I invite you to travel with me as I circle the globe. There is music to enjoy every where.
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New Year’s Eve at the Metropolitan Opera. The new production of Carmen worked for me, even updating the action to a modern-day rodeo. Whoops and hollers instead of oles! Aigul Akhmetshina had a triumph in the title role. Piotr Beczala cancelled as he was sick, but Rafael Davila was a fine Don Jose. Happy New Year!
The sun was shining (most of the time) for the incredible privilege of both meeting William Christie and then being able to explore his garden, “Bâtiment” in Thiré, on our own. Christie founded Les Arts Florissant, one of the best-known baroque-music ensembles in the world, in 1979. In 1985, he fell in love with the “Bâtiment”, an old stone house from the turn of the 17th century, which he decided to rescue from its sad state of ruin. The garden was named a “Jardin remarquable” in 2004 and was listed on the French Supplementary List of Historic Monuments in 2006.
Opera doesn’t get much better than this exciting performance of The Tales of Hoffmann at the Bastille. Benjamin Bernheim was terrific, as was Pretty Yende. Two great stars that I was fortunate enough to catch early in their careers in Zurich. Christian Van Horn performed all four bass-baritone roles. Also excellent.
https://operawire.com/obituary-legendary-mezzo-mildred-miller-dies-at-98/
Mezzo-soprano Mildred Miller has died at the age of 98.
This afternoon it was Florencia en el Amazonas at the Met. Loads of melodies and an enchanting production. First opera this season that ended without someone dead. Perez was magically transformed into a butterfly. Lots of kids in the audience, so the Met is indeed reaching new audiences.
The Verdi Requiem at the Met. What a performance!
It’s opening week of the Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center. I walked through the WTC plaza on the way to work for years before 9/11. It’s amazing to see what has emerged from all of the destruction of that day.
I've been a fan of Death of Classical for years now. Andrew Ousley and his team do great and fascinating things.
CBS Sunday Morning produced a video segment featuring Death of Classical, exploring organizations that were presenting Classical Music in new and unusual ven...
What to see and hear in New York this season from the New York Classical Review team.
This event is more than the great tenor Jonas Kaufmann singing Schubert’s Schwanengesang for a week at the Park Avenue Armory—this is a fully staged performance in the massive Drill Hall space. Opera director Claus Guth will use sound design, lighting, and costumes to turn the set of songs (an...
Thank you to Classical Voice North America and Rick Perdian LLC - Travel & Music for this engaging and informative review of Week Two in our five-week Tippet Rise concert season.
Read the piece at: bit.ly/weektwo-review-2023
"The second week of the 2023 festival opened Aug. 25 with a chamber-music concert in which Pedja Muzijevic was joined by violinist Rebecca Anderson, cellist Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, and pianist Jenny Chen. On a late summer afternoon, Tippet Rise’s Olivier Music Barn offers an ambiance that few, if any, concert halls can provide; the musicians performed in front of a large window that framed a lone tree silhouetted against the Beartooth Mountains, with black-eyed Susans and tall grassed swaying in the breeze."
Tippet Rise Art Center’s summer season 2023 18/08/2023 by Rick PerdianTippet Rise – where music, art and nature combine to nourish the soulOlivier Music Barn and Will’s Shed © Erik PetersenThere are no bounds to Lindsey Hinmon’s enthusiasm when describing what makes Tippet Rise Art Center s...
I had the privilege to spend two days absorbing Montana’s natural beauty and experiencing art and music at Tippet Rise. This remarkable place sprung from the imagination of Cathy and Peter Halstead. Pedja Mužijević curates the music series. I stayed in Auden cottage where I drank my morning coffee looking at these magnificent vistas in Big Sky Country.
Travel came early to me due to my parents, but this was the first time music and travel merged. Lisa Simonton (in the front row) was part of this remarkable journey also and has been with me on many more since then. And our conductor, Ed Groves, is as passionate and exacting as he was 50 years ago.
SHARON — At a time when the Cold War divided Europe between East and West, a group of Hickory High School students served as “Ambassadors of Friendship” — spending three
Camelot!
And in the cocktails too!
Pink flamingos at Lincoln Center after Camelot!
A hot summer evening at Lincoln Center
Just a short overnight stay in Rome before flying to Newark tomorrow. Happy about that as it’s supposed to be really hot here this week. Didn’t really need another meal, but this restaurant is a classic. It filled up while I was here. The clientele is great for people watching, and on this evening leaned stylish and young. If the Puglia tour starts in Rome, we may stay in the hotel in which the restaurant is located and dine here.
Last day in Monopoli… Craig went on a quest for Stracciatella for one of the covid pod dinners. He found an opened container in a shop in Hoboken. Stracciatella is basically the soft cream insides of buratta. It originated in Puglia. So for lunch, mortadella and stracciatella wrapped in thinly sliced potatoes and a plate of pasta with stracciatella and zucchini. Plus one small scoop of pistachio gelato just to make Kate and Beth Pindilli and Kate happy. Now, I am going to soak off some calories in the Adriatic.
A quick trip to Lecce is far south on the heel of Italy. It’s known for its beautiful Baroque buildings and of course food.
Bari is an amazing city. The main streets are lined with high-end shops. Angela, her mother and I went to an excellent performance of Verdi’s Otello at the Teatro Petruzzelli and feasted afterwards on typical Puglia cuisine. It’s so civilized to have a 6:00 PM curtain with dinner afterwards.
In Monopoli near Bari. Looks like this will be a tour destination in September 2024. Enjoyed lunch with Angela, who told me about Don Ferrante. I wanted to jump in the sea, but that had to wait for another time. Ciao!
Dvorak’s Carnival Overture
And a bit later, the Suite from Forrest Gump
Mariánské Lázně, known to some as Marienbad, is one of the great spas of Europe.
A visit to the Pilsner Urquell Brewery in Pilsen. They have been brewing golden “Pilsner” lager there since 1842. Free beer 🍺 for all and then ‘Schnitzel und Kartoffelsalat’ for me.
Stopped in Olomouc and Litomyšl.
Basically all of the Moravian town of Kroměříž is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Even got to see Dvorak’s Rusalka in with harp and piano accompaniment in the Chateau gardens on a “free” night. Excellent!
Buchlovice Chateau was the estate of the Counts von Berchtold from 1763 until 1945.
An excellent dinner at ZEM in Prague. “ZEM is an avant-garde Czech bistro, juxtaposing the aesthetics of Pragues traditional coffee houses with 1920s retro-futuristic Czech art, literature and engineering. The menu is a creative blend of Czech produce with occasional hints of Japanese flavours, crafted from a theatrical kitchen stage of charcoal and steam.” Or in other words, food as delicious as it looks.
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And a bit later, the Suite from Forrest Gump
Dvorak’s Carnival Overture
Swimming in Reykjavik. Ignore the background noise.
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