This is the seventh edition of my weekly newsletter. Packed with art, architecture, opera and lots of other random things as I find them during the week. Feel free to forward a link to the page if you enjoyed it or just subscribe for a slice of eclecticism every and each Thursday.
Last week the Carnegie Hall in New York hosted a concert performance of Roberto Devereux featuring a rare appearance on US soil by veteran soprano Mariella Devia as Elisabetta. Inevitably parts of this event were recorded. Here’s Quel Sangue and Vivi Ingrato for your listening pleasure.
And to go alongside the main meal of Devia…a dessert provided by Adelina Patti recorded in 1906
With her show just opened at the Serpentine Gallery, Katie Razzall interviewed Marina Abramović for Newsnight
And the video produced by the Serpentine to promote the show
Nicholas Hytner’s production of Xerxes for English National Opera from 1988 is available to watch in its entirety. It is revived this coming September featuring Alice Coote and Sarah Tynan…you simply have to book!
The Londonist website went for a visit to St Paul’s Cathedral for one of their secret video series. Makes for a fun watch even if you have seen a few of the shown spaces previously
A short video on the conclusion of the analysis of the recently identified Rembrandt self portrait at Buckland Abbey. Had the chance to have a look at it as it was hanging at their dining room and it is definitely a major addition to the known works by the artist. Just a shame the national trust used the neologism Selfie to describe it and of course the news agencies focused on the damned monetary value.
The influential architect, architectural theorist and curator of the Biennale Rem Koolhaas did a guided tour of the Venice Architecture Biennale, that opened last week.
View the video on the Guardian website
The illustrator/artist David Shrigley has contributed 245 drawings and crockery for the ultimate eatery that nobody goes for the food…Sketch. Your celebrity spotting will now have a dose of Scottish wit.
I was talking to Andre Balazs about it and he described it as very Beverly Hills, a bit of Beverly Hills in Mayfair. But I think of it as a feminine brasserie, a contemporary take on the brasserie.’
Read about it and see some images if works and interiors
The wonderful Carolyn Sampson talked to Katherine Cooper for Presto on the opportunity of her new recording of arias written for French baroque star singer Marie Fel.
Another notable fact is that several sources cite that she was not a conventional beauty. This shows us that perhaps things were not so different then as now, in that appearance was still commented on. But, more importantly, those same sources wax lyrical about how she captivated the audience and her voice was lovely, seductive, charming… Perhaps she had the ‘X Factor’.
This week was the 110th birthday of the London Symphony Orchestra and they celebrated, fittingly with another fascinating dip in their archive.
You can see the aggregated tweets and a little survey for any expressions of interest in volunteering or getting access to the LSO archival holdings.
Europeana 1914-1918
Europeana 1914-1918 brings together resources from three major European projects each dealing with different types of First World War material. The result is an archive that allows the national collections of libraries to sit beside personal stories and treasures and important film archives. Together, this creates a unique perspective of the First World War, showing it from every side of the battle lines and with insights from every point of view.
More information on the project here
For instance a fascinating personal photo album by a German soldier from the West Front can be viewed here.
A set of beautiful photographs of the Domino Sugar factory in New York by Paul Raphaelson, showing the decay ten years after it stopped operation. The factory currently is the host for an important installation by Kara Walker, it was featured in Issue 3 of this newsletter.
a historical essay that brings to life Brooklyn’s sugar-centric industrial past, the refinery’s remarkable, victorian-era technology, the company’s relationship with its generations of Brooklyn workers, and the circumstances of the plant’s decline and eventual abandonment.
The beautiful sunset in East Sussex driving back from Glyndebourne
Full resolution image at Flickr
On Saturday June 14th the brilliant Anna Prohaska is performing the contents of her newly released CD with Eric Schneider, if you are available do book she is a consummate young artist that we don’t see in London frequently enough.
More information and to book tickets
This coming Monday June 16th the very exciting, bona fide Verdi baritone (and Greek, obviously) Dimitris Platanias will sing his debut London recital at Wigmore Hall under the banner of Rosenblatt Recitals with Gary Matthewman at the piano.
More information and to book tickets
And on Tuesday June 17th again at the Wigmore Hall, the Early Opera Company presents Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers with a brilliant cast featuring Catherine Manley and Ed Lyon. With Christian Curnyn conducting it is promised to be a brilliant evening of baroque exuberance. And if you have an allergic reaction to counter-tenors this is one early music concert to not feature one.
More information and to book tickets
Carolyn Sampson, Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra have released this week a new disc titled A French Baroque Diva looking at arias famously sung and written for the 18th century prima donna Marie Fel.
You can browse and buy it on Amazon
The edgy, mad baroque chick of the our days, Anna Prohaska has brought out a new album of songs relating to the bloodshed of the two World Wars, with a range of repertoire from Franz Schubert to Wolfgang Rihm. She is accompanied by Eric Schneider.
You can browse and buy it on Amazon
OperaCreep’s List 