Bard Summerscape and Bard Music Festival 2025: MARTINŮ AND HIS WORLD

Fisher Center at Bard (photo-Peter Aaron '68/Esto)

Here's the schedule for Bard's summer festivities; note that getting this onto the blog meant that I lost most of the formatting and I have not restored all of it. For more information, see the Summerscape web site.

Pastoral
Fisher Center LAB Commission/World Premiere
 
Choreography by Pam Tanowitz
Décor by Sarah Crowner
Music by Caroline Shaw
Featuring Pam Tanowitz Dance
Inspired by Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral”
 
Friday, June 27 at 7 pm
Saturday, June 28 at 7 pm
Sunday, June 29 at 3 pm
Sosnoff Theater

Dalibor
by Bedřich Smetana
SummerScape Opera/New Production
 
Libretto by Josef Wenzig, Czech translation by Ervín Špindler
Directed by Jean-Romain Vesperini
American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leon Botstein
Sung in Czech with English supertitles
 
Friday, July 25 at 6:30 pm
Sunday, July 27 at 2 pm
Wednesday, July 30 at 2 pm
Friday, August 1 at 4 pm
Sunday, August 3 at 2 pm
Sosnoff Theater

The 35th Bard Music Festival
Martinů and His World
 
Weekend One: A Musical Mirror of the 20th Century 
August 8–10
 
Weekend Two: Against Uncertainty, Uniformity, Mechanization: Music in the Mid-20th Century
August 14–17
Weekend One: A Musical Mirror of the 20th Century 
 
Program One: The Peripatetic Career
Friday, August 8
Sosnoff Theater
7 PM Performance with Commentary
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Double Concerto, H271 (1938)
Piano Quartet No. 1, H287 (1942)
Symphony No. 2, H295 (1943)
Fantasia, H301 (1944)
Petrklíč / Primrose, H348 (1954)
 
Panel One
Why Martinů: Understanding Classical Music, Past and Future
Saturday, August 9
Olin Hall 
10 AM – 12 noon
 
Free and open to the public.
 
Program Two: The Emigree in Paris
Saturday, August 9
Olin Hall
1 PM Preconcert Talk
1:30 PM Performance
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
String Trio No. 1, H136 (1923)
Flute Sonata, H306 (1945)
Duo No. 1 for Violin and Cello, H157 (1927)
 
Josef Suk (1874–1935)
Piano Quartet No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 1 (1891)
 
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Violin Sonata No. 2 in G Major (1927)
 
Works by Jaroslav Řídký (1897–1956) and Alexandre Tansman (1897–1986)
 
Program Three: Music and Freedom
Saturday, August 9
Sosnoff Theater
6 PM Preconcert Talk
7 PM Orchestral Performance
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Memorial to Lidice, H296 (1943)
Symphony No. 6 (Fantaisies symphoniques), H343 (1951–53)
Piano Concerto No. 4, “Incantation,” H358 (1956)
 
Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942)
Symphony No. 2 (1932)
 
Rudolf Firkušný (1912–94)
Piano Concertino (1929)
 
Program Four: The Search for a Distinctive Voice
Sunday, August 10
Olin Hall
11 AM Performance with Commentary
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Les Rondes, H200 (1930)
String Quartet No. 7, “Concerto da camera,” H314 (1947)
The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon, for piano, H318 (1948)
Variations on a Slovak Theme, H378 (1959)
 
Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915–40)
String Quartet No. 1, Op. 8 (1935)
 
Program Five: New Shores: Influences and Contexts
Sunday, August 10
Sosnoff Theater  
2 PM Preconcert Talk
3 PM Performance
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
La revue de cuisine, H161 (1927)
Harpsichord Concerto, H246 (1935)
Tre ricercari, H267 (1938)
Piano Sonata No. 1, H350 (1954)
 
Arthur Honegger (1892–1955)
Concerto da Camera, H196 (1948)
 
Aaron Copland (1900–90)
Sextet (1937)
 
Weekend Two: Against Uncertainty, Uniformity, Mechanization: Music in the Mid-20th Century
 
Program Six: The Spiritual Quest
Thursday, August 14, at 7 PM
Friday, August 15 at 3 PM
Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck 
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
The Mount of Three Lights, H349 (1954) 
Vigilie, H382 (1959)
 
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904)
From Mass in D Major, Op. 86 (1887)
 
