Opera // Current

Elisabeth Söderström obituary

One of the most perceptive and admired sopranos of the postwar era, Elisabeth... more

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Only in LA: An opera about a freeway

Los Angeles Opera said today that it will present two workshop performances of a new... more

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Opera broadcasts from La Scala, Barcelona returning to local cinemas

Now that the Metropolitan Opera no longer has the monopoly on opera broadcasts to... more

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Top 5 Worst Actor Musicians

Ellen counts down the Top 5 Worst Actor Musicians of all time. The Rotten Tomatoes... more

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Artaxerxes: the opera that time forgot

Thomas Arne was the star of English composition in the 18th century, but within a few... more

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Burning Man Is Now An Opera

Can't get to the desert but always wondered about Burning Man? Relax, it's been made... more

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Opera releases beta of Unite broswer-based apps platform

Opera Software has released a beta version of Unite, its browser-based application... more

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Placido Domingo Awarded Biggest Classical Music Prize

STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s King Carl Gustav awarded tenor Placido Domingo on Tuesday the... more

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Lloyd Webber launches Phantom 2

"World-famous composer Lord Lloyd-Webber has launched his latest musical, Love Never... more

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inquinare o riutilizzare..........la seconda che hai detto !!!!

Molto spesso si gettano via cose a cui potremmo donare una seconda vita...... .....ci... more

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Io......riutilizzo!!!!

Molto spesso si gettano via cose a cui potremmo donare una seconda vita...... .....ci... more

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A innocent canadian pakistani declare terrorest in us based on a false,fabricated case by FBI.

I am grateful to Mr. Don Harkins the editor of THE IDAHO OBSERVER, (USA) and her associates Ms. Anne Wilder Chamberlain to help me prepare my story.

The following short note comes from them:-

KHALID
When we first began corresponding with Khalid Awan in 2007, we had no idea why he was serving time in U.S federal prison.We soon discovered Awan was one of the first of thousands of Muslims taken prisoner in the post-9/11 U.S "terror War". As the story began unfolding in our letters, we began to realize that this honest, humble and sincere man was not only innocent, but the ongoing injustice being done to him provides critical insight into the mindless, mean-spirited, bureaucratic-yes-men idiocy fueling the illegal U.S. "War on Terror" (and just about everything else that is going wrong in this country). At our insistence, Awan wrote his story and supplied us with whatever documents we requested. And now, after three months of cooperative efforts, the story of Khalid Awan can be told. We have come to know Awan as a peaceful man engaged in peaceful work, who has been wrongfully accused, detained and repeatedly convicted of crimes he did not commit because he was a Muslim with international connections and an office in New York on 9/11. Anyone who might of the Muslim belief, especially a person raised overseas who has difficulty understanding our language and our corrupt judicial system, can be arrested and detained indefinitely in this country, certainly without a trial before a jury of his peers. Khalid is one of these Muslims.

We present this to you in faith that you will realize a deeper understanding of the levels of complicity necessary for the "land of free" to tolerate the phony war on terror year after year and in hope that Awan --- and all the other million or more political prisoners being held by this country---will one day be reunited with their families.

(Thanks from the bottom of my heart to you, Mr. Don Harkin and Ms. Anne W. Chaimberlain for your devoted, caring attention in helping me expose my plight and injustices being suffered by myself and others. Your humanitarian devotion, on-going help and attitude truly an inspiration to me in my life!)

Khalid Qayyum Awan (From USA Federal Prison)

CONTACT OR MAILING ADDRESS IS GIVEN BELOW

Khalid Awan # 50959-054
USP Marion
P.O.BOX : 1000
Marion, IL 62959
USAI am grateful to Mr. Don Harkins the editor of THE IDAHO OBSERVER, (USA) and her... more

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A real story of Pakistani Canadian prisoner Khalid Awan.

