Archives for 2012

When the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel was given the project of building an opera house for the Palace of Versailles, he accepted with trepidation. The plan for a Royal Opera has been in the minds of the courtiers for almost a century yet circumstances worked to stunt each effort to build it. The price of war more than anything else delayed construction. The wars were never … [Read more...] about Stripping away the Rococo Excesses-The opera of Ange-Jacques Gabriel

Monday January 23, 2012 We all arrived at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Maryland at 1 PM after a day off, our first in a week. We were all feeling good about our performance at the Kennedy Center and came to the recording session having spent a day visiting museums, shopping, spending time with family and friends, reconnecting … [Read more...] about The Recording Sessions

Friday, January 20, 2012 7 PM The Atlas Performing Arts Center The presence of an art center is a known catalyst for the renaissance of a neighborhood on the down and outs. It attracts peaceful, benign folks (artists, families) ; it fertilizes parallel businesses like restaurants, and when well considered, it serves the community, from young to old. The Atlas is a perfect … [Read more...] about Three Theaters

January 19, 2012 For the chamber musician (and the orchestra of Opera Lafayette consists of chamber musicians), the pit is a torturous music chamber, an uncomfortable dream come true. After two days of preparing the score of Monsigny’s Le Roi et le fermier with instruments and singers in a large rehearsal room at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, we are ready to put the … [Read more...] about Into the Pit

January 17, 2012 at 2 PM The Atlas Performing Arts Center We are about to play the music. This is the first rehearsal. We are in our places and tuned up. Loretta O’Sullivan makes sure her cello strings are exact with the harpsichord’s—A, D, G and C. She hands that A to the violins who toss it over to the violas. The winds come last and the orchestra plays an E flat major … [Read more...] about First rehearsal