Tennis Player Ernests Gulbis Doesn't Like To Miss The Opera

Gulbis (above) displays a passion for opera that
we haven't seen since Novak Djokovic professed
his admiration for Natalie Dessay.

"When I [Sports Illustrated] caught up with Ernests Gulbis at the Italian Open last year, he was in the midst of a career resurgence after plunging to No. 136 and having his mom recommend that he retire. His renaissance has continued in 2014: The 25-year-old Latvian is 23-10 with one title (the Open 13 in Marseille, France) and two semifinal appearances, and last week he reached a career-high No. 17. He is ranked 19th entering the French Open, which begins on Sunday. The outspoken Gulbis — who has put his fans through the wringer with his erratic play and combustible temperament — sat down for another interview in Rome last week, before his third-round loss to David Ferrer. He talked about his newfound consistency on the court and his eclectic tastes off it."

SI.com: What’s a piece of culture that’s impressed you lately?
Gulbis: Lately it’s been more music. I was really pissed off because I got sick in Vienna right before Madrid and I had two great tickets for the opera. One was for Nabucco and Placido Domingo coming to Vienna, and I missed it because I was in a doctor’s appointment. But what I like lately is classical minimalist music. Like Philip Glass, Pierre Boulez, Irmin Schmidt. Schmidt wrote a lot of good music for movies. There’s one really good soundtrack, from Wim Wenders’ film Palermo Shooting. That kind of music culturally touched me. It’s not easy to listen to it.

SI.com: You’re very into music.
Gulbis: My collection of music is pretty big. It’s around 4-5 terabytes. I keep it at home in a hard drive. We put all the CDs that we had in our houses — the country house and the city house — on one hard drive. All the music I downloaded and all the music my father downloaded is in one place. [Source]

It's not the first time we've seen opera and tennis come together. Watch the video after the jump for proof.

Was Bianca Jagger Flashing at Barbican "Einstein on the Beach"?

Bianca, seen here at the Théâtre de France,
in a March 1974 photo shoot for Vogue UK.

"Last Friday, the theatre critic Mark Shenton was distracted from a five-hour performance of Philip Glass's opera Einstein on the Beach by a woman in his row taking photographs with a flash. It turned out to be Bianca Jagger. She had been snapping in defiance, Shenton claims, of complaints from those around her. Jagger has since said that others were taking pictures, too, adding that Shenton insulted and assaulted her. (He denies the latter, but admits the former with some pride.) The rules of behaviour in today's theatre audiences certainly seem to have changed. So, in the spirit of public service, and after consultation with Guardian critics, here is a new code of conduct." [Source] Read more details about the evening here.

Philip Glass Fusion Work "Les Enfants Terrible" Hits Raleigh

A scene from Les Enfants Terrible (Photo: Elisabeth Carecchio)

"Les Enfants Terribles is a fusion of opera and ballet by Philip Glass; the last in a trilogy of such hybrids based on the works of Jean Cocteau. Premiered in 1996, it was staged at Raleigh's Fletcher Opera Theater last week in honor of the composer's 75th birthday, with a French libretto and English narration and supertitles. Drawing talent from the NC Opera and Carolina Ballet, with new choreography and direction by Robert Weiss, the sold-out Sunday matinee was a crowd-pleasing, if muddled, enchantment. The music was a constant highlight. For 'hypnotically snowy,' you'd have to call John Luther Adams to top Philip Glass, who could turn a phone-book recitation into a magical dream-world. Three pianists—one of whom, Wilson Southerland, was also the conductor—provided grinding ostinati and twinkling arpeggios pocked with ominously thundering chords, and I admired the players for finding their entry cues in the lean, repetitive music. The voices occasionally struggled to project over the pianos, but all the principals gave strong performances: baritone Timothy McDevitt, as a vulnerable yet blustery Paul, especially gave me chills at the moments of greatest rapture, though the singer/dancer pair that played Lise (soprano Jessica Cates and Lara O'Brien, respectively) earned the heartiest ovation. The spiraling climax left me breathless, at least, repaying the rough or confusing passages along the way." [Source]

Composer Paola Prestini Collaborates With Artist Ali Hossaini

"It takes a lot of dough—and probably, even, a village—to get an opera off the ground. That's why composer Paola Prestini held a small get together slash fund-raiser at the Ethan Cohen Fine Arts space in TriBeCa in support of her in-progress composition, Oceanic Verses. Performances of the multimedia opera, which is based in Italy and explores the lives of a sailor, a mother, a scholar and a soldier, are slated to begin in Massachusetts in May, with a stop in Manhattan in June. Ms. Prestini, a 36-year-old Italian composer who splits her time between the Upper West Side and San Francisco, said she needed $60,000 to pay for the production, and was hoping to raise $25,000 of that from the evening at Mr. Cohen's gallery. The event included a performance by Phillip Glass, a friend and mentor of Ms. Prestini, as well as an excerpt from Oceanic Verses by Helga Davis. The crowd included composers, musicians and artists, including Heidi Rodewald, Mickey Strauss, Diane Volk and the Klezmer clarinetist David Kracauer. Hanging at the gallery were works by the American artist Ali Hossaini, including video segments and 3-D photographs. Mr. Hossaini and Mr. Cohen said that 3-D glasses weren't imperative to enjoying the show, but they helped. Mr. Hossaini is also contributing visuals to Ms. Prestini's opera though he hadn't decided yet if they should be in 3-D. Should he decide that they are, Ms. Prestini believed that hers would be the first opera that incorporated said technology."
"Prestini received a commission from the Carnegie Foundation, and it has been performed as a work-in-progress at the New York City Opera and The Kitchen. It premieres at the Kennedy Center in 2012 before moving to New York City and the Barbican Theater in London." [Source, Source]

Philip Glass to Be Inducted Into Classical Hall of Fame

Philip Glass portrait by Chuck Close

"Philip Glass, one of America’s most famous living composers, will be inducted into the Cincinnati-based American Classical Music Hall of Fame in a special ceremony in Music Hall on Oct. 1. Glass, who is one of three creative directors overseeing the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra season this year, will be in town for the premiere of his Concerto Fantasy for two Timpanists and Orchestra.....Glass, who is celebrating his 75th birthday year, has made an extraordinary impact upon the musical and intellectual life of our time. In the ’70s, he composed a large collection of new music for his performing group, the Philip Glass Ensemble, and for the Mabou Mines Theater Company, which he co-founded. This period culminated in Music in Twelve Parts, followed by the landmark opera, Einstein on the Beach in 1976. Since Einstein, Glass has expanded his repertoire to include music for opera, dance, theater, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and film. His score for Martin Scorsese’s Kundun received an Academy Award nomination while his score for Peter Weir’s The Truman Show won him a Golden Globe." [Source]