Category: Ben Makino
Thursday, November 19, 2015
By Music Dir ector Ben Makino
(All production images courtesy of Joey Miller , 2015)
In this post, I thought I’d show some of the considerations that contribute to an interpretation of The Magic Flute by looking at two of its arias: The Queen of the Night’s Act I aria ( O zittre nicht ) and Pamina’s Act II aria ( Ach, ich fühl’s ).
I would like to mention before starting that a work like The Magic Flute has accumulated an enormous volume of analysis over the past...
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at Thursday, November 19, 2015
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
By Music Director Ben Makino I first read this a few months ago, and it was originally going to be the heart of a different post, but seeing as we’re in the midst of staging The Magic Flute , one of the most popular and studied pieces in the repertoire, it seems particularly appropriate now. It is from the introduction to Dennis Washburn’s new translation of The Tale of Genji , which I impulse-purchased in early August. While I unfortunately haven’t gotten into this translation of the Tale...
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at Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Friday, October 23, 2015
By Music Director Ben Makino Get a sneak peek into Ben's summer in this latter half of his two part post, How I Spent My Summer Vacation . Missed the first part? Check it out here .
In between all of these small and large projects
I managed to get some reading done, perhaps most notably the recent Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph by Jan
Swafford. After reading Robert Gutman’s Mozart:
A Cultural Biography a year ago, I wanted to dedicate more time to learning
about the...
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at Friday, October 23, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
By Music Director Ben Makino Get a sneak peek into Ben's summer in this two part post, How I Spent My Summer Vacation .
The time from June 1 and August 1 this year, the
interval I am officially away from Opera Memphis, was a period filled with
various activities, some mundane and many musical. It came immediately on the
heels of a trip to Japan that Sarah and I took, meeting my father on our
arrival in Tokyo. My brother has lived there for (I think) ten years now and
was recently...
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at Wednesday, October 21, 2015