Podcasts about Bayreuth Festival

fWotD Episode 2882: Pierre Boulez Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Wednesday, 26 March 2025 is Pierre Boulez.Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (French: [pjɛʁ lwi ʒozεf bulɛz]; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music.Born in Montbrison, in the Loire department of France, the son of an engineer, Boulez studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Olivier Messiaen, and privately with Andrée Vaurabourg and René Leibowitz. He began his professional career in the late 1940s as music director of the Renaud-Barrault theatre company in Paris. He was a leading figure in avant-garde music, playing an important role in the development of integral serialism in the 1950s, controlled chance music in the 1960s and the electronic transformation of instrumental music in real time from the 1970s onwards. His tendency to revise earlier compositions meant that his body of work was relatively small, but it included pieces considered landmarks of twentieth-century music, such as Le Marteau sans maître, Pli selon pli and Répons. His uncompromising commitment to modernism and the trenchant, polemical tone in which he expressed his views on music led some to criticise him as a dogmatist.Boulez was also one of the most prominent conductors of his generation. In a career lasting more than sixty years, he was music director of the New York Philharmonic, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra. He made frequent appearances with many other orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic. He was known for his performances of the music of the first half of the twentieth century—including Debussy and Ravel, Stravinsky and Bartók, and the Second Viennese School—as well as that of his contemporaries, such as Ligeti, Berio and Carter. His work in the opera house included the production of Wagner's Ring cycle for the centenary of the Bayreuth Festival, and the world premiere of the three-act version of Berg's opera Lulu. His recorded legacy is extensive. He also founded several musical institutions. In Paris he set up the Domaine musical in the 1950s to promote new music; in the 1970s he established the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique / Musique (IRCAM), to foster research and innovation in music, and the Ensemble intercontemporain, a chamber orchestra specialising in contemporary music. Later he co-founded the Cité de la musique, a concert hall, museum and library dedicated to music in the Parc de la Villette in Paris and, in Switzerland, the Lucerne Festival Academy, an international orchestra of young musicians, with which he gave first performances of many new works.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:21 UTC on Wednesday, 26 March 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Pierre Boulez on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Olivia.

Roland Rudd – Founder & Chair, FGS Global Roland Rudd is a founder and Chair of FGS Global, the leading stakeholder advisory group created through the combination of Finsbury, Hering Schuppener, Glover Park Group and Sard Verbinnen. He provides personal counsel to board members and senior executives at the most critical moments for their companies. Prior to founding the strategic communications company Finsbury in 1994, he worked as a political and financial journalist at the Financial Times and The Times. Roland is also the Chair of Tate, which he has been involved with for the past 25 years, first serving as a Patron, Chair of the Business Advisory Group and then as Deputy Chair. He has also been a Trustee and fundraiser for the Royal Opera House and is currently a Trustee of the Bayreuth Festival, as well as a patron of Grange Park Opera and the Holburne Museum. He is currently Chair of the Governors for Millfield School, a Trustee at Speakers for Schools, an ambassador for Made by Dyslexia and an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Corporate Reputation, Regents College, Oxford University. He also serves as a Specially Appointed Commissioner at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and is an Ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society.Top Leadership Tip: Be focused: it's so easy to waste time on things that have little or no relevance to what you are doing. Most people waste at least half their time doing irrelevant stuff. Be effective: make what you are doing count, by making a difference. Don't put things off; do them now. Have fun: you are best at what you are most passionate about. And in pursuing what you like best, it's important to have fun. Summary 1-line: “Be focused, be effective, and have fun – you are best at what you are most passionate about, and in pursuing what you like best, it's important to have fun”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SynopsisOn today's date in 1882, the first performance of Richard Wagner's new opera “Parsifal” took place at the Bayreuth Festival in Bavaria. In the audience was a 25-year old American named Gustav Kobbé, an ardent opera fan who would go on to write “Kobbé's Complete Opera Book,” a standard reference work on the subject.As Kobbé watched the opening scene of Parsifal, his gaze became fixed on one spot of the painted scenery, depicting a pile of rocks. Was that Wagner's face painted on one of the rocks? Or was that Wagner himself, staring out at the singers on stage? During the intermission, Kobbé asked others if they had seen what he had, but they just looked at him as if the heat of the Bavarian summer had affected the young American's brain.But after the opera Kobbé asked one of the singers, who was surprised at his sharp eyesight, but confirmed what he saw. To ensure that singers followed his specific directions where to stand and when to move, Wagner had, in fact, been standing on stage amid the painted rocks. To all eyes but Kobbé's, Wagner's craggy, sun-tanned face had blended in perfectly with the painted scenery.Music Played in Today's ProgramRichard Wagner (1813 - 1883) Act I excerpt, fr Parsifal Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; James Levine, conductor. DG 437 501

Matthew Bannister on The opera singer Grace Bumbry who broke down barriers by becoming the first black performer at the Bayreuth Festival. Don Short, the showbusiness journalist who coined the term “Beatlemania” and became good friends with the Fab Four. Dame Rosemary Cramp, the archaeologist who deepened our understanding of the Anglo Saxon period. And Wee Willie Harris, the flamboyant rock'n'roller name checked in Ian Dury's song “Reasons To Be Cheerful” Interviewee: David Brewer Interviewee: Daisy Dunn Interviewee: Professor Joanna Story Interviewee: Jonathan Wingate Interviewee: Tony Thorpe Producer: Gareth Nelson-Davies Archive used: Royal Visit to Kenya - First Stage of the Commonwealth Tour, British Pathe, 1952; A taste of Beatlemania in the 1960s, CBS News, CBS YouTube channel, uploaded 21/01/2014; Don Short interview about the writing of his memoir 'The Beatles and Beyond', The Surrey Edit, YouTube uploaded 24/03/2020; Rosemary Cramp interview, On Site, BBC Radio, 03/09/1967; Professor Rosemary Cramp interview, PM, BBC Radio 4, 29/05/1979; Rosemary Cramp, Professor of Archaeology at Durham University, talks to Sue Macgregor about her life and work, BBC Radio 4, 08/12/1988; Meet The Archaeologist: Rosemary Cramp, YouTube uploaded 04/07/2014; Wee Willie Harris – Still Rocking, Celluloid Tapestry, YouTube uploaded 29/06/2023.

Barton and Gabriel sit down to discuss the world of Opera, performance and Gabe's mindset of performing Internationally at the highest level.  Highlights from this podcast include: - Life lessons from his Voice Teacher Elizabeth Parham stating "that little voice in your head telling us we're not enough... that is the devil"- How Gabe thinks about performing for thousands of people- what type of things Gabe does to prepare himself for a big performance.- how the voice works and how he's able to create such powerful sound and sing professionally.  Gabriel's Bio: Multiple Grammy Award winning baritone Gabriel Manro has been called “a new kind of baritone: not lyric, not helden, not Kavalier, not Bariton-Martin — none of those. Rather, he's a knock-down baritone.” --San Francisco Classical Voice. Indeed, Manro regularly sings dramatic baritone roles such as Don Carlo di Vargas (La forza del destino), Andrei Shchelkalov (Boris Godunov), and Tonio (I Pagliacci) Opera News describes Manro as “Gifted with a striking, sinister baritone that remains strong, even and sonorous throughout the range, he tears into Verdi's music with a vengeance.” -- Opera News.Mr. Manro made his professional operatic debut as Third Inmate in Jake Heggie's ground-breaking opera Dead Man Walking for Opera Pacific with Frederica von Stade. He went on to perform the role of Inquisitor in Opera Pacific's Candide. Mr. Manro has appeared in numerous contemporary and world-premiere operas and musicals:As Muscovite Trader in John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles (Pentatone Music: Grammy--Best Opera Recording), as the Mousling in the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Alice in Wonderland by Unsuk Chin, the Computer in Los Angeles Opera's The Fly by film composer Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings Trilogy); as The Chauffeur in Opera Santa Barbara's Séance on a Wet Afternoon by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell); and as Angry Voter in Los Angeles Opera's Il Postino (Sony Classical DVD). Manro created the role of President Lincoln in Golden Gate Opera's world-premiere Civil War Epic: Lincoln and Booth. Off-Broadway, Mr. Manro led the original cast of Center for Contemporary Opera's production of Oration by Line Tjørnhøj. On television, Manro appeared as Joel Lynch and Father Jackson in the European premiere live telecast of William Mayer's: A Death in the Family at the Hungarian National Theater and Opéra Grand D'Avignon which was voted “audience favorite” opera.  Gabriel also played Jafar in Walt Disney Company's original stage production of Aladdin.Gabe's European operatic debut was as Doctor Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with Corfu Opera in Greece. His extensive repertoire and engagements have also included the roles of Bluebeard (Bluebeard's Castle), Count Almaviva, Bartolo, Antonio (Le nozze di Figaro), Guglielmo, Don Alfonso (Cosí fan tutte), Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni). See Mr. Manro next as Osmund in the world-premiere stage production of Siegfried Wagner's Rainulf and Adelasia  during this summer's Bayreuth Festival in Germany.http://gabrielmanro.comhttp://instagram.com/g_manroBarton on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bartonguybryan/Podcast Website is: https://www.podpage.com/the-mindset-forge-podcast/Join the Mindset Forge Premium membership for $3 / month (Donor Level) or $150 / month for Coaching: https://themindsetforge.supercast.com

Her career has seen her smash glass ceilings in classical music, first at the prestigious Bayreuth Festival and now at Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Oksana Lyniv is the first female director of an Italian opera house. The Ukrainian conductor spoke to FRANCE 24's Olivia Salazar-Winspear about her many achievements and how the war in Ukraine makes her public role even more important.

