Irish Opera Singers in Munich

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 http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/a-world-of-song/programmes/2015/0531/705081-a-world-of-song-sunday-31-may-2015/?clipid=1894743

Click on the link above to Liz Nolan's wonderfully insightful interview with mezzo soprano Tara Erraught in the Sunday World of Song slot on RTE LyricFM .  As Nolan herself put it-'Erraught is a  highly perceptive commentator on her art and milieu'.

Ms Erraught is the guest soloist in an opera gala with RTE NSO on Friday at the NCH. The concert will be broadcast live. I travelled to hear her perform with the same orchestra recently in an oddly balanced programme. My review here 

Dean Power Jonas Kaufman

http://cathydesmond.blogspot.ie/2014/06/taragate-some-musings.html

I experienced at first hand some of the inner workings of the Munich Opera House myself recently when I interviewed tenor Dean Power in January backstage. That piece appeared in the Irish Examiner in February  and you can read it here . I think it has been the most widely shared piece of the two dozen or so pieces filed.

Ms Erraught made light of the trials of travelleing and being away from home. I wondered about the generation of opera singers who made careers for themselves in Europe before there were daily flights to Irish airports . One such singer is John O Flynn, a bass from Cork returned from Munich to contribute much  to Irish musical life as director of the Irish Operatic Repertory Co. 

Alpine Symphonies

I am just back from a week in Bavaria where in between soaking up the sunshine and  alpine scenery, I caught a performance by Wuppertal Sinfonie Orchestra at the Congress Hall in Garmisch Partenkirchen. Young violinist Tobias Feldman was a very sweet toned soloist in Mendelssohn's concerto but it was the dramatic contrasts in Bruckner's 4th Symphony that made the biggest impression.  Conductor Prof. Toshiyuki Kamioka had a rather dramatic podium style, almost doubling over in drawing the softest pianissimo.

 In the capital, every Munchener seemed to have downed tools and taken up positions at the pavement cafés and gardens . Nothing quite so cheerful as drinking beer to  the sound of waltzes and polkas played by a live oompah band.  It wasn't all sunshine and smiles though.  There were some grim violent scenes too. Not on the streets I hasten to add but on the set of the Bavarian State Opera production of Mussorgsky's Boris Gudonov updated to a contemporary setting. We caught up  with cast member Clare tenor , Dean Power now in his second year as a member of the Staatsoper Ensemble.

Ecco di Lorenza at Vogler's Jazz Club

Drawing Dan Foley 

Finally after a gap of five years we returned to Vogler's Jazz Bar in Munich.  We loved the mix of jazz standards dished up with a dollop of humour by vocalist, Ecco Di Lorenzo and a backing trio.

listen to ‘Brass band in Englischer Garden, Munich’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Spanish music Innsbruck ’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Spanish music Innsbruck ’ on Audioboo

Proms Debut for Irish Trio in Billy Budd

Cast Billy Budd Glyndebourne

This is our moment
The moment we've been waiting for
these long weeks!
Now we'll see action
We're through with waiting
Now for deeds!

It was a glorious warm sunny day in London on Tuesday, perfect weather adding to the general good humour of the hundreds of queing promenaders. The crew of the HMS Indomitable  docked at the Royal Albert Hall for Proms no 60. The much lauded Glyndebourne Festival production  combining the large all male cast and chorus and the London Philharmonic Orchestra delivered a thrilling, gut wrenching performance of Benjamin Britten's nautical morality tale. Bass, Brindsley Sherratt's sinister black stockinged Claggert  hadn't a shred of a redeeming feature. Mark Padmore as the pale and tortured  captain and Jacques Imbrailo as the good hearted, doomed Billy were impressive, their emotional solos cutting through the cavernous space to pierce hearts all over the huge auditorium

The work was semi staged with singers in 18th century costume and the orchestra placed on platform between the soloists and the large chorus. The lighting was subdued enough to create an atmosphere but sufficient to read the libretto.  The visual and aural impact of seeing the brass and souped up military percussion of the LPO released from the sunken pit of an opera house was an added advantage  

An auspicious event from an Irish perspective in that no less than three young Irish singers made their Proms debut in the production.  Dean Power as Main Top , chorus member Padraic Rowan had a brief solo and Limerick baritone Brendan Collins also featured in the cast as Arthur Jones. Bravo ! So proud of you all .
I joined the crowd  gathered at the stage door to salute the performers as they disembarked for the last time. You can here my stage doors interviews with tenor, Dean Power and bass baritone, Padraic Rowan (chorus )   in the audioboos below.

