The only living composer that sells out concert halls and opera Houses has not reached puberty!

TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
At 8:00 PM I get a message from Medici TV on my iPhone to say that in two hours there would be a live stream of the opera Cinderella by Alma Deutscher. A few minutes before 10:00 PM I got another message to say the performance was about to begin.

So I switched to my HTPC on my big rig and went to Medici TV. I was taken to the San Jose opera California and the curtain about to come up with the 44 piece tuning in the pit.

On came the concert mistress followed by the veteran conductor Jane Glover. The overture soon followed. Then the curtain came up on an opulent production.

I was glued to my TV for the next three hours and dumbfounded.

This young lady from Surrey England, stared playing piano and violin around 3 and composing around 4. She wrote a little chamber opera by age 7. She has written quite a large number of compositions for one so young. Among the most popular is her violin concerto written age 9.

At age 7 she started writing her two and a half hour opera for 44 piece orchestra, a full complement of soloists, opera chorus and ballet. A year ago a slightly abridged two hour version had a week long run in Vienna, under the conductor under Zubin Mehta to great acclaim. This year an abridged one hour version for children will have a run in Vienna next week.

The San Jose Opera have given the American premier and the first complete and opulently staged performance. Five performances were scheduled December 16 though 21. The public response was so great two extra performances were added December 22 and 23. These sold out in minutes. Because the demand was so much greater then supply Medici TV agreed to come in on an urgent basis and stream it world wide. It is now up on their site and I recommend it to you all.

The music is of a very high caliber indeed. She is a master orchestrater as well as a wonderful composer of melody. The only slight weak link is the libretto that four adults had a hand in. In the performance Alma plays the violin solos and the occasional piano continuo. In the final scene she gives a performance on the organ. This is a huge scene with full soloists chorus, orchestra and organ. Oh, yes and her younger sister as the flower girl cuts through the whole performance and hits I think the highest note I have ever heard a soprano sing with tremendous volume. Needless to say the applause and cheering went on and on.

This weekend will see a performance of Alma's violin concerto with the Silicon Valley symphony orchestra with the composer as soloist.

Reviews so far.

Opera today.

MetroActive.

San Francisco Classical Voice (Opera)





San Francisco Classical Voice. (violin concerto).

Here is a selection of what is available on YouTube.

I strongly encourage you to go to Medici TV and let your rigs rip with her opera.

Personally I'm dumbfounded that a child would start on a project at 7 years of age and have a performing version by age 11. Remember all these parts have to be written out.

I think this young lady my bring this long running, at least in music, what I call the "Age of Ugliness" to a close. I'm certain she will write music that not only entertains but moves audiences instead of emptying concert halls and opera house with cacophonies posing as art.
 
Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord
"Age of Ugliness", indeed. I was listening to KC and The Sunshine Band crooning Shake Your Booty, thinking this is just the type of thing TLS would use in an argument against pop music. Okay, so maybe The 70's wasn't your decade. :D
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
"Age of Ugliness", indeed. I was listening to KC and The Sunshine Band crooning Shake Your Booty, thinking this is just the type of thing TLS would use in an argument against pop music. Okay, so maybe The 70's wasn't your decade. :D
Actually I was taking aim at Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern, and the disciples and descendants of the Second Viennese School who have wrought over a century of havoc. Little Alma is really the first to give them a good bloody nose, and they are starting to know it.

The audience really enjoyed her opera and you can tell the performers really enjoyed a good "sing".

As far as an era, the silly sixties was pretty low. But the rot really started with the liberal Fabians at Oxbridge at the turn of the previous century. G.K. Chesterton had them right in his sights at the time.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I think it was 60 Minutes that did a piece on her not long ago. Amazing kid.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I think it was 60 Minutes that did a piece on her not long ago. Amazing kid.
Yes, they did. You should try and watch the opera though, especially the final scene in the church. I can't believe someone so young could write such wonderful music.

She never shows any nerves or stage fright when performing. She had been asked about this. Her reply: - "I know what I'm doing so there is nothing to worry about!"
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Yes, they did. You should try and watch the opera though, especially the final scene in the church. I can't believe someone so young could write such wonderful music.

She never shows any nerves or stage fright when performing. She had been asked about this. Her reply: - "I know what I'm doing so there is nothing to worry about!"
Then I'd have to watch an opera....and listen to it. That would be way down the list of things interesting to me. Saw enough on 60 Minutes :) She definitely has confidence, glad she's able to take advantage of her gift in any case.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
They could use this in their advertisements- "Second Viennese School- proudly writing havoc for over one hundred years".

