Podcast appearances and mentions of james jorden

Blessed are the Meek

Be who you are where you are

Jesus chose the cup because He chose you

Life to the full Less is more ? I have enough!

Today I revisit the artistry of the great Patricia Neway (1919-2012), a singer of extraordinary versatility, dramatic power, and musical sensibility. She is no doubt most famous for two of her Broadway creations: the role of the beleaguered Magda Sorel in Gian Carlo Menotti's tragic opera The Consul, first produced on Broadway in 1950, and of the Mother Abbess in Rodgers and Hammerstein's final musical, 1959's The Sound of Music. But the genesis for this episode was my recent discovery of her rare 1953 album of Italian art songs. Her voice was an unusual one, dusky yet capable of extraordinary colors, chiaroscuro, leggerezza, and agility, all of which are foregrounded in the aforementioned album of songs by Bellini, Verdi, and Mascagni. I also include a few brief excerpts of Neway singing material ranging from a sacred cantata by Buxtehude to settings of texts by James Joyce to a refined yet playful rendition of “My Favorite Things.” Of which she is definitely one! The episode opens with a tribute to James Jorden, who died on October 3. Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel's lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody's core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody's Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available exclusively to Patreon supporters are currently available and further bonus content including interviews and livestreams is planned for the upcoming season.

The art of true strength - What it means to be strong

Ways that we can pick it up and read it It's all a matter of Lordship

a Grow show-case

Part 2

Can I Be Bothered - To Become more like Christ?

Do You... and Who Do You?

Foolishness or Foolishness a gift empowered church

Jesus sent another

Serving - Loving God and Loving People

Pathways to the Presense - Worship

Sorry - the first few minutes of the talk are missing The Video interview with Ally Jarvis that is mentioned in the talk may be found at the start of the 20th February 2022 One Church Gloucester Podcast

Focus and Perspective "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come." Ephesians 1:17-21 The Name of Jesus

The Gospel Part 2 - Every Hello Matters

God doesn't want 10% of your money - He wants 100% of your heart (and soul and mind)

Less is More, Stress is Bad, Giving is Good, Tomorrow Matters

Part 4 of Risen

Part 4 of As It Is In Heaven

Part 2 of As It Is In Heaven

Part 5 of One Word in 2019

She seduces, she traps, she destroys. She's a femme fatale and her signature aria is the dangerously alluring “Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix” from Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns. "My heart opens to your voice,” sings Dalila, "like the flowers open to the kisses of the dawn." It sure sounds like a love song, but just below the surface it’s simmering with seduction and betrayal. In this episode, host Rhiannon Giddens and her guests reflect on the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah, the trope of the femme fatale and how Saint-Saëns created this unforgettable moment that sounds as if Dalila’s slowly removing her clothing, one note at a time. Plus, you'll hear mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča sing the complete aria from the Metropolitan Opera stage. The Guests Mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča made her Met debut a decade ago, but the role of Dalila is relatively new to her: she first sang Samson et Dalila at the Vienna State Opera in May 2018. But judging from her recent appearance at WQXR, the part of a Biblical seductress suits her just fine. James Jorden is the founding editor of the world's first (and still very popular) opera blog Parterre Box. He's written for many other publications, including Opera News, The New York Times and the New York Observer. In another life, he used to sing “Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix." Dr. Caroline Blyth teaches religious studies at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and studies Biblical themes in contemporary culture. She spent eight years researching the Delilah story for her book Reimagining Delilah’s Afterlives as Femme Fatale: The Lost Seduction.  

Part 2 of The Stars Are Brightly Shining

A Life Loved Big - The God Potential

Choose To Encounter Jesus Faithfully

Part 2 of Heart Detox

Turning The Clock Back

Part 1 of Me, Myself & I Am

Christ's Love Compels ... Compels US to Love

Compelled to Make a Significant Impact

Let Me Introduce You

There is More For You

Longtime listeners may remember way back in episode 4 of The Sewers of Paris, my guest Greg talked about picking up copies of an unofficial queer opera zine called Parterre Box in the men's room of the Metropolitan Opera. The publisher of that zine is this week's guest. James Jorden always wanted to direct, but when he first moved to New York the closest he could get to the stage was in a low-paying job sweeping up bobby pins. That's when he had a a stroke of inspiration: if his career wasn't advancing through official channels, maybe more underground measures would bring him success. There's no way he could have imagined how right he would be.

