This is just to alert you to the publication of my portrait of Gran Wilson, a fine tenor who dropped off my radar some three decades ago. Then a former student of his whom I was writing about mentioned his name. I made contact with Gran just for a quote. But we got to exchanging reminiscences, and his stories--not just the events but his thoughts about the people he'd worked with--were stories I had to share. Classical Voice North America rose to the bait, and here's a link. I think you'll love this voice.

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Once again, allow me to point you to a story of mine in Classical Voice North America. The subject is the young British conductor Henry Kennedy, whom I happened to meet at Riccardo Muti's rehearsals for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony in June. Turns out Henry was one of the chosen conductors for Muti's fiercely selective Italian Opera Academy the previous December. Since then, as his increasingly busy schedule allows, Henry continues to look in on Muti's work.

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Post-Schmidt, a novel musical Apocalypse

As noted in my recent review of last month's performances of Das Buch Mit Sieben Siegeln (The Book With Seven Seals) in Vienna, Franz Schmidt was the first composer to seek a musical form for the Book of Revelations. Was he also the last?

Readers of Thomas Mann's novel Doktor Faustus, embarked on in 1943 and published in 1947, may remember reading of the demonic composer-hero's oratorio Apocalipsis Cum Figuris, inspired by and named for Albrecht Dürer's iconic woodcut series "Apocalypse With Pictures." Mann was a genius at making a reader hear music in the mind's ear, even music that exists nowhere else.

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Ten days ago, I pointed readers to the website Classical Voice North America for two reports of mine on recent operatic events in Vienna, Basel, and Paris. Now I'm back to point you to another, this one on Franz Schmidt's oratorio Das Buch Mit Sieben Siegeln (The Book With Seven Seals), based on the Book of Revelation. It a fascinating work Americans seldom encounter. I hope you'll enjoy reading about it.

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