Overture
In this issue: Graeme Jenkins • Sarah Chang • ArtSpeak • City Arts in Fair Park • The Dance Theatre of Harlem with the Dallas Black Dance Theatre and more!
Dallas / Fort Worth • wrr101.com
WRR Classical 101.1 FM
A Monthly publication For Friends of WRR
May 2010
WRR broadcasts The Elixir of Love live
Giovanni and the world premiere of Jorge Martin’s Before Night Falls during the festival. Michael Todd Simpson is Don Giovanni, a young nobleman with an insatiable appetite for amorous conquests. He lies, cheats and even commits murder, and keeps getting away with it. His long list of victims not only includes women and the men who love them, but also his poor servant The Elixir of Love Leporello, Thomas Corbeil, who is forced to help with his schemes. Before Night Falls is based on the memoir of Cuban dissident and author, Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990). Arenas, played by Wes Mason, lies dying of AIDS in New York City as he remembers his beloved homeland before and after Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. Composed by Jorge Martín, he wrote the libretto with the help of the late Dolores M. Koch, a personal friend of Arenas who translated several of his works from Spanish to English. After being imprisoned for being a homosexual, Arenas agrees to stop writing as a condition of his release, but can not handle his “silence” for long. He escapes to the U.S. in the Mariel exodus, but during his newfound freedom outside of Cuba he contracts HIV/AIDS. He rushes to complete his memoir before he commits suicide to end his suffering. Visit fwopera.org for info and tickets. Before Night Falls
For the third year, WRR will broadcast live from the Fort Worth Opera Festival. Tune in at 2 p.m. on May 23 for Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. This favorite of opera audiences is a romantic comedy with wonderful, light music to match. The Fort Worth Opera’s production is charmingly set in nostalgic early 1900’s Midwestern America. Local favorite Ava Pine is featured as Adina. Michael Fabiano as Nemorino gets to sing one of Ava Pine opera’s most well-loved arias, “Una furtive lagrima.” This delightful confection of a comedy proves that true love (and a little wine) can conquer all. The Elixir of Love presents the story of Nemorino, a boy who longs for Adina but is too shy to tell her that he loves her. When a rival, Belcore, boldly asks her to marry him, Nemorino acquires a secret elixir (merely cheap wine in disguise) to help him woo the young beauty. The ensuing Michael Fabiano misunderstandings and machinations make for an uproarious comedic story amidst a feast of bel canto singing. WRR’s Kurt Rongey will be your host for this afternoon of operatic high spirits live from Bass Performance Hall. The Fort Worth Opera also presents Mozart’s Don Don Giovanni
TV star returns to Dallas Dallas Symphony Orchestra Summer Musicals Little House wows with 2010-11 season The 110-year-old Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) recently announced its 20102011 Texas Instruments Classical Season. Music Director Jaap van Zweden leads 11 weeks of subscription performances in a season spanning from Sept. 9, 2010-May 22, 2011 at the Stewart Copeland Meyerson Symphony Center. Highlights of the Series include world premieres of works by Stewart Copeland and Poul Ruders; the 2010 Gala in September featuring pianist Lang Lang playing Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto; a special performance of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project in March of 2011; the DSO’s summer residency in Vail in June and July; and an appearance at Carnegie Hall in May of 2011. The Season begins and ends with Beethoven. To open the season, pianist Jeffrey Lang Lang Kahane joins van Zweden and the orchestra for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. Beethoven’s energetic and powerful Symphony No. 3, Eroica, completes the opening program. The next week features van Zweden leading the DSO in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Young Korean violinist Chee-Yun makes her Dallas Symphony debut performing with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott and cellist Lynn Harrell in Beethoven’s Concerto for Piano, Violin and Cello. The season ends with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The new season will also see a program concentrating on Latino composers, including works by Carlos Chávez, Alberto Ginastera, Silvestre Revueltas, Arturo Márquez and a DSO premiere of Manuel Ponce’s Lynn Harrell Piano Concerto. The 2010-2011 Season also marks the 10th anniversary of the DSO’s prestigious Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition. WRR recently featured young talent from the competition live on the air for the Classic Café at One Arts Plaza. Saturday, May 15 from 1-3 p.m., WRR heads to Bachendorf’s at Preston and Northwest Highway with our friends from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Visit us there or listen live on the air for a chance to win a prize and special ticket offers from the DSO.
By Kevin Pytcher Weekdays 3-7 p.m.
Sometimes you can go home again. That’s the case for actress Melissa Gilbert, who stars in Little House on the Prairie -- The Musical. The production -- just like the 1970’s TV show that made her famous -- is based on the beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder collection of classic books. Gilbert, who was 10-years-old when the TV series aired in 1974, takes on the role of ‘Ma’ in the play, and appears as her original character’s mother. Gilbert is a member of a touring production which comes to Music Hall in Fair Park for two weeks, May 11-23. The show is part of the 70th anniversary season of Dallas Summer Musicals. Additionally, Michael Jenkins, president and Managing Director of DSM, is the featured guest on WRR’s A Dallas Summer Musicals Preview. Jenkins will outline what it takes to bring the famous characters of the story to the stage. The broadcast is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday, May 9. The television series was famous for eliciting laughs and jerking tears throughout its many episodes. Gilbert says the same balance of emotions is in place in the stage version. “I honestly never thought I would revisit Little House, certainly not professionally, in any way, shape or form,” Gilbert said in a recent interview. “[But the producers] came to me and said they wanted me to be a part of the musical. I agreed to read the script. And I was so moved by it.” Little House is accompanied by book by Rachel Sheinkin, music by Rachel Portman and lyrics by Donna DiNovelli.
Overture • May 2010
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