Chicago Tribune chief theater critic Chris Jones tells Naomi Lewin that nothing lights up his e-mail inbox like an opera company staging a Broadway musical using full amplification. "It's full of disgruntled patrons," he said. "You get the natural hall acoustics working – and then you get a miked performer." The controversies go beyond acoustics and amplification – there's also the question of how to blend performers from the worlds of opera and Broadway in a single cast. On the other hand, there’s a huge potential upside for opera houses: the ability to reach new audiences clamoring for the sound of a full orchestra, which has all but vanished from Broadway pits. The trend has been particularly pronounced at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, which in recent years has staged “Oklahoma,” “Show Boat" “The Sound of Music” and now, Rodgers and Hammerstein's “Carousel." Elsewhere, Stephen Sondheim's “Sweeney Todd” is coming to Houston Grand Opera next week and San Francisco Opera in September. Companies in Los Angeles and Washington, DC as well as the Glimmerglass festival have also been bit by the Broadway bug. James Jorden, editor of the opera website Parterre Box and a contributor to the New York Observer, notes that the now-defunct New York City Opera made a staple of musicals in the 1980s. And yet, "opera houses are not made for talking in," he said referring to the spoken dialogue. "Even with very excellent sound design, it's going to be difficult to do 'Carousel,' which is very talky." Jorden and Jones also weigh in on the decline of the Broadway touring circuit and how that has opened up a place for opera companies, and whether more musicals means fewer operas for major houses. Jorden also tells us what musical he believes would be particularly well-suited for the Metropolitan Opera. Listen to the full segment at the top of this page and tell us what you think of the trend in the comments box below.

There are still hoops to be jumped through, but it looks like, as Monty Python would say, New York City Opera is not dead yet. Last week, the bankrupt company's board of directors voted to approve the sale of its remaining assets – minus the endowment – to a group, called NYCO Renaissance, headed by Michael Capasso and Roy Niederhoffer. Capasso is general director of the Dicapo Opera Theatre; Niederhoffer is the founder of R.G. Niederhoffer Capital Management, Inc., and a former City Opera board member. Both join us on this episode to talk about their plans. NYCO Renaissance is, in fact, one of several suitors who have been angling to take over the City Opera name and assets, and the group still has to win approval from a bankruptcy judge. But Capasso and Niederhoffer have raised $2.6 million in pledges, garnered support from former City Opera musicians, and have planned an all-star tribute gala to the late City Opera maestro Julius Rudel in March. The event is to feature singers that Rudel worked with over the years, including Plácido Domingo, Frederica von Stade and James Morris. Nevertheless, these plans have drawn skepticism from some observers, in part because of the checkered financial past of Capasso's company. Host Naomi Lewin asks him about that, and also speaks with James Jorden, the editor of the opera website Parterre.com. "No one will be happier than I if New York City has another major opera company," says Jorden, who also writes for the New York Observer. He also cautions: "But I just can't understand how such a plan might work, especially when right now, the Metropolitan Opera is hurting for ticket sales." Listen to the full segment above and tell us in the comments below: what you think of the plans to revive City Opera?

