I consider it some sort of weird existential gift, she says. It has an austerity that works beautifully, but thats not the same language of the opera. Bio-pic tropes aside, "The Hours" is a finely crafted, smartly paced opera, one that maintains and even deepens the intricate narrative structure it inherits from the novel and the film. Rene Fleming, Kelli O'Hara and Joyce DiDonato star in composer Kevin Puts's opera about three women in different eras related through 'Mrs. Dalloway.'. The operas composer, Kevin Puts, grips Nzet-Sguins hands after the performance, with Greg Pierce, who wrote the libretto, behind him. Metropolitan Opera House; 3,800 seats; $412.50 top. Clarissa goes out to buy flowers at a nearby shop. Inspired by Virginia Woolfs Mrs. Dalloway and made a household name by the Oscar-winning 2002 film version starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman, the powerful story concerns three women from different eras who each grapple with their inner demons and their roles in society. So there are, for example, ravishing duets for Woolf and Laura, one in which they sing lines from Mrs. She wonders what might have been if she had not done so. Glass is known as one of the foremost composers working in the 20th-century style of minimalism*. He was married to the soprano Teresina Brambilla . She attempts to persuade him to come back in. Its also the artistic denouement of the piece, the chance for Puts to bring the interplay of his sound worlds to its conclusion. Not all of the music in the film was composed specifically for it: earlier music by Glass, including the "Protest" theme from his opera Satyagraha, and the Franz Kafka inspired "Metamorphosis Two" from his album Solo Piano, were also featured and credited separately at the end of the film.[1]. All rights reserved. Find The Metropolitan Opera on Facebook (opens new window) Find The Metropolitan Opera on Twitter (opens new window) Find The Metropolitan Opera on Instagram (opens new window) Find The Metropolitan . Opera Happy Hour: Countertenors | LA Opera - Los Angeles Opera Clarissa arrives at the flower shop, and the florist Barbara kisses her on the mouth. Synopsis The story is about a single day in the lives of three women: book editor Clarissa Vaughan in New York's West Village in 1999; novelist Virginia Woolf in Richmond, England, in 1923; and housewife and mother Laura Brown in Los Angeles in 1949. Did that allow you to write specifically for their voices? This opera has been in the works for quite some time with Fleming, OHara and DiDonato attached. As the others leave, the three female protagonists, Laura, Clarissa, and Virginia sing a trio, realizing that in their connection to one another across different times and places, they are not alone. The pianist and the conductor were in the middle of the room and none of us could approach each other. The doctor has told her she has a growth inside her and needs to look at it. Here it is 13 dancers, choreographed by Annie-B Parson. But here, we are moved through time by a chorus that softens transitions. The second setting is Los Angeles in 1949, where Dan and Laura Brown are struggling to conform to a proper mid-century American suburban life. The orchestra is low as they begin to sing. The tenor William Burden sounded shining and eager as his old lover, Louis. The 50s style for Lauras world mild Lawrence Welk-type swing, choral writing like TV jingles feels obvious. UPDATED: Composer Kevin Puts Discusses "The Hours" - Cultural Attach Dancers and the chorus are expressing those unconscious elements. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.. Dance is like an extra voice embodied in the piece., Parsons involvement was key, not least because the rest of the creative team are male. Such concordances are nothing new for The Hours, whose novel and film versions draw connections between all three women; what is new is the direct counterpoint, in which the women share physical space. Based on the book by Michael Cunningham and the Paramount Pictures film, Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and The Philadelphia Orchestra, The production ofThe Hours was made possible by a generous gift fromRobert L. Turner, in memory of his mother,Suzanne Wilbert Turner. You cant split the screen in three ways. Her character in the opera adaptation of the 1998 novel and 2002 movie The Hours, Clarissa Vaughan, is preparing a party for her best friend Richard who is dying of Aids, and she. I have always felt a composers prerogative goes beyond a sort of duty to uphold the aesthetic movements and trends of their time, though those ought to be considered, he said. By. I was talking to her a lot and finding out that she actually has an incredible range and she can sing the lyric soprano roles. It just feels different just the nature of the piece. In the spring of 2021 you had a workshop of the music with Cincinnati Opera. Fleming said she would continue to concertize, and left open the possibility of returning to staged opera for new pieces written with her in mind. mixologist? Clarissa considers whether her relationship of almost eighteen years with Sally is fulfilling enough. The Hours (film) - Wikipedia Something that would touch someone. I knew Renees voice very well having done a couple of projects with her. He tells her he loves her, slides off the sill, and falls outside. repeating and