This report is dedicated to artist and opera fan Sonia Schorman.

Related articles Curlew River at SJSS http://cathydesmond.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/turning-japanese-curlew-river-from.html

The work is available to watch for a limited time via the link below

http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2013/may/08/billy-budd-glyndebourne-2013-trailer-video

listen to ‘BBC Proms Debut Artist Dean Power and mother Maureen ’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Padraic Rowan on making his Proms Debut’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Padraic Rowan on making his Proms Debut’ on Audioboo

Verdi Nights at Bavarian State Opera

Thanks for watching #Turandot! Our next streamings will be THE #NUTCRACKER on Dec 13 and Verdi's #RIGOLETTO on Dec 30: staatsoper.de/tv
— BayerischeStaatsoper (@bay_staatsoper) November 25, 2012

Rigoletto Chorus with onstage brass band 

Vassallo front Dean Power right

The weather in  Munich was unseasonably mild and sunny  where I enjoyed a Verdi splurge at the State Opera House at two quite different productions in  the composer's 200th anniversary year . The cameras  were in place on Sunday night for the free live transmission of the performance of Rigoletto via the world wide web, a very welcome development. Nothing though can beat the live experience and although the house was sold out for weeks for this much anticipated new production,  I went along 'on spec' to see could I find a seat on the night. There was no returns queue but about an hour and a quarter before curtain up, about a dozen or so punters appeared in the gloaming and hovered on the front steps near the Maximillian Strasse end, doing a little circle  dance around each other to see who was buying and selling, the more seasoned punters  holding up signs declaring 'suche karte'. When at  last one of the huge doors ( the second door in  for future reference)  opened to admit opera goers, I made a bee line for the Abendkasse and soon after, I was on my way to a seat underneath the ceiling with a birds eye view of the fabulous retractable chandelier.

Post Show Analysis

The singing  was superb. Baritone  Franco Vassallo imbued the title role with great pathos. Star tenor Joseph Calleja lived up to expectations and soprano Patricia Petibon  glided  angelically around the upper register. Clarecastle tenor,  Dean Power  had a notable stage  presence  in the role of courtier Borsa Matteo.  Even at a distance, a sense of verve and dynamism emanated from the lively dancing baton of musical director, the ubiquitous Marco Amiliato .  

While the singing did not disappoint, the production lacked a certain theatricality.  The huge 100+  male cast and chorus in cream linen mounted on a tiered steps looked like a photo shoot  for  an M&S summer suit collection. Nor did the Duke look very menacing dressed more  for an autumnal day of gardening  than a spot of philandering in cosy beige cardigan and matching track suit bottoms. One can't help wondering did the Maltese tenor raise an eyebrow when he was handed a flowery dressing gown for his tryst with blue jean clad Gilda. (You knew the Duke had had his wicked way when Gilda appeared in the next scene in the same robe).  An antique wheelchair was assassin  Sparafucile's (Dimitry Ivashchenko) prop to convey his victims to the the next world. Sit in for a spin and you were doomed. Nothing in the lighting or staging  made you shiver at  the sinister  elements of the plot. A gigantic prancing horse made a brief appearance and looked impressive but it's relevance  was lost on me 

The opera house has such  splendid glittering  halls for promenading about  that  I was almost  sorry there was only one interval each evening, There was great style, lots of family groups and quite a few drindel dresses and the dress code was relatively formal. On our way out I noticed a gathering of  patrons  for a Q&A  with a representative of the team.  I  would love to be able  report the nuance of the debate but even without a grasp of German, one could guess by the tone and body language that these were somewhat disgruntled patrons. My source, a seasoned punter whom I met  on the steps earlier. told  me that the general tenor of the discussion was that although very musical, it had been a concert performance and not  quite living up to the hype and expectation of a generous six week rehearsal schedule. 

Aida was altogether a more theatrical affair although a similarly nuetral  palette of black, cream and white prevailed with  a smattering of gold for royalty.  The on stage trumpets looked and sounded splendid Sandra Radvonosky as Aida was impressive and I liked the Finnish bass, Mika Kares as Ramfis.  Robert Dean Smith as Radames sounded grand but didn't quite have the look of a battle honed warrior despite the costume. The battle scene was brief and  a little perfunctory and the choreography of the dance elements was in a  modern dance  style that jarred a little with a traditional look and feel to the production

Look at those shoes!