Members of the stagehands union were advised this week to prepare for a picket at the Metropolitan Opera in anticipation of a lockout. And according to one union source involved in the current talks between the Met and 12 of its unions, "there's virtually no chance of a deal" this week. The Met has pushed its contract deadline to Sunday night while a third-party financial analyst has been examining its books for over a week. But sources independently confirmed that the parties remain far apart on monetary and philosophical issues. If talks break down, a lockout could happen as early as Monday. So where will the Met labor dispute end up? And how are the different parties making their cases? In this podcast, three views: James Jorden, editor of the opera blog Parterre Box and a contributor to the New York Observer. Drew McManus, an arts consultant who writes the blog Adaptistration. Lois S. Gray, a Professor of Labor Management Relations Emeritus at Cornell University. Subscribe to Conducting Business on iTunes Segment Highlights: Why not continue to talk and prepare for the season without a contract? McManus: "All of this circles around using deadlines as bargaining leverage. There's no way that playing and talking can continue indefinitely." Gray: "One of the reasons why the Met is forcing an early deadline before the season starts is that during the season, the leverage would be on the part of the union, to call a strike while the production is on." Why haven't the company's stars been more vocal in the dispute? Jorden: "From what I hear, there's a real division in AGMA [the singers' union] between the principals and chorus, stage managers and other groups. AGMA is basically a chorus union. I don't think there would be that much enthusiasm on the part of the principals to say, 'oh yes, we really need to support AGMA.'" How is the union's P.R. strategy of attacking general manager Peter Gelb working for them? McManus: "It's worth pointing out that the animosity that's being directed toward Gelb has not been directed towards the organization's board of directors. They've been pretty much been off-limits. You have to have a way for either side to save face. In this case, by not attacking the board and focusing on Gelb instead, it doesn't target the board's reputation for governance. If they decide to meet the musicians on Gelb's management style, that's more oversight." Has the Met effectively made its case to the public, that it needs to save money through cuts to labor costs? Gray: "Does the Met have to cut costs or does it have to raise more money? This is an issue for symphony orchestras throughout the United States and it's true of the whole cultural sector." McManus: "The Met's strategy so far has been a zero-sum bargaining strategy: 'Here's the percentage of cuts and we're willing to talk about where the cuts have to happen.' If the Met continues to adopt that policy, the likelihood for a lockout is very high." Listen to the full segment above and tell us what you think of negotiations in the comments box below.

The Metropolitan Opera's decision to cancel its global HD and radio broadcasts of John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer has stirred up heated responses from around the classical music world. Some have called the decision sensitive and sensible given the real-life subject matter. Others have said it showed a lack of courage of artistic convictions and principles. The Death of Klinghoffer centers on the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian terrorists, who murdered the Jewish passenger Leon Klinghoffer. The Met cited an "outpouring of concern" from Jewish groups that the HD transmission, scheduled for Nov. 15, might incite global anti-Semitism. In this podcast, we get opposing views on this from two Met-watchers: James Jorden, editor of Parterre Box and a contributing writer to the New York Post Tim Smith, classical music critic of the Baltimore Sun Segment Highlights On the Met's decision Jorden: My problem with losing the HD [broadcast] is there's a very large audience who have the opportunity to see and make their own decisions about this work that are now being cut out of the process. There are about four to five times as many people who see the HD as see the performance in the theater. In a sense, the Met is cutting out about 75 to 80 percent of the total audience for this piece. Smith: Part of me says, I think I know what they're talking about. It may be overstating things. But if you do believe that something is going on that is so dangerous for Jews right now, then I think it's at least sensitive to say that maybe this particular piece right now...we don't want to be a part, if there is truly a chance that it could somehow be exploited by people who are already looking for excuses anyway. How the Met could have handled the objections differently Jorden: There's a teachable moment here that's going un-taught. There's something we can learn about the racial politics of the situation that could be approached by handling the HD Broadcasts in a sensitive way. In other words, by including supplemental materials during the intermission, before the broadcast, so that people can come into it with an informed point of view. Smith: When you read some of the less emotional but still very serious analyses by people who really dislike this opera, you can at least understand where they're coming from. They can cite chapter and verse about parts in the libretto that really they find offensive, starting with the title: they don't know why it's not called "The Murder of Klinghoffer." I didn't think that that kind of objection was driving this decision but merely the fact that this is going out into a world that isn't so easy to have a dialogue with. Should Art Ever Be Silenced for a Perceived Social Good? Smith: Not everybody is thinking of this [opera] as a masterpiece, which it may very well be. It's a fabulously written piece and it's full of deep thought and all that stuff. But it doesn't mean that everybody's hearing it that way, or is even interested in it as a work of art. They're interested in other things about it. Jorden: As the saying goes, information wants to be free. The more knowledge people have, the better capable they are in a potential sense of making a good decision. Weigh in: Listen to the full podcast above, and tell us what you think about the Met's decision in the comments below. .chart_div { width: 600px; height: 300px; } loadSurvey( "what-do-you-think-mets-decision-cancel-klinghoffer", "survey_what-do-you-think-mets-decision-cancel-klinghoffer");