Recognized by Opera News as “one of the finest singers of his generation,” American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny has earned his reputation as an artist with something to say. His relentless curiosity informs riveting character portrayals and beautifully crafted performances, reminding audiences of their shared humanity with characters on stage and screen. This season, McKinny brings his agile stage presence and comedic skill to performances of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro on both U.S. coasts. He first appears as the titular Figaro in a Richard Eyre production at New York City's Metropolitan Opera, with an all-star cast that includes Golda Schultz, Lucy Crowe, Isabel Leonard, and Adam Plachetka. He then makes his Seattle Opera debut reprising the role in a Peter Kazaras production, under the baton of Alevtina Ioffe. In between productions – and coasts – McKinny joins collaborative pianist Kathleen Kelly for a recital at the Lied Center of Kansas, featuring works by Schumann, Debussy, Mahler, and Kurt Weill. In summer 2022, he joins the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood as the title character in Don Giovanni, with Andris Nelsons on the podium. He concludes the season with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, appearing as soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Offstage, McKinny continues to adapt the beauty of his art form to the film screen, collaborating on a documentary with Jamie Barton and Stephanie Blythe. Through his work with Helio Arts, he commissions artists to write, direct, and film original stories, leveraging his personal power to help elevate new voices and visions in the classical performing arts world. During the pandemic, he has partnered with artists like J'Nai Bridges, Russell Thomas, John Holiday, and Julia Bullock to create stunning and innovative performances for streaming audiences at Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, On Site Opera, and the Glimmerglass Festival. McKinny's recent debut as Joseph De Rocher in Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's Dead Man Walking at Lyric Opera of Chicago was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as an “an indelible performance...an acting tour de force buttressed by a warmly inviting voice.” He has also appeared as the title character in Don Giovanni (Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera), Escamillo in Carmen (Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg, Houston Grand Opera), and Mozart's Figaro (Washington National Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Houston Grand Opera). McKinny made a critically acclaimed Bayreuth Festival debut as Amfortas in Parsifal, a role he has performed around the world, including appearances at Argentina's Teatro Cólon, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and Dutch National Opera. Other Wagnerian roles include Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company), Biterolf in Tannhäuser and Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, both at the Metropolitan Opera, Wotan in Opéra de Montréal's Das Rheingold, Donner/Gunther in Wagner's Ring cycle (Washington National Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera), and the titular Dutchman in Der fliegende Holländer (Staatsoper Hamburg, Milwaukee Symphony, Glimmerglass Festival, Hawaii Opera Theater). McKinny is a frequent guest artist at Los Angeles Opera, where he has sung Count Alamaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Stanley Kowalski in Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, opposite Renée Fleming as Blanche DuBois, and at Santa Fe Opera, where he has appeared as Jochanaan in Salome and Oppenheimer in Doctor Atomic. An alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Mr. McKinny has made a number of important role debuts on the HGO mainstage, including the iconic title roles of Don Giovanni and Rigoletto. McKinny is a long-time artistic collaborator of composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars, having appeared in Sellars productions of Adams' Girls of the Golden West (San Francisco Opera, Dutch National Opera) and Doctor Atomic (Santa Fe Opera), in addition to Adams' Nixon in China with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has also performed under Sellars' direction in Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex (Sydney Festival), Tristan und Isolde (Canadian Opera Company), and Shostakovich's Orango with the London Philharmonia and Los Angeles Philharmonic, the latter comprising Esa-Pekka Salonen's final concerts as music director. Other recent orchestral engagements include Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and a double bill of Michael Tilson Thomas' Rilke Songs and Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn with San Francisco Symphony, Mahler's Symphony No. 8 and Bernstein's Mass with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Cleveland Orchestra and National Symphony, Rossini's Stabat Mater at Grant Park Music Festival, Britten's War Requiem with Marin Alsop and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Oedipus Rex with Chicago Symphony. McKinny benefited from early educational opportunities at the Aspen Music Festival, where he sang his first performance of Winterreise accompanied on the piano by Richard Bado, and at the Wolf Trap Opera Company, where he sang Barone di Kelbar in Verdi's Un giorno di regno, Le Gouverneur in Rossini's Le comte Ory and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro. McKinny made his Carnegie Hall debut in Handel's Messiah with the Musica Sacra Orchestra while still a student at the Juilliard School. The first recipient of Operalia's Birgit Nilsson Prize for singing Wagner, McKinny has also received the prestigious George London-Kirsten Flagstad Award, presented by the George London Foundation to a singer undertaking a significant Wagnerian career. McKinny represented the United States in the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, where he was a finalist in the Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize, and he was a Grand Finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, captured in the film The Audition.

It's been quite a year for proudly Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv, becoming the first female conductor at the 145-year-old Bayreuth Festival in August and now embarking on a new role as Teatro Comunale di Bologna's first female Music Director. Presenter Mark Coles discovers the family stories and personal challenges which have brought Oksana's charisma and talent from Western Ukraine to classical music's world stage. Picture Credit: Tristram Kenton, Royal Opera House. Programme Credits: Teatro Comunale di Bologna UATV The Ukrainian Institute in London DW Classical Music MDR Television Choir and Orchestra of the Bayreuther Festspiele US-Ukraine Foundation Producer: Ben Crighton Researcher: Diane Richardson

Donald Macleod follows Wagner's journey towards building the Bayreuth Festival. This week, Donald Macleod follows Wagner on his decades-long journey to realise his dream of building his own music theatre, and establishing a festival there dedicated to his music. We see how Wagner's revolutionary ideas and vaulting ambition struggled against the reality of securing supporters, raising finances, and inspiring audiences. Music Featured: Das Rheingold, Scene 1: “Lugt, Schwestern! Die Weckerin lach in den Grund” Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Tannhäuser: Act 3 Scene 1: “Allmächt'ge Jungfrau, hör mein Flehen!” and Scene 2 “O du, mein holder, Abendstern” Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III Tristan and Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod Das Rheingold: End of Scene 3 “Ohe! Ohe! Schreckliche Schlange…“ Die Walküre: Act 2, “Hinweg! Hinweg! Flieh die Entwihte!...” Tannhauser: Act 2 Finale Lohengrin: Act 3, “In fernem Land” Das Rheingold, Scene 4, Finale (Entry of the Gods into Valhalla) Lohengrin: Act 3, “Treulich geführt ziehet dahin” (Bridal March) Tristan and Isolde: Act 2, “O sink hernieder, Nacht der Liebe…” (Love duet) Die Walküre, Act 3 opening (The Ride of the Valkyries) Siegfried: Act 3, “Mit zerfochtner Waffe wich mir der Feige” Gotterdämmerung: Prologue, Sunrise and Siegfried's Rhine Journey Siegfried: Act 3, “Heil dir, Sonne! Heil dir, Licht!” (Brünhilde's awakening) Die Walküre: Act III, Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire Music Götterdämmerung: Siegfried's Funeral March Götterdämmerung: "Starke Scheite schichtet mir dort“ (Brunhilde's Immolation Scene) Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Act 3, Scene 5 “Morgenlich Leuchtend” (Walther's Prize Song) Parsifal: Prelude to Act 1 Parsifal: Act 1, Entry to the knight's castle Meistersinger: Act 3, Scene 4, “Selig wie die Sonne” (Quintet) Parsifal: Act 2, Scene 2 (Klingsor's magic garden) Parsifal – Good Friday Music Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Chris Taylor, for BBC Cymru Wales For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Richard Wagner (1813-1883) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010040 And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Synopsis On today’s date in 1825, the Italian composer Antonio Salieri breathed his last in Vienna. Gossip circulated that in his final dementia, Salieri blabbed something about poisoning Mozart. Whether he meant it figuratively or literally, or even said anything of the sort, didn’t seem to matter and the gossip became a Romantic legend. Modern food detectives suggested that if Mozart WAS poisoned, an undercooked pork chop might be to blame… In one of his last letters to his wife, Mozart mentions his anticipation of feasting on a fat chop his cook had secured for his dinner! Twenty-five years after Salieri’s death, on today’s date in 1850, the Austro-Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl was born in Budapest. Seidl became a famous conductor of both the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic. It was Seidl who conducted the premiere of Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony. In 1898, at the age of just 47, Seidl died suddenly, apparently from ptomaine poisoning. Perhaps it was the shad roe he ate at home, or that sausage from Fleischmann’s restaurant? An autopsy revealed serious gallstone and liver ailments, so maybe Seidl’s last meal, whatever it might have been, was as innocent of blame as poor old Salieri. Music Played in Today's Program Wolfgang Mozart (1756 – 1791) Symphony No. 25 St. Martin's Academy; Sir Neville Marriner, cond. Fantasy 104/105 Antonin Dvořák (1841 – 1904) Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) Vienna Philharmonic; Rafael Kubelik, cond. Decca 466 994 Antonio Salieri (1750 – 1825) "La Folia" Variations London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert, cond. Chandos 9877 On This Day Births 1833 - German composer Johannes Brahms, in Hamburg; 1840 - Russian composer Pyotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, in Votkinsk, district of Viatka (Julian date: April 25); 1850 - Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl, in Budapest; He was Wagner assistant at the first Bayreuth Festival performances of the "Ring" operas in 1876-79, was engaged to conduct the German repertory at the Metropolitan Opera in 1885, and in 1891 as the permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic; He conducted the American premieres of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" in 1886 and the world premiere of Dvorák's "New World" Symphony in 1893; He died of ptomaine poisoning in 1898; Deaths 1793 - Italian composer and violinist Pietro Nardini, age 71, in Florence; 1818 - Bohemian composer Leopold (Jan Antonín, Ioannes Antonius)Kozeluch (Kotzeluch, Koželuh), age 70, in Vienna; 1825 - Italian composer Antonio Salieri, age 74, in Vienna; Premieres 1824 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ("Choral") at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna, with the deaf composer on stage beating time, but with the performers instructed to follow the cues of Beethoven's assistant conductor, Michael Umlauf; 1888 - Lalo: "Le Roi d'Ys" (The King of Ys) at the Opéra Comique, in Paris; 1926 - Milhaud: opera "Les malheurs d'Orphée" (The Sorrows of Orpheus), in Brussels at the Théatre de la Monnaie; 1944 - Copland: "Our Town" Film Music Suite (revised version), by the Boston Pops conducted by Leonard Bernstein; An earlier version of this suite aired on CBS Radio on June 9, 1940, with the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony conducted by Howard Barlow; 1947 - Virgil Thomson: opera "The Mother of Us All," at Columbia University in New York City; 1985 - David Ward-Steinman: "Chroma" Concerto for multiple keyboards, percussion, and chamber orchestra, in Scottsdale, Ariz., by the Noveau West Chamber Orchestra conducted by Terry Williams, with the composer and Amy-Smith-Davie as keyboard soloists; 1988 - Stockhausen: opera "Montag von Licht" (Monday from Light), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala; 1988 - Michael Torke: ballet "Black and White," at the New York State Theater, with the NY City Ballet Orchestra, David Alan Miller conducting; 1993 - Harrison Birtwistle: "Five Distances for Five Instruments," in London at the Purcell Room, by the Ensemble InterContemporain; 1998 - Joan Tower: "Tambor," by the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mariss Jansons conducting; 1999 - Robert X. Rodriguez: "Bachanale: Concertino for Orchestra," by the San Antonio Symphony, Wilkins conducting; Others 1747 - J.S. Bach (age 62) visits King Frederick II of Prussia at his court in Potsdam on May 7-8; Bach improvises on a theme submitted by the King, performing on the King's forte-piano; In September of 1747 Bach publishes a chamber work based on the royal theme entitled "Musical Offering." 1937 - The RKO film "Shall We Dance?" is released, with a filmscore by George Gershwin; This film includes the classic Gershwin songs "Beginner's Luck," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and an instrumental interlude "Walking the Dog" (released as a solo piano piece under the title "Promenade"). Links and Resources A BBC story on "Rehabilitating Salieri" On Anton Seidl On the Seidl papers at Columbia University

