Opera 2026: Grammy nominees

[gs_silva]

When I was watching the Grammys, I was intrigued by the nomination lists for classical and opera. So I thought I'd look them up.

Huang Ruo hits two of my cultures, Chinese and American, so we'll start with him. Here's An American Soldier on Youtube.

In case anyone's interested.

I'll add more links into this post as I find them, but first I'm listening to this one. It's in English. So I'll be able to follow the story as it unfolds. That's not a requirement for my opera enjoyment; I quite love listening to music in languages I can't understand at all, and languages I can only understand to a basic degree are enjoyable for their own reasons.

Okay, wait, look what I found! It's Huang Ruo playing a sheng. I own a sheng! He's making it sound like a pipe organ. I don't know how he does that. I can't get mine to sound like a pipe organ. I realize there is also a real pipe organ there, so, yes, I can see how the sheng looks like a tiny hand-held pipe organ. Looks like, no, that's precisely what it is. It's the pipes held right there in your hands.

Mine whistles too much. And the notes seem unreliable. There's nothing wrong with my instrument; it's all me. I need to fiddle with it some more. (No, it's not a fiddle.)

***

Colderidge-Taylor: Toussaint l'Ouverture and the National Philharmonic

This one is more traditional-sounding, quite brassy and bold. You may know that Toussaint l'Ouverture was a leader in the Haitian Revolution.

I like this one a lot. It's going on my playlist.

Comments

[moth2fic]

I tend not to like opera even though I spend a lot of time listening to classical music - just not opera! Interesting to see your recs. I might try them.

P.S.

[moth2fic]

I listened!! I wasn't all that keen but the sheng is a fascinating instrument. A tiny miniature organ with the player providing the air!!