​This is a wonderful video.  The text throughout the video explains it, though since your attention will likely want to be on the performance, it can be a little distracting.  Also, with the limitations of Twitter, I think it can use a bit more clarification. 
 
Lisette Oropressa is an acclaimed Cuban-American soprano who has performed around the world as such houses as the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, Opera National de Paris, Royal Covent Garden and more.  She was giving a solo recital at the Verdi Festival in Parma, Italy in early December, a month ago when she sang her fourth encore at the end of the concert, an aria called “Sempe libera” (Always Free), sung by the character ‘Violetta’ from Verdi’s La Traviata.  It’s a somewhat odd selection to sing at a solo recital because as wonderful a piece as it is for a soprano, it’s not a pure aria since there is a male tenor part in the middle of it.  And because there is a tenor part, but there was no tenor on stage – or anyone else on stage for that matter to help out – there was a silence during that part of the number.  However, an Chinese opera student Liu Jianwei studying in Italy was in the audience and recognized how awkward this was and filled in.
 
What’s so good about this video is not just him quickly joining in, is Ms. Oropressa being totally shocked when he does so unexpectedly and then, rather than offended by him singing the missing part, has a clearly appreciative reaction throughout.
 
One note:  her initial “ohhhh” is actually written into Verdi’s score – so while she’s not reacting to the young man right there, she is singing with him.  Everything else is clearly pure reaction.

As the video notes, the young man went backstage afterwards to apologize, but she was so gracious she took a picture with him and gave him her autograph.  The video shows the photo, so there’s no need to post it here. 
 
(More properly, from the very little research I did about this, it is a “cabaletta,” which is a two-part musical form, though used as an aria since the bulk of the selection is for one performer.)
 
My only “complaint” is that the video cuts off before the end, so we don’t get to hear the full piece or audience reaction.  But what we do get is a joyful experience.
 
Afterwards, when the video of this went viral, Li posted publicly about it, explaining in his own video that “I stood up to sing because Lisette Oropesa is a musician I love very much and I happened to have learned this opera before.”  He added, though, that “It is definitely not something worthy of pride, nor something worthy of being advocated. Please don’t interrupt singers when they are singing on stage. It’s impolite behavior. Don’t imitate me and I will never do this again in the future.”
 
But once was pretty darn good.  And most definitely good enough.

​As a bonus, for those who do want to hear the whole thing, here is Lisette Oropressa again singing this same Violetta’s cabaletta, “Sempre libera,” at Madrid's Teatro Real in July, 2020.  So, as you can see, she’s the real deal – making her reaction above all the more endearing.  The portion shown in the solo recital video starts here around the 1:50.  You’ll hear the tenor part sung off-stage as she listens to the distant voice and then sings with it – including her “Ohhhh.”  And we do get the audience roars here, so you can only imagine what they were during that “joint performance.”

​Okay, so this isn't particularly unknown, given that it's Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.  But what the heck, it's a great, uncommon video that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus made only a few years ago under the baton of Riccardo Muti. (They pretty much never release full videos, but this was funded as a special memorial tribute, which the video explains.)

The whole thing is glorious, but If you only want to celebrate the season with the Ode to Joy section, that comes in at the 52:12 mark, and you can just jump directly to it.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra had it first concert last week after over a year-and-a-half.  They've tried to fill in the spaces with a pretty aggressive and interesting online presence, but it's not the same as being at Symphony Center.

Its Music Director Riccardo Mutii addressed the audience with impromptu comments before the concert began.  He explained that since English wasn't his first language, it was difficult to express all his thoughts on the occasion, which is why he didn't want to write anything down and wanted to speak more from the heart.  If he did so this superbly, talking about arts and culture and what it all does for society and, most interestingly, how society is impacted when its missing, I can only imagine what he'd say in Italian.  It wasn't patting "fine arts" on the back, but noting all aspects of culture, and -- more specifically -- explaining movingly why it had impact.  His off-the-cuff words started out low-key, and then built into something far more moving that I suspect people there expected.

I thought he deserved today's opening spot.

I've written in the past about my cousin Diana Leviton Gondek, who's a terrific artist in Chicago.  Among other things, she's worked with the Special Olympics -- who are based in Chicago -- even to the point of being commissioned to design their 50th anniversary poster.  I've also noted the three fiberglass horses she was commissioned to create for the city to honor fallen policemen, one horse of which was on display outside of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office.

It turns out that the Special Olympics is introducing a new program, where they feature artwork from their athletes shown side-by-side with professional art.  The CBS-TV affiliate in Chicago, WBBM, did a report on this, and the Special Olympics asked Diana to speak on behalf of it.

(I think this could lead to a spin-off series, an artist who solves crimes as a hobby, finding patterns that lead her to the culprits, accompanied by her sidekick cat, Banksy.)

So,  okay, yes, I'm biased.  In either event, I can now refer to her as my artist cousin Diana Leviton Gondek as Seen on CBS News.  And so, we take you now to our correspondent in the Windy City.
​

After going a while without an "IneterMISSION" podcast from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, they appear back up to speed, and here's another.

This week, as they describe, "Six CSO musicians describe the power of sharing music with audiences of all ages, while working with a commitment for unified impact. As they also anticipate the return of live concerts again, each also describes the timeless power of the orchestra to connect with listeners."

What I also love about these podcasts -- and sets them apart from many, I think -- is that they also post links to full versions of all the snippets of music that play through the show.
​

We haven't an an InterMISSION podcast from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for a while, so let's head back to the orchestra.

