Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House | ||||
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Live album by | ||||
Released | 2009 | |||
Recorded | August 30, 2008 | |||
Genre | Folk | |||
Label | Red House Records | |||
Producer | David Travers-Smith | |||
The Wailin' Jennys chronology | ||||
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Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House is the third album by the Canadian folk trio The Wailin' Jennys.
In the last week of August 2008, alt-folk group The Wailin' Jennys arrived at the Mauch Chunk Opera House with the goal of laying down a live recording to capture their performances in the famous Mauch Chunk Opera House, in the town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. "Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House" was recorded during a single day, rather than being compiled from an entire tour.
The album was the Wailin' Jennys' first live album, and their first album since Heather Masse, the group's third alto, joined founding members soprano Ruth Moody and mezzo Nicky Mehta, and since they added instrumentalist Jeremy Penner as sideman.
The Mauch Chunk album features two originals from each of the three members, including Mehta's "Begin," which features prominently in the soundtrack of the movie "The Cake Eaters." Also included are two previously unrecorded long-time concert staples: Jane Siberry's "Calling All Angels" and Ella Jenkins' "Racing with the Sun." The album also features a cappella rendition of Lead Belly's "Bring Me Li'l Water Silvy," previously recorded by the group on their 2003 debut EP.
It received positive reviews, with The Wailin' Jennys frequently performing music from it and their other albums on Prairie Home Companion and other such programs.[ citation needed ]
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928), the songs "Swanee" (1919) and "Fascinating Rhythm" (1924), the jazz standards "Embraceable You" (1928) and "I Got Rhythm" (1930), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), which included the hit "Summertime".
The Threepenny Opera is a German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera, and four ballads by François Villon, with music by Kurt Weill. Although there is debate as to how much, if any, contribution Hauptmann might have made to the text, Brecht is usually listed as sole author.
Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy, itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is an American opera company located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1955 by German-born impresario Walter Herbert and three local Houstonians, the company is resident at the Wortham Theater Center. This theatre is also home to the Houston Ballet. In its history, the company has received a Tony Award, two Grammy Awards, and three Emmy Awards, the only opera company in the world to win these three honours. Houston Grand Opera is supported by an active auxiliary organization, the Houston Grand Opera Guild, established in October 1955.
Kathleen Deanna Battle is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid-1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975. Battle expanded her repertoire into lyric soprano and coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s, until her eventual dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994. She later has focused on recording and the concert stage. After a 22-year absence from the Met, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera House in November 2016, and again in May 2024.
Porgy and Bess is a studio album by jazz vocalist and trumpeter Louis Armstrong and singer Ella Fitzgerald, released on Verve Records in 1959. The third and final of the pair's albums for the label, it is a suite of selections from the George Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. Orchestral arrangements are by Russell Garcia, who had previously arranged the 1956 jazz vocal recording The Complete Porgy and Bess.
Erich Kunzel Jr. was an American orchestra conductor. Called the "Prince of Pops" by the Chicago Tribune, he performed with a number of leading pops and symphony orchestras, and led the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (CPO) for 32 years.
The Wailin' Jennys are a Canadian music group. A 2011 review says they "sing like siblings and play like seasoned veterans". They have released several albums and received two Juno Awards. The group has been featured several times on the American Public Media program A Prairie Home Companion.
40 Days is the debut full-length album from Canadian folk trio The Wailin' Jennys. The lineup of the group at the time was Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta, and Cara Luft. This was the last recording to feature Luft, who left the group the following year.
Firecracker is the second album by The Wailin' Jennys.
Annabelle Chvostek is a Canadian singer-songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario.
The Wailin' Jennys EP was the debut release from the eponymous Canadian folk trio. The lineup of the group at the time was Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta, and Cara Luft; Luft has since left the group, being replaced first by Annabelle Chvostek and later by Heather Masse.
"Someone to Watch Over Me" is a 1926 song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, assisted by Howard Dietz who penned the title. It was written for the musical Oh, Kay! (1926), with the part originally sung on Broadway by English actress Gertrude Lawrence while holding a rag doll in a sentimental solo scene. The musical ran for more than 200 performances in New York and then saw equivalent acclaim in London in 1927, all with the song as its centerpiece. Lawrence released the song as a medium-tempo single which rose to number 2 on the charts in 1927.
Ruth Moody is an Australian-born soprano singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian folk trio The Wailin' Jennys.
Nicky Mehta is a mezzo singer-songwriter, and member of Canadian folk trio The Wailin' Jennys.
Scruj MacDuhk was a Juno-nominated Canadian folk music group based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The band included singer-songwriter Ruth Moody, current member of the Wailin' Jennys, and also Clawhammer banjo player/vocalist Leonard Podolak, who went on to form The Duhks.
In Full Swing is the fourth studio album by American actor and singer Seth MacFarlane. It was released on September 15, 2017, through Republic Records and Verve Records. The record was primarily produced by Joel McNeely and MacFarlane himself, who also serves as the executive producer. Featured artists included on the album are American singer-songwriter Norah Jones and American actress and singer Elizabeth Gillies.
Fifteen is the fifth full-length album from Canadian folk trio The Wailin' Jennys. The nine-song album of covers commemorates the trio's fifteen years as a recording entity. The songs are a combination of ones played during their concerts and those decided during the five–day recording session.
Pietra-Marie de Mello-Pittman MBE is a Brazilian-British retired Royal Ballet dancer and co-founder and co-director of Sisters Grimm Ltd. She founded the company with composer Ella Spira in 2009 while still in the corps de ballet. A former First Artist of The Royal Ballet, she graduated into the Company in 2002 and trained at The Royal Ballet Upper School. She was promoted to First Artist in 2008 and retired from the Company in 2015. In 2021 she received an MBE for services to International Trade and the Creative Industry in the New Year Honours.
Mauch Chunk, PA, Opera House Archived 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine