Saturday, November 05, 2022

Streaming the First Century

Scan of a hand-colored photo of the War Memorial Opera House and Veterans Building, San Francisco, in the 1930s. They are both imposing neo-classical buildings, several stories in height. There are 1930s cars streaming past them.

War Memorial Opera House and Veterans Building
San Francisco, CA
From the collection of Lisa Hirsch


San Francisco Opera's centennial season is underway right now. As part of the festivities, the company has posted, and will be posting more, recorded music from past performances and interviews with people important to the company.

You can listen to all of this at Steaming the First Century on the web site. For the interviews, there are also transcripts (yay greater accessibility!). Here's a sampling of what has been posted already:
  • Slavic Sensibilities: Complete recordings of Jenufa from 1980 (starring Elisabeth Söderström as Jenufa and Sena Jurinac as Kostelnicka) and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Cond. Calvin Simmons, with Anja Silja). Excerpts from Boris Godunov, Pikovaya Dama, the US premiere of The Makropulos Case, and Khovanshchina. 
  • Parlez-vous français? Complete recordings of Werther and Louise (the latter is now a great rarity). Excerpts from Manon, Les Troyens (with the magnificent Regine! Crespin! as both Cassandre and Didon; Jon Vickers as Enée), Thais, and St. François d'Assisse.
Italian and German repertory to come; in fact, the Italian repertory will be released on Monday, November 7 and German at the beginning of December.


 

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