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Private Notes
The Los Angeles Philharmonic opens the 2009 season with the debut of its 28-year-old music director, Gustavo Dudame. The concert was taped at the Disney Concert Hall on October 8, 2009. The LA Phil's new Creative Chairman, Pulitzer Prize-winning music composer John Adams, debuts his new work, City Noir, which evokes the Film Noir movies of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Internationally renown tenor Andrea Bocelli returns to Great Performances accompanied by producer and arranger David Foster. A variety of genres are represented in the selection of Christmas music, as Bocelli performs solos and with guest performers.
Sting sings a variety of songs, carols and lullabies, old and new, evoking the winter season. Recorded at Durham Cathedral near Sting's hometown of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in northern England. Musicians include local Newcastle artists Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian pipes and fiddle), Peter Tickell (fiddle) and Julian Sutton (Melodeon). Other performers include Dominic Miller (guitar), Vincent Ségal (cello), Scottish harpist Mary MacMaster, Ira Coleman (bass), Chris Gecker (trumpet), David Mansfield (violin and mandolin), Cyro Baptista, Bashiri Johnson and Rhani Krija (percussion), and vocalists Laila Biali, Lisa Fischer, Jo Lawry and Steven Santoro. Also includes an additional ensemble of 35 musicians.
Acclaimed director Luc Bondy brings a new production of Puccini's Tosca to New York's Metropolitan Opera House. The performance is sung in Italian with English surtitles. Karita Mattila sings the title role of Tosca opposite Marcelo Álvarez as Cavaradossi. George Gagnidze plays Scarpia and Paul Plishka is the Sacristan.
Austrian director Robert Dornhelm brings Puccini's beloved opera to the big screen in this film adaptation released to theaters in October 2009. The piece is a showcase for opera greats Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón.
Julie Andrews returns for her second year hosting the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's celebration. The orchestra continues its tradition of performing Strauss waltzes, marches and polkas. Taped sequences are included showcasing beautiful European locations.
Spike Lee directed this film version of the award-winning Broadway rock musical. Writer and narrator, Stew, tells a semi-autobiographical story of a young black man who leaves his middle class home in the 1970s to travel to Europe to find himself.
Award-winning film maker Susan Froemke's documentary of the week leading up to the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions. The final group of talented and hopeful singers prepare and perform for the tough group of judges.
Opera star Renée Fleming hosts this new production of Verdi's Aida. Set in Egypt, this production was choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, artist-in-residence with American Ballet Theatre and former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet.
Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's last, unfinished opera. Zeffirelli also designed the dazzling sets. This production premiered at the Met in 1987, and has been an audience favorite ever since. Andris Nelsons is the conductor. The production is sung in Italian with English surtitles.
Popular Canadian singer Michael Bublé performs a concert at New York's Madison Square Garden. Recorded in December 2008, songs include his past hits and songs from his album, Call Me Irresponsible.
Jerome Robbins' urban ballet, set to a jazz score by Robert Prince, was originally performed in 1958. This film adaptation was shot in locations around New York City. Included is a 10-minute documentary about the origin and history of the work.
Jacques Offenbach's French opera, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffman) is performed by the New York Metropolitan Opera. The production is sung in French with English subtitles.
Comic tale of love and intrigue in 18th-century Vienna.
The actors wear modern dress in this film adaptation of the 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company production. This film version of Hamlet first aired in the U.K. in December 2009.
Bizet's opera of the gypsy, Carmen, and her passionate relationships with men gets a fresh take with this new production at the Met. Yannick Nézet-Séguin is the conductor; Renée Fleming hosts. Elīna Garanča - Carmen Roberto Alagna - José Barbara Frittoli - Micaëla Teddy Tahu Rhodes - Escamillo
Four decades into a legendary Met career, tenor Plácido Domingo makes history singing the title role in Verdi's gripping political thriller, which is written for a baritone. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris are his co-stars in this moving and tragic story of a father and his lost daughter. James Levine conducts.