Synopsis On today’s date in 1825, the Italian composer Antonio Salieri breathed his last in Vienna. Gossip circulated that in his final dementia, Salieri blabbed something about poisoning Mozart. Whether he meant it figuratively or literally, or even said anything of the sort, didn’t seem to matter and the gossip became a Romantic legend. Modern food detectives suggested that if Mozart WAS poisoned, an undercooked pork chop might be to blame… In one of his last letters to his wife, Mozart mentions his anticipation of feasting on a fat chop his cook had secured for his dinner! Twenty-five years after Salieri’s death, on today’s date in 1850, the Austro-Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl was born in Budapest. Seidl became a famous conductor of both the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic. It was Seidl who conducted the premiere of Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony. In 1898, at the age of just 47, Seidl died suddenly, apparently from ptomaine poisoning. Perhaps it was the shad roe he ate at home, or that sausage from Fleischmann’s restaurant? An autopsy revealed serious gallstone and liver ailments, so maybe Seidl’s last meal, whatever it might have been, was as innocent of blame as poor old Salieri. Music Played in Today's Program Wolfgang Mozart (1756 – 1791) Symphony No. 25 St. Martin's Academy; Sir Neville Marriner, cond. Fantasy 104/105 Antonin Dvořák (1841 – 1904) Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) Vienna Philharmonic; Rafael Kubelik, cond. Decca 466 994 Antonio Salieri (1750 – 1825) "La Folia" Variations London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert, cond. Chandos 9877 On This Day Births 1833 - German composer Johannes Brahms, in Hamburg; 1840 - Russian composer Pyotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, in Votkinsk, district of Viatka (Julian date: April 25); 1850 - Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl, in Budapest; He was Wagner assistant at the first Bayreuth Festival performances of the "Ring" operas in 1876-79, was engaged to conduct the German repertory at the Metropolitan Opera in 1885, and in 1891 as the permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic; He conducted the American premieres of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" in 1886 and the world premiere of Dvorák's "New World" Symphony in 1893; He died of ptomaine poisoning in 1898; Deaths 1793 - Italian composer and violinist Pietro Nardini, age 71, in Florence; 1818 - Bohemian composer Leopold (Jan Antonín, Ioannes Antonius)Kozeluch (Kotzeluch, Koželuh), age 70, in Vienna; 1825 - Italian composer Antonio Salieri, age 74, in Vienna; Premieres 1824 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ("Choral") at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna, with the deaf composer on stage beating time, but with the performers instructed to follow the cues of Beethoven's assistant conductor, Michael Umlauf; 1888 - Lalo: "Le Roi d'Ys" (The King of Ys) at the Opéra Comique, in Paris; 1926 - Milhaud: opera "Les malheurs d'Orphée" (The Sorrows of Orpheus), in Brussels at the Théatre de la Monnaie; 1944 - Copland: "Our Town" Film Music Suite (revised version), by the Boston Pops conducted by Leonard Bernstein; An earlier version of this suite aired on CBS Radio on June 9, 1940, with the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony conducted by Howard Barlow; 1947 - Virgil Thomson: opera "The Mother of Us All," at Columbia University in New York City; 1985 - David Ward-Steinman: "Chroma" Concerto for multiple keyboards, percussion, and chamber orchestra, in Scottsdale, Ariz., by the Noveau West Chamber Orchestra conducted by Terry Williams, with the composer and Amy-Smith-Davie as keyboard soloists; 1988 - Stockhausen: opera "Montag von Licht" (Monday from Light), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala; 1988 - Michael Torke: ballet "Black and White," at the New York State Theater, with the NY City Ballet Orchestra, David Alan Miller conducting; 1993 - Harrison Birtwistle: "Five Distances for Five Instruments," in London at the Purcell Room, by the Ensemble InterContemporain; 1998 - Joan Tower: "Tambor," by the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mariss Jansons conducting; 1999 - Robert X. Rodriguez: "Bachanale: Concertino for Orchestra," by the San Antonio Symphony, Wilkins conducting; Others 1747 - J.S. Bach (age 62) visits King Frederick II of Prussia at his court in Potsdam on May 7-8; Bach improvises on a theme submitted by the King, performing on the King's forte-piano; In September of 1747 Bach publishes a chamber work based on the royal theme entitled "Musical Offering." 1937 - The RKO film "Shall We Dance?" is released, with a filmscore by George Gershwin; This film includes the classic Gershwin songs "Beginner's Luck," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and an instrumental interlude "Walking the Dog" (released as a solo piano piece under the title "Promenade"). Links and Resources A BBC story on "Rehabilitating Salieri" On Anton Seidl On the Seidl papers at Columbia University

Concert violinist Rolf Schulte describes pianist, Jeffrey Swann, as a polymath, speaker of several languages, and a magnificent musician. Mr. Swann has won several prestigious piano competitions – including the Queen Elizabeth Piano Competition in Brussels as a young man and then the Ciani Competition in Italy and a prize at the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. The last few years he has run a music festival and teaches at a conservatory in Italy. Early in his career Mr Swann was also a composer and studied with Darius Milhaud. He has lectured on Wagner at the Bayreuth Festival. Presently, he teaches at NYU Steinhardt School of Music. A recording with Rolf Schulte and Jeffrey Swann performing Igor Stravinsky’s violin music recorded for the radio in Cologne, West Germany in 1979 is coming out any day now. After the recording I asked Jeffrey about his thoughts on the future of classic concerts post-COVID19, Here is his response:It is truly hard to predict how the Covid interruption will effect concert life. Classical music was already in great difficulties even before, actually for at least 30 or 40 years, it has been in a state of declining and older audience bases. So the effect may be positive in that t will bring about radical change from the top. Or it might simply kill the business for good. I refuse to believe that, since I believe in our musical heritage and its value and validity. But the entire model needs to change--but not simply by means of catchy clichés like "diversity".NOTES BY Alan Winson See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Named as one of the leading dramatic mezzo-sopranos of today, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner has an international standing, performing in Bayreuth Festival, Edinburgh Festival, London Royal Opera House, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, etc. Being a member of the Frankfurt Opera since 2009 she gifted the world roles that don’t fade. Her debut in Salzburg festival was in 2010 and today she completes the triangle of R. Strauss Elektra, alongside Lithuanians Asmik Grigorian and Aušrinė Stundytė. In the interview she discusses Klytämnestra in Warlikowski’s directing, how she is dealing with quarantine, and what is most important for teaching the new generation of opera singers.

Opera-goers today often lament the rise of intrusive stage directors who feel the need to reinterpret a composer’s work in startling and often deliberately provocative ways. One recent staging of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” at the Bayreuth Festival, for example, featured the chorus dressed up as laboratory rats. But contemporary directors would have to go pretty far to top a ballet staging that took place at the Venice Festival on today’s date in 1961. In this case, music by the Italian Baroque composer Alessandro Scarlatti was specially arranged into a short ballet score for which sets, story, and choreography were provided by two leading avant-garde artists of the day: the surrealist Spanish painter Salvador Dali and the Belgian choreography Maurice Bejart, with an important contribution by La Maison Guerlain, a pricey French perfume manufacturer. And when we said French perfume played an important role in the staging, we meant it—since big barrels of the stuff were placed on stage to mask the odor of a rotting cattle carcass that was a feature of Bejart’s scenario. To paraphrase the late Walter Cronkite, “And that’s the way it was—and smelled—August 22, 1961.”

Opera-goers today often lament the rise of intrusive stage directors who feel the need to reinterpret a composer’s work in startling and often deliberately provocative ways. One recent staging of Wagner’s “Lohengrin” at the Bayreuth Festival, for example, featured the chorus dressed up as laboratory rats. But contemporary directors would have to go pretty far to top a ballet staging that took place at the Venice Festival on today’s date in 1961. In this case, music by the Italian Baroque composer Alessandro Scarlatti was specially arranged into a short ballet score for which sets, story, and choreography were provided by two leading avant-garde artists of the day: the surrealist Spanish painter Salvador Dali and the Belgian choreography Maurice Bejart, with an important contribution by La Maison Guerlain, a pricey French perfume manufacturer. And when we said French perfume played an important role in the staging, we meant it—since big barrels of the stuff were placed on stage to mask the odor of a rotting cattle carcass that was a feature of Bejart’s scenario. To paraphrase the late Walter Cronkite, “And that’s the way it was—and smelled—August 22, 1961.”

On today's date in 1882, the first performance of Richard Wagner's new opera "Parsifal" took place at the Bayreuth Festival in Bavaria. In the audience was a 25-year old American named Gustav Kobbé, an ardent opera fan who would go on to write "Kobbé's Complete Opera Book," a standard reference work on the subject still in print today. But back in 1882, as Kobbé watched the opening scene of "Parsifal," his gaze became fixed on one spot of the painted scenery, depicting a pile of rocks. Was that Wagner's face painted on one of the rocks? Or was that Wagner himself, staring out at the singers on stage? During the intermission, Kobbé asked others if they had seen what he had, but they just looked at him as if he were crazy. Perhaps the heat of the Bavarian summer had affected the young American's brain, they suggested. "I was beginning to think that the appearance of Wagner's face was a mirage, resulting from lights behind the scenes," wrote Kobbé. "I mentioned the matter to one of the singers in the cast. He manifested surprise, not at what I had discovered, but at my having discovered it." The singer told Kobbé that to insure that singers followed his specific directions where to stand and when to move, Wagner had, in fact, been standing on stage amid the painted rocks. To all eyes but Kobbé's, Wagner's craggy, sun-tanned face had blended in perfectly with the painted scenery.

