Classical Music USA

Winnie Mandela: The Opera

A new operatic project has been announced in South Africa focussing on the controversial life and career of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

'The Passion of Winnie' will be staged at the South Africa State Theatre in Pretoria next April. Both the music and the libretto are by South Africans, Bongani Ndodana-Breen and Warren Wilensky respectively, and the work is thought to be the first opera to be wholly written in the country.

Wilensky, who is also producing the show, said of the project: "I don't think it gets any better. She is the perfect operatic character. The highs and lows of her life are too big for a normal dramatic story. It's not about a grand heroine, it's about real life and humanity. She was there at a difficult time with no support and came to personify the struggle. We're trying to tell a fully-rounded story that I don't think has been told before."

The libretto is in a combination of English and Xhosa. It opens at hearings of the post-Apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission before recounting Mandela's earlier life in flashbacks. The international press attending the Commission hearings take the role of a Greek chorus.

Happy Christmas from Classicalmusic.us

...and Happy Christmas too from the Unipiper.

 

Captain Beefheart dies aged 69

Don Van Vliet, better known to the music world as Captain Beefheart, has died in California at the age of 69.

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band came to international attention in the 1960s as a result of early collaborations with Frank Zappa. Their distinctive brand of psychedelic, avant-garde rock placed the band at the radical end of the counter-culture spectrum of the late 60s, but this did not stop their magnum opus Trout Mask Replica gaining a wide international audience following its 1969 release.

Van Vliet always considered himself a visual artist as much as a musician, and in 1982 he turned his back on music, and on his Captain Beefheart persona, to concentrate on abstract art. By the end of his life, his canvases were selling for tens of thousands of dollars.

His death was caused by complications associated with multiple sclerosis. He had been suffering from the disease since the 1980s and had been confined to a wheelchair since the early 1990s.

 

Mass protest at La Scala opening night

Protests outside the Teatro alla Scala are a common sight at opening night performances, but last night's demonstration was the largest seen there for many years. The crowd was made up of students, artists and trade unionists campaigning against the Italian government's plans to cut funding to education and the arts.

Inside, conductor Daniel Barenboim took the unusual step of addressing the audience to express sympathy with the protesters' concerns. He said "I am speaking on behalf of all my colleagues who play, sing, dance and work - not only in this magnificent theatre - to say how much we are worried about the future of culture in this country and Europe." The address was apparently aimed at Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who was attending the performance.

But the protests did little to diminish the enthusiastic reception for the performance that followed of Wagner's Die Walküre. The cast were given a 15 minute standing ovation, and applause was loudest for mezzo soprano Waltraud Meier, who took the role of Sieglinde.

Boston Pops attempts carolling world record

An attempt was made yesterday afternoon to break the world record for the highest number of people singing a Christmas carol. The crowd assembled at the foot of Boston's Prudential Tower and were led through a number of carols by Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart.

The event was sponsored by local radio station 105.7 WROR, and when Santa Claus addressed the crowd, he told them that he regularly tuned in and assured them that he got excellent reception at the North Pole.

However, the record bid failed, meaning that Bob Jones University in South Carolina retains the title by a healthy margin of about 4,000. Organisers blamed the exceptionally cold weather for the lower than expected turnout and vowed to try again next year.

Mikhail Pletnev cleared by Thai authorities

Russian conductor and pianist Mikhail Pletnev will not face any charges in connection with child sex claims in Thailand. A press release by his Russian National Orchestra today announced that the investigation in Thailand came to an end on 28 September.

Pletnev was never formally charged in connection with the case, but the controversy surrounding it forced him to cancel a number of high profile appearances this summer, including concerts at the Proms and the Edinburgh Festival.

According to the Thai press, police there have, however made a number of other arrests for child prostitution as a result of the investigation.

German tenor Peter Hofmann dies aged 66

The death has been announced of German singer Peter Hofmann. To the classical music world, Hofmann was best known as a Wagnerian heldentenor. He made his Bayreuth debut in 1976 singing Siegmund in the Boulez/Chereau centennial Ring production. He later performed Lohengrin, Parsifal, Tristan and Loge at the house.

But Hofamann was better known in Germany for his regular forays into rock and pop music. He made television appearances throughout his career, and also played the Phantom of the Opera in Hamburg in 1990-91.

Hofmann's death follows a long battle with Parkinson's disease dating back to 1994.