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Hello
Some weeks ago Swedish TV sent The Magic Flute with wonderful Papageno/Simon Keenlyside! Then I found your marvellous site. A treasure. Many thanks to you, and others, who generously provide so much info and pictures!
I have bought “My heart alone” – lovely! I can understand German but would very much like to know what they are singing in Mia bella fiorentina? Does anyone of you have the Italian text or know where I can find it?
Wish you all a very Happy New Year!
Christine A
Hello Christine
look at the site of the cd
http://www.simonkeenlyside.info/index.php/recordings/cd-dvd-info-reviews/my-heart-alonedein-ist-mein-ganzes-herz-cd-2007/
and you will find the texts and translations of the songs.
Happy New Year to you too
Petra
Hello Petra,
Thank you very much for the above link. I have often wanted to be able to at least discern the German, (and thus make some effort to understand it…well some of it, anyway) in these wonderful songs, and now I will be able to!
Happy New Year to everyone
~ Jane
Hello Everyone! Looking forward to another year of beautiful music from Simon! A very Happy New Year to all at SKinfo (thanks for the best website on the internet!!) and to Simon, Zenaida, Owen and Iona. And a Happy New Year to all readers of and contributors to these pages. Love you all!!
Diana.
Dear Petra
Thank you very much indeed for your great help! Now I can follow not only the Italian text but also the German, which I only understood partly before. And many many thanks again for creating this fabulous site!
My very best wishes
Christine
PS.I agree with Diana: this must be the best website on the internet.
Hello Everyone,
BBC Radio 3 watch:-
Simon is programmed for just one song on ‘Composer of the Week: Schumann’ on Thurs 5 Jan at 12 noon and on Thurs/Fri 12/13 Jan, 12.45am on ‘Through the Night’ they will play Mahler’s Funf Ruckert-Lieder.
Happy New Year to you all, especially at Team SK Info – thanks for your excellent work. Now thinking of Simon as he prepares for Ballo – what an exciting year ahead!
With best wishes
Sue
My 13 year old daughter is auditioning for the Musikgymnasium in Vienna in two weeks and the first thing the headmaster asked me was whether we were related to Simon as our surname is Kindleysides. Much as I would love to claim the family tie I think it must be several hundred years in the past, but it woul be nice to think there are strong singing genes that have made it across the generations!!
Hope the NewYear brings you much joy and pleasure!
Sharon
Hello Petra and Janet and everyone in the SK info team,
There are some fairly new pdf files of interviews with/articles about Simon and his new CD on the Askonas Holt website on his main page under “Publicity downloads”. I am sure you have probably seen them, but I don’t think they are anywhere on this site and thought people might like to read them on here. (I only came across them yesterday.) One is dated November 2011 (Jewish Telegraph) and the other is January 2012 – Songs of War, International Record Review.
Best wishes,
~ Jane
thanks Jane,
have printed them and will add them as soon as possible.
best wishes
Petra
I have received the sad news about Simon’s cancellation of Marriage of Figaro in February from the Royal Opera House. I would like to wish him all the best, hoping it’s nothing serious.
Ciao, Simon!
Thanks Antonio.
Hi all. Has Simon cancelled German Requiem? Just looked on RFH website and they have Thomas Hampson listed as the baritone!
Diana.
Thanks for letting us know Diana
Dear guestbook, dear Simon! I am a Baritone from Germany, am currently working at the Stadttheater Bremerhaven (50km north of Bremen). I have seen Simon’s recital in Zurich on October 2nd 2011 and from that day I was wandering if Simon is giving any masterclasses or even private lessons. I have never seen a more
personal and yet so giving performance. When Simon was singing “Befreit”, I just got carried away. Next I found the Giovanni production, also from Zurich, and I realized that Simon is combining both singing and acting in exactly that way I am doing it in my dreams. Watching the videos on youtube and co inspires me a lot, but I’d really love to meet him in person and if there was a chance to work with him, that would be just great! Sadly I haven’t found anything concerning masterclasses or teaching, so I thought I’d ask his guestbook, and it would make me really happy if you could give me any information about my request. All the best from northern Germany, Yours Peter
Good morning all,
I have just heard a rare outing for one of Simon’s recordings on BBC Radio Breakfast at about 8.10 am – “Au fond du temple saint” from Bizet’s Peal Fishers, the English translation with Barry Banks – catch it on ‘Listen Again’ if you haven’t heard it before. My antennae even sensed Simon through the noise of my hairdryer!