In this series of podcasts, Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean gives listeners a taste of nine different types of traditional opera. Music Drama was the personal solution to the problems of presenting opera in nineteenth-century Europe developed by composer/librettist Richard Wagner, opera’s ultimate mad genius. These long, loud, big works challenge artists, audiences, and the art form itself. Their complex music and unique spins on old stories continue to attract, repel, and provoke all who encounter them. Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (1865) serves as an example of the genre, as does the Richard Strauss opera Elektra (1909). Musical examples on this podcast drawn from Seattle Opera productions of Lohengrin 1994, conducted by Hermann Michael; Parsifal 2003, conducted by Asher Fisch and starring Stephen Milling; Die Walküre, conducted by Robert Spano, 2005 (starring Jane Eaglen) and 2009; Siegfried, 2013, conducted by Asher Fisch; and Tristan und Isolde (1998, conducted by Armin Jordan and starring Jane Eaglen and Ben Heppner; 2010, conducted by Asher Fisch; opening and English horn solo from the 1966 Bayreuth Festival recording conducted by Karl Böhm; conclusion of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Karajan (Deutsche Gramophon 1977); Elektra, Astrid Varnay and Leonie Rysanek with the orchestra of West German Radio conducted by Richard Kraus (Melodram 1953). Stay tuned for another podcast introducing another kind of opera next week!

Fine Music Radio — Rodney Trudgeon will have two guests in the People of Note studio this week. Jonny Woo and Le Gateau Chocolat are internationally famous drag artists who, apart from their hectic schedules in London and elsewhere in Clubs and cabaret shows, have put together a collection of favourite songs from the shows called “Night At The Musicals”. They both come from quite different backgrounds and in fact the one called Le Gateau Chocolat is a sometime opera singer and has just appeared in Tannhauser at the Bayreuth Festival