reassembling words and thoughts from the day. The Hours is showing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York until 15 December, Broadway glee: dazzling Lea Michele delivers in Funny Girl, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Were all in denial about certain things., OHara sees much truth in Laura Brown, a 1950s housewife seemingly living the American dream yet conflicted and unhappy underneath though the singer cant relate to the terrible choice her character makes. The opera was commissioned by New York's Metropolitan Opera and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Sally is thinking about how to arrange the chairs. And some moments of highest drama smack of the overkill that mars the film, as when the threat of Woolfs devastating headaches is marked by pummeling darkness, yawning brasses and instrumental screams. On her way she passes through Washington Square and notices the unusual singing of a Man Under the Arch. Review: Unhappiness Transcends Time and Space in The Hours at the Its not about a sentence you try to land or a facial expression people cant even see our facial expressions past the 10th row! I listened to about three minutes then turned it off because its completely opposed to the colour of my own and what Kevin has written for me. She was also unfamiliar with the movie. As on page and film, we focus on moments of great import within single days lived by three women. It was very much written for the three of them because we hadnt started writing yet. The stylization of opera allows him to bring his characters together in the same musical space, even if they are otherwise unaware of one another. Clarissa goes to the florist, visits her dying friend, and muses on what her life would have been like had she not, years ago, broken off a budding romance with him. Bradley Cooper Opens Up About 19-Year Sobriety, Says Past Addiction Made It Easier to Play A Star Is Born Character, Mayim Bialik Declines to Host Celebrity Jeopardy! Amid Strikes, Replaced by Ken Jennings. Clarissa says she needs to leave and return to her apartment to put the flowers in water so they will not wilt. Although he finds the soundworlds of Puts and Glass very different, he can see some links: I think whats similar is a theatricality in their music that is begging you to turn it into something live., McDermotts productions for the vast stages of the Met and the London Coliseum have invariably involved some sort of extra ensemble element that is, he says, the glue. At their dining table, Virginia expresses her gratitude to Leonard for having given her "the greatest possible happiness.". contains themes of suicide. It can be male or female. The Hourscontains themes of suicide. This is a list of individual opera composers and their major works. It was important to bring a female perspective, she says. It was the same kind of challenge. Review: THE HOURS Goes by in Minutes as Met Gives Birth to Fascinating A compelling new opera about three women in different times and places, The Hours is based on the Pulitzer Prizewinning novel by Michael Cunningham and the Academy Awardwinning film adaptation that followed. It was on her mind because she had just had lunch with Julianne Moore.. Thats how The Hours began its life as an opera written by Puts. She recently watched the full film. She thinks everything will be fine if we just have the perfect party and we get the flowers exactly right. These were the characters played by Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore in the 2002 film. In conversation with an old friend named Louis (William Burden), shes reminded of a single summer by the beach, long enough ago to have begun to slip into a sort of personal lore, the kind of thing one can only believe happened to oneself when an intimate describes it once more. Dalloway, who in Woolfs novel which Laura Brown is reading as she fights anomie and the urge toward suicide is also making a party. Composer. Also appearing in the opera are Kathleen Kim, Denyce Graves, John Holiday, Sean Panikkar and more. The tenor Jamez McCorkle, the mezzo Deborah Nansteel and the bass-baritone Brandon Cedel were steady, sonorous presences as the main characters much put-upon romantic partners. The Hours was first performed as a concert piece with the Philadelphia Orchestra in March, and the local Inquirer described the work as immediately lovable, with a lush orchestration that hits you in the solar plexus. But as in the film, which won Nicole Kidman her Oscar for her work as the doomed novelist, its Woolf wholl make you swoon. He says he only wanted to write something good, not great. On November 22nd the Metropolitan Opera will give the world premiere production of The Hours by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Greg Pierce. Clarissas sound world has an American quality, I guess you can take it back to Leonard Bernstein, maybe even Aaron Copland, with luminous and rich textures swelling up behind her. Phelim McDermott directs this compelling drama, with Met Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin on the podium to conduct Putss poignant and powerful score. The three women are all grappling with lives in which they feel trapped, or about which they are in denial, and the other main character, Richard, is close to death and in despair. I found these characters very powerful: I knew they would