This American interview – presumably 2011 ( given that he talks about Mark Rylance in Jerusalem) – is not on this site – I came across it on You Tube and I think it shows Mr Keenlyside as his most charming, candid and eloquent. He would certainly have a future, when he sings less in his old age, if he wants, as a spoke person for opera. There are two parts to this interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZXb6hVSKjQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quNeo7R178Y&feature=related
Hi Sandrina
yes the interviews ARE already online
http://www.simonkeenlyside.info/index.php/interviews-articles/interviews/2011-10-classic-talk-with-bing-and-dennis-50-min-youtube-clip/
thanks anyway
Petra
Dear SK fans,
Just to let you know that Simon is singing in West Road Concert Hall Cambridge on Wednesday 11th April in memory of one of his friends.
Tickets are £25 (children/students £15) and are now available from the Corn Exchange Box office:
http://www.cornex.co.uk or 01223 357851
or directly at: http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?agency=CAMBRIDGECORNEX&organ_val=3517&schedule=list&pid=7223756
Happy Easter weekend to everybody!!!! In case you don’t celebrate it, enjoy the chocolate!
Dear Friends of Simon,
Has this very considerable artist ever sung Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” in a concert which Jonas Kaufmann did not cancel?
Recently heard SK’s wonderful “Elijah” and was delighted.
All regards,
Marc Matzner
Sorry Marc, no!
Hello and a big thank you to all the team for this smart new look.
Best wishes to you all,
~ Jane
Hello,
The July issue of OperaNews has a fabulous review on Simon’s Macbeth DVD, saying “Simon Keenlyside’s intensely musical performance puts this Macbeth at the top of the DVD competition for Verdi’s Tricky opera.
Cheers
Kew
Hi Kew
can’t find it onlne?! Could you send me the link or a scan to skinfo@btinternet.com?
best wishes
Petra
Hello Petra,
The contents of the July issue might not be available on the website before July. I’ve separately sent you a scanned copy at skinfo@btinternet.com.
Cheers
Kew
Thanks Kew!
Petra
Hi Team,
How do I look up archive entries other than by repeatedly clicking “previous entries”? Clicking on “select month” in the archive section just leads me to a blank page whichever month I select!
Diana.
Hi Diana
Sorry about that, there’s a bug in the coding which I’m trying to identify – please bear with me for the time being and I’ll fix it as soon as poss.
All the best
Janet
What an absolutely wonderful month Simon has had, such a wide range of performances, all receiving superb reviews. Thanks to all of you who have shared your impressions so we at home can enjoy them, if only vicariously. Relieved there was only one performance of Wozzeck, though, as the curtain call photos seemed to show he had invested even more than his usual 110% in the role.
Loved the revealing Grange Park ‘ramble’ – surely inspiration for many doodles! And the Vienna Staatsoper interview shows why his role interpretations are so rewarding.
August is going to seem very flat but at least we have Elijah as a prize at the end.
Yes Sue, Simon does seem to have had a really successful run of performances in July and I feel very fortunate to have seen him live twice last month, first at the Grange and then at his Munich recital, each of these entirely different, but both absolutely fantastic.
August will indeed seem very flat for us, but it’s so great for him to have a decent length rest and enjoy time with his family. Talking of Elijah, as I made an extremely modest donation to the Gabrieli fundraising appeal for producing the CD, I have been invited to the launch evening in London in September. Just wondering if anyone else made a donation and got an invite??
~ Jane
Announced that Simon is one of the 5 honorees for the eighth Opera News Awards, of which ceremony will be taken place on 21 April, 2013 at the Plaza in New York City. Other honorees are sopranos Mirella Freni and Dawn Upshaw, countertenor David Daniels, and bass-baritone Eric Owens.
http://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2012/8/News/2012_Opera_News_Awards.html
When he received the Musical America award a couple of years ago, it was AFTER his superb Hamlet. His Prospero must be another memorable performance at MET, but it has not yet been made. Besides, he did not appear in the last MET season. Anyway, this is an excellent news. Simon, Congratulations!
