Will Crutchfield

Last updated

Will Crutchfield (born 1957) is an American conductor, musicologist, and vocal coach. He is the founding Artistic and General Director of Teatro Nuovo, a company that presented its inaugural season in the summer of 2018 at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall as the successor to the twenty years of opera at the Caramoor International Music Festival led by Crutchfield. [1] [2] He also has been a frequent guest conductor at the Polish National Opera and has led opera performances at the Canadian Opera Company, Washington National Opera, and Minnesota Opera. From 1999 through 2005, he served as Music Director of the Opera de Colombia in Bogotá. He was recently named one of Musical America's 2017 "Movers and Shapers," the publication's list of the top 30 industry professionals of the year.

Contents

Life and career

Crutchfield was born in 1957 in Raleigh, North Carolina and spent most of his childhood in Newport News, Virginia, where he attended Hilton Elementary School and Warwick High School. As a youngster Crutchfield studied piano under Cary McMurran. In 1975, while still in high school, he signed on with the fledgling Virginia Opera, which had been organized the previous year in Norfolk. He graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in political science. His father, a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Dr. Robert S. Crutchfield of Newport News, Va., is also a professional operatic tenor. [3]

A specialist in the bel canto repertoire, he prepared the first performing edition of Donizetti's Élisabeth ou la fille de l'exilé and conducted its world premiere at the Caramoor Festival on July 17, 2003. [4] Crutchfield conducted Rossini's Ciro in Babilonia at the 2012 Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, marking the first collaboration between his Bel Canto at Caramoor program and the Rossini Opera Festival. [5] He returned to the Rossini Opera Festival in 2014 to conduct Aureliano in Palmira in the world premiere of the critical edition of the score which he edited for Casa Ricordi. [6] [7] His performances and the subsequent recording of this work garnered the 2015 prize for best rediscovered work at the International Opera Awards. [8] In the summer of 2016, he conducted Aureliano in Palmira in its North American premiere for the Bel Canto at Caramoor International Music Festival. [9]

In 2014, Crutchfield was named a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. [10] In addition to his scholarly work on vocal style, Crutchfield was the youngest music critic in the history of The New York Times , where he was a regular contributor from 1983 to 1989. [11] [12] He has also authored numerous reviews and articles for Opera News , including his Crutchfield at large series. [13] [14]

Since 2017 Crutchfield's activity has centered on Teatro Nuovo, where he has sought revival of period performing style in Italian opera in a way the Wall Street Journal described as "transformative". [15] In 2019 the company presented Rossini's La gazza ladra and Stabat Mater, Bellini's La straniera, and Donizetti's Symphony in E Minor, with Crutchfield's reconstruction of the unfinished final movement. In March 2020, Opera Lafayette commissioned and performed his reconstruction, from Beethoven's sketches, of the original 1805 version of Florestan's aria in Fidelio (lost when the opera was shortened in 1806). [16]

Selected bibliography

Related Research Articles

<i>Otello</i> (Rossini) Opera by Gioachino Rossini

Otello is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Berio di Salsa after William Shakespeare's play Othello, or The Moor of Venice; it was premiered in Naples, Teatro del Fondo, 4 December 1816.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Diego Flórez</span> Peruvian lyric tenor (tenore di grazia)

Juan Diego Flórez is a Peruvian operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in bel canto operas. On June 4, 2007, he received his country's highest decoration, the Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Sun of Peru.

The Caramoor Summer Music Festival is a music festival founded in 1945 that is held on the 90-acre (360,000 m2) estate of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, which includes a Mediterranean-style stucco villa and is located about 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City in Katonah, New York.

Rockwell Blake is an American operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in Rossini operas. He was the first winner of the Richard Tucker Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberto Abbado</span> Italian conductor

Roberto Abbado is an Italian opera and symphonic music conductor. Currently he is an Artistic Partner of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. In 2015 he has been appointed music director of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain. From 2018 he's Music Director of the Festival Verdi in Parma. Previously he held the position of Chief Conductor of Münchner Rundfunkorchester.

<i>Elisabetta, regina dInghilterra</i> Opera by Gioachino Rossini

Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra is a dramma per musica or opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, from the play Il paggio di Leicester by Carlo Federici, which itself "was derived from a novel The Recess (1785) by Sophia Lee."

<i>Otto mesi in due ore</i> Opera by Gaetano Donizetti

Otto mesi in due ore ossia Gli esiliati in Siberia is an opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a libretto by Domenico Gilardoni.

<i>Aureliano in Palmira</i> Opera by Gioachino Rossini

Aureliano in Palmira is an operatic dramma serio in two acts written by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto in which the librettist was credited only by the initials "G. F. R." The libretto has generally been attributed to Felice Romani, but sometimes to the otherwise unknown Gian Francesco Romanelli. It has been suggested that the latter name may have resulted from a confusion of Romani with Luigi Romanelli, La Scala's house poet prior to Romani's appointment to the post.

