Upcoming and Noteworthy

With Bastille Day right around the corner, surge to power on the allegedly diminutive shoulders of Napoleon Bonaparte.  We indulge in small pleasures with a little music from “War and Peace” (Nino Rota), “The Pride and the Passion” (George Antheil), “The Duellists” (Howard Blake), and “Napoleon” (Arthur Honegger).  It will be a satisfying show by any measure, this Friday at 6 pm.

Whether you call it “The Force of Destiny” or “The Power of Fate,” Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” from London’s Royal Opera House is this week’s Sunday Opera (7/14 3:00 p.m.).  After its premier in St. Petersburg in 1862, the opera was revised for a performance in Rome in 1863 under the title of “Don Alvaro.”  From there, it was further revised for performances in New York and Vienna in 1865, Buenos Aires in 1866, and London in 1867 with further extensive revisions to both the music and libretto for a La Scala performance in 1869, and that final revision has become the standard version.  

“Broadway rhythm it’s got me.  Everybody Dance!” on this week’s Dress Circle (7/14 7:00 p.m.) as we look at how rhythm has appeared in songs from some well-known and lesser-known shows and a few film scores (which just happen to be films about producing stage shows).  Our shows include “Strike Up the Band,” “Crazy for You,” and “Lady, Be Good!’ with songs by the Gershwins.  Some of the other better-known shows include “Sweet Charity,” “Carmen Jones,” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”  

On this week's Lyric Stage we have Lisa della Casa singing Mozart and Strauss, including the first complete recording of Strauss' Four Last Songs, which she made in 1953. She will also sing arias by Handel and Puccini, and some Lehar as well. 

For Bastille Day, enjoy original works by figures who employed their skills as orchestrators in the service of more celebrated French composers, including Henri Rabaud (orchestrator of Fauré’s “Dolly Suite”), André Caplet (orchestrator of Debussy’s “Children’s Corner,” “Clair de lune,” “Le Martyre de saint Sébastien,” and “La Boite à joujoux”), Henri Büsser (orchestrator of Debussy’s “Petite Suite” and “Printemps”) and Charles Koechlin (orchestrator of Fauré’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” and Debussy’s “Khamma”).  These musical Cyranos emerge from the shadow of Roxane’s balcony, Sunday at 10 pm.

The star-spangled glare of American music doesn’t just end with the fireworks.  This week, on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll bask in the pyrotechnic after-glow of Independence Day with an hour of film music by Aaron Copland.  Enjoy selections from “The City,” “The North Star,” “Something Wild,” and the Academy Award winning score for “The Heiress.”  It’s music for the silver screen by the Dean of American Composers, this Friday at 6 pm.

We’ll journey to 18th century St. Petersburg on this week’s Sunday Opera (7-7 3:00 p.m.) and a story of obsession in Tchaikovsky’s “Queen of Spades” from London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.  Hermann seems to be fascinated by gambling although he never gambles himself.  However, after hearing about an aging countess who holds the secret to a winning three-card combination, he finds he cannot help but confront the old woman for her secret which begins his spiral into an obsession which results in death and ruin.  Antonio Pappano conducts a cast that includes Aleksandrs Antonenko as Hermann, Felicity Palmer as the aging Countess, Eva-Maria Westbroek as her granddaughter Liza, who tragically falls in love with Hermann.   

George and Ira Gershwin are the featured composing team on this week’s Dress Circle (7-7 7:00 p.m.) on a program entitled “Gershwin Interpreted.”  Some of the theatre songs include “I Got Rhythm,” “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” “The Man I Love,” “Mine,” and “Sweet and Low Down.”  Interpreting these works and more are favorites like Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Paul Whiteman, Jimmy Dorsey, Lena Horne, and Cliff Edwards.  We’ll also be including The Boston Pops in an orchestral arrangement of Gershwin’s Three Preludes and Larry Adler in a unique rendition of Rhapsody in Blue.   

George Gershwin rose from Tin Pan Alley scrapper to Broadway royalty.  From there, he conquered the concert hall and even the opera house, with his blend of popular song, jazz, blues, spirituals and European classical forms.  Tune in for a selection of Gershwin songs, peformed by Al Jolson, Ella Logan, and Fred Astaire (pictured, with the composer and his brother, Ira); the world premiere recording of “An American in Paris,” with Gershwin himself on the celesta; and the Concerto in F, played on a memorial concert by Oscar Levant.  It’s music of Gershwin, by George, this Sunday at 10 pm.

Travel back to 14th century Genoa with this week’s Sunday Opera (6/30 3:00 p.m.) and Giuseppe Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” from London’s Royal Opera House.  Simon, a former pirate, is now the Doge of Genoa who is working for peace between Genoa and Venice while dealing with unrest from his own people and the loss of his one true love.  Carlos Alvarez leads the cast as Simon, Ferrucio Furlanetto is Jacopo Fiesco, his rival and the father of his beloved, Hrchuhi Bassnez is Amelia, Boccanegra’s “lost” daughter, Francesco Meli is Gabriele, Amelia’s beloved, and Mark Rucker is the treacherous Paolo.  Henrik Nansi conducts.  

We’re celebrating the career of Doris Day on this week’s Dress Circle (6/30 7:00 p.m.) whom we lost on May 13th of this year at the age of 97.  Day never appeared on Broadway, so we’ll be focused on her beginnings as a big band singer with Les Brown and some of her in musicals and films like “Romance on the High Seas,” “My Dream Is Yours,” “It’s a Great Feeling,” “Lullaby of Broadway,” “Love Me or Leave Me,” “Calamity Jane,” and several more.  Join us to remember a lovely voice and a charming performer who became a tireless advocate for animal rights.

Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried” comes to the Sunday Opera this week (6/23 3:00 p.m.) from London’s Covent Garden.  The third installment of the Ring cycle follows Siegfried in his quest to learn fear as he kills the dragon Fafner and finds Brunhilde with whom he immediately falls in love, and that love teaches him fear through his desperation.  Sefan Vinke heads the cast as Siegfried, Gerhard Siegel is Mime, John Lundgren is Wotan, and Johannes Martin Kranzle is Albreich.  Antonio Pappano conducts.