NY Philharmonic Tribute To William Warfield Role In "Show Boat"

Can't Help Lovin' That Man: The 1962 cast recording of
Show Boat featuring John Raitt, Barbara Cook,  music director
 Franz Allers, and William Warfield. (Photo: Don Hunstein)

"In anticipation of the New York Philharmonic's production of Show Boat, Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence Carol J. Oja explores the African American baritone William Warfield, whose relationship with the philharmonic began at the summer Stadium Concerts at Lewisohn Stadium with his performance as Joe in a 1952 concert version of Show Boat. The lecture includes clips from the 1951 MGM film featuring Warfield as Joe and his 1976 performance with the Philharmonic in London narrating Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait, conducted by Leonard Bernstein." The event is free and takes place at the David Rubenstein Atrium on Wednesday, October 22, 2014, at 7:30 PM. [Source] For more information about the New York Philharmonic production of Show Boat featuring Vanessa William, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Lauren Worsham, and Norm Lewis, click here. "William Caesar Warfield (January 22, 1920 – August 26, 2002), was an American concert bass-baritone singer and actor. Warfield was born in West Helena, Arkansas and grew up in Rochester, New York, where his father was called to serve as pastor of Mt. Vernon Church. He gave his recital debut in New York's Town Hall on March 19, 1950. He was quickly invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to tour Australia and give 35 concerts. In 1952, Warfield performed in Porgy and Bess during a tour of Europe sponsored by the U.S. State Department (he made six separate tours for the US Department of State, more than any other American solo artist.) In this production he played opposite the opera star Leontyne Price, whom he soon married, but the demands of two separate careers left them

Gershwin Partners: Leontyne Price and William Warfield
recorded highlights from Porgy and Bess for RCA.

little time together. They divorced in 1972, but were featured together in a 1963 studio recording of excerpts from Porgy and Bess." [Source] "Show Boat is a 1927 musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Based on Edna Ferber's bestselling novel of the same name, the musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands, and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, over forty years, from 1887 to 1927. Its themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. The musical contributed such classic songs as 'Ol' Man River,' 'Make Believe,' and 'Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man.'" Watch William Warfield sing "Ol' Man River" from Show Boat, after the jump.

Photos: NY Phil Opening Night Concert Sponsored by Breguet

See more pictures from the opening night concert with soprano Deborah Voigt and the post-concert reception by clicking here. And to see the earlier update of the concert, click here.

Deborah Voigt Sings Opening Night of New York Philharmonic

PBS aired the 170th opening night concert of the New York Philharmonic with Music Director Alan Gilbert and guest soloist Deborah Voigt. Throughout the broadcast it was announced that the concert would be available online to view in its entirety for one week after last evening's performance. The link for the concert is here, but it seems there is no content. You might also check on the NY Phil's website periodically here to see if the video becomes available. The guest artist may have had final approval rights on whether to replay the concert based on her performance. More photos after the jump.

Live From Lincoln Center
September 21, 2011

New York Philharmonic Opening Night
Alec Baldwin, Host
Alan Gilbert, Conductor
Deborah Voigt, Soprano

Trad. Star Spangled Banner; Barber, The School for Scandal Overture; Wagner, “Dich, teure Halle” from Tannhäuser; Barber, Andromache’s Farewell; Wagner, Overture to Tannhäuser; INTERMISSION; R. Strauss, Intermezzo, Dance and Final Scene from Salome.

Live Intermission features: (1) Alec Baldwin backstage with Maestro Gilbert talks about conducting and composing. (2) Alec Baldwin chats backstage with Deborah Voigt.

Program Length: 1:56:46

Opera Singers Join Andrea Bocelli in Central Park Concert

South African soprano Pretty Yende is a
frequent concert guest of Mr. Bocelli.

"Ordinarily it is difficult for officials to estimate the crowd size for a concert in Central Park. But every attendee at Thursday night’s free performance there by the superstar crossover tenor Andrea Bocelli had to have a ticket, obtained in advance. And 60,000 were given out....Mr. Bocelli’s fans seemed thrilled, rain or no rain. There remains a considerable divide between the passions of the audience he has reached (his recordings have sold more than 65 million, according to his Web site) and the assessment of most music critics....The soprano Ana María Martínez joined Mr. Bocelli for the impassioned

Puerto Rican soprano
Ana María Martínez

duet 'Vicino a te,' from Giordano’s Andrea Chénier. And the soprano Pretty Yende was his partner in the 'O soave fanciulla' duet from Puccini’s Bohème. But once again, other than the announcement of her name, there was no introduction of Ms. Yende, a young artist from South Africa who was a co-winner of Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition this summer." [Source] The New York Philharmonic was the back-up band for the evening with Music Director Alan Gilbert conducting the whole affair.

PBS Features NY Philharmonic and Deborah Voigt For Opener

(Photo: Dario Acosta)

Deborah Voigt will appear with the New York Philharmonic on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 as part of the "Live From Lincoln Center" series on PBS which will broadcast the performance live. The program includes Samuel Barber's The School for Scandal Overture of 1931 and Andromache's Farewell, excerpts from Richard Strauss's Salome and Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser.

Michelle DeYoung as Judith
(Photo: Brian Harkin/The New York Times)

"The centerpiece of Friday’s program at Avery Fisher Hall was a taut, darkly radiant performance of Bartok’s one-act opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. The work is a moody, stylized fairy tale about the duke and his new wife, Judith, who after gradually opening seven locked doors in her husband’s castle finally reveals the three former wives he has murdered. As the opera ends, she takes her place among them...For sheer power few moments in music can compete with the C major blasts at the opening of the fifth door, behind which lies Bluebeard’s expansive kingdom. As the Avery Fisher house lights were suddenly thrown on, the Philharmonic’s brass section shone, and the excellent mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung, as Judith, unleashed a thrilling high C." [Source]