The U.S. terror war as seen through the eyes of a prisoner When we first began... more

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Sting appears in Twin Spirits, a celebration of Robert Schumann

It’s a bizarre sort of ensemble, a kind of genre-busting supergroup. Distributed carefully about the stage in a smallish studio theatre are stars of theatre, opera, the recital hall and, in a random invasion from left field, the stadium. The assembled include Derek Jacobi on spoken voice, Simon Keenlyside on sung voice, Natalie Clein on cello and Iain Burnside on piano. And wandering in beardedly from the rock and roll hall of fame, that’ll be none other than Sting. Plus his wife Trudi Styler.

What possible cause can this disparate gallery of superstars have to muster on the same stage somewhere in the intestinal labyrinth that is the Royal Opera House?

Here’s a clue: Sting has not brought his guitar, or indeed his lute. He and Styler are appearing as actors. They sit in well-upholstered armchairs. From his, Sting delivers the words of Robert Schumann, while around him, male musicians perform Schumann’s music. Meanwhile, Styler recites the letters of Clara Wieck, the pianistic virtuoso who became Frau Schumann, interleaved by performances from the trio of female musicians.

Twin Spirits is a celebration of the life, love and music of the Schumanns. At times romantic and tragic, it traces their early infatuation, the thwarted hope as Clara’s father refused Schumann access to his daughter, their eventual marriage, followed all too soon by the composer’s illness which killed him at the age of 48.

The title refers to their conspiratorial habit, when banned from meeting as young sweethearts, of arranging to play the same piece of piano music at the same time.
“I didn’t know much about the letters,” Sting cheerfully concedes in a break during rehearsals. “We went to the first rehearsal and started to read the story and then the music started to come to life.

“It became much less abstract. It became about their passion and their difficulties. It’s a very compelling and emotional story. Audiences who see it or hear it are as deeply affected. It’s a real tear-jerker. Clara is quite something.”

Needless to say, it’s all for charity. Sting and Styler were first embroiled in the lives of the Schumanns when asked by their Wiltshire neighbour Lady Chichester, whose brainchild Twin Spirits is. “I think she asked us because we were cheap,” Styler says.It’s a bizarre sort of ensemble, a kind of genre-busting supergroup. Distributed... more

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More but Selective Music for the New WQXR

Some announcers will remain. The Metropolitan Opera will still be heard on Saturdays. Religious programming will disappear. Don’t expect to hear much vocal music. Vivaldi? “Just about anything.”

WQXR, the only classical music station in New York, will have a new sound after Oct. 8, according to plans unveiled on Wednesday by WNYC, its new owner.

Although WQXR will travel up the dial to 105.9 from 96.3 FM, WNYC officials were clear that much of its music would remain safe and on the traditional side in an effort not to alienate its longtime listeners. But the station hopes to attract new listeners more accustomed to the public radio sensibility and online listening.

Less familiar works, more modern music and pieces geared toward a younger audience will be presented on the station’s new Internet stream, called Q2. WNYC radio’s listenership is more than double that of its stream, the station said. “Radio definitely trumps Internet still,” Ms. Walker said.

The station will continue to broadcast the Met, the New York Philharmonic and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, along with programs — some of them syndicated — including “The McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase,” “Performance Today,” “From the Top” and “Pipedreams.” The fates of “Reflections From the Keyboard” and the Metropolitan Museum of Art concert series are uncertain.

The station will phase out the broadcast of religious services by the end of the year because National Public Radio, of which WNYC is a member, forbids such programming.

WNYC took charge of WQXR after it was sold by The New York Times Company, a move that probably saved its classical format. The public radio station announced a $15 million fund-raising campaign to pay for the acquisition and operations. Ms. Walker said the station was about halfway there.

The mission statement proclaims a philosophy of “the right music at the right time.”

The programmers also provided a sample list of “core composers” and the works that would most likely play on the radio versus the Internet. They stressed that the list was but a guideline.

Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Wagner were there. So were Copland, Janacek, Gershwin, Satie, Sibelius and the ever-popular Vivaldi. Mahler was missing.Some announcers will remain. The Metropolitan Opera will still be heard on Saturdays.... more