Music to me is, and has always been existential. From when I was a little boy growing up with a concertmaster – in many of the world's most famous orchestras – as my dad, in Vienna, and constantly visiting his workplace, the famous Musikverein, to today where I am a music aficionado, an avid vinyl record collector as well as a (fairly amateur) music producer. Music is a passion, or 'addiction' as my wife would say, and a great source of joy for me.Having Till Janczukowicz on this show was a big personal pleasure. His classical music streaming app, IDAGIO, is constantly running a fine line between catering to the young and the old, the classical novice versus the expert, and it is a fascinating branding game.Till discusses how classical music, as a brand, was intimidating, and how he and his team are breaking that wall down, out their offices in Berlin, Germany. And how classical music's role and perception in society has changed over the years, and what role technology played in it.We discuss how to showcase music visually, with all of its nuances, is an extremely difficult task, one that IDAGIO mastered from day one.So many fascinating takeaways in this conversation, one that struck with me, and that should give you an idea on how deep we are diving into not only the brand discussion, but also the entrepreneurial journey as a whole: "The bigger you grow as a corporation, the more you have to bring things that are on a subconscious level to a conscious level."A delightful conversation that truly inspired me, and I believe it will do the same for you.To support this show, please head to Patreon.____Full Transcript:F Geyrhalter: Welcome to HITTING THE MARK.Today we welcome a guest who I have been looking forward to for a while now. The subject hits home in many ways. Not only is this founder based in Berlin, Germany, hence you will get a double-German accent episode today, but his is the world of classical music, which is the same world in which I grew up in, back in Vienna.Till Janczukowicz is the founder of IDAGIO, which is often described as being the Spotify for classical music.Till has more than 20 years of experience as an artist manager, producer, and concert promoter. In 2000, he established the European office for Columbia Artists Management, heading it up as managing partner for 11 years. He was responsible for organizing several of the Metropolitan Opera’s European tours, and his personal clients included conductors Christian Thielemann, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, as well as pianists Ivo Pogorelich and Arcadi Volodos. In 2008, he founded the Abu Dhabi Classics, a performing arts series merging culture, education and tourism for the government of the United Arab Emirates. That is where he arranged debuts for the New York, Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics; the Bayreuth Festival; and Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle, Zubin Mehta, Yo-Yo Ma, Ben Kingsley, Jeremy Irons, and countless other musical and artistic luminaries.I am thrilled to welcome you to the show, Till!T Janczukowicz: Great, pleasure to meet you and to be here.F Geyrhalter: Absolutely. So as I mentioned in my intro, this is truly a pleasure for me since my father was an amazing violinist who spent most of his life as a concert master and some of Vienna's best orchestras from the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, the Kammer Orchestra, all the way to the Vienna Philharmonics, and appeared on over 50 records and radio productions. So he was also a sound purist who loved his audio gadgets the same way that I do now. He would've cherished to hear this conversation today.So listeners who are not classical music fans may wonder why. Why was there a need for classical music in an app form when you can find plenty of classical options on Spotify, Apple music and Tidal? Let me quote an article from Vogue that explained it perfectly well, "It all comes down to Metadata." While Metadata for most popular music is quite simple, there's the artist, the song, or track, the album it's from. Classical Metadata might encompass everything from the composer, the orchestra, the conductor, the choir, which may have its own director, various soloists, the title of the piece, along with perhaps some sort of number or nomenclature to indicate it's placed within the larger symphony of work.Then artists opus number, or in the case of composers like Mozart Bach whose works are ordered by their own system, their Kochel or BWV number. So it's not simple. Yes, there is a big need for it.Till, your biography talks a lot about the amazing journey you have taken prior to starting IDAGIO in 2015, but tell us a bit about the founding story behind IDAGIO. How did it all start? Give us the romance, the hardship of your startup's early days.T Janczukowicz: So where to start? Let's start with the Romance, maybe-F Geyrhalter: That's a good place. Let's start positive.T Janczukowicz: The very early Romance, but what I would say is that I was lucky and only looking back, I understood that I was lucky. I was offered to piano when I was six years old and that captured me immediately. So once I started to play the piano for the first time without knowing anything, I knew and felt, "Well, that's my life. I'm going to spend my life with this music that fascinated me.I could even say, probably I've never worked. I never felt I was working in my life. At the very end, it comes down to a variety of attempts to promote what fascinated me, in a very, I wouldn't say egoistic way, but it was a very obvious thing for me. Classical music captured me. It opened stories for me. It created images and so on.So I started to be a pianist at the beginning. Thanks god I became friends with a real pianist, Krystian Zimerman, when I was 18 years old, who by the way... You are from Vienna, it's probably you were even still in Vienna these days. He recorded the Beethoven Piano Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonics Leonard Bernstein in the 80s. So Christian became a good friend. I saw what he did, I saw what I did and said, "Okay, he's a pianist." So next step for me was then he wanted to push me into management. It helped me a lot.But first of all, I started to be a teacher during my studies, made some money. But I'm coming from a family of teachers and so, "Okay, my dad was a teacher, my mom was a teacher, my grandfather was a teacher. So do you really want to sign a contract at your end of your 20s and that's going to determine what you're going to do until the end of your life?" The answer was no. So I didn't want to become a teacher. I wrote a little bit, but also as a writer I saw, well, you can speak about it in part, but you can't really change things.So then I went into management and now I'm coming to your question to the necessity of IDAGIO. As a manager, my perspective was always a B2B perspective. If you manage a great conductor, or a great soloist, your touring orchestra, it's about, first of all, building brands. Any young artists you see or any unknown ensemble or new music you see, as a manager, you have some possibility to make these people famous, to assist them to find out how they work and how you can help them.What I saw then having spent my life in management, putting on concerts in all parts of the world and we can cover that a little later because there were many fascinating learnings. But the main thing for me was that, if the future of music listening is streaming and the all-genre streaming services aren't designed for classic music because as you said, they are around pop music and they're pop driven where you only have three criteria: The song, the artist, and the album, my clients are going to be invisible in the digital ecosystem.So the moment there is no digital structure that could trick down a recording where you have a conductor, you have an orchestra, you have singers, you have a soloist, you have the composition, and so on. The moment that doesn't exist, I saw that as a luxury problem from the user's perspective because you can still curate and so on. Maybe yes, it's a problem for aficionados, but at the very end, I want to push a button, and I want music to play without a huge cognitive investment that I like, fine, but even there is a huge group of aficionados worldwide that suffering from bad metadata, and bad usability of classic music streaming platforms.But if you look at it from an artist perspective, this is a real threat because if you can't be tracked down in the digital space and people don't find you, you cease to exist and with you, the entire genre ceases to exist. That was a motivation from you, I said, "Well, you have to do something." The main question at the beginning for me was, "How can we use technology in order to maintain that music genre that was the passion since I first encountered that.There was not at the beginning, the idea of, "Well, I have to found the best streaming service for classical music." That was the result of a chain of it durations. For us it's rather the beginning than the end.F Geyrhalter: It was really more of an action cry, right? It needed to be done in order to... in the biggest terms possible, save classical music for generations, right? To me, that's where it gets really interesting to think about who the audiences. When you think of classical music, many think of an older audience, but you're obviously a digital tool that already eliminates, I would say, the too old for tech audience, right?T Janczukowicz: Yeah.F Geyrhalter: You also clearly understand that you have to capture the hearts and souls of the next generations as the IDAGIO or IDAGIO... You and I had a little chat prior to this, it could go either way. So I don't feel guilty. The IDAGIO Instagram account, for instance. It nicely shows that it's going for the next generation. It's 29,000 followers. You have features like a relax playlist, which are perfect gateway drugs to anyone regardless of musical preference, right?T Janczukowicz: Sure.F Geyrhalter: Who do you cater to and how do you capture them in your brand communications? Do you constantly run that fine line between young and old, and classical novice versus expert?T Janczukowicz: Well, there are various levels to answer that. When I left my peer group, the classical music world that had been spending my life in, and started to enter into tech, I was, of course, reading a lot and all these blogs and I traveled to San Francisco, went to Silicon Valley just to be there to talk to people, to understand what it's all about.The first thing I learned, or the first thing at least that I remember is that one of the most failures of startups is to solve problems that don't exist.F Geyrhalter: Right.T Janczukowicz: For me, it was obvious that this problem does exist, both from a customer or user perspective and also from an artist perspective. So that was the beginning. Based on that, we did build our own technology, make a data model and so on and so on. Based on that, we can now, answering your question, cater for all varieties of audiences.What was interesting for me to see that after having spent 20 to 25 years in that world, more or less looking at things and reacting to things through my instinct, the assumptions I got over the years, they were confirmed in real numbers. Because the classical world is not really about numbers, it's about opinions. It's about being right, everybody is right. Everybody knows everything, it’s very controversially, very ego driven also.Now, I entered in a world where its numbers, "Okay, what you say is nothing more than a thesis, let's prove it." So that was totally new to me and very fascinating. What we found out that there are five, 10, 15, 20, maybe 50 use cases of listening to classical music and you can, of course, go and start segmenting classical music listeners.But interesting, is also to me that you can probably break it down into use cases because there are use cases that you would probably apply to an aficionado that sometimes also apply to a millennial listening to classical music and vice versa. So, for example, you mentioned this mood search we have and why do we have it? I wanted a tool where everybody, who opens the app and comes in contact with classic music, they can execute an action, move something, just touch screen with a finger, remove the finger, but already make a choice. So it can go to relaxed or meditative or joyful and so on. Then it's simply a playlist opening up with joyful or relaxing or focusing music.However, this is a use case and also some aficionados' life, because also aficionados are sometimes, I don't know, ironing their shirts, or cleaning the home. So this is the first thing I wanted to highlight because it was very interesting to me.Secondly, there are, of course, the obvious different segments. You have, the fact that classical music around the globe as a genre that's aggregating the high achievers. Classical music has always been, the music genre of the emerging communities. If you look at South America, you give underprivileged kids instruments and playing Beethoven makes their lives meaningful from one day to the other. So this is still system up. Gustavo Dudamel is one of the most known represented-F Geyrhalter: Well, he's here in the Los Angeles Philharmonic's now. So yeah, he's close to home.T Janczukowicz: Exactly.F Geyrhalter: Yeah.T Janczukowicz: Yeah, exactly. This is something that at the same time you have 50 million piano students in China these days. [] for example, used to say that the future of classical music is in China, which I wouldn’t say the future of classic music, but also be in China. But we see that a lot of young people in the Nordics, in Europe, but also in the United States are more and more turning to the classical, but they see and look at classical music in a different way, because especially in Germany... You're from Austria, central Europe, classical music is a heavy, serious thing. You have to gain some knowledge before you really understand it, which I believe is total bullshit. If music is great, everybody understands it immediately.The new use case that's coming up that I am listening to classical music because it helps me focus, it helps me calm down. But another word that I see in classical music as belonging, because if you listen to classical music and if you listen to a great concert with friends and a social environment, it also makes you feel connectiveness. You are connected with other people, you're connect with the musicians on stage. You are connected with the people you are listening with.So there was a very nice quote, which is very famous, but I heard it first from Yo-Yo Ma who once said, "The great thing about classic music is that it makes you part of something bigger than yourself." This is a very, very needed and a great value proposition.F Geyrhalter: I think, playing devil's advocate, that could be said about pretty much every musical genre, right? Because it is a very communal tribal idea. But with classical, just the idea that a lot of it happens in ginormous orchestras. There's so much where one person talks to the other via their musical instrument and jazz is kind of one step up from pop where you've got a couple of people that need to perfectly sync in an orchestra, make this 10, 20, 30 fold. So there's something by just the structure of classical music where it's more communal from the get go, I believe.T Janczukowicz: Yeah, I mean, jazz, I would say goes very much in the same direction, because it has various levels, but if you're looking at what is constituting music, first of all you have a melody, number two, you have rhythm, and number three you have harmonies. Then you can have one melody, which is the case in pop music, but then you can have two melodies, two themes.Then it starts with something that probably 70% or 80% of classical music have in common, which makes it so fascinating. You have two themes, and very often in the Sonata form, the first theme is male and the second theme is female.F Geyrhalter: How chauvinistic?T Janczukowicz: It's very chauvinistic, but everybody apparently seems to like Beethoven sonatas or Mozart symphonies where exactly this is happening. Then you have an exposition where the first theme, the male theme is being presented and after the female's theme is presented.Then you have the second part where these themes start to interact and to talk to each other. Sometimes there is tension and then comes down and so on. So it's very, very close to storytelling without words. This is something, probably, I said that earlier, what captured me at the very beginning, and I think it's a fascinating role because you can close your eyes, but you see stories, you feel stories, but you don't need to know when Beethoven was born, you don't need to know what is an overture. You don't need to know what is an aria. Just close your eyes and listen to it. This music is so appealing to everybody.I think one of the mistakes that classic music or classical music has made over decades is, is building this huge wall around it. Because if you go back to Mozart or Bach, it was entertainment music. It's agenre that comes from the courts and the people were eating and drinking and laughing and walking out and coming back. Something that the middle-class that occupied classic music for themselves, started to forbid. This created an intimidating...Let's say when we speak about branding, a part of this brand that is intimidating and it's not necessary because it's so embracing, and it's such a great genre.F Geyrhalter: I so agree with you. I so agree with you. Coming from a household where we constantly went to the Vienna Musikverein to see my dad play and others, it was always a big deal. Even though it's my dad on stage, and it's just normal, we go to his workplace, right?T Janczukowicz: Yeah.F Geyrhalter: There's something, there's an aura around classical music that feels like it's a cloud that should be broken. It feels like... I love how you talk about it. Even though I did not really realize that, but as I started looking through your brand work, through your website, through your app, it actually really is what you're doing. You're breaking that stigma. You're breaking that wall down, and I think it's beautiful.While we talk about musical terms, let's talk about IDAGIO, the brand name, for a second. It sounds a lot and pretty obviously to me like ADAGIO, which only has one letter replaced. ADAGIO for our non-musical listeners signifies a music played in slow tempo. So what was the inspiration for the name? Walk us through that a little bit.T Janczukowicz: It's very end simple. We needed a name, first of all, and we wanted the name to be self-explanatory. So we wanted something that people around the globe would associate with classical music. So ADAGIO, as you said, it's an international word. Many albums are just having one title, which is ADAGIO. If you have music that calms you down.At the same time, we wanted something that people understand context of technology. This is, I. The funny thing is that we had a law firm working for us this time and they were also representing a very famous American brand that has created many new devices that are starting with an I-F Geyrhalter: Whatever that could be.T Janczukowicz: Whatever that may be, and they called us back after three days said, "We checked it. You can use the name. No problem at all." So IDAGIO was born. That was the funny incident.F Geyrhalter: That's hilarious. Yeah, and it's not always the case. I heard of other firms that try to use names that started with I, and couldn't do it based on that same conglomerate that tries to own that one letter. But obviously, those are words where the, I, has more of a meaning in front of it with IDAGIO. It is a word. The, I, itself is not as meaningful.So, great. Well, I'm glad I got that quiz right. I'm proud of myself. How did you and your team obviously derive the brand's visual aura, so to speak? I use the word aura specifically since the gradient based imagery surrounding your brand has a very meditative feel to it. Even talking about IDAGIO, the idea of slowing down. Then you have the nifty mood selection feature, which we talked about in your app. Overall, you really crafted a beautiful slick visual identity that mixes the atmospheric, like in many of the Instagram posts with the harsh and crisp in the actual logo or the line work that apps dimension to the gradient artwork.Now, for everyone listening, unless you're currently driving a car, head on over to @IDAGIOofficial on Instagram to see what we're actually talking about. Till, how was the look derived? I think it just really found its groove, no pun intended, back in May on Instagram where everything started to have this very distinct and beautiful look. Can you talk a little bit about how this came about?T Janczukowicz: I think there are three factors probably, and, of course, none of these factors was conscious during it was there. Only looking back, you're connected in a meaningful way. Probably the first thing is that my grandfather, who offered me the piano, he had a Braun stereo system at home. We all know that Braun was one of the decisive branding and visual influences for this very, very famous brand we have been speaking about. I remember it was that it was the first thing.The second thing, as an artist manager, I was always in the second row. So that means you work as a catalyst. You are doing a great job if you work invisible. So you mentioned the Abu Dhabi Classics I created. The star was the series. If you manage an artist, if you build the career of a conductor, the conductor is the star, not yourself. You are always in the background.I think this is a thinking that also my co-founder was aesthetically a very big fan of minimalistic architecture. We said, "We want a look and feel that really highlights the musicians and the music and that's not dominating them. I think that's the second aspect.The third aspect is that, we had, at a very, very early stage, I think, our designer was a part of the founding team. He started on day one. I think he was one of the third or fourth people we hired. Because we believe it's very important that you reflect the beautiful and fascinating and special role that you also described. We were just speaking, that you going to the Musikverein with family when your father was playing. It's a fascinating thing. We wanted to translate that into a user interface and into a look and feel that respects the music and the artists.F Geyrhalter: Which is really, really difficult to pull off. It's very easy to look at and then criticize or get your own emotions about it, which by the way, I would never criticize because I think it is brilliant. It is so easy to look at something after it has been established. But to showcase music visually with all of its nuances, is an extremely difficult task. So bravo to that. It's really, really well done and it was one of the reasons why I got sucked into your brand.So while we talk about that, we might as well talk one more second about the actual icon, about the logo. It's a play on the play button and there is a horizontal line to the right of it, right below it. Tell us a bit about the idea behind it. Obviously you are not the designer, but I'm sure that that you played a role in signing it off and adopting it. What is the key idea behind it?T Janczukowicz: Well, I don't want to take a credit of others. My role was to not say no to it. Let’s put it like this, which at a minium I disliked it or I liked it, but my thinking here is rather, and thinking big, I was designing all this myself five, six, seven years ago. I had the first ideas of IDAGIO and I was very proud of, I don't know, copying some letters from an Italian luxury brand and I showed it to our designer when we hired him and he laughed at me. He was right there laughing at me.So I understood. I don't really understand this. I can express what I wanted for the brand and I could express how I believe it may look like, but he really did it. Then I think it's at the very end minimalistic thinking. I think when it comes down to that. Not something that disturbs and then some people get some agencies from outside before and they we're proposing a logo with some music scores and all this, a key, so it's really...I think we are in a different world.F Geyrhalter: Yeah.T Janczukowicz: Yeah. The icon that we have. Maybe one other thing. It's a little bit high level, but I was thinking when you were talking about... Again, I'm seeing in front of me your dad sitting on the stage of the Musikverein and what was the classic music 20, 30, 40 years ago, and what has really changed? Because also we were talking about different customer segments.When I started to work as a manager, that was '96, that was still a period where a conductor was still a maestro. He was the icon, you couldn't reach him, you couldn't talk to him. The entire management approach was to create a myth, create something that's unavailable because the less it's available, the more people want it. This is something, and this is an understanding of value. It's to the old world, which is an old world value thinking.I think in the digital world, and this is a big shift, in the digital world value is being created by being visible, by being transparent, by showing with as many people as possible what you are, who you are, what you do. So this is a total paradigm shift. If you look, for example, at a Karajan, you could not reach out to him. A Schulte was the same running the Chicago symphony orchestra for many years.If you now these days at young comebacks like Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the music director of the Philadelphia orchestra, music director of the metropolitan opera Andris Nelsons, music director of the Boston symphony and the Gewandhaus orchestra in Leipzig Germany. It's a new generation of open minded and more communicating conductors.What was very interesting to me, I had a meeting with the Juilliard School of Music in New York some months ago. I didn't know that when you are making your degree there, if you leave school, you don't have to only play, you also have to moderate the performance. The way how you talk about the music you play, as an artist, is also being judged. I think it's a very interesting thing.But this is all owed to transparency that came through technology. All the scandals that we are seeing and witnessing these days, it's not that humanity has apparently become immoral, just our ways to measure things and to see things are much more granular than 10, 20, 30, 50 years ago.This is also an aesthetic shift in classical music and this is also creating a new type of classical musicians. I find that a very interesting thing to see how technology even has some impact on the way you perform classical music.F Geyrhalter: That is absolutely fascinating. I agree. I've never thought about it that way. But just like everything else, classical music is being touched by it and it's great to be on the forefront of that like you are. While we were talking a little bit about philosophy here, what does branding mean to you? The actual word, branding. How do you see it?I know we talked a lot about emotion, we talked a lot about how people feel something rather than just listen to something. But maybe even in the classical arena, like where you are, what do you think when you think of branding?T Janczukowicz: Well, I would spontaneously say branding is an aggregated public perception. If it goes well and first of all, you have a good intention and you succeed in running the brand, the way you want, then it's probably aggregated trust that says, "Well, yeah, I can turn into this complex thing without making a mistake, without failing."Because I've heard of the brand from, whomever, my brother, my peers these days, then through, through, through advertisement because I think trust is getting more and more local, and we less and less trust governments and we less trust corporations. So I rather trust my peers because I'm so over flooded with information and bombarded by visual things that want to get my attention.But I think branding for me done right it's something of, well, yes, I can go. It's a safe harbor, safe place for me. I can recommend it. I can package that when I talk to other people pass it on to others and recommend to others.F Geyrhalter: You talked about trust and failures. I'm not as familiar with the entrepreneurial scene in Berlin, but here in the US we love to talk about failures. There are entire business book sections dedicated to it. Even though in my eyes it's blown way out of proportion, there are great things to be learned from mistakes that startup founders have made or witnessed during the early days of the brand formation.What was an enormous fail that you went through with IDAGIO in the very early days? Was there something where you just look back and you're like, "Okay, that was a fail, we could have prevented this, someone can learn from this?"T Janczukowicz: Well, I have to say, I think we were lucky in leaving out many mistakes you can potentially make. But, of course, there were mistakes, but there is not this story where I would say, "Well, this is really, really, really, I'll never forget it." I think it's rather a pattern.What I've learned over the years is that, if you do something for the first time and being an entrepreneur and forming and building something new has to do a lot of with trial and error. Probably the biggest mistake that I'm trying to avoid more and more is that I wasn't listening early enough to my natural instincts. I don't know if it's right or wrong, but I'm more and more convinced that this is the right thing. It sounds like cliché, but this is a principle that you can break down into any daily decision. If you feel something, but...and this is a personal problem that I have because everybody is, of course, different. I'm coming from the world of the arts. I'm rather intuitive, some people say visionary, but at least I have ideas. Some of these ideas have worked out in my life so far.But I'm also analyzing it. But if I feel that something is right, I start to do it. The bigger you grow as a corporation, you more and more have to bring things that are on a subconscious level to a conscious level. Then it has to arrive on the conscious level and then you have to explain it to everybody. Then you have to also give ownership to the people with whom you work with your team, because you are nobody with a team.You can form the North star, you can say that the direction and give a vision and the mission, I think in our company everybody is on that mission and people coming to the office, to our premise here in Berlin they say, "Oh wow, this is a great chemistry here. It feels good to be here." So that's the thing.But we're not talking about the good things, we're talking about failures. Of course, at the very end, nobody wants to fail. But thanks God, I was brought to this life by really an American entrepreneur, who was the owner of Columbia Artists, Ronald Wilford, and he was a typical American self-made man. One of his quotes was, "I didn't learn anything and that's why I can do everything."I think this is a good thing and this, and the combination that when I met him after our job interview in '96 where we even didn't perceive it as a job interview, but afterwards we had the first meetings. They will tell, "We are in an industry of ideas." Usually, we all have a lot of ideas and if you fail with 10 ideas, it's bad, you're gone. If you make one of the 10 ideas work, it's really great. If you make two of your 10 ideas work, this is highly above average.I think this is a mentality that's very, very un-German and having inhaled this kind of thinking for 16 years, I got more comfortable with the idea of making failures because, a young artist is like stakes you buy a company, you see something and you believe all to be there in two, four, six, eight years. Sometimes you're right and sometimes you are wrong. Then you have principles to figure out and to understand why you may be right.But going back in a nutshell, re-listen to yourself and if you feel something, you're really convinced, do it, whatever others say.F Geyrhalter: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah, absolutely.T Janczukowicz: But listen to them, then think, but then do what you feel.F Geyrhalter: And the same holds true for data, because I'm sure, at this point, your app has been downloaded over 1.5 million times, I think it's the latest in 190 countries?T Janczukowicz: Yeah.F Geyrhalter: So you must have so much great data about your users at this point, and I know you're using it and you have studies made about listenership and about what classical music means today. But on the other hand, you have to balance that out with not always listening to customer data and just solely basing decisions on your instinct as well. It's always a fine line that an entrepreneur walks.T Janczukowicz: Yeah.F Geyrhalter: On the flip side now, we talked a little bit about failures. Now, let's climb over that hill to success. When you look back, what was that big breakthrough moment where you felt like, "Okay, the startup is slowly moving into a brand." People start using the name, the app becomes part of daily life. When did you know that you had something that would become a major player in the music world? No pun intended. May it have been a funding round or the Salzburg Festival where you launched or early user feedback. What was it for IDAGIO where you knew that this will actually be a success?T Janczukowicz: Well, I think in order to do something like that, you need a certain, what we call... I don't know how you may be able to translate that in German. There's a nice word, Gottvertrauen. I don't know how you translate it. You put your trust in God. You have to do something. Everybody was, "Oh, you're going to fail, you're stupid." But to trust, you trust that it will work.So this is something that was always there. However, I, would say two things. One thing was quite early. It was that we were indeed launching, not the app, a minimal viable product, even not the beta at the Salzburg festival in 2015. We were launching there and we were sitting on stage in the premises of the festival upon invitation of the Vienna Philharmonic.Then some days later there was an article in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. They wrote, it was 2015 and they wrote, "If they're not going to run out of money, they could change the way how people listen to classical music." This is something, I remember, we were by far not yet there, but having read that and then securing the next funding round, the combination of those two things that we say, "Okay, we are on the good way. Let's put it like that."F Geyrhalter: Right. That’s amazing. For our international listeners, which is not the majority of our listeners, I think we have 6% German listeners. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is the authority, not only in Germany but it reaches through all of the central Europe. So that is a huge deal. To go back to when you talk about Gottvertrauen, the idea of you trust in God, just to make it universally accessible. It's also for atheists. That idea that you just trust in the universe, right? You have this ideology where you trust in the universe.All right, Till, we're coming slowly to a close, but none of my guests can get away without answering this particular question. Mainly because I believe it is such a great exercise for any entrepreneur to give some thought to as they keep building their culture and brand. I gave you a heads up on that. If you could describe everything about your brand in one or two words that would turn into your brand's DNA, as I call it, what would it be like? Examples could be freedom for Harley Davidson or happiness for Coca-Cola. What would that brand DNA be?T Janczukowicz: I have to answer that with an anecdote and then I try to answer your question.F Geyrhalter: Perfect.T Janczukowicz: There was a young Romanian conductor, Sergio Celibidache, amazing, amazing conductor. Was for many years the music director, legendary music director of the Munich Philharmonic. He believed he would get the job of the music director of the Berlin Philharmonic, then Karajan got the job. I just have to say that because he said Karajan is like Coca Cola.F Geyrhalter: I think I know that story from my dad actually because it's so classic.T Janczukowicz: Yeah, exactly. So sorry to... But it's not exactly an answer to what you asked, but I had to raise that. If you would allow two words that are not very romantic, I would say, what people should think in three, five, 10 years when they hear IDAGIO, it's classical music. If you would ask me to really distill it down to one word, then I would rather turn to what the classic music does with people. Then we could say happiness because it brings happiness. It gives people a more happier life because it makes you healthy.There are all these studies, classical music connects when you're growing up the right and the left half of the brain in a more meaningful way. You learn empathy, the social skills and so on. You could say health, but probably if we could nail it. Ask to really nail it down to one word, I think it's belonging.I think it's belonging because, if you look at what happens, we come alone, we go along but we have this 60, 70, if you're lucky, 80 years. To overcome this, this illusion of loneliness and classical music has this power to really connect you with other people. You don't need to touch them. You don't need to look at them. You close your eyes, but you feel connected with other people. I think this is probably best described by the word belonging.F Geyrhalter: That's beautiful. I knew that belonging would come back up because you had talked about it in the beginning. It is such a perfectly emotional word to really capture the brand beyond, right, really the entire genre. Where can listeners find IDAGIO if they are intrigued enough after listening to us for the last 45 minutes to give it a try and perhaps even become converts to the magic of classical music?T Janczukowicz: Very easily, on the internet, idagio.com. In the app store, there's an Android version. Anybody, for example, who has a Sonos device. There's been Sonos implementation of IDAGIO. But I would say go to the internet and there you'll find all the app stores to find IDAGIO and the different partnerships we have also with hardware manufacturers. Yeah, that's probably the easiest way.F Geyrhalter: Excellent. Excellent. That's the beauty of owning your name online. So I know you launched the company at the Salzburg Festival or the Salzburger Festspiele in 2015.T Janczukowicz: Yeah.F Geyrhalter: That is exactly what I would be heading next week. So watch out for me Till. If you're in Salzburg, you might run into me at one of the many Festspiele locations.T Janczukowicz: Cool.F Geyrhalter: Thank you so much for staying late at your office in Berlin to have this conversation with me today and to share your stories and your thoughts on branding with me and my listeners. We really appreciate your time.T Janczukowicz: A great pleasure. Thank you so much.F Geyrhalter: And thanks to everyone for listening, and please hit that subscribe button and give the show a quick rating - it only takes 5 seconds and it helps the podcast’s visibility and growth.And if you really enjoy it, please head on over to PATREON.com/Hittingthemark to become a sustaining member supporting this show.There has never been a more important episode in which to give the theme music some credit. It was written and produced by Happiness Won. If you want to know who is behind Happiness Won, then also head on over to PATREON.com/Hittingthemark and you may find what you learn amusing.I will see you next time – when we, once again, will be hitting the mark. 

