Tuesday, October 27th at 7PM on WSCL 89.5 FM.
Bass-baritone José van Dam is a legend in his own time as one of this and last century’s very greatest and most highly acclaimed operatic actor/singers and also masterly interpreters of art song. With a 50 year career span, from 1960 to 2010, he has sung a truly enormous range of repertoire with a 250 year compass: extending from Bach to Messiaen, it comprised French, German, Italian and Russian opera, French mélodies, German lieder, and oratorio. A top choice bass-baritone of nearly all the most pre-eminent conductors and stage directors of the last half century, and the personal choice of Olivier Messiaen for the title role of his opera St Francois d’Assise, in the theatre he remarkably interpreted his operatic roles in a very wide range of varying productions, displaying his exceptional intellectual and artistic versatility. To celebrate Monsieur van Dam’s 75th birthday, which falls on August 25th, this two hour program features him recalling his life and career and discussing as well as singing some of his favourite repertoire. We hear his magnificent mastery of greatly differing styles and his striking diversity of vocal colours and vivid characterisation across the unusually broad gamut of music he performed, including these works that he not only sings but also talks about:
Berlioz – La damnation de Faust
Gounod – Faust
Wagner – Der Fliegende Hollander
Verdi – Don Carlos
Massenet – Don Quichotte
Saint-Saens – French Melodies
Puccini – Gianni Schicchi
Charpentier – Louise
Debussy – Pelleas et Melisande
Ravel – French Melodies
Hahn – Ciboulette
Berg – Wozzeck
Poulenc – French Melodies
Messaien – St Francois d’Assise
