Tune in to BBC Radio 3 this afternoon, as the Silent Opera team will be live on air to discuss their upcoming production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Founder and Director, Daisy Evans, will be joined by Musical Director, Christopher Bucknall, along with singers William Berger and Emilie Renard, who will also be performing on the show.
Silent Opera brings together technology and classical music to provide the audience with a personal soundscape as they are fully immersed in the experience. With opening night only a week away, the Silent Opera team will provide listeners with a small insight into L’Orfeo through live performances and a chat with the team.
Listen to BBC Radio 3′s In Tune at 16:30 today or online here.
For more information on Silent Opera and to purchase tickets visit the website here.
To be in with a chance of deciding Orfeo‘s fate – whether it be Death or Glory - share a secret with us to win a Golden Ticket for you and a friend
Daisy Evans in rehearsals for L’Orfeo
(Written on January 16, 2013 )
This weekend, Graham Rickson published a review on The Arts Desk of William Berger’s new album, Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song, a collection of nocturnal Leider reflecting as Graham writes, ‘a sleepless night endured by a man lamenting his lost love’.
Put together by William himself, alongside his coach Nico de Villiers, Graham Rickson comments that although ‘what looks on paper to be an unlikely mixture of songs’ due to the diversity of music composed by Wolf, Gounod, Debussy and Vaughan Williams, the programme ‘makes complete sense in William Berger’s recital disc’ and ‘gains extra poignancy’ after reading William’s previous blog on The Arts Desk.
‘You’ll be beguiled by Berger’s voice and entranced by the more left-field musical choices’, he comments, also marking particular mention to three songs by English composers on the album, deemed ‘pure gold in the hands of Berger, including Warlock’s The Night: ’a stunner, as are two rarely-heard songs by Vaughan Williams and Richard Rodney Bennett’. Earlier in the night’s progression, William’s interpretation of Debussy’s Nuit d’étoiles ‘is sung with selfless delight’ and Raymond Yiu’s recently composed Sonnet ‘melts seamlessly in to the mix, the backward glances enchanting’.
Later in the song cycle, as Morgen marks the end of the night’s turmoil, Rickson emphasizes how the incorporation of a short Gounod piece as one of a couple of encores, works to ‘leave one feeling invigorated’ by William’s superb amalgamation of beautiful and deeply introspective music.
Read the full review here: http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/classical-cds-weekly-gershwin-william-berger-jack-quartet
(Written on September 11, 2012 )
William Berger has written article for The Arts Desk exploring the personal sentiment and the development of the programme for his debut recital CD Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song. The programme ties together works from composers including Mozart, Liszt, Wolf, Rodney Bennett, Raymond Yiu and more. Conveying “what a deeply personal expression this programme was and continues to be”, the article outlines the journey that develops throughout the song cycle, “of a young man yearning for a lost love during a restless, sleepless night”.
Developed as a programmatic recital, the cycle follows a progression from “odes to the beauty of the night”, before a turn to “death and darker things” with dreams haunted with the thought of his unresponsive lover. This pain in the darker turmoil is described by William as something that everyone can feel- “We have all felt the pain of a broken heart at some point in our lives. Indeed, it is part of the human condition”.
William comments that there is a certain ambiguity as to whether the absent lover is dead or alive, whether it is an unrequited love or whether her silence denotes the end of a relationship. He admits that the story has “kept changing over time” even for him, and will continue to be interpreted by each listener individually.
To celebrate the CD’s release in South Africa, William will give a recital of the programme on September 21st.
To read the full article, please visit The Arts Desk.
(Written on September 5, 2012 )
William Berger has announced three concerts in Cape Town, South Africa this September.
On September 14th and 15th he will be performing Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus with the St George’s Singers and the Camerata Tinta Barocca at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and on September 21st he will be performing the programme from his recent recital disc, Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song with pianist Albert Combrink.
For information about tickets, please visit William’s website.
Image credit: Paul Foster-Williams
(Written on August 31, 2012 )
On Saturday 11th August, David Mellor named William Berger’s new CD Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song his ‘Album of the Week’ on Classic FM’s New Releases Show. Insomnia, which was released by Delphian Records on 30th July presents a sleepless night in the life of a man separated from his mistress through a programme of diverse songs. Mellor not only praised Berger as ‘(…) a very fine baritone’ but also for William’s choice of songs saying, ‘William Berger deserves to be congratulated on choosing such an interesting programme.’
