Tonight we premiere our production of Gaspare Spontini’s Fernand Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique at Opernhaus Dortmund. This is after a two year delay; originally we were to have premiered this in 2020, but history intervened.

There are many versions of this opera floating around, and we are doing a version that has – until today – never been performed in the original French. If you look for a synopsis, you will likely find one that does not describe our version accurately, except in bits and pieces.

I am performing the second prisoner, and I sing as part of a trio of prisoners headed by the tenor Alvar (Sungho Kim). Our music is, frankly, gorgeous stuff and a pleasure to sing. The piece sits in a period of transition; it’s definitely within the definition of “Classical”, but one can hear the traits of Romantic-era opera as well.

I wish my colleagues and the creative team a hearty toi toi toi. Participating in this has been an immense pleasure.

More Information:
https://www.theaterdo.de/produktionen/detail/fernand-cortez-oder-die-eroberung-von-mexiko/

Google Translate Deutsche Übersetzung

Here’s one I’ve been looking forward to for awhile. Tonight at Opernhaus Dortmund, we’re premiering Frédegonde for the first time in Germany. It’s a work inspired from the early history of the Merovingians in what is now France and the ongoing feud between two of the queens, Brunhild and Frédegonde. The work was composed by Ernest Guiraud and, following Guiraud’s death, Camille Saint-Saëns and Paul Dukas.

The work has rarely been done since its original premiere, and it’s too bad. I’ve genuinely enjoyed singing it, and it’s one of my favorite chorus operas I’ve been a part of. The work is definitely of its time in a good way; anyone familiar with opera of that time will hear the Wagnerian influences – especially in the first three acts, which were composed by Guiraud – but also French mélodies. In the early rousing chorus numbers, you can hear the attempt to establish a particularly medieval sound, which leads to surprising twists and harmonies. The orchestration is lush.

Our production features a silent film that does the primary story telling. We filmed it last spring and summer at the beautiful Schloss Bodelschwingh here in Dortmund. The reason is obvious: due to the shifting nature of the coronavirus pandemic, it made sense to find a story telling medium that didn’t require close proximity to one another on the day of the premiere. This process added an extra exciting element for us.

You’ll see and hear me briefly as Brunhild’s and Merovig’s servant, and those are my hands playing chess in the silent film scene titles. But besides my small solo work here, I’m very proud of the work we did in the chorus for this, and I hope our audience enjoys it.

More Information:

https://www.theaterdo.de/produktionen/detail/fredegonde/

Livestream Here:

https://www.takt1.de/video/stream/theater-dortmund-fredegonde

Google Translate This Page:

https://iansidden-com.translate.goog/2021/11/premiere-fredegonde/?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=de&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=nui

English

Tonight is the premiere of Akhnaten by Philip Glass. This is a massive work for the chorus, and I’m really looking forward to getting this in front of people.

Deutsch

Heute Abend findet die Premiere Echnaton von Philip Glass statt. Es ist ein sehr großes Stück für den Chor, und ich freue mich sehr darauf.

More Information/Mehr Infos:

https://theaterdo.de/detail/event/echnaton/