Stories » It's Renee Fleming Week at the Metropolitan Opera / Playbill

Stories for April 21, 2021

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    Todd Mosby discusses 'Aerial Views' with Harmonious World Podcast
     
    Posted At : April 21, 2021 4:00 PM

    Acclaimed guitarist Todd Mosby joins me for the latest episode of Harmonious World. We all need perspective right now, and there's a lot of that in Todd's latest album - Aerial Views . Todd's comment about creating music that musicians will love to perform on is very apt and I finish with Aether, one of my favourite tracks of 2021. Harmonious World Podcast gives many thanks to Todd for allowing me to feature clips from Aerial Views  alongside our conversation. LISTEN

  • Shabaka Hutchings is cover feature on DOWNBEAT - May issue
     
    Posted At : April 21, 2021 12:00 AM

    Over the last half decade, Shabaka Hutchings has established himself as a central figure in the London jazz scene, which is enjoying its greatest creative renaissance since the breakthroughs of Joe Harriott and Evan Parker in the 1960s. Hutchings has a restlessly creative and refreshingly open-minded spirit, playing in a variety of groups-most notably, Sons of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming, and Shabaka & the Ancestors-and embracing influences from the sounds of London's diverse club culture, including house, grime, jungle, and dub. "The common theme in my career as a jazz musician has been wondering if what I'm doing is the thing that I should be doing," says Hutchings, who studied classical clarinet at college at London's prestigious Guildhall School of Music & Drama. "Me learning about jazz, how to play and interpret, was always a case of just trial and error. I think where I've come to recently is I've stopped trying to think ‘Is what I'm doing valid? or ‘Is what I'm doing part of the jazz tradition?' and just see myself as a musician." Hutchings is featured on the cover of the May issue of Downbeat. SEE COVER IMAGE

  • Whatever Art Of Time Ensemble's 'Ain't Got Long' is, Skope Magazine can't get enough
     
    Posted At : April 18, 2021 12:00 AM

    Skope's Sasha Lauryn writes....."A world in which people seek the uncertainties, and possibilities, of art" is the vision of one of the most innovative ensembles to be gracing the popular music landscape right now. With the recent release of their latest album, it's undeniable that Art Of Time Ensemble is bringing that vision to life. Led by the artistic direction and vision of Andrew Burashko together with arrangements by Jonathan Goldsmith who reinterpreted a wide array of songs that qualify as standards. Goldsmith stays faithful to the original melodies and form and then pushes the boundaries as far as possible in every conceivable way. After immersing myself in the deeply sensory sonic landscapes, mesmerizing motifs and hypnotic storytelling that their recent album ‘Ain't Got Long' boasts, I can say with certainty they do just that. The Canada based collective have been breaking archaic genre boundaries since 1998, as their eclectic mix of musicians has attracted captivated crowds on multiple tours. Honestly, I'm just waiting for them to announce their next road trip. This album features the phenomenal pipes of Madeleine Peyroux, Gregory Hoskins, Jessica Mitchell and Sarah Slean. Perhaps it's Andrew's perfect pairings of soundscape with singer or the astounding arrangements of the songs themselves that sets this album apart from anything I've experienced.

    Whatever it is, I can't get enough. READ THE FULL Skope Magazine REVIEW

  • The Catalyst Quartet Uncovers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and is the 90.1WRTI: Classical Album of the Week
     
