Tag: Peter Sellars

Easter Tuesday Miscellany

jamesprimoschLeave a comment

After a break for the Easter Triduum, I am back with a few random bits:

– I found this quite moving. I wish more folks who do liturgy showed this kind of sensitivity and imagination.

– Have been listening to this. These are complete versions of the ballets. If you only know the suite, some of the parts you don’t know in Appalachian Spring are unexpectedly edgy. The complete Rodeo is not much different from the Four Episodes, and it is inspired throughout, unlike Billy the Kid, which has some vacant pages. Dance Panels sounds a little dated, unlike the earlier ballets.

-upcoming in Philly:

– Dolce Suono Ensemble presents an intriguing program at Trinity Center this Friday, April 13, including two works by Shulamit Ran. (Go here and scroll down.)

– Network for New Music offers a premiere by Matthew Greenbaum called Rope and Chasm – a work for video and soprano – Sunday, April 15 at 7:30 in Rock Hall at Temple University. A preview:

Sellars does Crumb

jamesprimoschLeave a comment

Peter Sellars is staging a performance of George Crumb’s Winds of Destiny at Ojai. In this feature on the NPR website, Crumb says how Dawn Upshaw’s performance of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” helped inspire his own setting of the piece in this cycle. I was at her performance of that tune, because it was part of her Carnegie Hall debut program in which she did my Denise Levertov setting Bedtime as part of a group of songs by composers roughly of her own generation. It was an amazing program. After that group, she did a staged version of Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children, then a set of folks songs with Bill Crofut. In the Crumb staging, prepared with Bill T. Jones, Upshaw became what was undoubtedly the first soprano making her Carnegie recital debut to spend time during the performance laying flat on the floor of the stage. More on Crumb here and here. Audio and video from the Ojai site here.