{"id":70216,"date":"2021-01-25T10:40:31","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T15:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=70216"},"modified":"2021-01-25T10:40:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T15:40:31","slug":"critics-picks-classical-opera-streams-absolutely-need-see-week-january-25-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2021\/01\/25\/critics-picks-classical-opera-streams-absolutely-need-see-week-january-25-31\/","title":{"rendered":"CRITIC’S PICKS | Classical And Opera Streams You Absolutely Need To See This Week: January 25 \u2013 31"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Classical
Classical music and opera events streaming on the web for the week of January 25 \u2013 31.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Critic\u2019s Picks (January 25 \u2013 31)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe live in an extraordinary Age\u201d \u2013 Carl Sagan.<\/em> Sadly, COVID-19 continues to decimate our musical life, with a depressing list of postponements and cancellations to start the new year. Op\u00e9ra Royal de Wallonie-Li\u00e8ge cancelled concerts by Juan Diego Fl\u00f3rez (Jan. 8) and Jonas Kaufmann (Jan. 10) due to pandemic measures by the government of Belgium. Opera houses in Darmstadt, Kassel, Wiesbaden, Marburg and Gie\u00dfen would remain closed until Easter. To that list now you can add Staatsoper Hannover, Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar, Oper Frankfurt, Semperoper Dresden, and National-theater Mannheim. The Palau de Les Arts Reina Sof\u00eda in Valencia, Spain has announced the cancellation of its whole run of Verdi\u2019s Falstaff<\/em> (Jan. 21 \u2013 31) due to COVID-19 cases in the production team.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, a new study in Dortmund by Fraunhofer Heinrich Institute & Konzerthaus Dortmund has concluded that concert halls and theatres are not COVID superspreader venues when the proper precautions are taken. Let\u2019s hope they are right! Elsewhere, the Wiener Staatsoper has cancelled all performances until at least Jan. 28, on order from the Austrian federal government; Opernhaus Z\u00fcrich, Grand Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de Gen\u00e8ve, and Theater Basel are closed until at least Feb. 28, due to the Swiss federal authorities extending the lockdown. The Italian government has declared a State of Emergency to last until April 30. The Op\u00e9ra de Monte Carlo has updated performance times for its upcoming Tha\u00efs<\/em> due to the new curfew imposed in Monaco.<\/p>\n

The Royal Swedish Opera has announced that it will extend closure until at least March 26, 2021, due to the current COVID-19 infection situation. If the pandemic situation allows, the opera house will reopen its doors for the premiere of Richard Strauss\u2019 opera Ariadne auf Naxos<\/em> on March 27. According to Opera Wire<\/em>, Teatro Massimo di Palermo will be livestreaming the opening of its 2021 season with the performance of the complex site-specific opera Il Crepuscolo dei Sogni<\/em> on Jan. 26.<\/p>\n

The Met Opera\u2019s nightly free streaming features \u201cAntiheroes\u201d this week, with plenty of star singers giving their all \u2014 Jonas Kaufmann, Juan Diego Florez, Simon Keenlyside, \u017deljko Lu\u010di\u0107, Evgeny Nikitin and others. All Met nightly streams start at 7:30 p.m. ET and are available for 23 hours. On the Video-On-Demand front, a good choice is the recital by the great pianist Grigory Sokolov. COC audiences will be interested in the audio interview of both COC General Directors, the departing Alexander Neef and the incoming Perryn Leech. To hear opera stars of tomorrow, there are some terrific voices at the just concluded Vinas Vocal Competition from Barcelona. Finally, for fans of concept productions, here\u2019s a jaw-dropping treatment of the Puccini warhorse guaranteed to knock your socks off \u2014 you get two Toscas, in the persons of Angel Blue and a Norma Desmond-like Catherine Malfitano, courtesy of the 2019 Aix-en-Provence Festival.<\/p>\n