    Posted At : April 19, 2021 12:00 AM

    WRTI's SUSAN LEWIS writes......The Catalyst Quartet uncovers music and the stories of the people who wrote it in its new recording series UNCOVERED. The first volume focuses on music by late 19th-century English composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The Catalyst Quartet, founded in 2010 by the Sphinx Organization, aims to "reimagine" the classical music experience. "Sometimes classical music is presented like a museum piece," says violist Paul Laraia. "We want to make sure everything we do has relevance to today," and so the ensemble's programs reach out to a diverse audience, with diverse repertoire. This new project, Uncovered, featuring music of composers who have been overlooked because of race or gender, begins with an album of music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a Black English composer born in the late 19th century, the child of an English mother and an African father from Sierra Leone. Ironically, Coleridge-Taylor, who was born in 1875 and died suddenly at the age of 37, was acclaimed during his short lifetime.  Raised in England, he started violin at 5, joined the Royal College of Music at 15, and at 23, had a triumphant premiere of his cantata, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, set to the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He toured the U.S., where he visited The White House at the invitation of President Teddy Roosevelt. He was so successful, the story goes, that New York musicians in the early 1900s began referring to him as "The Black Mahler;" others are said to have called him "The Black Dvorak."  And while Hiawatha's Wedding Feast remains familiar to many choral ensembles and you may recognize his melodies such as Deep River, much of his over 80 compositions, including operas, ballet music, songs, a symphony, violin concerto and chamber music are unknown today.   Volume 1: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor includes one quartet, and two quintets, one featuring pianist Stewart Goodyear, and one with clarinetist Anthony McGill. LISTEN & WATCH THE 90.1WRTI: Philadelphia INTERVIEW

  • It's 'The Joe Lovano Show' on 'SOMETHING came from Baltimore'
     
    Posted At : April 18, 2021 12:00 AM

    'SOMETHING came from Baltimore's' Thom Gouker......Yeah!  This was a big thrill for me.  I was nervous interviewing one of my favorite artists of all time, Joe Lovano, so I decided to ask him 20 goofy questions to see how he handled them.  He easily accepted the challenge and spun junk questions into gold. It's very impressive and that it why I suggest that you check out the Youtube interview, we chatted for 1 1/2 and must of it make it to tape. "Garden of Expression" is the sent album with the trio Lovano/Crispell/Castaldi, the first was the 2018 release "Seeds of Change" Do we have to explain who Joe Lovano is?????  This is copied from Wiki. Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952) is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. He has earned a Grammy Award and several mentions on Down Beat magazine's critics' and readers' polls. He is married to jazz singer Judi Silvano with whom he records and performs. Lovano was a longtime member of a trio led by drummer Paul Motian. LISTEN

  • Catalyst Quartet is on a mission with UNCOVERED Vol. 1 / LIMELIGHT Magazine - Recording of the Month
     
    Posted At : April 18, 2021 12:00 AM

    LIMELIGHT Magazine's Clive Paget writes......Superlative soloists and compelling chamber music from a quartet on a mission. One of the revolutions set in progress by last year's Black Lives Matter protests has been the refocusing of the classical music industry's attention of composers of colour, many of them historical figures formerly the preserve of the curious collector and rarely programmed live. New York-based Catalyst Quartet was founded in 2010 by the Sphinx Organization, an outstanding Detroit-based social justice organisation dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) build programs and projects accordingly and this excellent release of music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor is the first in a projected series of "Uncovered" CDs focussing on composers overlooked because of race and/or gender (others releases will include music by Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, William Grant Still, Florence B. Price, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, and George Walker). CLICK HERE FOR THE LIMELIGHT PAGE

  • In a continuous exploration of harmonic and rhythmic patterns, William Susman releases; Collision Point & A Quiet Madness
     
    Posted At : April 18, 2021 12:00 AM

    Spellbinding Music's GUILLAUME writes....Born in Chicago and based in Palo Alto, California, William Susman is an American composer and pianist whose work encompasses orchestral, chamber, vocal and soundtrack music informed by western classical, jazz, African and Latin American traditions as well as contemporary minimalism. Constantly toying with instrumental permutations – from solo performance to his scaled-down big-band formation Octet – the music of William Susman is a continuous exploration of harmonic and rhythmic patterns. Released in October 2019 and January 2021 respectively on his own Belarca label, Collision Point and A Quiet Madness introduce works spanning over 25 years. This is "music for moving pictures" – to paraphrase the title of his documentary soundtrack released in 2009 – an astute and contemporary sonic expression of the "quiet madness" playing out on 24-hour news TV channels or as an infinite scroll on our smartphone screens. READ THE FULL Spellbinding Music REVIEW

