Lovers' Rock

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!


to celebrate, here are some of Opera and Ballet's storied lovers...the tragedy and bliss...















If you're looking for very last-minute ways to impress your Valentine, consider checking out the final day of Till Death Do Us Part at Rogue Buddha art gallery, or sending out a special radio request via MPR's 99.5 Classical. adorable.

Russian Winter playlist

If you don't plan to hit up the Art Sled Rally this Saturday at Powderhorn Park, you might consider getting down with Devereux instead. The Minnesota Opera kicks off Donizetti's Roberto Devereux- a tale of lusty monarchy, trysts with Duchesses and Earls, treason and vengeance! (that's my friend Ben Johnson kissing the neck of the queen)


It's been a month jam-packed with fabulous performances from the MN Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Hopefully some of you got to make it out to one of the SPCO's Stravinsky Festival shows. My empty pockets and busy schedule kept me from going, so I consoled myself by compiling the Russian Winter playlist below. I did however, purchase tickets to MN Opera's much anticipated La Boheme in March, after months of scrimping and saving! In a future blog post, I'll explore the irony of starving-artist bohemes like myself being unable to afford the $100 tickets it takes to see an opera about starving-artist bohemes ;)





AND NOW... THE RUSSIAN WINTER PLAYLIST

There’s a kind of solidarity between the inhabitants of two frozen tundra lands. I think that’s why Minnesota winter seems the perfect season for fiery, steely-souled Russian music. Just like how in high school I had certain albums that acted as soundtracks for the different seasons- U2’s Unforgettable Fire for November, Bjork’s Vespertine in February- this Russian Winter playlist has been my fur hat- clad, Cossack-style soundtrack for the subzero months.

On the playlist, are 2 of my very favorite composers- Igor Stravinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. I grew up dancing the ballets of these Russian masters. Stravinsky’s eery Petrushka, the story of a love triangle between a creepy clown, rag doll, and Moor doll; his mysterious, exotic Firebird; his raw, tribal Rite of Spring. Then there’s the lesser known Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov whose sultry Scheherazade tells of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. And of course I danced the classic Tchaikovskys- Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Nutcracker. I’ve also included works by the famous “Five” or Mighty Handful: the Romantic-era composers Borodin, Cui, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov, whose epic, nationalist works have become anthems of Russia.


portraits of the composers Glinka (top) and Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov (below) by Russian painter Ilya Repin.



You can listen/watch the playlist via Youtube videos by clicking the link below. If you hit “play all” it will auto play the whole thing. You can also listen to my past playlists on the Trysts Philharmonique Youtube channel. Or you can hear excerpts on this page using the player at the top of the sidebar, and enjoy some pictures of Russian stuff...

Mikhail Glinka - “Ivan Susanin”
Igor Stravinsky – “Petrushka”
Modest Mussorgsky – “The Great Gates of Kiev”
Igor Stravinsky – “Firebird”
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – “The Snow Maiden”
Sergei Prokofiev – “Scythian Suite”
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – “Russian Dances” (from Swan Lake)
Mily Balakirev – “Tamaras”
Sergei Rachmaninoff – “Isle of the Dead”
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – “Song of India” (from Sadko)



painting by Minneapolis' own Luke Hillestad-a reference to Repin's Ivan the Terrible

the Mariinsky Theatermore Repin paintings


Russian fashion Galliano style, Chanel's matrioshka doll purse and pendant, Stravinsky, and faberge eggs

painting of the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna by Ivan Makarov / John Galliano fashion inspired by the Snow Maiden opera by Rimsky-Korsakov




In my years of classical ballet training in the Russian Vaganova style, I was fortunate to be taught by several great Russian instructors, Gabriela Komleva, Alla Sizova, Luba Gulyaeva, Kaleria Fedicheva- principal dancers with the Kirov and Bolshoi ballets- whose fierce, perfectionistic coaching struck the fear of god into my arabesques and taught me the value of striving and suffering for one’s craft. I will also always remember the great Russian maestros Ilya and Tatiana, who accompanied our dancing with beautiful piano.

my Russian ballet teachers...
I found this incredible old video of my teacher Gabriela Komleva...

CLICK PICTURE




... and finally, some post-Soviet photography by Donald Weber...

A Weekend of Modern and Future Classics

Well, we've made it over the hump and now it's time for you to start thinking about your weekend! What fabulous event are you going to get all gussied-up for and take hot pictures of yourself and your hip friends to post on facebook? ;)
Luckily, you've got a cornucopia of classy choices to choose from, as demonstrated below:



THURSDAY-SUNDAY


Casanova's Homecoming is in it's second weekend at the Minnesota Opera, and seems to be pleasing the critics. The Star Trib says.."a spirited revival shows Casanova's Homecoming by Dominick Argento to be a great modern comic opera." (Read the full review here) and there's some fun back-story about "local" composer Argento here on the Minnesota Public Radio website.




