The first thing I noticed upon arriving in Taos was the music.  Live music was everywhere.  Good music by talented musicians.  Anything and everything you can imagine:  rock, country, jazz, alternative, reggae, classical, and yes – opera.  And part of the opera scene here is the renowned Taos Opera Institute (TOI).

TOI is a highly intensive program for the serious singer, held annually in beautiful Taos Ski Valley.  Singers from around the country audition for the privilege of participating in this program, which is designed to bridge the gap between academia and opera apprenticeships.  Graduates are prepared for careers in regional, national, and international opera companies.

The TOI Festival is a series of free performances of the world’s most beloved opera arias, featuring the Taos Opera Institute Singers and the Cantos de Taos quartet.  Concerts are performed during the month of June at various locations throughout Taos and Santa Fe.  The final performance is a gala fundraising event on June 29th at the Taos Center for the Arts.  The Gala, which is a ticketed event ($25 per person) includes a pre-concert reception, raffle and showcases individual singers and ensembles from the entire Institute.

Taos Ski Valley performances include:

• Saturday, June 1 – Opening performance in our lovely garden right here at the Edelweiss Lodge & Spa
• Sunday, June 9 – Resort Center Stage
• Sunday, June 16 – Resort Center Stage

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For a complete schedule, click here.

The Taos Opera Institute was founded and continues to be directed by Mary Jane Johnson and Linda Poetschke.

Professor Poetschke is on the University of Texas at San Antonio faculty as Voice Area Coordinator, Voice.   The soprano has been the featured soloist with the New Mexico Symphony, the Charlotte (NC) Symphony, the Western Michigan Symphony and with the major symphony orchestras in her home state of Texas, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas POPS at the Meyerson and numerous appearances with the San Antonio Symphony. She has also performed as soprano soloist with the New York West End Chamber Ensemble in a Carnegie Hall appearance of REQUIEM by W.A. Mozart. Ms. Poetschke’s orchestral repertoire encompasses more than 40 oratorical and concert roles, and she has appeared under the baton of Margaret Hillis, Nicholas McGegan, Christopher Wilkins, Elmer Iseler, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Roger Melone, John Silantien, and Kate Tamarkian.

Mary Jane Johnson is counted amongst the great dramatic sopranos, and is considered one of opera’s premiere interpreters.  Her career highlights include the role of Emilia Marty in Janacek’s The Makropoulos Case, which she sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth as well as Katarina Ismailova in Shostakovitch’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which she performed at the Opera Bastille of Paris.  She has also performed the Shostakovitch as well as Minnie in Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West, and Strauss’ Salome at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

Ms. Johnson’s career went to the next level when she appeared with Luciano Pavarotti in a televised performance as Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme with the Opera Company of Philadelphia.  Other important highlights of Ms. Johnson’s television appearances include the nationally televised Pavarotti Plus Gala, Live from Lincoln Center and the CBS “Sunday Morning” with Charles Kuralt.

 LA BOHEME : Luciano Pavarotti – Leyla Guimaraes – Mary Jane Johnson – Franco Sioli – Laslzo Polgar

We’ll be feeding these talented young singers at The Blonde Bear Tavern throughout the month of June, something we look forward to each year.  Their talent is always inspiring.

I can’t recommend these performances enough for any lover of music, especially classic opera.  The setting is magnificent, with the Sangre de Cristo mountains as backdrop for the two Sunday outdoor concerts.

Toi, toi, toi!

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Richard Wagner’s tale of the struggle for power tangled with familial love and incest will open Milan’s La Scala opera season tonight.   

The opening night at Milan’s famed opera house is one of the world’s most popular events to see and be seen for the global glitterati, who will be treated to a production of Wagner’s Die Walküre (The Valkyrie), which is filled with stars and technological wizardry.  The production is directed by Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim. 

After the “prologue” of Das Rheingold we arrive at the “first day” of The Ring of the Nibelung. 

Die Walküre marks the start of the saga and the fatal weaving of the plot between the world of the gods, Wotan and Valkyrie rebel Brünnhilde, and the more dramatically human world of heroes, the world of Siegmund and Sieglinde. 

Unravelling the plot in this production are director Guy Cassiers, aided by some of the very latest theatrical technology, musical director Daniel Barenboim and a cast that includes the finest Wagnerian voices of today: Nina Stemme (Brünnhilde), Waltraud Meier (Sieglinde), Vitalij Kowaljow (Wotan) and Ekaterina Gubanova (Fricka).  Together with Nina Stemme, Simon O’Neill  (Siegmund) and John Tomlinson (Hunding) make their La Scala debuts. 

The opening night of Die Walküre will be broadcast live on television by Rai5 and by the French channel Mezzo.  It will also be broadcast by Servus TV (Austria) on December 19th.  As in previous years, the opening night will be shown live in Italian cinemas and in movie theatres all over the world (the broadcast time varies according to time zones).  It will also be transmitted live on a giant screen at the center of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan.  Click here to find a broadcast in your area. 

Teatro alla Scala was inaugurated on August 3,1778 and was originally known as Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala [The New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala].  The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri’s Europa Riconosciuta. 

Most of Italy’s greatest operatic artists and many of the world’s finest singers have appeared at La Scala during the past two centuries.  The theatre is recognized as one of the leading opera and ballet theatres in the world and is home to the La Scala Theatre Chorus, La Scala Theatre Ballet and La Scala Theatre Orchestra.  The theatre also has an associate school, known as the La Scala Theatre Academy, which offers professional training in music, dance, stage craft and stage management. 

La Scala’s season traditionally opens on December 7th — Saint Ambrose’s Day — the feast day of Milan’s patron saint.  All performances must end before midnight and long operas start earlier in the evening if needed. 

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
• Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana
• Jules Massenet’s L’histoire de Manon
• Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca
• Benjamin Britten’s Death in Venice
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte
• Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot
• Luca Francesconi’s Quartett
• Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette
• Giuseppe Verdi’s Attila
• Gioachino Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri
• Richard Strauss’s Arabella
• Claudio Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria
• Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier
• Gioachino Rossini’s La Donna del Lago

Related:

• Wagner’s “Die Walküre” at La Scala: The Reviews are In

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Further Reading:  

• Reuters:  Glamour, Protests and Wagner at La Scala Opener
• National Public Radio:  Barenboim Conducts La Scala’s Gala Premier
• Teatro alla Scala:  VIDEO of Die Walküre
• Teatro alla Scala:  2010 – 2011 Season

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