Latest news with #PhiladelphiaOrchestra
Korea Herald
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
The Orchid Awards Ceremony 2025 Held in Beijing
BEIJING, July 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 10, the Orchid Awards Ceremony 2025 was held in Beijing. The Orchid Awards aims to actively implement the Global Civilization Initiative. The awards recognize and honor international individuals or institutions that have made outstanding contributions to promoting the common values of humanity, advancing exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and strengthening the cultural foundation for building a community with a shared future for mankind. This year's winners include Irina Bokova from Bulgaria, Rashid Alimov from Tajikistan, Maxime Vivas from France, and the Philadelphia Orchestra from the United States, among ten distinguished international individuals and institutions. The award recipients believe in today's world of intertwined turbulence and uncertainty, where humanity faces a common future, peace and development are the common aspiration of all. Enhancing mutual understanding and friendship among peoples and building consensus on international cooperation are widely shared expectations. There is an urgent need to encourage more cultural envoys to collectively contribute to the beautiful tapestry of human civilization. The winners stated that harmony must be upheld as a core value to foster a shared civilizational consensus for peace and cooperation; that all should advocate seeking common ground while reserving differences to shape an open and inclusive civilizational paradigm; that mutual learning should be strengthened for advancing dialogue and cooperation among civilizations, and that both preservation and innovation are essential for building a civilizational ecosystem based on extensive participation and shared benefits. They expressed their commitment to making new and greater contributions to forging civilizational consensus, promoting cultural prosperity, enhancing people-to-people ties for more progress of human civilization. The Orchid Awards Ceremony 2025 was hosted by China International Communications Group (CICG) and organized by the Orchid Awards Secretariat. Over 300 participants attended, including representatives from Chinese government departments, international organizations, diplomatic missions in China, Chinese and foreign think tanks, and the media. From July 9 to 14, the visit programs of the 2nd Orchid Awards - "Travelogue of China" - will also take place in Beijing and Harbin.
The Wire
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Wire
The Orchid Awards Ceremony 2025 Held in Beijing
BEIJING, July 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 10, the Orchid Awards Ceremony 2025 was held in Beijing. The Orchid Awards aims to actively implement the Global Civilization Initiative. The awards recognize and honor international individuals or institutions that have made outstanding contributions to promoting the common values of humanity, advancing exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and strengthening the cultural foundation for building a community with a shared future for mankind. This year's winners include Irina Bokova from Bulgaria, Rashid Alimov from Tajikistan, Maxime Vivas from France, and the Philadelphia Orchestra from the United States, among ten distinguished international individuals and institutions. The award recipients believe in today's world of intertwined turbulence and uncertainty, where humanity faces a common future, peace and development are the common aspiration of all. Enhancing mutual understanding and friendship among peoples and building consensus on international cooperation are widely shared expectations. There is an urgent need to encourage more cultural envoys to collectively contribute to the beautiful tapestry of human civilization. The winners stated that harmony must be upheld as a core value to foster a shared civilizational consensus for peace and cooperation; that all should advocate seeking common ground while reserving differences to shape an open and inclusive civilizational paradigm; that mutual learning should be strengthened for advancing dialogue and cooperation among civilizations, and that both preservation and innovation are essential for building a civilizational ecosystem based on extensive participation and shared benefits. They expressed their commitment to making new and greater contributions to forging civilizational consensus, promoting cultural prosperity, enhancing people-to-people ties for more progress of human civilization. The Orchid Awards Ceremony 2025 was hosted by China International Communications Group (CICG) and organized by the Orchid Awards Secretariat. Over 300 participants attended, including representatives from Chinese government departments, international organizations, diplomatic missions in China, Chinese and foreign think tanks, and the media. From July 9 to 14, the visit programs of the 2nd Orchid Awards - "Travelogue of China" - will also take place in Beijing and Harbin. (Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). This is an auto-published feed from PTI with no editorial input from The Wire. Advertisement Make a contribution to Independent Journalism
Miami Herald
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Joe Hisaishi conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in a No. 17 Phillies jersey. Here's why