Last week, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf cancelled a Nazi-themed production of Wagner's Tannhäuser, when the premiere performance prompted booing, mass walkouts and even reports of audience members getting sick. With scenes that reportedly showed Jews being murdered and dying in gas chambers, it certainly shocked — but it was hardly the first revisionist opera production. In this podcast, Naomi Lewin asks three prominent opera-watchers whether Düsseldorf was right to cancel the production, and what radical updates can bring to the art form. To some commentators, the Dusseldorf Tannhauser was a stretch: the opera is set in the Middle Ages and based on a ballad about a bard called Tannhäuser. Yet the intention of the director, Burkhard Kosminski, had a logic that many could understand. In the month of Wagner’s bicentennial, he wanted to link the opera to the Holocaust – an event which the composer’s own ardent anti-Semitism seemed to presage. John Berry, the artistic director of English National Opera, called the Düsseldorf company “extremely well established” and he praised its talented leadership. But a company should also prepare its audience for a provocative concept. "Usually, in an opera house, you receive a model and an outline of the ideas a year, two years, sometimes even longer [beforehand] so the Düsseldorf management would have had a good idea of the overall vision for the piece,” he said. “On the face of it, it does seem shocking that the whole production has been pulled due to the audience response," he continued. "I haven’t heard of that anywhere. But I haven’t seen the piece.” James Jorden, opera critic of the New York Post and editor of the blog Parterre Box, took a sterner view of the company’s cancellation. “The job of opera management is to present the vision of people who create opera – the director, the conductor and the singers,” said Jorden. “It’s a terrible, terrible thing and a cowardly thing to send the message to these artists that we’re not going to support you. If someone complains about your work, we’re out of here. We'll drop you like a hot potato." Anne Midgette, the classical music critic of the Washington Post, noted that Nazi references are not uncommon in German Wagner productions, typically as a way of exploring issues around German nationalism. But what may have ignited the Düsseldorf controversy was the fact that "it actually showed people being killed." Still, Midgette believes that opera has the power to confront and challenge. "You’re dealing with an art form that many, many people approach with a sense that it's safely distant," she said. “A production that puts people being gassed on stage is going in there wanting to grab the audience by the collar."  (In a statement, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein said that although it knew that the production would be "controversial" it did not expect the extreme reactions that followed the premiere.) But when does a strong directorial concept (aka "Regietheater," or "director's theater") lose focus and cross over into what detractors label “Eurotrash?" Berry believes modern updates can be highly successful if essential ingredients are in place. "In the end, whether it’s a modern updating or not, is it well-sung, is the director telling the story, does it have a dramatic and musical power?” Sometimes a concept will completely miss the mark. Jorden recalls seeing a Carmen in Stuttgart where the title character "died six or seven times in the course of the opera – but not at the end." Yet he also remembers Calixto Bieito’s staging of Wagner’s Parsifal, set in an apocalyptic landscape inspired by Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road. "Not only did this make me question completely my ideas of what the opera was about, it still to this day has me wondering what the purpose of religion in human existence is," Jorden said. "I don't think you could ask for a more profound meaning in an operatic performance." Weigh in: What modern updates of operas have you seen that did or didn't work for you? Tell us about it in the comments box below. Photo: Piotr Beczala as the Duke and Oksana Volkova as Maddalena in the Met's "Vegas" Rigoletto (Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera)

  May I pause and give credit for these podcasts to my buddy,James Jorden, of Parterre Box fame. He taught me how to podcast,videocast, and remain a legend in my own mind.   If you wish to order any of the albums on the podcast page, click the selection(s) and James gets a commission from Amazon.That is at least something we can do to thank him for his special efforts..and great talent!                                  Il tuo caro amico,   Charlie