Cheers
Kew
Hi everyone,
In case anyone missed last year’s Edinburgh Festival recital, or would simply like to hear it again, FranceMusique are broadcasting it as their lunchtime concert next Friday, 17th August.
Diana.
Hi all –
I have found recordings (studio and recital) of all the songs Simon has announced on his program in October in Atlanta except for two of the Hugo Wolf offerings – Heimweh and Schlafendes Jesuskind. Does anyone know if he has performed either of these songs before? Just wondering –
Bill
He sang in July in Munich “Schlafendes Jesukind” and “Heimweh” in the Wigmore recital in October 2008 (but this Lied is NOT on the CD).
Thanks, Petra!
I guess I had not looked at the Munich recital program since it was published. Since the SKinfo web site is a semi-official Simon archive, I suppose you would want to correct a few errors in the German spellings – the Wolf song should be Lied vom, not Lied von Winde. And it should be Auf eine Christblume II rather than Christrose, but maybe that is splitting hairs. And the Schubert should be Himmelsfunken, not Himmelfunken.
As to things not on the Wigmore Hall CD, thank you for reminding me that SK sang Heimweh on that recital, but it was cut from the CD – as were a number of other songs. The great Schubert Auf der Bruck, missing from the CD, can however be seen/heard on youtube or other video outlets – I wonder if the slight flub he makes in the line “Von Lust und Leiden die mein Herz” (it sounds more like Schmerz, which comes 2 lines later in the song) is the reason, or was there just not enough room on the CD? Anyway, I think we can all agree that was a great CD of an even greater recital.
Bill
That you have to correct me in German spelling is rather ambarrassing – nevertheless, THANK YOU
Petra –
I know very well that you are (luckily) from Munich and even were in the audience at the concert in the Dresden Frauenkirche years ago when Simon sang the German text to a selection from Elijah (Ja, es sollen wohl Berge weichen). I assumed that maybe one of the British folks on the SKinfo team had copied the Munich program and made some errors, and I hesitated before mentioning the possible questions in spelling – anyway, I know how busy you are, and we all appreciate the hard work you do on this website. I hope to be able to contribute a scenic recap of Simon’s recital next month in Atlanta – fingers crossed that everything goes as planned…
Bill
Dear SK info
Advice please.
I’m planning a trip to Vienna next April, hoping to see both Wozzek and Rigoletto. As it may be a once in a lifetime event I don’t want to have disappointing seats (nor to break the bank – although this is of secondary importance to me, perhaps not to my husband!!!) Reasonable leg-room is also an issue.
I don’t know whether it would be advisable to take pot luck and go for standby tickets (presumably guaranteeing seats) or to risk waiting until booking opens and, hopefully, being able to choose.
Any hints from previous Wiener Staatsoper attendees would be most gratefully received.
I just want to say that I hope Simon is safe and well and bearing up in the midst of a real and from all accounts horrific “tempest”. Does anyone know how he is or what he has been doing during these last few days in New York? From the pictures and reports it must be like living in a nightmare for everyone in that part of the US.
As Met will perform “The Tempest” tonight Simon and his colleagues should be ok. Well, Prospero is just merely able to “rule” an artificial storm … nature can’t be ruled.
What a fantastic, and extremely interesting event Simon’s masterclass was in St Paul’s church yesterday! It started with Jane and myself bumping into him at the entrance as he was folding his bike away!! There was a lot of wonderful talent among the young singers Simon was working with, and he guided them with gentle consideration, and some humour, and generally got results! He advised on colour, volume, projection, facial expression, and a lot of stuff only singers would understand! He was there for 7 hours, and although he looked tired at the end, his enthusiasm and advice for each singer never flagged. Apart from enjoying the talent of these singers, and witnessing Simon bringing out the best in all of them, it was also a very good insight into how Simon works through songs himself.
My ticket for the event was a birthday gift, so thank you Jane!! It’s a day I will remember always!
Diana.