Programme Cover
Aida 

 While top price stalls tickets are over €100, I purchased a standing room  ticket online for  €11.50 which is incredible value by any reckoning. But addicted now to the  element of chance and the thrill in picking up a last hour ticket on the steps, I sold my ticket and traded up to  the relative comfort of a seat in the second balcony. I  had a fairly restricted view but for the price of little more than a cinema ticket at €14 one couldn't feel too hard done by. What did baffle me were the choice of photos in the background programme notes. Where I expected maybe a montage of great artists or historic figures of the past, instead there were rather grungy photos of bare torsoed young males that looked more like  adverts for a brand of jeans or underwear than images for a premier  opera house production. 

Set Aida Staatsoper 

The dates for the next free live screenings are below.. I will be linking up my laptop to the telly for these dates and if it won't be the same at least I can put my feet up and  switch on the English subtitles







Scene photos from Staatsoper website www.staatsoper.de   Related posts A Night at the Bavarian State Opera 2010

Live Opera Broadcasts to an Armchair near You

Aida Cast

Conductor Paolo Carignani 
staging Christof Nel 
Conceptual consulting Martina Jochem 
stage Jens Kilian 
Costumes Ilse Welter Fox 
Choreographic work Valenti Rocamora i Torà 
light winter Olaf 
Choir Sören Eckhoff 
dramaturgy Olaf A. Schmitt. 

Amneris Anna Smirnova 
Aida Sondra Radvanovsky 
Radames Robert Dean Smith 
Ramfis Mika Kares 
Amonasro Michael Volle 
The King Goran Jurić 

March 9, 2013
Leoš Janáček
Jenůfa

April 20, 2013
Richard Wagner
Der fliegende Holländer

May 11, 2013
Giuseppe Verdi
Macbeth

June 1, 2013
Terence Kohler
Helden

July 2013
Stream from the Munich Opera Festival
To be announced

Ceili at the Crossroads Festival: Clarecastle Singers' Club

Singers Session with Tim Dennehy photo Colm Keating 

And advance, retreat, advance, retreat and dance in your own place
Round the house for the last time now your fleeting steps retrace
Shape the silence to a golden reel and dance away all care
Through the night I hear your whisper, "dance a set for me in Clare"
          From A Winter's Tear by Tim Dennehy

Clarecastle singer and hurler Dean Power
image courtesy of Clare Champion

The last time I was in Power's Bar in Clarecastle was the occasion of the farewell concert of local tenor Dean Power prior to his departure for a young artist's position at  the Bavarian State Opera. As Dean shared the stage with some of the world's finest international opera stars in  his role of Nathaneal in the Tales of Hoffmann, fellow members of the Clarecastle  Singers Club  gathered in the local bar for the 12th annual session last Friday night in one of the events of the Ceili at the Crossroads Festival. 

If you haven't been to one , singers' sessions or clubs are a very particular type of musical evening. The emphasis is very much on the solo unaccompanied voice and instrumentals are rarely a feature. At the ones I have attended , the song selection has been in a traditional mode usually in  English. They are presided over by an MC or  a Fear an Tí who calls for order and calls on contributers in turn and generally keeps proceedings moving along smoothly. This makes this type of evening a bit easier to navigate than the musicians session where the etiquette isn't so apparent. In contrast to many choirs in the area, there was a greater proportion of gentlemen than ladies voices.

Dancing at the crossroads photo Clare People

 I arrived at 9.30 pm to find the session in full flow with a gathering of more than a hundred singers and listeners.  Procedings I am told were opened by veteran singer Robbie McMahon,  the King of Spancillhill.  There were love songs, songs of young love thwtarted, and love gone awry .   By far the most prevailing theme of the evening though was of emigrants  pining for home and happier times be it the Town of Killaloe,  the foot of Slieve Bloom ,  or the ole misty isle in general as in Isle of Hope  and the old family homestead in particular as in My Father's House  and This Old House   A visiting singer's song extolling the virtues of the  English Lake District echoed this theme as did the lovely  lilting Scottish Soldiers's Song .  There were political  ballads  and the ever popular anti war song Willie McBride . As the saying goes  'all our songs are sad'  and indeed there were relatively few humorous songs  but I enjoyed Phillip Brennan's self penned The Well of Tobartaoscán and sport got a look in with Gerry McNamara's Let Hurling Win the Day  dedicated to the local Clarecastle GAA Club celebrating 125 years of existance .


