Nmon Ford takes on Ernest Bloch's Macbeth

Nmon Ford

When one thinks of the operatic version of Macbeth, one immediately thinks of Giuseppe Verdi. However, the  Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch wrote a highly dramatic version in 1906, which has only been performed once in the U.S., at the Juilliard School of Music in New York in 1973.

The opera is about to double the number of U.S. performances it has received, with performances at the Long Beach Opera from June 15-23, 2013 and again at the Chicago Opera Theater from September 13-21, 2014. The Long Beach performances will feature Panamanian-American barihunk Nmon Ford in the title role and Suzan Hanson as his scheming wife Lady Macbeth. Adding to the dramatic effect will be the location of the performance, which will be in a vast industrial space at the Port of Los Angeles. The Chicago Opera Theater has not confirmed casting.

The great Inge Borkh sings Bloch's Macbeth:

Bloch’s opera reveals the influence  of Wagner's music dramas and Claude Debussy's symbolist opera "Pelleas et Melisande."  Bloch's probing and dramatic score powerfully illuminates the central couple, and deeply examines the temptation of promised power and its influence over our actions. but it did not receive its first performance until November 30, 1910 by the Opéra-Comique Paris. After the premiere production, the opera was staged in 1938 in Naples, but was then banned on orders of the Fascist government. Subsequently, the opera was produced in Rome in 1953, and in Trieste. 

Jesse Blumberg in Bernstein & Bloch

 [Leonard Bernstein]

Jesse Blumberg is performing the Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein's Mass as part of the "Bernstein Project" under Marin Alsop in London. There are two performances, July 10 and July 11, and anyone in or around London should rush to buy tickets. 

Here is how Alsop describes Mass:

"It's not really a religious piece in the literal sense... but a piece about spiritual, inner exploration. It's teeming with protest, rebellion and questioning of authority... issues that were extraordinarily relevant in 1972 and perhaps even more vivid today."

 [Jesse Blumberg]

For those of you in the United States, you will also have a chance to hear the rich baritone of Jesse Blumberg in other sacred music, as he performs excerpts from Ernest Bloch's rarely performed "Sacred Service" (Avodath Hakodesh) for orchestra, chorus, and baritone soloist at the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in Huntington, New York on August 4th.

2010 is the 50th anniversary of Bloch's death and, hopefully, we will see more of his music on programs throughout the world. Sacred Service was commissioned by San Francisco's Congregation Emanu-El, and it was premiered there in 1934. Sacred Service takes place when the Torah is taken from its ark, and presented to the congregation as the chorus sings "Torah tzivoh." Bloch considered this part of his piece to be the embodiment of his personal journey of reunion with Judaism.

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