Leoš Janáček (1854–1928)
Veni Sancte Spiritus (ca. 1903)
Constitues eos principes (1903)
Ave Maria (1904) 
Postludium, from Glagolitic Mass (1926)
 
Petr Eben (1929–2007)
Finale, from Musica dominicalis (Sunday Music) (1958)
 
Program Seven: Myth, Faith, and Folklore
Friday, August 15
Sosnoff Theater
6 PM Preconcert Talk
7 PM Performance
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Mariken de Nimègue, H236/2 I (1933–34)
Field Mass, H279 (1946)
Brigand Songs, H361 (1957)
 
Panel Two: Music and Politics: From the Habsburg Empire to Contemporary Populism and Autocracy
Saturday, August 16
Olin Hall
10 AM – 12 noon
 
Free and open to the public.
 
Program Eight: Martinů and the Craft of Composition
Saturday, August 16
Olin Hall
1 PM Preconcert Talk
1:30 PM Performance 
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Duo No. 1, “Three Madrigals,” H313 (1947)
Cello Sonata No. 3, H340 (1952)
Nonet No. 2, H374 (1959)
 
David Diamond (1915–2005)
Quintet (1937)
 
Karel Husa (1921–2016)
Evocations de Slovaquie (1951)
 
Program Nine: Renewing the Public Power of Tradition
Saturday, August 16
Sosnoff Theater
6 PM Preconcert Talk
7 PM Orchestral Performance
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Violin Concerto No. 2, H293 (1943)
The Epic of Gilgamesh, H351 (1955)
 
Jan Novák (1921–84)
Ignis pro Ioanne Palach (1969)
 
Program Ten: Martinů’s Legacy
Sunday, August 17
Olin Hall
11 AM Preconcert Talk
11:30 AM Performance
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Three Czech Dances, H154 (1926)
Songs on One Page, H294 (1943)
Songs on Two Pages, H302 (1944)
 
Joan Tower (b. 1938)
Petroushskates (1980)
 
Kryštof Mařatka (b. 1972)
Báchorky, fables pastorales (2016)
 
Works by Jaroslav Ježek (1906–42), Frank Zappa (1940–93), and Iva Bittová (b. 1958)
 
Program Eleven: The Opera of Dreams: Martinů’s Julietta
Sunday, August 17
Sosnoff Theater 
2 PM Preconcert Talk
3 PM Semi-Staged Opera Performance
 
Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959)
Julietta, H253 (1937) (Martinů, after Georges Neveux)
 

Seattle Opera 2025-26

McCaw Hall Theater

Uncredited; courtesy of McCaw Hall web site

Like certain other opera companies –– ahem, probably all of them, but definitely San Francisco Opera –– Seattle Opera has announced a short, very short, season, consisting of one operetta, two fully staged operas, and concert performances of another opera. I'm cutting a lot of marketing prose from the below. For casting details, see the Seattle Opera web site.

The Pirates of Penzance

Music by Arthur Sullivan

Libretto by W.S. Gilbert

October 18–November 1, 2025

Daphne in Concert

Music by Richard Strauss

Libretto by Joseph Gregor

January 16 & 18, 2026

Fellow Travelers

Music by Gregory Spears

Libretto by Greg Pierce

February 21–March 1, 2026

Carmen

Music by Georges Bizet

Libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy

May 2–17, 2026

(Sasha Cooke and J'nai Bridges are splitting the title role. I dunno, neither strikes me as the kind of alluring firebrand you ideally want in this role.)

Patricia Racette will also sing a cabaret evening. The company is offering some classes, in subjects like 21st c. opera and queerness in opera.

Oakland Symphony 2025-26

Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California. United States Oakland California, 2013. May. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013635154/.

Season announcement season is in full swing, and here's next year's schedule for the Oakland Symphony, under its new music director Kedrick Armstrong. As is typical of this orchestra and its music directors, there's a nice balance of standards and new/unusual music. Note that if you're still smoldering from the cancellation of the Verdi Requiem at the San Francisco Symphony, you can hear it in Oakland. For more details, see the Oakland Symphony web site.

