technique. It’s an exercise in complete focus, seeing all six of them – professional dancers, students and teachers - totally concentrated on perfection. Metropolitan Opera – All Verdi https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm&ogbl#inbox/FMfcgxwJXVLVtwDMsgcwzsktQjJMWDGh The Met is having a Verdi orgy this week for our benefit. We’ll be able to watch and hear everything from Rigoletto to Falstaff via Il Trovatore, Luisa Miller, Un Ballo in Maschera, Il Trovatore, and Don Carlo, one a night, at 7.30 EST, and available for 24 hours after that so those of us in other parts of the world can wallow too. Do check the timings for your favourites, though, because there are occasional exceptions. Casting is, as always with these Met broadcasts, sensational, with appearances, sometimes more than one, by Hvorostovsky, Damrau, Domingo, Netrebko, Radvansky, Von Stade, many others, and, one of my favourites, Simon Keenlyside. What a feast. Be sure to scroll down beyond the initial schedule to find your chosen link. Walking Tour of Harlem https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/arts/design/harlem-virtual-tour.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20200822&instance_id=21525&nl=todaysheadlines®i_id=6331304&segment_id=36753&user_id=83027c41d3f05329fc02574088fc83e7 This is another in Michael Kimmelman’s virtual tours of New York. In the years I have lived in the city, I have watched the enormous changes in this vibrant neighbourhood. Here, the architecture critic of the NY Times invites architect David Adjaye, who is a resident of this part of the city, to guide his virtual footsteps. Side by Side by Cole Porter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyVqj-4Z3UI The huge success of the musical review Side by Side by Sondheim in the 1970s gave rise to a number of other compilation shows, reviews anthlogising the songs of a single composer. This is one of the most successful of them, Side by Side by Cole Porter. Sadly, the jovial host, Ned Sherrin, who managed to mispronounce nearly all American terms from ‘Indiana’ to the name of Porter’s birthplace, Peru, (which should be pronounced ‘Pee-roo’) died in 2007, and both Karen Morrow and David Kernan have hung up their songbooks, being both well into their eighties. but the youngest of them, Liz Robertson, is very much still with us and singing better than ever, as her recent cabaret performances at The Pheasantry will testify. Blueprint Medea – Finborough Theatre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu6QiD0g5Qk&t=710s Julia Pascal’s contemporary take on Medea is, as you might suppose, somewhat harrowing. But then, so is the original Medea (thank you, Euripides) and hasn’t become any more cheerful with the passing of 2500 years. Based on interviews with Kurdish fighters living in the UK, and written and directed by the first woman ever to direct at the National Theatre, Blueprint Medea is an award-winning new drama, loosely inspired by Euripides’ Medea, which connects the classical to the contemporary to explore eternal questions of passion, war, cultural identity, women’s freedom, sex, family and love. Hailey Gillis - Soulpepper
https://youtu.be/oUKNXRT4R4E And to wrap up this week, a song for all you Leonard Cohen fans, the best cover I’ve heard of That’s No Way to Say Goodbye sung by Hailey Gillis for Soulpepper Theatre Company in Canada.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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