这期节目我们和刚刚从上海搬到深圳的翻译家Gigi连线，聊一聊亚马逊的新美剧 Good Omens 「好兆头」，它是根据 Neil Gaiman 和 Terry Prachett 合写的 1990 同名小说改编的，讲了一个恶魔和天使联手阻止上帝和撒旦的世界末日大战的故事。我们的第二个话题是华格纳和他开创的 Bayreuth 拜罗伊特歌剧节。节目中谈到的作品信息：英剧Good Omens / 好兆头，Amazonhttps://movie.douban.com/subject/26846856/另外提及的幽默作家和喜剧组合是P G Wodehosue 沃德豪斯，Bill Bryson 比尔·布莱森，Monty Python 巨蟒剧团长诗Paradise Lost / 失乐园，弥尔顿https://book.douban.com/subject/2032523/目的地Bayreuth Festival 拜罗伊特瓦格纳歌剧节，德国https://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/en/批评文集艺术作品的未来 / The Art-Work of the Future，瓦格纳https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9780803297524/瓦格纳的歌剧仙女（Die Feen 1833-34，首演於1888年）禁戀（Das Liebesverbot oder Die Novize von Palermo 1834-36，首演於1836年）黎恩濟（Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen 1837）漂泊的荷蘭人（Der Fliegende Holländer，1843）唐懷瑟（Tannhäuser，1845）羅恩格林（Lohengrin，1848）崔斯坦與伊索德（Tristan und Isolde，1859）紐倫堡的名歌手（Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg，1867）尼貝龍根的指環（Der Ring des Nibelungen）系列包括四部作品：​莱茵的黄金（Das Rheingold，1854）​女武神（Die Walküre，1856）​齊格菲（Siegfried，1871）​諸神的黃昏（Götterdämmerung，1874）帕西法尔（Parsifal，1882）希望更多了解瓦格纳的听众可以阅读：Being Wagner，Simon Callowhttps://book.douban.com/subject/30141838/Richard Wagner: A Biography, Derek Watsonhttps://www.amazon.com/Richard-Wagner-Biography-Derek-Watson/dp/0070684790Wagner and the Erotic Impulse，Laurence Dreyfushttps://book.douban.com/subject/20450435/Nietzche Contra Wagner 尼采反对瓦格纳，尼采https://book.douban.com/subject/1043320/作为意志和表象的世界，叔本华https://book.douban.com/subject/1004699/悲剧的诞生，尼采https://book.douban.com/subject/11232671/Pro and Contra Wagner，托马斯·曼https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2238203.Pro_and_Contra_Wagner编辑推荐纪录片黑衣回归 Back in Black ，BBChttps://vimeo.com/228238390电影华格纳与我 Wagner & Me，Stephen Fryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlmaEpw7oz0剧集华格纳 Wagner，Richard Burtonhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMNvcaYWNvM非虚构汉魏六朝诗，上海辞书https://book.douban.com/subject/30393567/BGMIntro 音乐是华格纳的 Lohengrin 序曲，中间配乐是华格纳的 Tristan 的 Liebestod，Outro 音乐是 Die Walküre 的序曲成为文化土豆的赞助人：www.culturepotato.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John von Rhein, who recently retired as the Chicago Tribune’s classical music critic, joins the show live via phone ‘Inside the Huddle’ with his highlights and lowlights from over forty years of attending and writing about classical music performances in Chicago... Then the OBS team takes off on another summer opera festival road trip. This time they head overseas to the Granddaddy of Them All, the Bayreuth Festival in Germany... Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’, tribute is paid to Aretha Franklin's opera voice, and the best way to punish your neighbors with opera is revealed... www.facebook.com/OBSCHI1/