inspire music., The Hours is directed by Phelim McDermott, who is acclaimed as one of the greatest interpreters of Glasss operas. We have updated this story with more details about the Met Opera production, clips from the production and additional comments from composer Puts. I feel like its its own thing and its not going to feel like the book. He is certainly the delightful host of LA Opera Connects' popular Opera Happy Hour web series. Their voices (two soprano, one mezzo-soprano) gradually swell and intertwine in a radiant, aching trio about all that separates them from one another and their essential union. All Rights Reserved. The more he learned about the nuances of each singers voice, the more he honed the score personally for her. Not that hes taking the opening night of The Hours remotely lightly. 'The Hours' by Kevin Puts premieres on PBS | ETC | record-eagle.com German. Rene Fleming, Kelli O'Hara, Joyce DiDonato Attached to Opera The mere fact of this operas existence does an interesting thing: It cements The Hours as a foundational piece of contemporary art. The dancers show that the ground is unstable, says Parsons, like when youre standing on a beach and the sand shifts with the tide under your feet. And, of course, water returns us to Woolfs suicide, referenced obliquely here. Read Next: Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman Release Second Single Every Single Day From Upcoming Musical Harmony (EXCLUSIVE), Telemarketers Directors on How Their Shocking HBO Docuseries Exposes a System of Scams, Sydney Sweeney Takes Control: The Euphoria Star on Feeling Beat Up by Online Rumors and Proving People Wrong in Her Producer Era, Aidans And Just Like That Return Has Given the Show New Life, Ryan Gosling Belts Out 'I'm Just Ken,' Makes Greta Gerwig Laugh in Behind-the-Scenes 'Barbie' Rehearsal Video. The story is about a single day in the lives of three women: book editor Clarissa Vaughan in New York's West Village in 1999; novelist Virginia Woolf in Richmond, England, in 1923; and housewife and mother Laura Brown in Los Angeles in 1949. These are exactly the kinds of feelings people have in life. Laura picks Richie up from the sitter, and he tells her he was scared because he thought, like Kitty, she had something growing inside her. Inspired by Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and made a household name by the Oscar-winning 2002 film version starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman, the powerful story concerns three women from different eras who each grapple with their inner demons and their roles in society. Overcoming her hesitation, she starts to write. English. He showed me some poems that he wrote. It should flow naturally like a conversation that kind of ebbs and flows. And on Friday, at the Kimmel Center, Nzet-Sguin led its world premiere in a concert presentation with another ensemble he leads, the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Metropolitan Opera is set to present the world-premiere staging of composer Kevin Puts's "The Hours." The opera, which is set to be presented between Nov. 22 and Dec. 15, is adapted from Michael Cunningham's acclaimed novel. The events of the opera, as in the book and film, are studiedly modest, taking place in a single day. i really love to set English as a language. Laura, feeling stifled at home, takes Richie to Mrs. 'The Hours,' New Opera Based On Woolf Novel, Maybe Just Needs Time Kelli O'Hara as Laura Brown, Rene Fleming as Clarissa Vaughan, and Joyce DiDonato as Virginia Woolf in Kevin Puts' 'The Hours.' (Photos by Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera) The assistant is the result of a collaboration with OpenAI. But opera can say things that cant be said in any other way. The Hours is the original soundtrack album, on the Elektra/Nonesuch label, of the 2002 film The Hours, starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. The saturated orchestral colors recall Nelson Riddles symphonic pop arrangements and Samuel Barbers gently reflective soprano monologue Knoxville: Summer of 1915. But Riddle songs are just a couple of minutes long; Knoxville, about 15. Conductor Yannick Nzet-Sguin wants to bring classical music to new A couple of scenes between Clarissa and Richard. The Met production meets the same extraordinarily high bar by bringing together three superlative female singers: Fleming in the Streep role, the Broadway musical diva Kelli OHara in the Moore role; and another Met favourite, the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, in place of Kidman. As a lifelong ruminator, I completely understand her constant anxiety. Between the two women in time lies quite literally Laura Brown (Kelli OHara), who prevaricates to her small child about the day they were meant to spend together so that she may crawl, alone, into a hotel bed, read Mrs. Librettist. The Hours - Metropolitan Opera So theres that kind of dichotomy in her music. While reading Mrs. Dalloway, she imagines Virginia heading to the river to kill herself. Amilcare Ponchielli - Wikipedia Does he agree with Flemings assessment? The piece has to take you into different worlds. On her way to Richard's, Clarissa hears a choir singing lyrics seemingly directed at her. Based on the book by Michael Cunningham and the Paramount Pictures film, Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and The Philadelphia