Music & Dance Intelligence
What’s Happening in Music this Week
Nitin Vadukul
Red Carnations
x 2
For the first time ever, in all likelihood, a play and an opera based on that play will be presented together in one program. The Walking the Dog Theater and the Diamond Opera Theater, both committed to bringing live performance to this area, especially to young audiences, will present back-to-back performances of Red Carnations, a one-act play by Glenn Hughes, and Red Carnations, a one-act opera adapted from that play by the composer and librettist Robert Baksa.
Red Carnations tells the story of two men, one young, the other more mature, who wait in the park for a young woman, a stranger to them both. To be recognized, each wears a flower in his lapel. Comic confusion ensues. The opera, based on Glenn Hughes play, was commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Metropolitan Opera Studio. The composer and librettist, Robert Baska, is a Columbia County resident. The Minikin Opera of Maryland, which toured it for two seasons, called the half-hour piece “a wonderful introduction to opera for all ages.”
In that spirit, there will be a free open rehearsal on Wednesday evening, which students, middle school and up, are especially encouraged to attend. (Elementary students are welcome too, but they must be accompanied by a parent.) Following the hour-long performance, there will be a discussion with the composer, directors and performers. Before each evening performance, at 7:15, and before each matinee, at 2:15, Robert Baska will be on hand to discuss the production with the audience.
Walking the Dog Theater at Basilica Industria
110 S. Front Street, Hudson; 518.755.1716
Tickets also available at Spotty Dog Books & Ale
440 Warren Street, Hudson; 518.671.6006
Tickets $25 ($20 for members)
Seniors & Students $18 ($13 for members)
Wednesday, May 14 at 7 (free open rehearsal)
Thursday and Friday, May 15 & 16 at 8
Saturday, May 17 at 3 & 8
Sunday, May 18 at 3
Kome to the Kabaret
Sex, scandal, war, exile—what bliss! Next Saturday the popular Cabaret in the Country series returns to the Spencertown Academy, with an evening of song, Three Pennies and a Touch of Venus, by Karen Kohler. Kohler, whose New York-based Karbarett Kollecktif won this year’s Back Stage Bistro Award, will sing Kurt Weill, Marlene Dietrich, among others from the Weimar Berlin songbook. Her performance is the first in a series of three, each by a different artist from the Kollecktif, the others scheduled for June 28 and July 26.
Spencertown Academy
Route 203, Spencertown; 518.392.8694
Saturday, May 17 at 6 (performance begins at 6:30)
Tickets $35 ($25 for SA members)
Series tickets (members only), $65.
A Jazzy Night at the Opera House
Grammy Award-winning pianist Paul Sullivan has performed, either as a soloist, with his own trio, or with the Paul Winter Consort, in settings as diverse as on-stage with the Philadelphia Orchestra and in the privacy of Leonard Bernstein’s living room. On Saturday night, he will play his own compositions, a blend of classical and jazz, at a benefit for Hudson Opera House. A reception follows.
Hudson Opera House
327 Warren Street, Hudson; 518.822.1438
Saturday, May 17 at 8
Admission $20 ($15 for HOH members)
(0) Comments
Enjoy this post? Share it with others.
Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 05/11/08 at 11:12 AM • Permalink