These are very enjoyable broadcasts put together by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, filled with interviews with the musicians, interesting history, and interlaced with a lot of music.   This new piece features a conversation with ​Lawrence Neuman, who has been a member of the CSO viola section since 1991. He talks about how the requirement of viola players is more to play almost as one instrument, rather than have individual parts, and the challenges when one's role is basically to "fit in."  He also discusses the way musicians work together to create the Chicago Symphony's unified sound, and tells the story of overcoming his self-doubt as a student to become a professional musician.

​One of the things I particularly like about these CSO InterMISSION podcasts is that they don't just rely on the conversations themselves -- which are interesting enough on their own -- but they intersperse each episode with examples of the music being discussed.  And then further, not relying on just that, they provide links to a playlist of all the music that was featured, so you can hear it more in full, rather than just as snippets..

No, not that one. 

​This is a big  treat for classical music lovers.  But I also think that for those who aren't, at the very least the first 201 minutes of this video may well still be fascinating.  It's similar to a video a posted a while back but for a different Beethoven symphony.  That was for the famous Fifth, this for the Seventh.  (Though that might be my favorite -- and if not, then a razor-thin close second place.)

I comes from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s centennial season, Their longtime conductor and music director Sir Georg Solti had recently been named the orchestra's first music director laureate, and he conducted them in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.  It was recorded on Oct. 17, 1991, for PBS’ Great Performances, an episode they called "The Symphony of Rhythm." 

What makes the broadcast so special is that this isn’t just Solti conducting Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, but the video begins with over 20 minutes of Solti talking about how and why he chose to interpret the performance this new way, throwing out his old notes to look at it fresh.  His discussion -- often sitting at a piano and playing examples of what he's describing -- is intercut with extensive clips of him rehearsing the orchestra to get what he wants.  Only after that do they have the full piece.  The whole thing is wonderful but it's that first 21 minutes that's riveting.  So, you really get an idea what a conductor does, better than almost anything I’ve seen – and you also see why Solti and the CSO were considered so great together.

For those who only want to see and hear the symphony itself, you can jump to the 21:00 mark.  Any who just want to see the documentary part, it runs...well, 21 minutes.  But you probably figured that out.
   
Because it's only on the CSOtv website, I can't embed it on these pages, but you can watch it here.

And one caveat:  I don’t know how long this video will be available to watch.  The earlier one with the Seventh Symphony is no longer online, though I originally posted that five months so, so there's no way for me know how when it was taken down. I suspect it should be up for at least a few weeks, but no guarantees

This is a one-minute "teaser" trailer that will give you a brief idea of what those first 21 minutes are like.

I've periodically mentioned my Internet friend Peter Breiner here over the past few years -- a conductor, composer, arranger, pianist and I think he'll clean your windows if it fits into his schedule.  I've lost count how many albums he's released, but it's over 100 at this point, which is closing in on the number of CDs I own.  And he can now add to that number, since he released a new album last week on the Naxos label.

It was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic that he he conducted and is called A Journey – Calm Romantic Piano Music, Vol. 2.  (I was going to say "under his baton," but since he performs at the piano and conducts the orchestra by waving his hand around, I figured that "baton" wasn't appropriate.)  There are 23 tracks, around half by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Dvorak and that crowd, and half composed by Breiner himself.  He also did the orchestrations 

(See what I mean about the "cleaning your windows" quip?)
 
I’ve only listened to about the first half of the album so, and I find it so wonderful that I wanted to write about it tonight before I finish the whole thing.  The selections that he wrote (which I’ve heard so far) are much less traditionally “classical” than some of his other work and seem more -- for lack of a better word -- accessible, as befits “calm piano music.”  I don’t say that critically, just descriptive.  After all, the point of the album is “calm piano music.”
 
The first two pieces by him are especially terrific – “The Magic Goblet” and “We Reached This Far.”  But I also was particularly taken by the selections, “Snowfall” and "The King of Hyperboles."

You can find the album here on Amazon as MP3 downloads, either in full.or whatever individual selections most interest you.

Just to give you a sense of Peter's work on the album, I'm posting a couple of the official music videos that Naxos has released from the recording session.  This first is the aforementioned, “The Magic Goblet”.  That’s him at the piano and conducting.  No baton included.

And this is a music video of one of the other pieces of Peter's own music that I mentioned, as well, his work “The King of Hyperboles,” which I think is beautiful.  Though I have no idea which on earth it's called that -- however, I love the whimsy of the title, even if I don't understand it.

Oh, okay, I'll throw in a bonus, just to let you know that I wasn't lying about how  there are actually selections by by traditional classical composers on the album, about half of tracks.  This is "Dank sei Dir, Herr" by Georg Frederic Handel.

Today, we have our next episode of the new InterMISSION podcast from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  Up to this point, it's been very well-done with fairly interesting stories and wonderful music in the background.

This new episode features Jennifer Gunn, who has been a Chicago Symphony Orchestra member since 2005, performing on the flute and piccolo. As the site notes, "She shares the dramatic story of how she won the audition for her position and pays tribute to Walfrid Kujala, her famous predecessor. She also gives advice to aspiring performers; explains how she prepares her parts in advance of rehearsals; and talks about why she loves the live CSO concert experience."
​

And there's another reason I really enjoy these InterMISSION podcasts from the CSO.  It's because along with the episodes themselves, they also post a chart with links to all the music -- in full -- that was heard, even if only played for just a few seconds as snippets.

As long as we're on the subject of classical orchestral music, I figure this is as good a time as any to post the majesty of the season, Beethoven's 9th Symphony.  This is a wonderful video recording by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of their Music Director Riccardo Muti.

It's long, of course, but if you only want to hear the Ode to Joy" section, it begins around the 52-minute mark.