Ambroise Thomas's opera is performed. The original 1856 book changed Shakespeare's ending, making Hamlet King. When the opera was first performed in London Thomas rewrote the ending keeping more in line with Shakespeare's version. This production combines the two endings. Performed in French with English surtitles.
Renee Fleming takes on one of Rossini's most demanding roles in his opera, Armida, which takes place during the Crusades.
The successful format of combining well-known singers with a light staging and full orchestra and chorus works well here for a re-staging of Chess the Musical - The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other; all in the context of a Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, during which both countries wanted to win international chess tournaments for propaganda purposes. Although the protagonists were not intended to represent any specific individuals, the character of the American was loosely based on chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer, while elements of the story may have been inspired by the chess careers of Russian grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov. (Wikipedia)
Vincenzo Bellinis opera about a sleepwalking woman forced to prove her undying love for her betrothed. "La Sonnambula" is Latin for "The Somnambulist." The original opera is set in the Swiss Alps. This production depicts modern-day actors staging a production of La Sonnambula in a rehearsal hall. Performed in Italian with English subtitles.
Giacomo Puccini's beloved opera tells the tale of a Japanese geisha betrayed by her American lover. This production was created by Academy Award-winning director Anthony Minghella, who passed away suddenly in March 2008. Sung in Italian with English subtitles, this performance was taped on March 7, 2009.
Renowned folk artist Pete Seeger turned 90 in May of 2009. To celebrate, more than 40 artists whose music was influenced by Seeger gathered at New York's Madison Square Garden to perform songs inspired by Seegers music and political activism. Taped live on May 3, 2009.
Gioachino Rossini's operatic version of the classic tale of Cinderella. Maestro Maurizio Benini conducts the Metropolitan Orchestra. Sung in Italian with English subtitles.
Many African Americans who found themselves in Europe at the end of WWI stayed there because there was less racism than in the United States. Over the next twenty years, until the violence of WWII, they created an expatriate community of musicians, entertainers and entrepreneurs, in Paris' Montmartre neighborhood. This documentary tells the story of this neglected portion of African American cultural history. Inspired by the book Harlem in Montmartre: a Paris Jazz Story by William A. Shack. Narrated by S. Epatha Merkerson.
Documentation of the life and career of Herbert von Karajan, one of the most respected conductors of the 20th centry. Karajan was director of the Berlin Philharmonic for 35 years, and conducted orchestras across Europe. Many performances are featured, including rehearsals, concerts and rare archived footage.
The Vienna Philharmonic performs an outdoor concert in the historic Baroque Park overlooking the Vienna's Schönbrunn Palace. Daniel Barenboim is the orchestra's conductor.
The Police final tour, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This comprehensive performance documentary, the first profile of the tenor in a decade, features the celebrated tenor – and general director of both the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera – as he looks back and reflects with heartfelt candor on his choicest roles from opera houses around the world – Simon Boccanegra and the Emmy-winning Tosca from Rome.
An American favorite for his award-winning role in the hit TV series House, the versatile British actor Hugh Laurie showcases his musical side in an atmospheric personal odyssey filmed on location in New Orleans
Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and Creative Chair for Jazz Herbie Hancock launched the LA Phil’s 2011/12 season with a sparkling George Gershwin gala at Walt Disney Concert Hall in September. “This is the first time as a professional musician that I’ll be playing a piece that’s essentially classical music with jazz overtones with a symphony orchestra, and what a symphony orchestra it is!” marvels Hancock just before the concert, referring to his keyboard work in Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
Hitman Returns was filmed before a sold out crowd last year at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The lineup of talent, lead by Foster as maestro of ceremonies, includes performances by Seal, Donna Summer, Martina McBride, Earth, Wind & Fire, Natalie Cole, Ruben Studdard, All-4-One,'Glee' star Charice, Chaka Khan, Jackie Evancho, Lara Fabian and other artists whose careers have been touched by Foster, a 15-time Grammy winning producer and songwriter.