SATURDAY


Osmo Vanska conducts the Minnesota Orchestra in Future Classics- an "electrifying night of fresh and innovative sounds" featuring brand spankin' new works from young (but accomplished) composers. One such composer is Angel Lam, whose name is awesome and makes me think of Gwen Stefani's little Harajuku girl-inspired fashion line called L.A.M.B. (LoveAngelMusicBaby). Luckily, Angel Lam's music doesn't sound so much like Gwen Stefani as it does Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, who recently performed her work.




SUNDAY


Vanska Plays Mozart/MSO Plays Vanska
My pick of the weekend (because IT IS FREE!) comes from the Metropolitain Symphony Orchestra, again with MN Orchestra director Osmo Vanska as guest composer and soloist. MSO is Minnesota's best civic orchestra, and my awesome cellist friend Aubrey plays with them.





THURSDAY-SUNDAY
and last but not least, in keeping with my recent Paris obsessing...



The University of Minnesota Opera presents three short operas from Igor Stravinsky's time in the city of lights.
If you're a U of M student, you get cut a "sweet" deal- $10 tickets with your student ID. The rest of us have to pay TWENTY dollars- a ridiculous price to see non-professionals at a government-funded public school, if you ask me. I wish I could afford to see this. Sounds awesome!




On the subject of affording tickets, I've been thinking for a while about joining the Minnesota Opera's club for twenty and thirty-somethings called Tempo. For a reasonable membership cost, you get some pretty sweet deals like discounted show tickets and invitations to special Opera-hosted events and parties. If I join, it will definitely be in time for La Boheme in March! I am so excited!! The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has a similar type of deal called Club 2030, which is FREE and gets us youngsters the sweeeeet deal of $10 tickets and half-price wine and beer at neighboring restaurant Pazzaluna. I'm definitely going to be taking advantage of that awesomeness for their December performance Treasures of the Italian Baroque! More about that later.

Well... hope you get out and do something fun this weekend! And remember to check the Philharmonique calendar of local performances (link on the sidebar to your right) regularly- I'll try to keep it up to date with good stuff!

Fall playLiszt

This post is all about autumn in Paris and what I was listening to at this time last year on my ipod on the metro rides from Maisons Lafitte- the musty, antique equestrian town, to Montmartre with its gray, sloping streets. It’s about patinas of decaying leaves covering everything, and spooky silhouettes of horses being walked like dogs down the street after sundown. It’s about walking in golden glow through the rows of trees in Jardin de Tuilleries, Debussy playing in my earbuds, and laughing at the cheesiness and perfection of the moment.

The only thing that can compete with Fall in Paris is Fall in Minnesota. So click on the link below and you can listen via Youtube, one selection at a time or as a continuous “playlist”- I like to open it up in a new tab so I can listen while I do other stuff on my computer.
I’ve been listening to a lot of string quartets. Something about the warm resonance of strings evokes autumnal tones for me. A lot of these works have a melancholy feel too; wistful and a little haunting like fall, which is all about death but also very romantic.












LISTEN TO FALL PLAYLIST HERE

1. Erik Satie - Trois Gymnopédie No.1 ( lonesome, lovely piano piece)

2. Alexander Borodin - Polovtsian Dances (from the slavic opera Prince Igor)

3. Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto for Two Mandolins, Strings & Basso Continuo
(warm/golden/harvest-y :)

4. Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major (played by Yo-Yo Ma..exquisite!)

5. Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares - Zhenala e dyulber Yana
(Bulgarian peasant songs- choral music)

6. Maurice Ravel- String Quartet in F Major
(this piece will brighten your gloomy day- TRUST me! It's my absolut favorite!)

7. Antonio Vivaldi - Four Seasons: Autumn ( mandatory, I guess...)

8. Claude Debussy - String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
(my favorite work by my favorite composer- sweeping, romantic, heart-breaking, ecstatic...everything one is supposed to feel when one is in Paris!)

9. Puccini - Senzo Mamma, from the opera Suor Angelica
(lament for a dead child from the cloisters in Florence... sends shivers down my spine, especially when sung so purely, as in this version featuring Veronika Dzhioeva live from the Proms)

10. and last but not least...
watch this beautiful film someone made to Debussy's lush Reverie...



Now let's hear what you would add to the list!


* Sorry there wasn't any actual Liszt included ;)