A Night at the Opera
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
Much of opera's great music is orchestral, and we'll open tonight's program with a couple of Wagnerian selections. First, a different take on the "Ride of the Valkyries" from the Cambridge Buskers; after that, a Wagner rarity: the overture to "Rienzi." And speaking of rarities, the Metropolitan Opera serves up Tchaikovsky's "Mazeppa" next week for the first time in Met history; the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig offers us a mini preview with that work's popular "Gopak" dance.
We’ll also feature instrumentalists delving into opera arias. The "singing cornet" William Vacchiano plays the "Toreador Song" from Bizet's "Carmen Suite" No. 2, while cellist David Finkel and pianist Wu Han have fun with Beethoven's variations on a duet from Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte."
Finally, the singers receive equal time with song and symphonic fare. Bryn Terfel sings Dvorak's "Goin' Home," backed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth. As a highlight in our last hour, we'll hear a live recording of the New York Philharmonic's Lincoln Center inaugural concert: a star cast of singers including Lucine Amara, Jennie Tourel, Richard Tucker and George London join forces with the NY Phil and Leonard Bernstein for part one of Mahler's monumental Symphony No. 8, the "Symphony of a Thousand."
» "Mazeppa" premieres at the Metropolitan Opera
We’ll also feature instrumentalists delving into opera arias. The "singing cornet" William Vacchiano plays the "Toreador Song" from Bizet's "Carmen Suite" No. 2, while cellist David Finkel and pianist Wu Han have fun with Beethoven's variations on a duet from Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte."
Finally, the singers receive equal time with song and symphonic fare. Bryn Terfel sings Dvorak's "Goin' Home," backed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth. As a highlight in our last hour, we'll hear a live recording of the New York Philharmonic's Lincoln Center inaugural concert: a star cast of singers including Lucine Amara, Jennie Tourel, Richard Tucker and George London join forces with the NY Phil and Leonard Bernstein for part one of Mahler's monumental Symphony No. 8, the "Symphony of a Thousand."
» "Mazeppa" premieres at the Metropolitan Opera
