New recordings (audio and video) of contemporary operas in my collection

Since April 2016, I have acquired several recordings of contemporary operas. Most of them are audio recordings :

- Mark Abel : Home is a Harbor, conducted by Benjamin Makino (Delos, 2015)
- Jörn Arnecke : Das Fest im Meer, conducted by Cornelius Meister (New Classical Adventure, 2003)
- Gerald Barry : The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, conducted by Gerhard Markson (RTE, 2005)

- Francesco D'Avalos : Maria di Venosa, conducted by the composer (Chandos, 1994)
- Leonid Desyatnikov : The Children of Rosenthal, conducted by Alexander Vedernikov (Melodiya, 2015)
- Gordon Getty : The Canterville Ghost, conducted by Matthias Foremny (Pentatone, 2015)

- Hans Werner Henze : Die Bassariden, conducted by Gerd Albrecht (Koch Schwann, 1986)
- Michael Levinas : La Conférence des Oiseaux, conducted by Michel Swierczewski (Adès, 1986)
- James MacMillan : The Sacrifice, conducted by Anthony Negus (Chandos, 2007)

- Thanos Mikroutsikos : The Return of Helen, conducted by Alexandros Myrat (EMI, 1999)
- Bernard Rands : Vincent, conducted by Arthur Fagen (Naxos, 2011)

- Karlheinz Stockhausen : Montag aus Licht, conducted by the composer (Stokhausen Stiftung, 1988)
- Karlheinz Stockhausen : Dienstag aus Licht, conducted by the composer (Stockhausen Stiftung, 1993)

- Karlheinz Stockhausen : Mittwoch aus Licht (4 scènes), conducted by the composer (Stockhausen Stiftung, 1996 and 2012)

 

- Karlheinz Stockhausen : Donnerstag aus Licht, conducted by Peter Eötvös and Karlheinz Stockhausen (Stockhausen Stiftung, 1980 to 1982)
- Karlheinz Stockhausen : Freitag aus Licht, conducted by the composer (Stockhausen Stiftung, 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2002)
- Karlheinz Stockhausen : Samstag aus Licht, conducted by the composer (Stockhausen Stiftung, 1981, 1983 and 1984)

- Karlheinz Stockhausen : Sonntag aus Licht (5 scènes), conducted by the composer (Stockhausen Stiftung, 1999, 2000, 2005 and 2003)

- Michael Tippett : The Midsummer Marriage, conducted by Sir Colin Davis (Lyrita, 1970)
- Marco Tutino : Le Braci, conducted by Francesco Cilluffo (Dynamic, 2015)

- Julian Wagstaff : Breathe Freely, conducted by Derek Clark (Linn Records, 2014)
- Rufus Wainwright : Prima Donna, conducted by Jayce Ogren (Deutsche Grammophon, 2015)

I also bought several video recordings :

- Philip Glass : Einstein on the Beach (Blu Ray), conducted by Michael Riesman, directed by Don Kent, with choreography by Lucinda Childs (Opus Arte, 2014)
 - Toshio Hosokawa : Stilles Meer (DVD), conducted by Kent Nagano, directed by Oriza Hirata (EuroArts, 2016)

- Rodion Shchedrin : The Left-Hander (Blu Ray), conducted by Valery Gergiev, directed by Alexei Stepanyuk (Mariinsky, 2013)
- Mauricio Sotelo : El Publico (Blu Ray), conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, directed by Robert Castro (BelAir, 2015)

 That's all for today !

May 9th, 2015 : World première of Gordon Getty's 'The Canterville Ghost' in Leipzig

Today, Gordon Getty's third opera, The Canterville Ghost, with a libretto written by the composer after Oscar Wilde's short story, will be performed for the first time in Leipzig (Opera House).

It is Getty's third opera after Usher House and Plump Jack. It requires the following orchestra :
- 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon
- 2 horns, trumpet, 2 trombones, tuba
- 2 percussion, harp, piano / celesta / harpsichord
- strings
It is at least the third opera inspired by this story, after works by Alexander Knaifel and Jaroslav Křička.

The Ghost tries desperately to scare to new residents of the Canterville-Castel. It is the story telling of Virginia Otis and her meeting with the Canterville Ghost who once was a successful scary Ghost but is not any more taken seriously by the Otis family who rented Canterville Manor. The Ghost feels like an old great actor whose art does not impress any more. Virginia helps him to rest for ever. (reproduced from the Oper Leipzig website)

The cast is the following : soprano Jennifer Porto (Virginia), mezzo Jean Broekhuizenrs (Mrs. Otis), mezzo Denise Wernly (1st Twin, 1st Boy, 1st Voice from Tapestry), mezzo Rachel Marie Hauge (2nd Twin, 2nd Boy, 2nd Voice from Tapestry), tenor Timothy Oliver (Cecil Cheshire), baritone Jonathan Michie (Hiram Otis), bass Matthew Trevino (Ghost / Sir Simon).
Matthias Foremny conducts the Gewandhausorchester. Anthony Pilavachi directs.

The opera should last about 60 minutes and is performed as the first part of a double bill evening also featuring Ruggerro Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

Today : World première performance of Gordon Getty's 'Usher House' in Cardiff

Today, the opera Usher House, composed by Gordon Getty will receive its first staged performance at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff (Welsh National Opera), as the first part of a double bill program that also features Claude Debussy's La Chute de la Maison Usher in its British première of a new version completed by Robert Ortledge.

The librettos of both operas are written after Edgar's Allan Poe's famous macabre tale. Lawrence Foster will conduct the following cast : Benjamin Bevan (Roderick Usher), Anna Gorbachyova (Madeline Usher), Jason Bridges (Edgar Allan Poe) and Kevin Short (Doctor Primus). David Pountney directs.

The work has already been recorded in Lisbon in September 2011, and then released by PentaTone classics in 2013.