Orchestra, The production ofThe Hours was made possible by a generous gift fromRobert L. Turner, in memory of his mother,Suzanne Wilbert Turner, World premiere: Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, March 2022 (concert version, performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra); Metropolitan Opera House, New York, November 2022 (staged production). Yannick Nzet-Sguin, conductor of orchestras in New York City, Philadelphia, and Montreal, wants to break down the walls that have kept some audiences from classical music and opera. I just wasnt at a point in my life where it spoke to me. But, revisiting the story at a time when most of the west is emerging from the pandemic, and she herself was two decades older with a lot of different experiences, it really resonated. The star soprano announced five years ago that she was retiring not from opera, but from performing many of the roles, the Desdemonas, Violettas and Marguerites, that she had made her own on the worlds greatest stages. 'The Hours' Gets a Gorgeous 3rd Life From The Metropolitan Opera DiDonato, an exceptional talent both as singer and actor, has the difficult tasks, first, of rendering the process of thinking through writing and, then, of conveying the psyche of a woman who cannot trust her thoughts when not writing. [5], The Hours was first performed on 18 March 2022 in a preview concert presentation at the Kimmel Center by the Philadelphia Orchestra under its conductor Yannick Nzet-Sguin. Renee Fleming makes her highly anticipated return to the Met in the world-premiere production of Pulitzer Prizewinning composer Kevin Putss The Hours, adapted from Michael Cunninghams acclaimed novel. Early on in the process, she said to him, I really just want to sing beautifully, and he replied, Yes, I can do that, by which he meant that having worked with her in the past he knew that his composition style was suited to her voice, and equally that her singing suited his music. In 2017, the Marschallin in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalierat the Metropolitan Opera was supposed to be Rene Fleming's last opera role, after a career of countless unforgettable performances. Friends at high school were gay, and they couldnt be gay, and they were traumatized by it. I knew with opera that once you establish the three stories, you can begin to overlap them with duets, trios music and harmony allow for that in ways that other art forms do not.. The tripartite setting of the opera is an essential aspect of its story. Dalloway in the early 1920s. In front of Richard's building, she encounters Louis, Richard's former boyfriend, who can't decide whether to visit him. March 20, 2022 PHILADELPHIA Three women are left alone onstage. Someone in Fleming's office suggested Michael Cunningham's novel, and they both thought this was the right choice. These stories can begin to intermingle and overlap and they can sing duets that transcend time. Philadelphia Orchestra premieres 'The Hours.' Next stop: Metropolitan Opera. Virginia cannot decide which of the characters in her novel will die. Which is why my focus is on new work.. Opera Review: 'The Hours' at the Met - Vulture I dont know exactly why. If you are using Internet Explorer or other browsers you may encounter problems with certain sections of our website. Fleming returns to Met in new opera based on 'The Hours' The show starts with dance, McDermott explains. To find himself at the Met with Fleming, having been brought up in Alma, a town of 9,000 people in deepest rural Michigan thats no platters. The Hours, starring Renee Fleming and Kelli O'Hara, is coming to Puts said that once he submerged himself into the libretto by Greg Pierce, he found himself feeling intense empathy for the characters. This is a piece about whats going on inside these womens heads. 'The Hours' Opera Review: Michael Cunningham's Three - The Wrap Its easy for me and actually really satisfying for me to develop these roles within the parts of their voice that work given the situation. Kensho Watanabe will conduct that performance. In Los Angeles in her bed, Laura Brown is reading the same lines from Mrs. Dalloway. I knew there would be a poetic element to the language. Clarissa appears in the street and bends over Richard's lifeless body. The Met Opera's New Season: What We Want to See Renee Fleming makes her highly anticipated return to the Met in the world-premiere production of Pulitzer Prizewinning composer Kevin Putss The Hours, adapted from Michael Cunninghams acclaimed novel. Laura enters a room at the Normandy Hotel with her tattered copy of Mrs. Dalloway and a bottle of pills. We all have regrets. What did you and Greg learn from that session and how did it inform the subsequent work youve done on The Hours? At Sally and Clarissa's, the party has become a wake. The new opera. I really do think of them as musical environments. What would you say to Woolf if given the opportunity to address her question? As played by Fleming, Clarissa is a pragmatist, all business; Flemings vocal performance is gorgeous, and shot through with the bustling sense that Clarissa is rushing to the next task, the next note. Act 1 The power of the novelist has rarely felt greater, nor has the sense of intimacy enjoyed by the truly devoted reader. Puts, 50, said he instantly saw the potential for opera to take the story to places that