Opera Talk: Anne Manson (Part Two)

Here’s the second part of my recent interview with conductor Anne Manson. Our focus at this point shifted to a discussion of Orphée and to some of the various musical aspects of Glass’ score.
BK: It seems to me that once you get into opera and works for the stage, it’s possible to make a stronger [...]

Opera Talk: Anne Manson (Part One)

I interviewed Anne Manson, the conductor of Portland Opera’s current production of Orphée, two weeks ago today, but because of lingering problems with my recording software, I’ve only just been able to piece the audio portion of our session together in order to transcribe it for posting. My sincerest apologies to Anne for this unexpected [...]

Laura Grimes

I had lunch yesterday afternoon with Laura Grimes, who recently left the Oregonian to take up as Managing Director of Third Angle New Music Ensemble. We chatted about a few of the group’s upcoming projects, the future of print and electronic media in the area, and the value of collaboration among local arts organizations. (As [...]

Opera Talk: Philip Cutlip

I first met baritone Philip Cutlip, who’s singing the title role in Portland Opera’s current production of Orphée, at the University of Puget Sound in the mid-1980s. We were in the Adelphian Concert Choir, we took several classes together, and we hung around with many of the same people. Although Philip and I eventually lost [...]

Orphée production photos

I had hoped to have something posted this morning in anticipation of tonight’s performance of Orphée, but between running errands and prepping for my pre-opera talk (one hour before curtain in the first balcony), there just hasn’t been any time.
In lieu of that, let me at least share a few of Cory Weaver’s excellent production photos [...]

PG and me

From this morning’s Philip Glass round table – my brush with greatness.
Thanks to Operaman for having his camera at the ready.

Round table discussion with Philip Glass

I’m off to meet Operaman for coffee, and then we’re both heading over to the Portland Opera offices, where we’ll join other local journalists and bloggers for a round table discussion/interview with Philip Glass.
Stay tuned for more on that later this afternoon…
UPDATE: In addition to Operaman and myself, the “other local journalists and bloggers” at [...]

Reading Glass

Here are a few of titles I’ve been reading in preparation for my pre-performance talks on Orphée.

Philip Glass, Music by Philip Glass (Da Capo)
Richard Kostelanetz, ed., Writings on Glass: essays, interviews, criticism (Schirmer)
Robert Maycock, Glass: a portrait (Sanctuary)
K. Robert Schwartz, Minimalists (Phaidon)
Keith Potter, Four musical minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass [...]

Scotch in (a) Glass

An ad for Cutty Sark in the October 25, 1982, issue of Newsweek, featuring Philip Glass.

Two endings

Here’s something I put together yesterday to illustrate how music can influence the way we perceive and interpret visual imagery.
The following clip comes at the very end of Godfrey Reggio’s 1983 film, Koyaanisqatsi, and includes Philip Glass’s original score.

That same scene, except now with Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings.
[...]