David P. Goldman, the Spengler columnist for Asia Times Online, writes in Tablet Magazine on why Christian classical music appeals to Jews:
Music criticism has a two-fold task in a Jewish context. One issue is the technical competence and interpretative validity of performance, or the quality of new composition. But a more important issue is the spiritual purpose toward which music is made.
Mezzo-soprano Margaret Mezzacappa has won the 2012 Regional Finals competition for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at the Kennedy Center. She will advance (along with soprano Elizabeth Zharoff) to the semi-finals in New York. The Council’s auditions are designed to discover promising young opera singers and “are considered the most prestigious in North America for singers seeking to launch an operatic career.” Margaret began her audition with a rendition of O ma lyre immortelle from Gounod’s Sapho. The judges selected Cruda sorte! from Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri as her second aria.
Continue Reading
Just released: A delightful performance of Mordechai Gebirtig’s “Reyzele” by Mark Glanville and Alexander Knapp, from their soon-to-be-released Di Sheyne Milnerin – A Yiddish DieSchone Mullerin.
Maestro James Conlon, Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera (and Pro Musica Hebraica’s artistic advisor), has a new blog. In his inaugural post, he argues that we must confront the problems facing the classical arts, and the need for “thoughtful advocacy of those who treasure it most.” You can read it here.
Following Pro Musica Hebraica’s sold out concert in February 2011 at the Kennedy Center, Mark Glanville and Alexander Knapp recorded the extraordinary song cycle, “A Yiddish Winterreise” — and you can now purchase their CD here.