Listen up! The Classical Discoveries radio program on WPRB 103.3FM (Princeton, NJ) is airing Tod Machover’s opera “Resurrection” in full this Sunday, May 6, from 6:00-10:00AM (the music begins at 7:00AM). The broadcast will be available for download as an MP3 for two weeks. Host and producer Marvin Rosen “celebrates new music and living composers” on his show, which has been on the air since May 1997.
Resurrection, based on Leo Tolstoy’s final novel, was commissioned by the Houston Grand Opera, where it had its world premiere in 1999. The central role of Katerina Maslova went to the fresh-faced mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato, who has since soared to the top ranks of international opera. In this live performance recording, DiDonato is featured alongside baritone Scott Hendricks (Prince Nekhlyudov), tenor Raymond Very (Peter Simonson) and the superb Houston Grand Opera orchestra and chorus under the baton of Patrick Summers. The recording was edited and re-mixed by Machover.
From a review by Opera News Online:
“…sonics, instrumental clarity and theatrical impact are all at a very high level. Machover excels at using his electro-acoustic orchestral texture to depict internal and external states of disintegration, of which there are many in the story…Most importantly, the characters spring credibly to life as fully-fleshed humans whose complex evolutions we witness…Machover emerges as a composer with a mode of musical story-telling that is powerfully immediate, a worthy goal for any contemporary opera.
Excerpt from the Overture to “Resurrection”
“Too Late” at the end of Act 1, sung by Joyce DiDonato
The two-CD set of “Resurrection” is available from Albany Records.
Opera of the Future 