MUSIC AND DANCE NEWS : HINES JUGGLES PROJECTS
Between a meeting with the Governor of New Jersey and a dress rehearsal of “Faust†in Newark, Jerome Hines pauses to talk about, among other things, his next operatic project, “Don Carlo†at Long Beach Opera.
Wait a minute. Meeting with the governor?
On the phone from his home in New Jersey, the veteran Metropolitan Opera bass reveals, before getting to the subject of Long Beach Opera, his day-to-day involvement with government and the arts in the state where he lives.
“I’m very proud to have been in the movement to save our Symphony Hall in Newark,†says the 64-year-old singer. “It’s the hall where we’re putting on ‘Faust,’ this weekend.â€
As a member of the New Jersey Arts Council, Hines talks briefly about the resuscitation of not only auditoriums, but ailing orchestras and opera and ballet companies.
“Our long-term goal is to make each of our seven New Jersey arts organizations visible on the national level,†he says.
“The New Jersey Symphony, as the result of some of our efforts, is back on the track financially. We recently completed a successful $1.6 million fund raising for the orchestra. Now we will concentrate on other arts organizations in our state.â€
Does this mean the revival of Newark, which seemed to hit its nadir as a city several years ago?
“Absolutely,†Hines answers, with energy one might not expect in a singer on his way to a dress rehearsal; he then goes on to describe in detail the rejuvenation of Newark as “a major transportation hub†on the East Coast, and some of the related commercial developments due to accompany that rejuvenation.
About “Don Carlo†in Long Beach--performances in Terrace Theatre are scheduled this week, on Thursday and Saturday nights. Hines says he is looking forward to a reunion with an old colleague of his from the Met, Cesare Siepi.
“It’s going to be nostalgic, singing with him again,†Hines muses. In Verdi’s opera, Hines will repeat a role he has sung many times, that of the Grand Inquisitor; Siepi will appear as Philip II.
“We sang these same roles, together, at Siepi’s Met debut, in 1950,†he remembers. “But I haven’t seen him in, maybe, 15 years.â€
The veteran singer, who was born and trained in Hollywood, but went East in the mid-1940s, acknowledges that he has sung both roles over the years, but claims not to prefer one over the other.
“It depends on my mood, as an actor. They’re both marvelous roles.â€
A stalwart at the Met since his debut more than 39 years ago (Nov. 21, 1946), Hines has sung more seasons on its stage than any other leading male singer in the company’s 103-year history.
(The record for leading female singer goes to Roberta Peters, who has sung more seasons--36--with the company than Amelita Galli-Curci, Luisa Tetrazzini and Lily Pons combined.)
Enthusiasm for the work, plus the fact that “I’m always doing a thousand things at once--like running around singing, and keeping my hand in the Arts Council, here,†have kept Hines feeling youthful, he says.
Also, the boost he got from writing a book about vocal technique--called “Great Singers on Great Singing.â€
“It was a wonderful experience writing that book and interviewing three dozen different singers about their vocal habits and methods. I learned more about technique doing that than in 40 years of study,†he says.
BOULEZ: Pierre Boulez returns to Los Angeles this week, this time with his Ensemble InterContemporain from the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Music (IRCAM) in Paris. The celebrated French composer/conductor will supervise two performances of his “Repons.†These performances will take place in Collins Court at Wooden Center at UCLA, Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 8.
“Repons†was commissioned by Sudwestfunk (Southwest Broadcasting) of Baden-Baden, West Germany, for the Donaueschingen Festival, where it was performed in October, 1981, by the Ensemble InterContemporain, Boulez conducting. A second version was given during the BBC “Proms†Concerts in London, in September, 1982. The third and most recent version, revised and refined through IRCAM, was presented in Paris in October, 1984; this third version is being presented on the group’s current United States tour.
The work was composed for 24 instrumentalists, six soloists and a 4X signal processor, which has been called “the only computer in the world to offer the composer a choice of 1,024 sounds in real time, in synthesis or in transformation.â€
The Ensemble Intercontemporain will give a second program, Thursday night in Royce Hall. In a concert co-sponsored by the L.A. Philharmonic New Music Group, the Ensemble, conducted by Boulez, will present three United States premieres, as well as Gyorgy Ligeti’s Chamber concerto. The premiered works are Franco Donatoni’s “Tema,†York Hoeller’s “Resonance†and Elliott Carter’s “Penthode.â€
And today at 2:30 p.m., three members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain--violinist Maryvonne LeDizes-Richard, horn player Jacques Deleplancque and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard--appear at the Arnold Schoenberg Institute at USC in a program offering works by Messiaen, Ives, Schoenberg, Berio and Ligeti.
MORE OPERA NEWS: Santa Fe Opera will mount five productions in 1986, its 30th summer season: Aulis Sallinen’s “The King Goes Forth to France,†a work first performed at the Savolinna Opera Festival in Finland in 1984, will receive its United States premiere, as conducted by Richard Buckley and staged by Alfred Kirchner. The opening is July 26; the opera will run, in repertory, through Aug. 16.
Richard Strauss’ “Die Aegyptische Helena†(1928), in the version created for Vienna in 1933, will reach Santa Fe on July 19, running through Aug. 21. John Crosby, founder and general director of the New Mexico company, will conduct; the opera will be staged by Goeran Jaervefelt.
To be sung in Italian, Monteverdi’s “L’Incoronazione di Poppea†will receive its first Santa Fe production in performances July 12 through Aug. 13. Kenneth Montgomery will conduct; in his 29th Santa Fe season, American director Bliss Hebert will stage the work. Among the cast members will be Carmen Balthrop, Sylvia McNair, Kathryn Gamberoni, Jeffrey Gall and Kevin Langan.
Conducted by Crosby and staged by Charles Ludlam, Johann Strauss Jr.’s “Die Fledermaus†returns to the high-desert stage July 4 in the familiar Ruth and Thomas Martin translation.
Mozart’s “The Magic Flute†(in the translation of Andrew Porter) opens the season July 2 for performances through Aug. 22.
PEOPLE: Christopher Keene, music director of New York City Opera since 1983, will resign in January, 1987, “to devote time to my own development as an artist,†the conductor said, in announcing his move.
Robert Joffrey has selected James Kudelka, a Canadian choreographer, to create a work commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Iowa Center for the Arts. The Joffrey Ballet will present the premiere of “Iowa†next month at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City.
In eight programs, pianist Daniel Barenboim will play the 32 sonatas for piano of Ludwig van Beethoven, Feb. 26 through March 27, in Orchestra Hall, Chicago.
Pianist Earl Wild will present three recitals in Carnegie Hall, New York, this month. Wild’s program Wednesday night is titled “Liszt the Poet,†and will be followed, Feb. 19 and 26, with programs called “Liszt the Transcriber†and “Liszt the Virtuoso.â€
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