January 20, 2008

It’s this week in classical music, an update on what’s happenning in the classical music world, I’m Randy Kinkel.

A brand new 275-million-dollar arts Center in Dallas will celebrate it’s opening next season with the world premiere of a new opera, “Moby Dick” by  composer Jake Heggie, who also penned the opera “Dead Man Walking”. The Libretto is by Gene Scheer, who says, “the pivotal story of Ahab's obsession will be the core of the opera… Basically my task is to distill it to that essential story line."  Composer Heggie says that he has re-read Moby-Dick about 10 times since he decided to set it to music.  "To me the story [of Moby-Dick] is so rich with musical material, between the sounds of the sea, the ship and the weather," says Heggie. "And its emotional world is innately operatic."  He wouldn't reveal details about the staging, or how he'll handle the whale. "The exciting thing is that now in 2008, we have the technology to make a very interesting stage presence of this piece," he says.  Tenor Ben Heppner has been cast as Captain Ahab.  The opera premieres in April, 2010, with tickets on sale in 2009.

A New Orchestra in South Florida will be unveiled this fall.  The Band, to be called The Florida Symphony”, will have 75 members and will also serve as the pit orchestra for Florida Grand Opera.  Concert Association of Florida’s CEO Al Milano said, “''This is more program-driven than the traditional symphony orchestra,'' said Al Milano, chief executive officer of the Concert Association. ``Between us, we can provide enough work for enough people and we should have a large enough music community to serve several needs. That's really the objective.''  Tentative plans call for the new orchestra to play  a complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies and a new Latin pops series under the name Miami Pops Orchestra, and will draw largely from some of the area's top freelancers, including several former members of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra.

The upcoming season at the San Francisco Opera features two premieres and a slash in ticket prices.  The Opera’s general Director David Gockley anno8unced the new 11-opera season, to include “The Bonesetter’s Daughter”, commissioned from Composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Amy Tan, based on her best-selling novel of the same name.  Also premiered will be local composer Jake Heggie’s “Three Decembers” with mezzo-soprano Frederica Von Stade.  MD Donald Runnicles will lead the company’s first ever production of “The Dead City” by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.  Gockley also announced a nearly 50 percent reduction in the price of side orchestra seats and discounts on full and half series subscriptions.  "Our goal," Gockley said, "is to fill the War Memorial Opera House every night with screaming, adoring fans."

For more on these and other items and events, go to the website, kbaq.org, be listening every week at this time for another update, and join me every weekday for “the Mozart Buffet”, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries.  I’m Randy Kinkel, for  KBAQ’s “this Week in Classical Music” on listener-supported 89-five KBAQ Phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.