I'm always amazed when someone so young can do something so incredibly well. If they could do only one thing so well, it's still heads and shoulders beyond what's possible from the vast majority of the World, but she plays piano AND violin well enough to play with orchestras. Then, she composes well enough to require additional performances and a worldwide stream because the demand for tickets exceeds availability AND she's not nervous about it.
 
Audiosaur

Audiosaur

Audioholic
I hadn't heard of Alma until this thread. Thanks TLS! I watched the 60 Min bit, as well as the BBC special on her. Remarkable! I wonder if it was like this watching Mozart grow.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
They could use this in their advertisements- "Second Viennese School- proudly writing havoc for over one hundred years".

I'm always amazed when someone so young can do something so incredibly well. If they could do only one thing so well, it's still heads and shoulders beyond what's possible from the vast majority of the World, but she plays piano AND violin well enough to play with orchestras. Then, she composes well enough to require additional performances and a worldwide stream because the demand for tickets exceeds availability AND she's not nervous about it.
She plays the violin and piano really well and with extreme taste and sensitivity. Her phrasing is exquisite. Now we have to add organist to her list of accomplishments.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I hadn't heard of Alma until this thread. Thanks TLS! I watched the 60 Min bit, as well as the BBC special on her. Remarkable! I wonder if it was like this watching Mozart grow.
I do encourage you to watch and hear her opera, and what is on YouTube. I particularly like her little tone poem Dance of the Solent Mermaids. The orchestration is masterly in its evocation of Solent water. The Solent is that body of water between the South Coast of England and the Isle of Wight. It is close to were she lives. I suspect she knows it well.

She does not like to be compared to Mozart. As she develops her voice she is very eclectic in the choice of those who have influence her. That would include Mozart, but Bach and his contemporary Italians, Beethoven, Brahms, the French impressionists, Verdi, whose bass lines she also pokes a little fun at in her opera, and also Wagner. The latter is especially true in the use of Leitmotif, and especially significant and interesting chords. In a BBC interview she describes the first movement is built on two similar and significant chords, one is joyful and other dark. She says the first movement is a battle between the two chords. I hope we can hear that concerto complete soon, and not just that beautiful slow movement.

Like Mozart though she has exquisite taste. Since she does not need to use the piano to compose, she does not restrict herself to the compass of the piano. That means she can write using high lush strings. Her string writing really sets her apart. Like Mozart she is able to handle a large ensemble of solo singers. It took Wagner years to do that, and Verdi only did it really competently in his later operas. Her ability to handle large ensembles I found one of the most remarkable features of her opera.

She is certainly a genius, and I suspect will produce more than a few masterpieces, as long as her development does not go off track.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
She plays the violin and piano really well and with extreme taste and sensitivity. Her phrasing is exquisite. Now we have to add organist to her list of accomplishments.
One of the things that struck me during the 60 Minutes piece was the maturity of her technique on violin and piano- far beyond her years. The technique may be learned, but the phrasing is internal and that can be influenced, but it's part of her, not just something she mimics.

Organist, too? Almost seems like an argument for reincarnation- abilities learned in one life continue and improve in the next.
 
A

Andrein

Senior Audioholic
Sometimes I think if everybody had a good HT system in very young age, how much more children would agree to listen to classic music or at least have a chance to understand it better. Good gear really helps to dive into what composer had planned to show with less distractions from some ugly unballanced sounds.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Sometimes I think if everybody had a good HT system in very young age, how much more children would agree to listen to classic music or at least have a chance to understand it better. Good gear really helps to dive into what composer had planned to show with less distractions from some ugly unballanced sounds.
The music stands on its own, or it should, anyway. Better sound may enhance it, but the music is the thing that matters. Someone enjoys it, or they don't and it could be coming from the fold-down turntables we had in grade school or live performance.
 
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A

Andrein

Senior Audioholic
The music stands on its own, or it should, anyway. Better sound may enhance it, but the music is the thing that matters. Someone enjoys it, or they don't and it could be coming from the fold-down turntables we had in grade school or live performance.
It does. Indeed. I was talking for myself. When i bought my first HT system i rediscovered Chaikovaky, Bach, Bethoven for myself again. For adaults yes, you might appreciate classic music even from boombox. For the child it really needs to overhelm him, to impress to make him listen again classic but not say rap.
 
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