FanFaire-the webzine that celebrates music

FanFaire celebrates MUSIC in the spring of its 10th year...

JOIN THE GIVEAWAY OR BUY THE CD NOW!	A VERY SPECIAL GIVEAWAY... "The Very Best of HILDEGARD BEHRENS " FanFaire officially began its celebration of music some 10 years ago with a tribute to its first featured artist, HILDEGARD BEHRENS and a celebration of RICHARD WAGNER's RING CYCLE at the Met in which she starred. As FanFaire advances halfway into its tenth year and strives to continue into the next decade its celebration of all that is good and beautiful in music, we find occasion to pay tribute yet again to the legendary soprano with a special GIVEAWAY of 25 AUTOGRAPHED 2-CD set albums of EMI Classics' THE VERY BEST OF HILDEGARD BEHRENS. CLICK HERE to JOIN THE GIVEAWAY and HERE for more about the album. In the most recent of our continuing conversations with Ms. Behrens, she shared some of her explorations into new repertoire which she described as "an exciting journey through various dimensions of time and space" and so graciously transcribed herself in the form of a letter to her"Dear Friends at FanFaire." To read, CLICK HERE. It was also at about the same time that Ms. Behrens agreed to a videotaped session in which she fondly and good-humoredly recalled her memories of the legendary LUCIANO PAVAROTTI, beloved tenor of our times who had just passed away. CLICK HERE to watch VIDEO CLIPS.

Photos: � Robert Millard / courtesy LA Opera	PLÁCIDO DOMINGO 40th ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT TO BE SHOWN at 22 LANDMARK THEATRES NATIONWIDE In an exciting new development for LA Opera that will bring PLÁCIDO DOMINGO and the art form—of which he is today's most eminent champion and practitioner— to music lovers throughout the country, LANDMARK THEATRES will host the screenings of Domingo's 40th Anniversary Gala Concert in 22 theatres in cities throughout the US, including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, Seattle, Houston, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, St. Louis and Baltimore. The gala, held on April 18, 2024 commemorated DOMINGO's debut in Los Angeles in November 1967, years before LA had an opera company. He has sung in the city every year since then, performing his landmark OTELLO at LA OPERA's 1986 inaugural. The gala concert was an elegant, red-carpet, sold-out musical event— mostly of popular operatic arias and duets sung by DOMINGO and his guest soprano, PATRICIA RACETTE, with JAMES CONLON conducting the LA OPERA ORCHESTRA. The screenings bring LA OPERA to movie theatres for the first time, marking a season of "FIRSTS" for the company that include: the PBS Great Performances telecast of *The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, the DVD releases of Mahagonny* and *La Traviata, the ‘LA Opera on Air’ broadcasts, and—as part of the Recovered Voices* project—the first full-staged productions of operas suppressed by the Nazis by a major American company. With DOMINGO looking ahead to his next 40 years as suggested, tongue-in-cheek, by the film tribute that introduced the concert's second half, clearly the best is yet to come for this ever ascendant opera company on the West Coast that is today the youngest of the world's greats, no small thanks to DOMINGO!

"BACH PERFORMANCE ON THE PIANO" BUY THE DVD!	ANGELA HEWITT: born to play BACH! Anyone who has seen Canadian ANGELA HEWITT in performance is certain to come away convinced that if there was one pianist born to play BACH, she is IT! And her recently released 2-DVD set "Bach Performance on the Piano" in conjunction with her ongoing World Bach Tour confirms it. It was during the Southern California leg of her Tour that FanFaire had the opportunity to videotape an interview with MS. HEWITT, 2006 Gramophone ARTIST OF THE YEAR, between her amazing performances of Bach's complete WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIER with the PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY of ORANGE COUNTY. In a series of video clips, she takes us back to the years she was "growing up with Bach" in Canada with her parents as her teachers, shares her insights on Bach, the Well-Tempered Clavier and the piano, and gives us a peek into her very own Trasimeno Music Festival. CLICK HERE to watch VIDEO CLIPS.

MICHAEL YORK reviewing a score with LBO General Director ANDREAS MITISEK	HOLLYWOOD MEETS OPERA... MICHAEL YORK in LONG BEACH OPERA's "STRAUSS MEETS FRANKENSTEIN" It is not a matter for conjecture that among today's Hollywood celebrities, it is film and stage actor MICHAEL YORK who knows his music and loves opera with a passion. It is a fact: he is a regular at LA Opera and is often seen at various classical music events in the Southland. Most recently, he stepped on to the operatic stage as a performer, obviously to his heart's delight. The audience who saw him at Long Beach Opera's double-bill program entitled "STRAUSS MEETS FRANKENSTEIN" had a treat as YORK took them on a journey— no! a wild ride—from MELODRAMA to PAN-DEMONIUM. CLICK HERE to find out what that was all about. VIDEO: YORK on OPERA YORK ON WORDS & MUSIC

	Classical is Classical and Pop is Pop... But there's a pianist who never says "The twine shall never meet." He's CHRISTOPHER O'RILEY! When he's not touring with some of the world's great orchestras or "on air" with his popular weekly show "From the Top" on National Public Radio which he has now taken on the road to the towns of America, he unleashes his musical imagination in pursuit of his third calling—morphing his favorite pop/rock songs into his very own classical-style arrangements. And so, in him "the twine do meet!" FanFaire had the opportunity to ask O'RILEY why he does what he does— in a videotaped interview following his rehearsal for the WORLD PREMIER of his TRIBUTE TO NICK DRAKE at UCLA's Royce Hall, as well as to tape portions of the rehearsal. CLICK HERE to view the INTERVIEW and HERE to view ORILEY at the piano playing his own POP TRANSCRIPTIONS. But that's not all! In April 2007, O'RILEY became the host of a show on Public Television. In May 2008, "FROM THE TOP AT CARNEGIE HALL" begins its second season. An offshoot of his NPR radio show, it likewise showcases America's brightest young classical musicians. So... check your local PBS schedule for the broadcast times in your area and see for yourself why classical music will thrive in America.

