Wednesday, 22 January 2014

January 2014


Hello readers, I hope all is well. This is my update for January 2014. As I'm sure you are aware, The Passenger premiered in Houston, Texas on Saturday 18th January, and I eagerly await a plethora of reviews. Below is a selection of those already published:

David Clarke, Broadway World - link 'the only appropriate superlative to describe HGO's US premiere of The Passenger is brilliant'. 

Scott Cantrell - Dallas Morning News - link 'Sadly, the opera could use a lot of editing and tightening... three hours, with one intermission, seemed interminable'.

D.L. Groover - Houston Press - link 'Weinberg's forgotten opera is everything contemporary opera should be... a shattering experience'.

I shall update the above list, hoping to keep a balance between critical and praise-ridden reviews. 
If my predictions are correct, The Passenger will go down a storm with US audiences and critics, but only time will tell. Future US runs are planned for New York in July, and Chicago in 2015.

 Melody Moore and Michelle Breedt in 'The Passenger', Houston Grand Opera 2014.

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I hope you'll find the youtube videos below interesting.

1. Linus Roth discusses his upcoming release, featuring the Britten and Weinberg violin concertos.

2. Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich perform Weinberg Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 5, Op. 53 (live recording).

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I'd like to plug an updated version of the University of Manchester's webpage about Weinberg research at the University (link). The page sums up the wider impact of Professor Fanning's research, and details several exciting projects for the future.

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My own work is plodding along well, with another big panel meeting assessment for next week. I am submitting a literature review chapter for the meeting, in which I detail approaches to analysis that I wish to apply to Weinberg's quartets. I'll keep you posted with updates.

I also mentioned in December that I was lucky enough to be accepted to speak at the University of Leeds conference 'Music, Memory and Migration in the Post-Holocaust Jewish Experience', taking place July 2014. Please find the abstract for my paper below:

Commemorating the Past: Weinberg’s Experience as a Jewish Migrant in the USSR


Weinberg’s background is unique among Soviet composers; he fled eastwards from Poland in 1939 and was accepted into the USSR. He established a successful career for himself, working with the most prominent Jewish musicians of his day and praised as ‘the leading Soviet-Jewish composer’. Having narrowly escaped Nazi Germany, Weinberg fell victim to Stalinist antisemitism and was imprisoned for several months in 1953. Upon his release, he made it his life’s mission to commemorate those who had fallen victim to atrocities.
    Jewish themes in Weinberg’s music serve a dual purpose; to commemorate victims of the Holocaust, including his parents and sister, and to reassert his Jewish heritage, despite his displacement to a less-than hospitable climate. An internal struggle can be traced across his music, to reconcile between the need to celebrate his heritage as well as to celebrate the USSR as his ‘saviours’ from the Nazis. In this paper, I explore the experience of Jewish composers in the Soviet Union through Weinberg’s case study. I also outline Weinberg’s commemorative works including, most controversial of all, his opera The Passenger. The opera is provocative, not least because the on-stage action is set in Auschwitz itself. This provides fresh challenges for modern-day audiences and critics alike. The Passenger also calls into question the appropriateness of commemoration through depiction, alongside Weinberg’s struggle to represent his displacement through music.


 While it is certainly difficult to watch, the only appropriate superlative to describe HGO's US Premiere of THE PASSENGER is brilliant
While it is certainly difficult to watch, the only appropriate superlative to describe HGO's US Premiere of THE PASSENGER is brilliant.
While it is certainly difficult to watch, the only appropriate superlative to describe HGO's US Premiere of THE PASSENGER is brilliant
While it is certainly difficult to watch, the only appropriate superlative to describe HGO's US Premiere of THE PASSENGER is brilliant
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