PHILADELPHIA -- Is Studio Ghibli's Joe Hisaishi a Max Kepler fan? You might have thought the Japanese composer and conductor was showing solidarity with the recently declared "unhappy" Phillies outfielder when he sprang onto the stage of Marian Anderson Hall for an encore Friday night. He was wearing a Phillies jersey with a "17" and "Hisaishi" on the back. But it turns out the jersey on the 74-year-old Hisaishi was a nod to a different MLB No. 17: Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani. Hisaishi was here conducting three concerts of his own music with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and he was backstage after Wednesday night's concert icing his conducting (right) shoulder when he mentioned to an orchestra manager that he would soon be leading concerts in a baseball stadium: the 42,000-plus-seat Tokyo Dome. So the orchestra decided to outfit him in Phillies gear with the number of his favorite player on back. These concerts marked Hisaishi's Philadelphia debut, and it was a grand slam, if a delayed one. He was originally scheduled to appear for two shows in January, but postponed because of illness. A third concert was added and the run nearly sold out. The program included his Symphony No. 2 and Viola Saga with orchestra principal violist Choong-Jin Chang as soloist. It was a knowing audience. These works were written for the concert hall rather than the composer's better known habitat on soundtracks to Hayao Miyazaki films like My Neighbor Totoro and Castle in the Sky. Still, filmic aspects in both works were abundant enough to suggest a familiar soundscape, and the audience was in Hisaishi's thrall. But the suite from Spirited Away - the 2001 film - was fully transporting. With Hisaishi shuttling back and forth from podium to piano, the performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra was surely among the most polished interpretations this music has ever received. And the most moving. Bruce Springsteen recently said that an album is "a record of who you are and where you were at that moment in your life." It might be impossible to know who Friday night's audience was or where they were in 2001. But for a few at least, the journey back sailed along a path of tears. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
San Francisco Chronicle
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Nina Stemme says farewell to Isolde after 126 performances
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nina Stemme tilted back her head after the final notes of her 126th and last Isolde performance, and her eyes filled with tears. She was hugged by tenor Stuart Skelton and mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill as the audience in Marian Anderson Hall stood and applauded Sunday evening. A few days earlier, Stemme thought back to April 2000, when Glyndebourne Festival general director Nicholas Snowman and opera director Nikolaus Lehnhoff walked into her dressing room in Antwerp, Belgium, asking her to sing in the English company's first-ever performance of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde." 'I really did think they were joking,' she recalled. 'My colleague, Christopher Ventris, said, 'No. No. They're not joking. You have to be careful.'" Stemme went home to Sweden, considered the offer with vocal coach Richard Trimborn and made her Isolde debut on May 19, 2003, at the Glyndebourne Festival with Robert Gambill as Tristan and Jiří Bělohlávek conducting. She chose to sing her final two Isoldes 22 years later with the Philadelphia Orchestra and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who conducted the opera for the first time on June 1 and coaxed a luminous rendition from a premier orchestra at its peak. 'I'm 62 now. I gave it to my 60s to sing these big roles and now I've dropped Elektra and Brünnhilde, and Isolde is the last daughter on stage that I'm singing," Stemme said. "I decided this years ago. This is how it works and every year that I was able to sing Isolde feels like a bonus and a privilege.' Stemme was friends with Birgit Nilsson, one of the greatest Isoldes and Brünnhildes, who died in 2005 at age 87. 'I was on the verge to go down to her in south Sweden to study Isolde but of course me as a young singer with little kids at home, I never felt ready," Stemme said. 'At that time when we got to know each other, I was singing mostly a lyric repertoire.' Skelton sang with Stemme in Wagner's 'Der Fliegende Holländer' at the Vienna State Opera in 2004 and his Tristan was paired with Stemme's Isolde in New York, Munich and Naples, Italy. 'It's as radiant now as it was when I first heard her sing it in Glyndebourne way back in the day,' he said. 'No one knew really who Nina Stemme was to a certain extent. Certainly I don't think anyone was ready for what she brought to Isolde even then.' A conductor learning from the singer Nézet-Séguin first worked with Stemme in a performance of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007, didn't collaborate again until performances of Strauss' 'Die Frau ohne Schatten' at the Met last fall. 'The breadth of her experience with the role is just guiding all of us, me, but also the orchestra, who is playing it for the first time in understanding the flow of the piece, understanding their shades and the colors, and that is invaluable," Nézet-Séguin said of Stemme's Isolde. "It was wonderful for me to benefit from it." Singers were on a platform above and behind the orchestra, with LED lights below setting a mood: red in the first act, dark blue in the second and light blue in the third. Stemme wore a dark gown in the first and third acts and a shimmering silver dress in the second, while Skelton, baritone Brian Mulligan (Kurwenal), bass Tareq Nazmi (King Marke) and tenor Freddie Ballentine (Melot) were largely in black, and Cargill (Brangäne) in a lighter-colored costume. Showing sets and complicated directions weren't necessary, she conveyed Isolde's emptions with her eyes, smiles and nods. During the great second-act love duet, Stemme and Skelton clinked water canisters. 'Twenty-two years ago I could act the young princess that was in love or hated her love for Tristan,' she said. 'I have other colors to my voice now and I'm older so of course this interpretation will change. I feel more at home in the middle range and with age, of course, the top notes are not as gleaming as they used to be, but I can make up for that in other ways hopefully — on a good day.' Stemme's future schedule includes less-taxing roles, such as Klytämnestra in Strauss' 'Elektra' and Waltraute in Wagner's 'Götterdämmerung.' She leaves behind an outstanding recording of her Isolde, made from November 2004 through January 2005 at London's Abbey Road Studios with tenor Plácido Domingo and conductor Antonio Pappano. Lise Davidsen makes her Isolde debut next year Anticipation is building for the next great Isolde. Lise Davidsen is scheduled to make her role debut on Jan. 12 at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu and then open a new production at New York's Metropolitan Opera on March 9 with Nézet-Séguin. 'She said how happy she is to in a way symbolically pass this role, pass it on to her, in a way through me,' Nézet-Séguin said of Stemme. 'That is almost like a torch that has been carried.' 'At heart," she said, "I'm still Madama Butterfly or Mimì.'
