BACKAndrew Lloyd Webber to release album of symphonic suites from his musicals
Andrew Lloyd Webber has brought together an 81-piece orchestra to record a new album of symphonic suites from three of his musicals: Evita, Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard. The recording will be the first live performance at the newly refurbished Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
This comes after Phantom of the Opera has been in the news for having made half of its orchestra redundant ahead of its return to the stage this summer. The recording will be conducted in line with the government’s current COVID-19 social distancing regulations.
Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele finden trotz Corona-Krise statt
Die Salzburger Pfingstfestspiele werden trotz Corona-Krise über die Bühne gehen. «Ja, sie werden stattfinden, darüber sind wir uns im Direktorium mit Cecilia Bartoli, der Prinzipalin des Festivals, einig», sagte die Präsidentin der Salzburger Festspiele, Helga Rabl-Stadler, der Wiener Zeitung «Kurier».
Die ab 19. Mai geltenden landesweiten Öffnungen in Österreich kämen gerade rechtzeitig für das vom 21. bis 24. Mai dauernde Festival. Georg Friedrich Händels Oratorium «Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno» mit einer szenischen Aufführung gilt als das zentrale Werk der diesjährigen Pfingstfestspiele, in deren Zentrum 2021 die Stadt Rom steht.
Salzburg Whitsun Festival to take place this May
The Salzburg Whitsun Festival will be held despite the Corona crisis. “Yes, it will take place. The directorate agreed on that with Cecilia Bartoli, the headmaster of the festival,” said the president of the Salzburg Festival, Helga Rabl-Stadler, to the Viennese newspaper “Kurier”.
The nationwide opening steps in Austria, effective from 19 May, came just in time for the festival, which runs from 21 to 24 May. George Frideric Handel’s oratorio “Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno” with a scenic performance is considered the central work of this year’s Whitsun Festival, which will focus on the city of Rome.
Décès de la mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig à l’âge de 93 ans
La cantatrice allemande qui s’est produite sur les scènes les plus prestigieuses du monde pendant près d’un demi-siècle, s’est éteinte samedi. Christa Ludwig, ici en 1983, était considérée comme la plus grande mezzo-soprano du siècle dernier.
«On fait carrière avec sa tête, pas avec sa voix» , a dit un jour l’incomparable Christa Ludwig. À ceci près qu’elle avait les deux ! Avec la mort, à 93 ans, de l’immense mezzo-soprano allemande, on a l’impression d’un livre qui se referme : celui d’un certain âge d’or de l’opéra, qui s’est construit après-guerre autour de figures comme Elisabeth Schwarzkopf et Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, qui furent ses modèles avant d’être ses collègues.
Mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig dies aged 93
The German singer who performed on the world’s most prestigious stages for almost half a century died on Saturday. Christa Ludwig, pictured here in 1983, was considered the greatest mezzo-soprano of the last century.
“You make a career with your head, not your voice,” said the incomparable Christa Ludwig once. Except that she had both! With the death of the immense German mezzo-soprano at 93, it may seem as if a book is being closed: a book telling the story of a certain golden age of opera, which was built after the war around figures such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who were Ludwigs idols before being her colleagues.