I knew this master class would be totally fascinating and it was. It was worth going through the pretty longwinded process of getting tickets on the Internet last month, worth driving over 50 miles through flooded Devon and Somerset to catch a train from Taunton station on Sunday, as the line to Exeter was blocked by a landslide – which also necessitated buying another train ticket, as I was originally travelling the next day, and worth the longer than usual journey home yesterday from Waterloo via Yeovil Junction…. yes it was worth it, because Simon was so marvellous at imparting his extensive knowledge to these young people. What’s more he did this with such understanding and kindness and utter humility. Very thoughtfully, he began by asking them not to be too nervous because, having done very little of this kind of thing before, he was rather nervous too (I wondered if he would be) and he added “this is not about me today, it’s about you”. I thought this was a very reassuring start for them and several times he said that he didn’t want to say anything that would contradict their teachers, but just wanted to explain how he would do something and so why not give it a try. He was full of praise and all his criticism was constructive and positive. If he said anything even vaguely negative, which he very rarely did, he would immediately temper this with, ” now you’re not grumpy are you…?” which made everyone laugh, including the singer in question. Having been a teacher for a long time, I know how important it is to make pupils feel positive about themselves, especially when they are under stress – you need bags of patience, empathy and humour – all of which Simon had in abundance. So I thought his whole approach was excellent. I found it very interesting to observe which of these singers responded really well to his advice about breathing and phrasing, singing legato, interpreting the poetry etc. There were some talented singers here, and we mustn’t forget the fantastic pianists, and we were treated to some beautiful music.
At the end Simon gave 3 pieces of advice: firstly it is important to do regular, proper practice for at least 20 mins per day and not just bellowing, secondly to do a basic accountancy course and thirdly to learn how to cook – “cos you’ll save yourself a lot of money!!” Needless to say we all laughed and then a group photo was taken of all the singers and their accompanists with Simon – who did his best to hide, but fortunately they wouldn’t let him! Then he made his usual swift departure and was off into the night with his trusty fold-up bike.
Diana, I am so pleased that you enjoyed the day. I had an absolutely brilliant time too.
~ Jane
Back home, and my feet are beginning to touch the ground again after spending such an inspiring day at Simon’s master class. Diana and Jane have summed it up very well. My lasting memory is of how totally focused Simon was on every performance, of his infinite depth of attention to text and the way he passed on its importance to the young singers. He often illustrated this using such beautiful similes as – drawing in the listeners as if to look into the depths of a marble you are holding in your hand.
A lovely moment came when one singer admitted he had ‘hoped he’d got away with it’ and Simon, half turning to the audience with an extremely impish grin, said he thoroughly agreed with ‘getting away with it.’ (Papagano had appeared! – if only I’d had my camera at the ready.)
I overheard in an interval one of the singers introducing himself to Simon as having been one of his three boys in the Magic Flute. Hearing these beautiful young voices and the interpretive improvements brought about by Simon’s deep care and experience made me very optimistic about the future of song performance.
And, on top of that, it was a treat to meet all you SK ladies again. Looking forward to the next time.
Yes Sue, Simon used some great analogies to illustrate what he was trying to convey about singing to these young people. The one which has stayed in my head is his description of what he meant by supporting the voice – using an image of the column of air inside your chest being like a a rigid column, on top of which is a ping pong ball, that has to remain suspended just above the column by you supporting and controlling your voice and the sound you are producing! What a great idea!
Hello,
ROH announced that they would run the 10-hour (or longer?) live streaming of opera and ballet stage rehearsals on 7 January. The new production of Eugene Onegin is one of the highlights. It is not clear when it is or how long it is shown, though.
http://www.roh.org.uk/news/royal-opera-live-streaming-day-announced
Cheers
Kew
Discovered this site that has full-length videos posted (though for how long I don’t know) including The Tempest and Macbeth:
http://vimeo.com/iopera/videos
Hello,
In his article about opera and concert programming, Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times highly praised the Tempest and Wozzech, and Simon’s name in this writing has a link to this site!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/arts/music/david-greilsammer-andras-schiff-and-other-highlights.html?ref=music&_r=0
Cheers
Kew
Thank you for your recent messages, Kew. The ROH live screening day should be fascinating – I certainly found it difficult to drag myself away from the ballet screening a few months ago. And what a terrific acknowledgement for Simon in Anthony Tommasini’s article, thoroughly deserved, as is including the link to SK info. Well done all.
I attended today’s final dress rehearsal at the ROH. Let me send you the link to the curtain call video on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0tBKKk6HrE
Let me send you the link of tonight’s curtain call video on YouTube. (9th Feb 2013).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcUhtoSScME
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