Category: Drama

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Free Concerts for this Moment of Social Distancing

With live performances shut down in many places (Boston and DC, where I go to shows are basically shuttered through at least the end of the month), live presenters and producers are going online.

A few I know about and the list will grow I’m sure.

The Berlin Philharmonic is performing to an empty hall today at 1 p.m. EDT, Berio and Barkok. This will be streamed live in their Digital Concert Hall, for free. https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/news. The site also notes that anyone can get access to the complete archive (generally a subscription or per concert fee) for free through the end of the month. The perfect time to build your own Beethoven Festival.

The Met is closed but has is streaming archived Live in HD performances on their web site starting Monday. Here’s the list:

Monday, March 16 – Bizet’s Carmen

Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, starring Elīna Garanča and Roberto Alagna. Transmitted live on January 16, 2010.

Tuesday, March 17 – Puccini’s La Bohème

Conducted by Nicola Luisotti, starring Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas. Transmitted live on April 5, 2008.

Wednesday, March 18 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore

Conducted by Marco Armiliato, starring Anna Netrebko, Dolora Zajick, Yonghoon Lee, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Transmitted live on October 3, 2015.

Thursday, March 19 – Verdi’s La Traviata

Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, starring Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Flórez, and Quinn Kelsey. Transmitted live on December 15, 2018.

Friday, March 20 – Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment

Conducted by Marco Armiliato, starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez. Transmitted live on April 26, 2008.

Saturday, March 21 – Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor

Conducted by Marco Armiliato, starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, and Mariusz Kwiecien. Transmitted live on February 7, 2009.

Sunday, March 22 – Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin

Conducted by Valery Gergiev, starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Transmitted live on February 24, 2007.

I saw a number of these, and Dessay’s Fille was a particular delight if you need a few laughs.

And of course Eugene Onegin is one of the most beautiful operas every written, although would be sad to watch it with the late great Hvorostovsky.

Other free streaming efforts: Bayerische Staatsoper (pretty hard to resist a Kaufmann/Harteros Trovatore).

Haven’t seen any theater or ballet notices yet, but will keep an eye out. Maybe Broadway in HD could remove the subscription for a couple of weeks?

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More and Cromwell

Cromwell

WaMoretching the terrific adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall” on Masterpiece and enjoyed the visual reference to  the Holbein portrait of Thomas Cromwell (even sitting for a portrait comes with a bit of pointed political intrigue in this take on the story).

The painting itself hangs in the Frick, and is paired with that of Thomas More by the same artist. Both Anton Lesser who plays More and the dazzling Mark Rylance, the Cromwell, evoke the characters in these paintings to an extraordinary degree, a conversation about representation of history that continues.

It’s also interesting to consider the conversation between Mantel’s telling of the Thomas More story and the beloved (if now sort of 1960s ) version in A Man for All Seasons. A great feast for lovers of fine acting of an earlier era.