‘Alma: a night at the opera’

    

Tickets here.

I’m not at all embarrassed to admit everything I know of Alma Mahler comes from the Tom Lehrer song, but I’ve known every word of the song since 1980. In more recent news, Bro. Valentin Peytchinov, of Scotia Lodge 634, presents Alma, the opera, coming to New York! From the publicity:

Alma

Saturday, October 17

8 to 9 p.m.

Theatre of St. Jean’s

150 East 76th Street,

between Lexington & Third

Tickets here

Dear Brothers and Friends,

We are bringing Alma—a moving new opera about Alma Mahler’s life—to New York City, and I’m reaching out personally because this project is deeply meaningful to me.

This production will also honor the 75th birthday of Lubo Denev, the celebrated Bulgarian composer, conductor, and jazz artist. Presenting Alma in New York as a tribute to his legacy makes this moment truly special.

Overview

Alma the opera, comes to New York: a powerful monodrama of love, art, war, and Alma Mahler’s relentless pursuit of artistic freedom. Alma is a powerful monodrama inspired by the extraordinary life of Alma Mahler—composer, muse, lover, wife, and witness to the collapse of old Europe. Surrounded by the genius of Gustav Mahler, the passionate intensity of painter Oskar Kokoschka, the visionary architect Walter Gropius, and the poet Franz Werfel, Alma is swept through love, betrayal, war, and an unrelenting search for artistic freedom.

Her deeply personal journey becomes a mirror of an entire era—a story of passion, art, and the price of dreams. With music by celebrated Bulgarian composer Lubomir Denev and a libretto by Guerguan Tsenov, Alma brings Alma Mahler’s extraordinary story to the stage through an intimate and compelling musical portrait.

The New York premiere features soprano Teresa Castillo in the title role, with Ahmed Alom conducting a chamber ensemble. The New York premiere carries a special historical significance. After fleeing war-torn Europe, Alma Mahler spent the final two decades of her life in the United States and died in New York City on December 11, 1964. Presenting Alma in New York is therefore more than a premiere—it is, in many ways, a symbolic homecoming for one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable artistic figures.

Following its acclaimed Bulgarian premieres in 2025 at the March Music Days International Festival in Ruse and the Sofia Music Weeks International Festival, Alma now comes to New York in a production celebrating the 75th birthday of composer Lubomir Denev. Soprano Teresa Castillo, together with a chamber ensemble conducted by Ahmed Alom, will bring this intimate monodrama to life at Theatre at Saint Jean. The project is presented by Valentin Peytchinov Vocal Studios in collaboration with Vocal Productions NYC.

Throughout his distinguished international career, Valentin Peytchinov has devoted himself to mentoring young singers and creating opportunities for emerging artists. Alma continues that mission by bringing a remarkable contemporary opera to New York while providing a professional stage for exceptional young performers and celebrating the work of its composer, librettist, conductor, and performers.

You know something? Lehrer never mentioned Kokoschka!

      

‘National Brotherhood Week’

     
I try to remember to commemorate it every year, but sometimes I forget; while it isn’t even observed or remembered any longer—hasn’t been for decades—I still take a moment on The Magpie to bring to your attention National Brotherhood Week.

Click to enlarge.

Way back in 1927, the National Conference of Christians and Jews formed to offer an antidote to the religious bigotry that existed in mainstream public discourse—language that we in 2014 couldn’t imagine, but that passed for appropriate speech in living memory. Among the fruits of the NCCJ’s labors was the establishment of National Brotherhood week, an annual awareness campaign booked for the third week of February during which people of all backgrounds could celebrate their unity for a week no matter what their respective ethnic, religious, racial, etc. differences happened to be. It endured to maybe—perhaps, at the most—the early 1980s.

Naturally, it was ripe for satire during the decade of Civil Rights oppression, race riots, political assassinations, war, draft resistance, women’s liberation, and the rest of it.

Tom Lehrer, the brilliant mathematics prodigy turned satirical songwriter extraordinaire, was a big part of my growing up. (If you know me, and can’t stand having me around, the credit largely belongs to Lehrer, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Mad and National Lampoon magazines, and Monty Python, all of whom were amply represented in my childhood home.) So without further ado, here is the maestro, from That Was the Week That Was.


     

‘National Brotherhood Week’

     

Yes, Magpie coverage of Masonic Week 2013 is still to come. I haven’t had five minutes to download the photos yet, as renovation of the bathroom at Magpie headquarters continues at a snail’s pace and other obligations nag. But here’s a little something in honor of another February week.

Once upon a time in a more innocent age, when it was only other countries that had communists as their heads of state and people thought it natural to pay their own bills, there was a movement to instill brotherly love and mutual respect among all citizens. This was not by government edict, but by bringing real people together to provide, as President Kennedy put it, “harmonious living among our different religious groups.”

The concept was made manifest – and remember we’re referring to a simple time of political assassinations, race riots, draft resistance, liberations of so-and-so’s, and mass shootings by the government – by an observance called National Brotherhood Week at the third week of February. Human nature is what it is, which is why you may not have heard of it before.

(I am indebted to my parents for having comedy albums in their record collection when I was a kid, allowing me to learn directly from and about Lenny Bruce and Tom Lehrer.)

Take it away Maestro!

    

‘National Brotherhood Week’

There used to be a society named the National Conference for Community and Justice (regional organizations remain today), which managed to advance a cause resulting in the third week of February being designated National Brotherhood Week. In retrospect, with the irony and detachment so affordable in 2010 with our precisely crafted à la carte “holidays” and postage stamps patronizing persons and causes of dubious merits and tribal identities, it’s so innocent. But irony is timeless. More than 40 years ago, the great Tom Lehrer held up this annual celebration to the cold gray light of human nature.

Take it away, Maestro:



Couldn’t let the third week of February come to a close without a salute to the ideals of National Brotherhood Week. Have a great weekend! Magpie coverage of Masonic Week 2010 will resume next week.