literature and film would struggle to go especially in the interplay between the characters across time and place. Three Divas Give Voice to 'The Hours' at the Met Opera - The New York Times She recalls a bizarre encounter with the Hotel Clerk. (Metropolitan Opera via AP) With each of the two acts unfolding in an unbroken stream, Puts moves smoothly between parlando sung conversation and glowing lyrical flights. about her. Yet much of it, despite lots of activity and ostensible variety in the orchestra and among the singers, gives a sense of engulfing sameness of musical texture and vocal approach. List of operas by composer - Wikipedia Kelli OHara: Laura represents a lot of people we all know.. The Woolf pack: Rene Fleming and Joyce DiDonato on turning The Hours Find The Metropolitan Opera on Facebook (opens new window), Find The Metropolitan Opera on Twitter (opens new window), Find The Metropolitan Opera on Instagram (opens new window). At a first glance, it might appear counterintuitive to use minimalist musicthe ultimate non-narrative styleto accompany a film. In adapting The Hours for the operatic stage, Puts sought to follow the shifting perspectives between the heroines while maintaining their separate dimensions. Main Photo: Composer Kevin Puts (Photo by David White). 7 By Joshua Barone Nov. 21, 2022 "I think it needs to be more surreal," the conductor Yannick Nzet-Sguin said from the orchestra pit of the Metropolitan Opera on a recent afternoon. So I knew who we were writing for. The opera was first performed on 18 March 2022 in a concert presentation at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia[1] and received its stage premiere on 22 November 2022 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. WIth her husband and her three-year-old son, she feels trapped in sort of an alien domestic world that is not natural for her. They decide to make a bed of grass for it to die in. With a libretto by Greg Pierce, The Hours is even prettier and more sumptuous than Silent Night, a grandly scored yet sweetly humble opera about a cease-fire over Christmas during World War I, for which Puts won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012. He had been thinking about it for years as a possibility as an opera. The partnership evolved at what the orchestra's president Matas Tarnopolsky describes as "an inspiring lunch" in August 2018 with Nezet-Seguin and Met chief Peter Gelb: New works slated for the Met, but first heard in concert in Philadelphia, will also include The Amazing . The curtain falls to the floor with an undignified flounce. In the near future, the Composer infrastructure should also connect to other AI models and thus further expand AI functionality. She considers the many roles he plays in her life. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Although it is her husband Dan's birthday, and he and their six-year-old son Richie are waiting for her in the kitchen, she resumes reading. Its the end of the day, the end of the opera, the three stories come together, it feels like something different. The Center for Contemporary Opera has staged the premieres of many works written during the latter half of the . Center for Contemporary Opera - Wikipedia Thats right. English StreamText captioning is available for the Mets transmission ofThe Hours here. Intriguingly, Clarissas daughter is written out of the story here, and Clarissas own central struggle is her doubt over whether or not to bring a child into the world a change that amplifies the contrasts, and the similarities, between her and unhappy mother Laura. But I think with this I really thought there was a point. She feels guilty that she is avoiding her duties as a wife and mother. Given the nature of what I write, I know this is perhaps impossible for me., I know what moves me. I love the fact that men wanted to tell this story. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. contains themes of suicide. How did Greg Pierce become the writer you wanted to adapt Cunninghams novel and create the libretto? I hope that people will listen to it on its own terms. Prepared with remarkably limited rehearsal time for a two-hour work with a substantial cast, this was a lush yet transparent account of the score, performed with polish and commitment. Musically how are those time periods reflected and is that necessary for an audience to stay on course with the story you are telling? The December 10th performance will be screened around the world as part of Met Operas Live in HD series. The three plot lines, though unique, are nonetheless connected by Woolfs novel Mrs. Dalloway, and the common themes of solitude, depression, and lack of fulfillment. There will be new search capabilities and AI services, for . But I felt like when I began composing that I was doing things on my own terms. But definitely we want the audience to know whats going on. Page Navigation for: Scoring The Hours: Philip Glasss Minimalist Soundtrack. In this episode, join Jeremy for a piano-side chat all about countertenors. Puts (who won his own Pulitzer in 2012 for his World War I opera Silent Night) compensates by leaning into one of opera's strengths, which is the use of music to establish time, place, and . So thats why I wanted to do it. The Hours - The Metropolitan Opera (2022) - The Hours - Opera Online
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