It’s that time of the year, when that midsummer classic the Bayreuth Festival begins once again. I will be attending this yearly ritual, and ahead of me will be performances of The Flying Dutchman, Parsifal, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and the new production of Lohengrin, directed by the first American to mount a production at the Green Hill.

There have been many highlights in Simone Young's career. Alongside conducting most of the world’s great orchestras including the London and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, the City of Birmingham Symphony, and the BBC Symphony at the BBC Proms, she was also the first woman to conduct at the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic, two orchestras she regularly returns to conduct today. In 1983, at just 22, Simone Young had already joined the staff of Opera Australia. She studied at Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music prior to taking up her position with AO where she worked as a répétiteur. By 1986, the young Sydneyite was conducting at the Sydney Opera House and appointed a resident conductor with Opera Australia. Simone moved to Germany, where she took up a position assisting James Conlon, the conductor at the Cologne Opera. This led to further engagements, including working alongside the legendary Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera and the Bayreuth Festival. In 1998 she was appointed principal conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway. But Australia was never far from her sights. In 2000, Simone was given what she terms one of the greatest honours of her career, when she conducted the national anthem at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Not long afterwards, she returned to take up the position of Music Director with Opera Australia, but despite these three years being an artistically rewarding period, they were turbulent years in her career. In 2005 Simone returned to Europe to direct one of the Germany’s major opera houses, the Hamburg State Opera, and as chief conductor of the city’s philharmonic orchestra, positions she held until 2015. Simone has also been a great mentor for a number of Australian conductors and singers. She says, “I think it is incredibly important for young conductors to see just how tough the working side of this job is. If you don’t want to work hard, don’t choose this profession.”It was, indeed, in the midst of a heavy performance and rehearsal schedule in Berlin that Simone Young joined the Tall Poppies podcast. In this episode, she recalls how her musical education in Australia and her father’s good advice prepared her for an international conducting career. Simone also confides how she plans to tackle the latest position she has added to her illustrious list of honours – that of being the Australian Nana to her two grandchildren.

Currently at the Bayreuth Festival there is an exhibit called “Silenced Voices.”  It is a tribute to the many singers, artists, and musicians who, during the Third Reich, were banned from the festival because they were Jewish.  In this podcast I pay tribute to three of these distinguished Wagnerians: the legendary soprano Lilli Lehmann, the dashing baritone Herbert Janssen, and the great bass-baritone Friedrich Schorr, who was the greatest Wotan of his time.

This year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Wieland Wagner, the composer's grandson, who in 1951 revolutionized the staging of his grandfather's work when he reopened the Bayreuth Festival after World War II with an astonishing production of Parsifal.  His dark style became known as "New Bayreuth."  

The Bayreuth Festival opened this week with a new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Wagner's only comedy.  Barrie Kosky, the director of this production has focused on the antisemitism aspect of Wagner's work.  The results make for a very interesting night at the Festspielhaus.

La Bohème“Che gelida manina”Arturo ToscaniniFidelio“Sono andate” ariaGeorges PretreWinterreiseSeymon Bychkov and John Eliot Gardiner were two mentors Louis mentioned.Glyndeborne OperaMostly Mozart FestivalSimon Rattle spoke about importance of understanding a community."Musetta’s Waltz" (aka Quando me’n vo’) with its 25 tempo changesMaestro Langrée mentions the Bayreuth Festival and sitting in the pit to watch Peter Schneider conduct. YouTube link to Kleiber Pavarotti Paul Valéry's Cahiers—short notebooksSmartphone metronome appsJean Robert de Cavel is a Cincinnati-based chef.“Essere non videre” – be yourselfHelen Merrill Bruckner 7 condMiles DavisLibretto of La Boheme

The second half of the summer is a special time for German opera fans, as people from all over the world make a pilgrimage to Germany for the annual Bayreuth Festival. This festival is entirely dedicated to the operatic output of Richard Wagner, including performances of the entire Ring Cycle. For the next several episodes, we thought it would be fitting to take a tour through these amazing works via a 4-part Talking About Opera program with former Met Opera Radio Broadcast Host Peter Allen. Episode 43 begins with the first opera in the cycle, DAS RHEINGOLD.

Works for chamber orchestra by Foote performed by A Far Cry with Paula Robison, flute on April 21, 2013 and February 6, 2011. Foote, Arthur: A Night Piece Frank, Gabriela Lena: Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout America has long been known as a place where many cultures converge. On our podcast, we’ll celebrate two Americans, from two different generations, whose music illustrates this multicultural inclination.Born in the 1850s in Salem, Massachusetts, Arthur Foote was arguably the first major classical composer to be educated entirely in America. However, his work was undeniably influenced by European trends and aesthetics, as we’ll hear on this podcast. Foote traveled often to Europe, attending notable concerts, including Wagner’s first Bayreuth Festival. The score to A Night Piece, written for flute and strings, evokes elements of both German and French music of the late 19th century.We skip ahead several decades for the next work on the podcast: Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout. Born more than a century after Foote, in 1972, Frank is a young composer of Jewish-Peruvian descent, and this piece draws particularly on her Latin American heritage. The work, she writes, “mixes elements from the western classical and Andean folk music traditions,” combining them such that they coexist as equals, without one dominating the other.