Winnipeg Free Press
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Nina Stemme says farewell to Isolde after 126 performances
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nina Stemme tilted back her head after the final notes of her 126th and last Isolde performance, and her eyes filled with tears. She was hugged by tenor Stuart Skelton and mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill as the audience in Marian Anderson Hall stood and applauded Sunday evening. A few days earlier, Stemme thought back to April 2000, when Glyndebourne Festival general director Nicholas Snowman and opera director Nikolaus Lehnhoff walked into her dressing room in Antwerp, Belgium, asking her to sing in the English company's first-ever performance of Wagner's 'Tristan und Isolde.' 'I really did think they were joking,' she recalled. 'My colleague, Christopher Ventris, said, 'No. No. They're not joking. You have to be careful.'' Stemme went home to Sweden, considered the offer with vocal coach Richard Trimborn and made her Isolde debut on May 19, 2003, at the Glyndebourne Festival with Robert Gambill as Tristan and Jiří Bělohlávek conducting. She chose to sing her final two Isoldes 22 years later with the Philadelphia Orchestra and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who conducted the opera for the first time on June 1 and coaxed a luminous rendition from a premier orchestra at its peak. 'I'm 62 now. I gave it to my 60s to sing these big roles and now I've dropped Elektra and Brünnhilde, and Isolde is the last daughter on stage that I'm singing,' Stemme said. 'I decided this years ago. This is how it works and every year that I was able to sing Isolde feels like a bonus and a privilege.' Connection to Birgit Nilsson Stemme was friends with Birgit Nilsson, one of the greatest Isoldes and Brünnhildes, who died in 2005 at age 87. 'I was on the verge to go down to her in south Sweden to study Isolde but of course me as a young singer with little kids at home, I never felt ready,' Stemme said. 'At that time when we got to know each other, I was singing mostly a lyric repertoire.' Skelton sang with Stemme in Wagner's 'Der Fliegende Holländer' at the Vienna State Opera in 2004 and his Tristan was paired with Stemme's Isolde in New York, Munich and Naples, Italy. 'It's as radiant now as it was when I first heard her sing it in Glyndebourne way back in the day,' he said. 'No one knew really who Nina Stemme was to a certain extent. Certainly I don't think anyone was ready for what she brought to Isolde even then.' A conductor learning from the singer Nézet-Séguin first worked with Stemme in a performance of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007, didn't collaborate again until performances of Strauss' 'Die Frau ohne Schatten' at the Met last fall. 'The breadth of her experience with the role is just guiding all of us, me, but also the orchestra, who is playing it for the first time in understanding the flow of the piece, understanding their shades and the colors, and that is invaluable,' Nézet-Séguin said of Stemme's Isolde. 'It was wonderful for me to benefit from it.' Singers were on a platform above and behind the orchestra, with LED lights below setting a mood: red in the first act, dark blue in the second and light blue in the third. Stemme wore a dark gown in the first and third acts and a shimmering silver dress in the second, while Skelton, baritone Brian Mulligan (Kurwenal), bass Tareq Nazmi (King Marke) and tenor Freddie Ballentine (Melot) were largely in black, and Cargill (Brangäne) in a lighter-colored costume. Showing sets and complicated directions weren't necessary, she conveyed Isolde's emptions with her eyes, smiles and nods. During the great second-act love duet, Stemme and Skelton clinked water canisters. 'Twenty-two years ago I could act the young princess that was in love or hated her love for Tristan,' she said. 'I have other colors to my voice now and I'm older so of course this interpretation will change. I feel more at home in the middle range and with age, of course, the top notes are not as gleaming as they used to be, but I can make up for that in other ways hopefully — on a good day.' Stemme's future schedule includes less-taxing roles, such as Klytämnestra in Strauss' 'Elektra' and Waltraute in Wagner's 'Götterdämmerung.' She leaves behind an outstanding recording of her Isolde, made from November 2004 through January 2005 at London's Abbey Road Studios with tenor Plácido Domingo and conductor Antonio Pappano. Lise Davidsen makes her Isolde debut next year Anticipation is building for the next great Isolde. Lise Davidsen is scheduled to make her role debut on Jan. 12 at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu and then open a new production at New York's Metropolitan Opera on March 9 with Nézet-Séguin. 'She said how happy she is to in a way symbolically pass this role, pass it on to her, in a way through me,' Nézet-Séguin said of Stemme. 'That is almost like a torch that has been carried.' After all those Isoldes, Stemme feels more a Puccini heroine than a Wagnerian star. 'At heart,' she said, 'I'm still Madama Butterfly or Mimì.'
