Ambroise Thomas
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The Operatic Saxophone Turns 5
If you have had trouble accessing my database, don’t fret. I was using Caspio, a free online database for the past five years. This October, they switched to a paid only version, free to $100 a month. Why? Because now Caspio has AI. I can’t even begin to imagine why AI is useful in databases,…
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The Operatic Saxophone turns one year old—celebrate it by watching opera
Two years ago when everything shut down due to Covid, I started watching the daily streams of the Metropolitan Opera. My interest in opera started before then, but with all the free time and the Met’s high production value, this was the perfect opportunity to dive into the world of opera. Outside of the knowledge…
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Listen to the Saxophone in Ambroise Thomas’s 1889 ballet, La Tempête
In 1889 Paris hosted the Exposition Universelle, a centennial celebration of the French Revolution. This was a showcase of the latest engineering marvels—the Eiffel Tower, technological advances—the telephone, and a showcase of the best of French culture. The Paris Opéra was slated to premiere Saint-Saëns’s newest opera, Ascanio, but the opera was not ready for…
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Another Romantic ballet featuring the saxophone: Discover Ambroise Thomas’s La tempête
Recently I went through the Metropolitan Opera’s archives to see if they have any works for saxophone in their performance history that I have yet to find. During this search, I discovered Ambroise Thomas‘s Hamlet was performed for their inaugural season in 1883-84. Did they use the saxophone in the finale of the 2nd act…
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Hamlet: Streaming on Met on Demand, 5/5-5/6
One of the first operas to feature the alto saxophone, Ambroise Thomas’s 1868 opera, Hamlet is streaming tonight on Met on Demand. You can watch it here until Thursday, May 6th: https://www.metopera.org/season/on-demand/opera/?upc=811357013625 Here is the Metropolitan Opera’s description of this 2010 production. “After over a century out of the Met’s repertoire, audiences were thrilled to…
the Operatic Saxophone 