You can listen to the programme: here
(Written on August 13, 2012 )
After the successful launch of his debut recital disc on 15th July, William Berger will be chatting with Jamie MacDougall on ‘Classics Unwrapped’ tonight on BBC Radio Scotland at 8:30pm about his upcoming Highlands tour with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan. William will also be performing in Edinburgh in August with Ludus Baroque in two concerts performing Handel’s Triumph of Time and Truth and Bach’s Mass in B Minor.
Photographer: Paul Foster Williams
(Written on July 17, 2012 )
This weekend, Baritone William Berger will perform Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, with La Nuova Musica, at Kings Place London. In the title role, usually performed by a tenor, William’s warm Baritone voice is sure to rejuvenate the famous Greek legend. Conductor of La Nuova Musica, David Bates described, to BBC3 In Tune, the ‘freedom’ with which they are interpreting the works, bringing them ‘into our own time’ (Suzy Klein at the BBC), having fun with the music, and making them more accessible for a wider audience.
William Berger – ‘one of the best of our younger baritones’ Gramophone Magazine – was a student, and now an associate, of London’s Royal Academy of Music as well as an alumnus of the Young Singers Programme at the English National Opera. He has performed an incredulous amount of Operatic roles, as well as acclaimed concerts, with 2012 set to be one of his busiest and most successful years.
Tickets are available here. Online savers are a great deal for just £9.50; get your tickets as soon as possible, for what will be, such a great event!
Paul Foster-Williams
(Written on June 20, 2012 )
‘One of the best of our younger baritones’, William Berger, performs the title role in a performance of L’Orfeo with La Nuova Musica at Kings Place next weekend. Speaking on BBC 3’s In Tune William and David Bates, conductor of La Nuova Musica, explained how that the role was normally performed by a Tenor, but that in their performance which is in a lower key, William’s hearty Baritone voice is a perfect fit. La Nuova Musica famously have a lot of fun with their repertoire, transforming more traditional pieces into accessible, enjoyable, and alive works of art; whilst all the while remaining respectful to the original works and composer. In a performance of firsts: the first role of Orfeo for William; and first curatorship at the Kings Place for La Nuova Musica, the musicians have approached their interpretation with a sense of ‘freedom’, bringing the work ‘into our own time’ (BBC’s Suzy Klein).
La Nuova Musica and William Berger also performed an extract from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo live on In Tune. The full interview and performance can be heard here.
Tickets for Kings Place on Saturday 23rd June are available here. Do not miss this one-off spectacle!
Photo: Paul Foster-Williams
(Written on June 15, 2012 )
On July 30th baritone William Berger will release his debut recital disc on Delphian Records with pianist Ian Burnside. Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage in Song describes in seventeen songs the restless night of a man who reflects on his unnamed love. Unclear if the beloved is dead or living, the songs are characterised by dreaming, disorientation and hallucination.
For more information, visit William’s website or become a fan on Facebook.
(Written on May 23, 2012 )
We are very excited to welcome the wonderful Baritone William Berger to our artist roster. William will be performing with La Nuova Musica at Kings Place this June in his L’Orfeo debut. He is also performing the role of Alcandro in Garsington Opera’s production of L’Olimpiade this June.
In September William will be releasing his debut recital disc Insomnia: A Nocturnal Voyage on Delphian Records. The programme for the recital was devised by William for the 2011 Lucerne Festival and describes an imaginary voyage through a restless night, with music by Mozart, Debussy, Fauré, Wolf, Vaughan Williams, Liszt and Strauss.
To keep up to date with William’s work, visit his facebook page.
(Written on April 27, 2012 )
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- Tags: baritone, Debussy, Delphian Records, Faure, Garsington Opera, Kings Place, L'Olimpiade, L'Orfeo, La Nuova Musica, Liszt, Lucerne Festival, Monteverdi, Mozart, opera, Strauss, Vaughan Williams, William Berger