Top 10 for Apr

  • Vijay Iyer :

    Uneasy

     Uneasy, with Tyshawn Sorey and Linda May Han Oh, is Vijay Iyer's second trio album on ECM and his seventh appearance as a leader on the label.
  • Sons of Kemet :

    'Hustle' from Black To The Future

     Saxophonist, composer, philosopher and writer Shabaka Hutchings returns with a brand-new album from his Mercury Prize nominated outfit Sons of Kemet.
  • Dustin O'Halloran :

    Silfur

     Dustin O'Halloran's debut Deutsche Grammophon album, Silfur, explores the shifting perspective of music through time and place in new pieces and reimagined earlier works.
  • Eydís Evensen :

    Bylur

     Icelandic pianist and post-classical composer Eydís Evensen has confirmed details of her debut album, BYLUR, which will be released on 23rd April, 2021 by XXIM Records, Sony's new imprint for innovative, post-genre instrumental music.
  • Moby :

    'Porcelain' from Reprise feat. Jim James

     Musical pioneer Moby announces his new album Reprise, out May 28th on Deutsche Grammophon.
  • Jacob Muhlrad :

    Time w/Swedish Radio Choir

     Those who peep through the window of Jacob Mühlrad's studio in Stockholm will see the composer busy behind his computer screen, perhaps blasting some Drake or FKA Twigs as he works on his own music.
  • Anoushka Shankar :

    'Sister Susannah' from Love Letters P.S.

     Seven-time Grammy® Award-nominated sitarist, composer and producer Anoushka Shankar announces a stunning new digital release Love Letters P.
  • Jon Batiste :

    We Are

     WE ARE represents a completely new sonic chapter for Jon Batiste.
  • Clark :

    Playground in a Lake

     On 26 March 2021 the ambitiously multifaceted musician/composer Clark presents his chillingly affecting ninth studio album Playground In A Lake, on which he broadens horizons and tries new things, with profound results.
  • Joey Alexander :

    SALT

     Three-time GRAMMY Award-nominated pianist Joey Alexander follows his major-label debut album, WARNA (Verve Records), with three new singles "SALT" (March 19: LINK), "Under the Sun" (April 23), and "Summer Rising" (May 28) set for global release on Verve.

It's Renee Fleming Week at the Metropolitan Opera / Playbill

Posted: January 11, 2021 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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Playbill's RYAN MCPHEE writes.....The Metropolitan Opera pays tribute to one of its biggest contemporary stars, soprano Renée Fleming, this week with free streams of seven of her signature roles. The lineup is the latest in the New York City company's Nightly Met Streams series. The week kicks off with her turn as the Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro; later titles include Rossini's Armida, Massenet's Thaïs, Dvořák's Rusalka, and Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier.

Since "retiring" from her traditional repertoire in 2017 with a performance of the aforementioned Strauss opera, the Grammy winner has explored other arenas to showcase her instrument, including a Tony-nominated turn in Broadway's Carousel, an album of show tunes, a multi-city run of The Light in the Piazza, and the world premiere of Norma Jeane Baker of Troy opposite Ben Whishaw. She is also attached to an operatic adaptation of The Hours alongside Joyce DiDonato and Kelli O'Hara.

READ THE FULL Playbill ARTICLE

Crossover Media Projects with Renee Fleming

  • Renee Fleming

    Lieder - Brahms, Schumann, Mahler w/Munich Phil

    RENÉE FLEMING returns with a stunning album spanning six decades of German song 

    Four-time Grammy winning soprano Renée Fleming presents her first full-length Lieder album in almost two decades, released on Decca Classics on June 14. The release date coincides with her London musical theatre debut, performing the role of Margaret Johnson in the Tony-winning musical The Light in the Piazza at Royal Festival Hall.