<i>Ciro in Babilonia</i> 1812 opera by Gioachino Rossini

Ciro in Babilonia, ossia La caduta di Baldassare is an azione sacra in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Francesco Aventi. It was first performed at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara during Lent, 1812. The exact date of the premiere is unknown but is believed to be 14 March. During Lent it was the custom for Italian opera houses either to close or to stage works on themes from the Bible. Ciro in Babilonia is one of two Lenten operas by Rossini and is based on the Biblical story of the overthrow of the Babylonian king Belshazzar by the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvatore Fisichella</span> Italian operatic tenor (born 1943)

Salvatore Fisichella is an Italian operatic tenor known for his roles in bel canto operas, especially those of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. He has been recognized for the ease and vocal brilliance of his singing, and for having sung more of the leading roles in Bellini's operas than any other 20th century tenor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Meli</span> Italian opera singer

Francesco Meli is an Italian operatic tenor particularly associated with the romantic repertoire.

Bruce Fowler is an American classical tenor who has had a major international performance career in operas and concerts since the early 1990s. He is particularly known for his appearances in bel canto operas. His first recording, as the tenor soloist for Handel's Messiah with Telarc, was nominated for a Grammy Award. He has also recorded Gioachino Rossini's Stabat Mater for Harmonia Mundi, Rossini's Armida for Sony, Jacques Ibert's Angelique for Fonit Cetra, Georg Philipp Telemann's Der Tag des Gerichts and Hugo Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Author on New World Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Meade</span> American opera singer

Angela Meade is an American operatic soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonino Fogliani</span> Italian conductor (born 1976)

Antonino Fogliani is an Italian conductor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Pratt (soprano)</span> Australian coloratura soprano

Jessica Pratt is an English-born Australian operatic coloratura soprano. Trained in Italy, Pratt is most recognised for her portrayal of Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, which she has performed over 100 times worldwide.

Giacomo Sagripanti is an Italian conductor, born January 28, 1982, in Giulianova, Abruzzo. He specializes in opera and symphonic music.

Teatro Nuovo is an American opera company and training institution specializing in the repertory and performance practice of bel canto opera. It was founded in 2017 by Will Crutchfield, who is currently its general and artistic director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alasdair Kent</span>

Alasdair Kent is an Australian operatic tenor, principally known for his interpretations of the Italian bel canto of Rossini, and Mozart. In 2016, Richard Bonynge presented him with the Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation Bel Canto Award. After studies in the US and his European debut with the Rossini Opera Festival in 2017, his international career has seen debuts in major roles in many of the world's leading opera houses and concert venues, including the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Real Madrid, Bayerische Staatsoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Opernhaus Zürich and the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

Silvia Tro Santafé is a Spanish lyric-coloratura mezzo-soprano. In her early career she was best known for her interpretations of Handel and became notable for her performances of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and in recent years Verdi.

References

  1. ↑ TeatroNuovo/Unison Media (15 May 2017). "Will Crutchfield announces Teatro Nuovo, a new Bel Canto opera program to debut in July 2018". Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  2. ↑ Woolfe, Zachary (7 July 2017). "At Caramoor, an Operatic Milestone That's Both Farewell and Beginning". New York Times .
  3. ↑ Holland, Bernard (3 April 1995). "Critic-Turned-Conductor Finds A Mission in Handel's Operas", New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Tommasini, Anthony (19 July 2003). "A Donizetti Discovery, Reinterpreted". New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Shengold, David (January 2014). "Rossini: Ciro in Babilonia". Opera News , Vol. 78, No. 7. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  6. ↑ Osborne, Richard (2015). "Rossini: Aureliano in Palmira". Gramophone . Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  7. ↑ Rossini Opera Festival Archives (2014). Aureliano in Palmira. Retrieved 27 July 2017 (in Italian).
  8. ↑ "2015 - Opera Awards". August 30, 2016. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  9. ↑ Loomis, George (19 July 2016). "Aureliano in Palmira, Caramoor Venetian Theatre, Katonah, New York — review". Financial Times . Retrieved 27 July 2017.</
  10. ↑ John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Fellows: Will Crutchfield. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  11. ↑ Playbill Arts (18 July 2009). "Q&A: Conductor Will Crutchfield Discusses Bel Canto at Caramoor". Archived version Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  12. ↑ List of articles by and about Will Crutchfield in The New York Times
  13. ↑ Siff, Ira (June 2005). "The Scholar" (profile of Will Crutchfield), Opera News , Vol 69, No. 12. Retrieved 27 July 2017 (subscription required).
  14. ↑ List of articles by Will Crutchfield in Opera News. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  15. ↑ Waleson, Heidi (July 31, 2018). "'The Dawn of Romantic Opera' Review: Subtle, Playful Performances". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  16. ↑ "A Beethoven Aria Was Lost. I Filled In the Missing Pages." in The New York Times by Will Crutchfield. Retrieved July 28th 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.