We find out more about Thora's dinner companion 'Simon' and hear some plans of the Rhine Maidens and now who's going to pilot the ship with the Captain dead?Scene 1 of Das Rheingold from the Bayreuth Festival production in 1876  

Frida Leider was born at Berlin, where she studied singing while working in a bank. Her first engagements led her to opera houses in Halle, Königsberg, and Rostock. After an engagement with the Hamburg State Opera in 1923, she was hired by the Berlin State Opera as first dramatic soprano. After her retirement from the stage in 1946, she remained there as the director and manager of a studio for the rising singers of the Berlin State Opera. Frida Leider made regular guest appearances for over 15 years at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at La Scala in Milan, and at the State Operas of Vienna and Munich. Naturally, she also made appearances at the Bayreuth Festival, where she was the unrivaled star soprano of the 1930s. In the 1920s she alternated Wagnerian roles with Florence Austral at Covent Garden and the two recorded large parts of The Ring for HMV. Leider married the first concert master of the Berlin State Opera, Prof. Rudolf Deman. The couple had no children. She died in her home city of Berlin. Leider had a wonderful voice, and especially the warmth and feeling is there. We hear first two excerpts of two commercial recordings of Tristan from 1929 under Leo Blech, with Elfreide Marherr as Brangaene, and then under Sir John Barbirolli in 1931. This is followed by live Gotterdamerung  Act 2 scenes from 1936 with Herbert Janssen and Ludwig Weber, followed by a commercial recording of the Immolation Scene in 1929 under Leo Blech.

 One of the world's greatest aingers, Lilli Lehmann recorded a wide variety of material (announced) and I sincerely hope you enjoy it. Remember,she was almost 60 here.  (66 min.) Lehmann sang in the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876, singing in the first complete performances of The Ring Cycle as Woglinde and Helmwige. She performed in London in 1884, and appeared at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1885–1890. Together with her Met colleagues Fischer, Alvary, Brandt, and Seidl, she helped to popularise Wagner's music in America. By remaining in America beyond the leave granted her by the Berlin Opera, she faced a ban following her return to Germany. After the personal intervention of the Emperor, the ban was lifted. She appeared at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1899 and sang in Paris and Vienna in 1903 and 1909 respectively. In 1905, she sang at the Salzburg Festival, later becoming the festival's artistic director. Lehmann was also renowned as a Lieder singer. She continued to give recitals until her retirement from the concert stage in the 1920s. Her mature voice, of splendid quality and large volume, gained for her the reputation of being not only one of the greatest Wagnerian singers of her day but also an ideal interpreter of Bellini's Norma and the operatic music of Mozart. She was considered unsurpassed in the rôles of Brünnhilde and Isolde but sang an astonishingly wide array of other parts. Indeed, across the span of her career, she performed 170 different parts in a total of 119 German, Italian and French operas. She was noted not only for her rendering of the musical score, but also as a tragic actress.[1] She was also a noted voice teacher. Among her pupils were the famous sopranos Geraldine Farrar and Olive Fremstad. In 1888, she married the tenor Paul Kalisch. Portrait with signature, 1903 Lehmann founded the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 1916. The academy's curriculum concentrated on voice lessons at first but it was extended later to include a wide variety of musical instruction. [2] The Lilli Lehmann Medal is awarded by the Mozarteum in her honour. Her voice can be heard on CD reissues of the recordings which she made prior to World War I. Although past her peak as an operatic singer when she made these records, they still impress.

Could Mogadishu be about to lose its title as the world's most dangerous city? Mary Harper says soon there'll be a new parliament and a new president in the Somali capital and there's hope the days of war, drought and famine could come to an end. The authorities in Yemen helped by the US have been taking the battle to al-Qaeda but Natalia Antelava says some believe hearts and minds are being lost in the process. Three years ago the north-eastern tip of Sri Lanka was the scene of the Tamil Tigers' last big battle against the Sri Lankan army. Charles Haviland's been allowed to visit the area. Henry Nicholls, who's been in the Galapagos Islands out in the Pacific Ocean, says people there are finding it hard to pick themselves up after the death of their most famous resident, the giant tortoise, Lonesome George. The annual Bayreuth Festival has been taking place in the south of Germany and Stephen Evans says that once again it's being stalked by controversy.

No stranger to controversy these days The Bayreuth Festival opened at the end of July with a new production of Lohengrin directed by one of the best-known Regietheater directors, Hans Neuenfels. His tongue-in-cheek take on Richard Wagner's most romantic opera involved setting it in a land overrun by rats. There was laughter at the Festspielhaus and there were loud boos as well.  Ultimately, over the years, the production became one of the most popular at the Green Hill.  I was very lucky to see it in the summer of 2012.  That first summer, though, Jonas Kaufmann played the title role. Soprano Annette Dasch, along with Kaufmann, ignited opening night with their passionate singing.  She stayed with the production throughout its run.

The Bayreuth Festival opened with a much anticipated production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg directed by Katharina Wagner, daughter of Wolfgang Wagner. As the heir apparent to the family business, Katharina's new production shows that the Festival wants to continue breaking with the traditions of the past. For some her new production is bold and innovative, while others have dismissed it as insulting Eurotrash. As you will hear, the boos and cheers mixed during this year's opening night. 

For many opera lovers around the world, Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka became a household word this summer after her critically praised performance as Sieglinde at this year's Bayreuth Festival. In this podcast, recorded from the Ballroom of Rideau Hall in Ottawa, you will hear two of Canada's finest singers together in concert for the first time. Superstar heldentenor Ben Heppner joins Ms. Pieczonka to perform Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, as well as arias from Die Walküre.

On September of this year, soprano Astrid Varnay died in Munich, Germany. She was one of the great Wagnerian sopranos of our times, and one of the artists chosen by Wieland Wagner to re-open the Bayreuth Festival in 1951. Astrid Varnay was one of the most successful sopranos of the 1950's and 60's. In the mid 1970's she came back to the stage in character roles. In this podcast you will hear her in the role of Brünnhilde in the 1955 stereo recording of Siegfried from the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

This performance of Götterdämmerung brings to a close the new production of the Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival. One of the shining stars of the last evening was Hans-Peter König who, in the role of Hagen, is positively chilling in the third scene of Act II. You will also hear Christian Thielemann conducting the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra in Siegfried's Funeral Music, as well as the thrilling voice of Linda Watson as Brünnhilde in the climactic Immolation Scene which ends the work.

One of the delights of the past two Bayreuth Festivals was listening to tenor Stephen Gould mesmerize audiences with his impressive performances of Tannhäuser. This summer he is making the crowds at the "Green Hill" go wild once again, this time with his volcanic interpretation of the title role in Siegfried. In this podcast you will hear him sing this role, alongside tenor Gerhard Siegel (Mime), in the Act I Forging Song, and in the final scene of Act III with soprano Linda Watson (Brünnhilde).

 At this year's Bayreuth Festival, one thing is certain: the new production of the Ring is receiving standing ovations thanks to the vision of director Tankred Dorst, the incredible conducting of Christian Thielemann, who leaves no doubt that he is one of the great Wagnerians of our times, and the amazing singing of Adrianne Pieczonka as Sieglinde. In this presentation of excerpts from Die Walküre you will also hear Endrik Wottrich as Siegmund, Linda Watson as Brünnhilde, and Falk Struckmann as Wotan.

The highlight of this year's Bayreuth Festival is the new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen, staged by director Tankred Dorst, and conducted by Christian Thielemann. This new production of Das Rheingold, the prelude to Wagner's "Ring," premiered on July 26, 2006. In this program you will hear extended excerpts from this performance, which was broadcast live to the world on Radio Bavaria. The cast features baritone Falk Struckmann as Wotan.

The Bayreuth Festival will open this year on July 25 with a performance of Der fliegende Holländer, Wagner's first "mature" opera. This production is a controversial modern, Freudian staging of the work that has been greeted with boos year after year since the first time that it premiered in 2003. In this podcast we will listen to excerpts from last year's production (whose cast is almost identical to this summer's scheduled artists) as well as classic and rare examples of past performances of this romantic opera.

In contrast to the first "complete" recording ever made at the Bayreuth Festival in 1928, which was the subject of our two previous podcasts, we now offer excerpts from the latest Tristan und Isolde from the Festspielhaus. This modern dress production premiered on July 25, 2005, and the action of the opera takes place aboard an ocean liner. This "Ship of Fools" production, as the European press dubbed it, stars soprano Nina Stemme and tenor Robert Dean Smith. The Bayreuth Orchestra is under the direction of Eiji Oue.

In the conclusion of this three-part series, we look back at the work of American baritone Clarence Whitehill, who excelled in Wagnerian roles around the world, and first performed at the Bayreuth Festival in 1904. The program also features the work of some of the best Wagner conductors on the scene today. We highlight musical excerpts from Donald Runnicles at the Vienna State Opera, Valery Gergiev at the MET, and Pierre Boulez leading the 2004 controversial staging of Parsifal from the enfant terrible of German art, Christoph Schlingensief.

In our premiere Podcast, we will explore the various ways in which Wagner's last opera, Parsifal, has been performed since it first saw the light of day at the Bayreuth Festival of 1882. In this program we will focus on the way that conductors have approached this musical score. It is our hope that you will enjoy the musical numbers that we have selected for you.  My sincere thanks goes out to my friend Keith Barnes who provided me with the rare musical excerpts that you will hear in this program.  This program could not have been done without his help. Enjoy the show!

Wagner's epic of sacred and profane love stars Wolfgang Windgassen, Victoria de los Angeles, Grace Bumbry, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Josef Greindl. Wolfgang Sawallisch conducts this live performance from the Bayreuth Festival, 1961.

Wagner's epic of sacred and profane love stars Wolfgang Windgassen, Victoria de los Angeles, Grace Bumbry, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Josef Greindl. Wolfgang Sawallisch conducts this live performance from the Bayreuth Festival, 1961.

Wagner's epic of sacred and profane love stars Wolfgang Windgassen, Victoria de los Angeles, Grace Bumbry, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Josef Greindl. Wolfgang Sawallisch conducts this live performance from the Bayreuth Festival, 1961.

Act 3 of Die Walkuere (Wagner) at the first postwar Bayreuth Festival (1951). Astrid Varnay, Leonie Rysanek, Sigurd Bjoerling / Herbert von Karajan.

From the first postwar Bayreuth Festival (1951), a passionate performance of the final act of Die Walkuere. Featured are Astrid Varnay (Brunnhilde), Leonie Rysanek (Sieglinde), and Sigurd Bjoerling (Wotan). Herbert von Karajan conducts.