Season Opening:

DAVE RAGLAND PREMIERE plus THE FIREBIRD!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2025 | 8:00PM

Paramount Theatre, Oakland

Kedrick Armstrong, conductor

Sara Davis Buechner, piano

ANNA CLYNE This Midnight Hour

MAURICE RAVEL Piano Concerto in G

DAVE RAGLAND Harmony of the Unheard

Oakland Symphony Commission World Premiere

IGOR STRAVINSKY The Firebird Suite (1919)

VERDI’S REQUIEM

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2025 | 8:00PM

Paramount Theatre, Oakland

Kedrick Armstrong, conductor

Tiffany Townsend, soprano

Raehann Bryce-Davis, mezzo-soprano

Robert Stahley, tenor

Reginald Smith Jr., baritone

Oakland Symphony Chorus

CAVA MENZIES Oakland Symphony Commission World Premiere

GIUSEPPE VERDI Requiem

LET US BREAK BREAD TOGETHER

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2025 | 4:00PM

Paramount Theatre, Oakland

Kedrick Armstrong, conductor

An “inspired, multifarious, musical bash!” raves San Francisco Classical Voice of the Oakland Symphony’s Let Us Break Bread Together. Kedrick Armstrong and the Orchestra are joined by the region’s top talent for this annual celebration, this year paying a special tribute to Whitney Houston.

ROUMAIN, MAHLER, ESMAIL & CHEN YI

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2026 | 8:00PM

Kedrick Armstrong, conductor

Tracy Silverman, violin

Oakland Symphony Chorus

CHEN YI Introduction, Andante, and Allegro

GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 10, Adagio

REENA ESMAIL She Will Transform You

DANIEL BERNARD ROUMAIN (Artist-In-Residence)

America, To Us

HAMMOND ORGAN CONCERTO plus

SAINT-SAËNS THUNDERING ORGAN SYMPHONY

FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2026 | 8:00PM

Paramount theatre, Oakland

Kedrick Armstrong, conductor

Brian Nabors, organ

CLARICE ASSAD Baião N’ Blues

BRIAN RAPHAEL NABORS Hammond Organ Concerto

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No. 3, “Organ”

Season Finale: SCHEHERAZADE!

FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2026 | 8:00PM

Paramount Theatre, Oakland

Kedrick Armstrong, conductor

Oakland Symphony Chorus

JASMINE BARNES Oakland Symphony Commission World Premiere

NICOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade

Opera Omaha Season Announcement

Opera Omaha, located in Omaha, Nebraska, has a short but mighty season coming up in 2025-26:

THE BARBER OF SEVILLE

Friday, October 24 | 7:30 PM
Sunday, October 26 | 2:00 PM
Orpheum Theater

Figaro | Alexander Birch Elliot

Rosina | Daniela Mack*

Count Almaviva | Minghao Liu*

Conductor | Gary Thor Wedow
Director | Stephen Lawless*

SUSANNAH

Friday, January 30 | 7:30 PM
Sunday, February 1 | 2:00 PM

Orpheum Theater
Music and Libretto by Carlisle Floyd

Susannah | Caitlin Lynch*

Olin Blitch | Andrew Potter
Little Bat | Christian Sanders*
Sam | Robert Stahley*

Principal Guest Conductor | Steven White
Director | Patricia Racette*

HERCULES

Friday, March 13 | 7:30 PM

Orpheum Theater
Composed by George Frideric Handel
Libretto by Thomas Broughton

Presented by The English Concert

Dejanira | Ann Hallenberg*
Hercules | William Guanbo Su*
Iole | Hilary Cronin*
Lichas | Hugh Cutting*

Conductor | Harry Bicket

BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE

Friday, April 24 | 7:30PM
Saturday, April 25 | 7:30PM
Holland Performing Arts Center

Composed by Béla Bartók/ Libretto by Béla Balázs

A co-production of Opera Omaha and the Omaha Symphony

Bluebeard | Ryan McKinny*
Judith | Michelle DeYoung*

Conductor | Lidiya Yankovskaya*

Projection Design | David Murakami*

UNSHAKEABLE

Friday, June 5 | 7:00PM
Saturday, June 6 | 2:00PM
Saturday, June 6 | 7:00PM
Sunday, June 7 | 2:00PM

Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center

Composed by Joseph Illick / Libretto by Andrea Fellows Fineberg

* Opera Omaha Mainstage Debut

Season tickets for Opera Omaha’s 25/26 Season are available now at www.TicketOmaha.com or by calling Opera Omaha at (402) 34OPERA (346-7372).