“Thou shalt not take lightly the great name of Death”. So, sung to a weird version of the tune of Ein Feste Burg, ends the closing chorale of Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a commercial video release of this work but it was filmed as a BBC/WDR co-production in 1977 and broadcast in both Britain and Germany. I just got my hands on a copy of the BBC broadcast and thought it was well worth writing about.
Aria with Maika’i Nash and Rachel Krehm. Photo – Denise Grant
Last time I spoke to Opera 5’s Aria Umezawa she was about to head off to San Francisco to join SFO’s Merola program. Now she’s been named as an Adler Fellow for 2017; the first stage director since 2002 to be named to the program. She’ll be joined by pianist/coach Jennifer Szeto, also of this parish, and another Canadian; Vancouver soprano Sarah Cambridge. I have greatly enjoyed Aria’s work with Opera 5 and hope that this is a step on the road to a major career as an opera director. The full story on this year’s Adlers is here.
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