Monday 25<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Bayerische Staatsoper | Montagsstucke XI: Sehnliches Verlangen (Ardent Desire)<\/strong> \u2014\u00a02:15 p.m. ET. Zubin Mehta conducts the Bayerisches Staatsorchester in Schubert\u2019s Great C Major Symphony. Soprano Camilla Nylund sings Richard Strauss\u2019s Vier letzte Lieder. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Wiener Staatsoper | Wagner\u2019s Die Walk\u00fcre<\/strong> \u2014\u00a01 p.m. ET. Performance from January 13, 2016. Adam Fischer conducts the production by Sven-Eric Bechtolf, starring Christopher Ventris, Ain Anger, Waltraud Meier, Linda Watson, and Tomasz Konieczny. One-time free registration required. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Met | Mozart\u2019s Don Giovanni<\/strong>\u00a0Starring Hibla Gerzmava, Malin Bystr\u00f6m, Serena Malfi, Paul Appleby, Simon Keenlyside, Adam Plachetka, Matthew Rose, and Kwangchul Youn, conducted by Fabio Luisi. From October 22, 2016. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Tuesday 26<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Teatro Massimo di Palermo | Il Crepuscolo dei Sogni (The Twilight of the Dreams)<\/strong> \u2014\u00a02 p.m. ET. Soprano Carmen Giannattasio, baritone Markus Werba, and bass-baritone Alexandros Stavrakakis star in this creation by director Johannes Erath, a site-specific performance for the 2021 opening of the Teatro Massimo season. \u201cEvery corner of the opera house becomes part of a wider stage, under a moonlight that transform everything it encounters\u2026a musical “winter journey” with music by Rossini, Verdi, Monteverdi, Schubert, Richard Strauss and many more.\u201d Teatro Massimo\u2019s Musical Director Omer Meir Wellber conducts. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Met | Rossini\u2019s Le Comte Ory<\/strong>\u00a0Starring Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Susanne Resmark, Juan Diego Fl\u00f3rez, St\u00e9phane Degout, and Michele Pertusi, conducted by Maurizio Benini. From April 9, 2011. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Wednesday 27<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Wigmore Hall | Holocaust Memorial Day Talk<\/strong> \u2014 5 a.m. ET. Many Hungarian Jewish musicians perished in the Holocaust. In this Holocause Memorial Day Talk, musicologist Dr Agnes Kory examines the lives of these musicians in Hungary prior to and after the Hungarian Nazi laws of 1938 and 1939, with musical interludes. Note the livestream is pre-dawn Toronto time, but it\u2019ll be available on demand. | Link<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Met | Gounod\u2019s Faust<\/strong>\u00a0Starring Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, and Ren\u00e9 Pape, conducted by Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin. From December 10, 2011. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Thursday 28<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Tafelmusik Online Concert Hall | Close Encounters: Divertimento<\/strong> \u2014 8 p.m. ET. Members of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (John Abberger oboe; Christopher Verrette violin; Patrick G. Jordan viola; Margaret Gay violoncello; Pippa Macmillan double bass) perform a program of works by Johann Michael Haydn, Johann Baptist Vanhal, Franz Anton Hoffmeister, and Franti\u0161ek Adam M\u00ed\u010da. Tickets: $20. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Met | Verdi\u2019s Falstaff<\/strong>\u00a0Starring Lisette Oropesa, Angela Meade, Stephanie Blythe, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Paolo Fanale, Ambrogio Maestri, and Franco Vassallo, conducted by James Levine. From December 14, 2013. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Friday 29<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall | Kirill Petrenko and Daniil Trifonov<\/strong> \u2014\u00a02 p.m. ET. The centrepiece is Trifonov playing the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1. Plus a world premiere of Catamorphosis, by Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsd\u00f3ttir, commissioned jointly by the Berlin Phil and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. A third piece is Josef Suk\u2019s tone poem A Summer\u2019s Tale. This is not free but Berlin Phil is worth it! You can purchase a ticket – various options, including free one-week trial. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Met | Wagner\u2019s Der Fliegende Holl\u00e4nder<\/strong>\u00a0Starring Anja Kampe, Mihoko Fujimura, Sergey Skorokhodov, David Portillo, Evgeny Nikitin, and Franz-Josef Selig, conducted by Valery Gergiev. From March 10, 2020. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Saturday 30<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Met | Verdi\u2019s Rigoletto<\/strong> Starring Diana Damrau, Oksana Volkova, Piotr Becza\u0142a, \u017deljko Lu\u010di\u0107, and \u0160tefan Koc\u00e1n, conducted by Michele Mariotti. From February 16, 2013. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Sunday 31<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Teatro Massimo di Palermo | Concerto Prokofiev-Stravinsky<\/strong> 2 p.m. ET Livestreaming of a concert with mezzo Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, tenor Giulio Pelligra and bass Alexandros Stavrakakis, in a program of Sergej Prokofiev\u2019s Symphony No. 1 in D major op. 25, and Igor Stravinsky\u2019s \u201cPulcinella.\u201d Gabriele Ferro conducts the Teatro Massimo Orchestra. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Met | Verdi\u2019s Macbeth<\/strong> Starring Maria Guleghina, Dimitri Pittas, \u017deljko Lu\u010di\u0107, and John Relyea, conducted by James Levine. From January 12, 2008. | Details<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Video-on-demand performances:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

1) Canadian Opera Company | Key Change Episode 6: Perryn Leech and Alexander Neef<\/strong> (audio podcast) Join co-hosts Robyn Grant-Moran and Julie McIsaac for an interesting chat with the COC’s departing General Director Alexander Neef and the company’s incoming top guy Perryn Leech. Hear their thoughts on opera and music in general, both as a music lover and as an intendant. You can either listen to the show<\/a><\/span>, or if you prefer, download<\/a><\/span> the 16-page transcript of the podcast.<\/p>\n

2) WDR Klassik | WDR Symphony Orchestra<\/strong> Recorded live on Jan. 15 at the K\u00f6lner Philharmonie and now on demand, Baiba Skride plays Mendelssohn\u2019s Violin Concerto in E minor. Andris Poga conducts.<\/p>\n