	SPECIAL TICKET DISCOUNTS for FanFaire viewers 15% OFF! Soprano JESSYE NORMAN in recital The Five Seasons: Summer, Winter, Spring, Fall and the Eternal Season of Love Thursday May 8, 2008, at 8pm / Royce Hall (UCLA) / presented by UCLA Live The legendary American soprano, 2006 recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, returns to ROYCE HALL with joy, passion, and "all that is virtuous in singing" in an uplifting program that celebrates LOVE and THE FOUR SEASONS. Accompanied by pianist MARK MARKHAM, Ms. NORMAN will sing works by Brahms, Mahler, Gershwin, Schoenberg, and others Ticket buyers MUST use promo code NORMA15. Tickets can be purchased ON-LINE or at 310-825-2101. No discounts to prior purchases. 2 for 1 TICKETS!! Mezzo-soprano FREDERICA VON STADE in recital FRIDAY May 9, 2008, at 8pm / Terrace Theater, Long Beach Performing Arts Center 300 Ocean Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90802 presented by LONG BEACH OPERA One of the world's most-beloved and celebrated mezzo-sopranos makes her ONLY Los Angeles appearance this season in a recital of 20th century French and American works accompanied by JAKE HEGGIE, popular composer of acclaimed operas (Dead Man Walking, End of the Affair) and song cycles. TICKETS: $110, 85, 65, 45, 30. 2 for 1 tickets can be purchased ONLY through the BOX OFFICE: CALL (562) 432-5934. Buyers MUST mention 2 for 1/FanFaire when calling for tickets. Offer does NOT apply to on-line purchases
BUY THE CD!	On a separate note: JAKE HEGGIE' s newest CD has just been released by NAXOS as part of its American Classics series. Entitled "FOR A LOOK OR A TOUCH", this composition is a dramatic song cycle that casts light on the fate of gay Germans in the Holocaust. Commissioned by MUSIC OF REMEMBRANCE, a Seattle-based organization dedicated to remembering Holocaust musicians through their art, the work is based on a true story of two lovers torn apart forever by the Holocaust. The libretto is by frequent HEGGIE collaborator GENE SCHEER. CLICK HERE to view HEGGIE's growing discography.
COMING UP...
	Mezzo-soprano VIVICA GENAUX... ... will receive PITTRSBURGH OPERA's prestigious Maecenas Award at a Gala Dinner on May 17, 2024 marking the twenty-fourth time someone has thus been honored. Ms. GENAUX joins an illustrious group of past winners who include: Dame Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills, Marilyn Horne, Stephanie Blythe, Shirley Verrett, Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally. About a week later on May 26, she performs a FREE RECITAL with pianist Carlos de Aragon at the Chapelle Royale, Versailles, FRANCE. Anyone wishing to receive free tickets(maximum of 2 per person), MUST call the Conseil Général des Yvelines in Versailles. TEL: (+ 33) 01 39 07 70 92.

	LA OPERA BEGINS CELEBRATION OF PUCCINI's 150th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY... ...on May 17, 2024 with the composer's popular opera TOSCA to be performed in repertoire with LA RONDINE beginning June 7, 2008. TOSCA will run through June 21, receiving 10 performances with soprano ADRIENNE PIECZONKA making her role debut as the famous prima donna trapped in a love triangle between her lover, sung by tenor NEIL SHICOFF and the town's treacheous police chief, played by baritone JUAN PONS. The rarely staged LA RONDINE, which ends the company's current season, continues for six additional performances through June 28. The opera, sweepingly romantic depiction of mistaken identities and true love. is a hidden gem best known for its haunting aria, "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" stars soparano PATRICIA RACETTE—who sang at PLACIDO DOMINGO's 40th ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT —as Magda opposite tenor MARCUS HADDOCK's Ruggero. The Puccini celebration will continue throughout 2008 with productions of IL TRITTICO and MADAMA BUTTERFLY during the first half of the coming season.

	CARLISLE FLOYD's SUSANNAH ENDS OPERA PACIFIC SEASON Opera Pacific's final offering of the season is a FIRST in more ways than one: a) It is the first production of Floyd's landmark opera in 25 years. b) It is the company's first presentation of the opera. c) It is the first CARLISLE FLOYD opera to be included in the company repertoire. CARLISLE FLOYD is of course one of America's foremost opera composers, and SUSANNAH, though inspired by the apocryphal story of Susannah and the Elders, is an all-American folk opera about accusation and lost innocence, set in Depression-era rural Tennessee, with music based on folk songs and revival tunes. Soprano Pamela Armstrong sings the title role, supported by a cast that includes bass Dean Peterson as the preacher Olin Blitch. PERFORMANCES: May 14, 18, 22 and 24 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Dr, Costa Mesa, Ca. 92626. TICKETS: 714-546-6000 or 800-34-OPERA

	SANTA FE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL July 20 - August 25, 2024 Start the countdown... Plan your summer around one of the world's preeminent music festivals, held in one of the world's most enchanting cities... and be transformed. There'll be more about this festival - on FanFaire in the days to come.

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