 The songs came thick and fast with interludes of funny stories before finally a short break to gather breath. Fear an tí, Tim Dennehy resumed the session  with  the spoken word, a poem by Michael Coady from Carrick on Suir (reproduced below) and one of his own self penned songs , A Winter's Tear one of  the most powerful renditions of the evening. The were reminiscences on the late and much missed Peadar McNamara, long time host of the singers sessions in Clare . Last night as I was leaving at nearly midnight, local TD Joe Carey  was being called for  a song . I gather the singing went on til the early hours and everyone who wished to contribute was heard .  Fearr an Ti Tim Dennehy was assisted by Anne Whelan and there was excellent order for each contribution from the large gathering. A truly inclusive musical experience 

Listen to Deirdre Callinan Griffin singing and talking about  sean nós tradition  at a workshop in Clarecastle on Saturday morning.

listen to ‘Clarecastle songs ’ on Audioboo

listen to singer  ‘Deirdre Callinan Griffin  on Audioboo

Though There are Torturers
by Michael Coady

Though there are torturers in the world,
There are also musicians.

Though, at this moment,
Men are screaming in prisons
There are jazzmen raising storms
Of sensuous celebration
And orchestras releasing
Glories of the Spirit.

Though the image of God

Is everywhere defiled

A man in West Clare

Is playing the concertina,

The Sistine Choir is levitating

Under the dome of St.Peter’s

And a drunk man on the road

Is singing for no reason

This is a rough list of participants and songs 930 to 12.00 . All details may not be accurate

Maire O Donoghue  Love Song  Michael White Chapel Gate of Curraclare Rebecca Griffin My Forever Friend  Charlie Landsborough , Helge Belgium, Young Siobhan Cunningham Crusheen, Joe Downey Isle of Hope, Triona Marrinan O Grady  Hannah, by the roving of her eye, Gerry Abraham The Orange and Green, Mick ScanlonThe Town of  Killaloe,  Gerry McNamara Let Hurling Win the Day,  Darren Richmond Cumbria Song, Anne Whelan Love Song Can you hear me London Town,  Phillip Brennan The Well of Tobairteascain , Hugh Kearney , Joe Kearney   Funny tales,   Peter O Connell In my Fathers House PJ Fitzpatrick MyOld Sligo Home,  Ger Carrigg My home at the foot of Slieve Bloom,  Donal Kenny Robert Emmet,  Michael Whelan Scottish Soldier Song Mary Clancy Song of Emigration ,  Noirin Lynch Love Song, Cathy Desmond Love is Teasin'

Related articles
The Raw Bar  Festival of Traditional Singing

The Singer and the Song Willie Clancy Week  2012

Come the Sails   Michael Coady was one of the featured poets

A Night at The Bavarian State Opera

Bavarian Staatopera House, Munich

Orchestra Pit Munich Opera House

We travelled to Munich on Stephen's Day and stopped off in the Bavarian capital for a couple of nights. We arrived late in the evening in an unusually  quiet city and we were disappointed to see the shutters drawn everywhere including  in Voglers , our favourite jazz venue.  The following evening we enjoyed a production of La Boheme  at the magnificent opera house.  As the performance was sold out punters hovered hopefully on the steps hoping to snap up returns some bearing cards saying "Besuchen Karten" which added to the air of anticipation .  The Bavarian holiday audience were a very well turned out lot with lots of  family groups, children on best behaviour,  women in party frocks and men in Austrian style wool suits and lots of people changing out of Winter shoes for something more elegant to promenade around the magnificent mirrored and chandlere bedecked  spaces.

Arias and High Emotions in Clarecastle

It was a night of high emotion in Clarecastle as the local community turned out in force to bid Bon Voyage and Farewell to local young tenor Dean Power. Usually I am not a fan of these pot pourri evenings where one can spend a good proportion of the concert time applauding but this was just the right format for this particular occasion.

The repertoire was light and frothy with Dean opening the procedings with You are My Heart's Delight Lehar? He was joined by young tenors Ross Scanlon and Peter Donohue, mezzo soprano Naomi O' Connell. But the real surprise of the night was American baritone, Adrian Rosa who tells me is shortly heading to Seattle to play Mazetto in Don Giovanni. Great poise and stage presence , a treat. Katie Daly gave an Irish lullaby just the sort of gentle treatment required . The stand out moment however came towards the end of the second half with the number from Jekyll and Hyde, 'This is the Moment'. Just the right song for the occasion and the lyrics perfectly apt for the moment.

Everybody wept, the piano player ( rather wonderful Mairead Hurley) the tenor , the ladies in the front row. We continued to wallow as the group who have been singing together since teenage years sang what else but Time to Say Goodbye. One sensed it would never be quite the same again. Here is wishing him well in his new endeavours