    The new album, Lieder, features songs by Brahms, Schumann, and Mahler, each of whom bring Romantic poetry to life through exquisite word-setting and sublime melody. Fleming is joined by Christian Thielemann and the Munich Philharmonic in a performance of Mahler's Rückert Lieder. For songs of Brahms, including the beloved Brahms' Lullaby, she is partnered by her long-standing artistic collaborator Hartmut Höll on piano. Fleming and Höll also perform Schumann's Frauenliebe und-leben,recorded after extensive Europe-wide touring, and described as a "youthful, buoyant, uplifting outpouring of love" (Financial Times).

  • Renee Fleming

    Broadway

    Currently wowing theatre-goers in the US with her Tony-nominated performance in Carousel, Grammy-winning soprano Renée Fleming announces her new album ‘Broadway', to be released on Decca Classics on Friday 7th September. Celebrating musical theatre, the album features a diverse array of great songs for the stage by composers including Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Pasek & Paul, and Rodgers & Hammerstein, as well as a special guest duet with the Hamilton, television and film star, Leslie Odom, Jr.

    Fleming made her Broadway musical debut this April as Nettie Fowler in the hit new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's beloved Carousel. She received glowing reviews and even a Tony nomination – the prestigious awards ceremony takes place this Sunday. The Hollywood Reporter described her performance in Carousel as "superb" and "sheer euphoria", and Newsweek said, "she is divine".

  • Renee Fleming

    Distant Light

    Internationally renowned soprano Renée Fleming begins the New Year with a refreshing new album entitled ‘Distant Light' – her first orchestral album in three years. It features an adventurous mix of music by Samuel Barber, Anders Hillborg and Björk and will be released on Decca Classics on January 6, 2017. For this album, Fleming has chosen works in which music and poetry merge to create soundscapes, each piece evoking emotional states - nostalgia, unease, desire, joy - with cinematic clarity. The pieces are also united by the idea of a singer as a generative force, involved not only in the performance of music, but at the outset, in its creation. 

    11 NEW  58 TOTAL
    SYND:     Classical 24, CBC
    Direct: MOOD
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Atlanta, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Portland, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Albuquerque, Hartford CT, Ft. Wayne IN, NJ(Network), WV (Network), Canada
    Online: AccuRadio 

  • Renee Fleming

    Christmas In New York

    Following her acclaimed performance at Super Bowl XLVIII, America's favorite soprano Renée Fleming is set to release her first-ever holiday album, Christmas In New York.  The album celebrates the sparkle and sophistication of the beloved Christmas season in New York City, in a richly collaborative recording featuring holiday evergreens and nostalgic favorites. Guests include: Chris Botti, Kurt Elling, Kelli O'Hara, Gregory Porter, Wynton Marsalis, Brad Mehldau, and Rufus Wainwright.  

    30 NEW   85 TOTAL
    SYND:     Classical 24, CBC
    Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Cleveland, Seattle, Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, New Orleans, San Diego, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Austin, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Memphis, Tampa, Orlando FL, Raliegh NC, Madison WI, Wichita
    Online: Taintradio, ClassicallyHip, Jazz From Gallery 41

  • Renee Fleming

    Guilty Pleasures

    Four-time Grammy winner Renée Fleming releases Guilty Pleasures - the eagerly-awaited sequel to her 1999 best-selling, landmark recording. Guilty Pleasures is a musical feast poised to delight old and new admirers, featuring some of Renée's personal favorite selections she has long wanted to record.  The album includes arias from operas by Dvorak, Smetana and Tchaikovsky, coupled with indulgences such as "Danny Boy," John Corigliano's "The Ghosts of Versailles" and the 'Flower Duet' from Delibes Lakmé, for which she is joined by the incomparable Susan Graham.

    29 New 'ON' this week: 47 TOTAL
    SYND:     PRI/Classical 24
    Direct: SiriusXM, Music Choice
    Markets include: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Wash DC, Atlanta, Seattle, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Houston, St. Louis, Denver, Portland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Buffalo NY
    Online: RadioIO, WGOE