NEWS
Happy Birthday, Samuel Barber! A bit of good news that I'm looking forward to on this day: my latest (very) short film "Beside Myself" is a nominee for Best Art/Experimental Film at the West Chester Film Festival. In tandem with that screening at the Uptown Knauer Performing Arts Center on Saturday, April 26 at 6pm, just beforehand and across the street at the Chester County History Center, I'll sit on a panel of other filmmakers to talk about the road to making this documentary, including my time spent filming right there in Barber's home town: www.westchesterfilmfestival.com/2025schedule
What we've been saying forever! And while they're at it, The Metropolitan Opera must revive the opera that opened their house altogether, "Antony and Cleopatra." Acolytes like Leonard Slatkin and John Mauceri are eager and ready to deliver this.
At the comments, I wrote: "The writer of this article perhaps hasn't seen my documentary 'Samuel Barber: Absolute Beauty,' or digested Barbara Heyman's biography now in its second edition, for further context about the complicated relationship of the Met with the composer who opened its house. There's an anecdote, for example, about how Barber and Menotti got turned away during a backstage visit for another production, and Barber declared, "But I opened this opera house!" He already felt betrayed by the outsized stage ambitions of Zeffirelli's inaugural production and surrounding treatment, complicated by critics who got distracted by the celebrity gala. Sam didn't hold back his thoughts, and management heard. But "Antony and Cleopatra" is a strong work, even in its original edition (compared to Menotti's romanticized revisions for his Spoleto reboot), and that's especially what we should be talking about. We're getting John Adams' own take very soon, but you'll see little reference or reverence to his progenitor: count another forensic of bad blood. Perhaps Barber will need to wait a little longer, for that reason alone; but the general notion in this article is well-taken, that 20th century American composers are long neglected at the Met (actual patrons have bemoaned this for years, so it's hardly a novel comment)."
Why Is an Entire Age of American Opera Missing at the Met? (Gift Article)
www.nytimes.com
A concert performance of “Vanessa” freshly argued for the vitality of a work that deserves to be staged but languishes with its midcentury peers.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
I'm still making films, @followers (and it was nice to see the shout-out to Samuel Barber: Absolute Beauty): please enjoy this new freely streaming, feature-length opera! (Would Sam like it? Maybe.)
New Opera Film of Handel's 'Admeto' Makes Premiere - OperaWire
operawire.com
Opera Essentia and H. Paul Moon of Zen Violence Films have released a new opera film of Handel's "Admeto."0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Always a pleasure to see Samuel Barber's "Hermit Songs" original holograph presented by Performing Arts at the Library of Congress in the display case every Founder's Day, especially on this 100th anniversary concert (it was a birthday gift to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, with Barber playing piano on this stage with Leontyne Price for the world premiere).
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Happy 250th birthday, Caspar David Friedrich! (A short film I made upon visiting his exhibition in Berlin.)
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Happy birthday, Sam! One way to celebrate: if you haven't heard it yet, sit down for just under an hour with Pierre Brévignon of Capricorn, l'Association des amis de Samuel Barber in this podcast episode on the various platforms linked at redcircle.com/show/ceb438c9-f08b-4c83-8dab-9483a495e6eb/ep/a33d9c8f-ee5d-492e-949a-2a4248454664, or now on YouTube at youtu.be/2Wl3LXvxA8U
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