The Passion of Opera

War Requiem | Benjamin Britten Soprano | Sabina Cvilak Tenor | Allan Clayton (In for the indisposed Andrew Kennedy) Baritone | Roderick Williams Conductor | Semyon Bychkov Off-Stage Conductor | James O'Donnell BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Crouch End Festival Chorus Choristers of Westminster Abbey General information:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Requiem ___________________________________________________________________________________ My first exposure to Britten's War Requiem was last spring when Lawrence University's orchestra and choirs mounted a concert for the piece with professional soloists. That experience was particularly moving for me. We put a lot of work into that piece both musically and emotionally, and the result was stunning. Especially touching was the conductor's pause for 30 seconds at the end of the piece in silence. I preface this review with this for two reasons. One, it was wonderful to be able to finally s...

Below is copy of a paper written for a Winter Term 2013 class at Lawrence University taught by Professor Jason Brozek called War and Popular Culture . I chose to fuse my interests in politics and music and focus on Verdi's Aïda  as a piece of culture representing war. Note that the photos included are not necessarily from the production I actually used for my reviews, nor are they necessarily connected to the section in which they appear. Rather, they are merely for flavor. TORN APART: HOW CONFLICTS PRESENTED BY GIUSEPPE VERDI’S AÏDA DEMONSTRATE OPERA’S CONTINUED RELEVANCE AS A COMMENTARY ON WAR & CULTURE     In a 21 st century world in which war and conflict remain pervasive and multivariate genres of music, music video, photography, and film serve as commentary, the relevance of classic mediums such as print, artwork, and classical music is difficult to discern. Opera, perhaps the most complicated form of classical music, onc...