Join us at WOSU TV Plus tomorrow night at 8 pm for a gorgeous and wild ride, Thomas Ades' opera The Tempest from the Metropolitan Opera. Contemporary Opera! No! Spare Me! Dissonance! Craziness! Box-office poison! Calm down. These days it's hard to find an empty seat at any performance of operas by under-40 composers like Jake Heggie, Nico Muhly, Kevin Puts and Ades. This seems to be the decade of Ades. He's a Brit, composer of fantastical orchestral scores and two wonderful operas. Powder Her Face is a true life tale of the randy ex-Duchess of Argyll. It's currently at the New York City Opera. The Tempest premiered in London in 2007. Meredith Oakes based the libretto on Shakespeare, the Bard's fantastic (as in fantasy and wild) play about the sea dominating a world of magic. Perfect for a musical colorist like Ades. The Tempest came to the Metropolitan Opera last fall. All eight performances sold out. The composer conducted. The production is by the Canadian theatrical wizard Robert Lepage. His new production of Wagner's Ring is wildly controversial. The Tempest was perfect for a world-wide HD transmission which PBS now brings to television. What better teaser than a bit of the love music, commented upon by the mysterious Caliban. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTbmuNBiLsU The Tempest is in production around the world and returns to the Met in 2014. It's a great first opera. WOSU Plus brings this right into your home. Put your feet up and let your imagination run wild. Shakespeare in the 21st century with a gorgeous young cast and exciting music. I'm there!
Christopher Purdy is Classical 101's early morning host, 7-10 a.m. weekdays. He is host and producer of Front Row Center – Classical 101’s weekly celebration of Opera and more – as well as Music in Mid-Ohio, Concerts at Ohio State, and the Columbus Symphony broadcast series. He is the regular pre-concert speaker for Columbus Symphony performances in the Ohio Theater.