Björk: Vespertine - A Pop Album as an Opera (Live) Orchestra of Nationaltheater Mannheim & Matthew Toogood

• Björk Guðmundsdóttir (b. 1965): Vespertine:
• 1Vespertine: Introduction "Chaos" (Live)03:04
• 2Vespertine: Hidden Place (Live)05:29
• 3Vespertine: Cocoon (Live)05:31
• 4Vespertine: The Birth of Uranos (Live)01:19
• 5Vespertine: It's Not up to You (Live)04:38
• 6Vespertine: Uranos Covers the Earth (Live)00:48
• 7Vespertine: Undo (Live)05:33
• 8Vespertine: The Titans (Live)00:56
• 9Vespertine: Pagan Poetry (Live)06:45
• 10Vespertine: The Sickle (Live)01:51
• 11Vespertine: Frosti (Live)02:56
• 12Vespertine: Aurora (Live)04:43
• 13Vespertine: The Emasculation (Live)01:52
• 14Vespertine: An Echo, a Stain (Live)05:24
• 15Vespertine: Sun in My Mouth (Live)02:43
• 16Vespertine: The Illuminated Man (Live)02:51
• 17Vespertine: Heirloom (Live)05:33
• 18Vespertine: The Blood of Uranos (Live)01:37
• 19Vespertine: Harm of Will (Live)05:46
• 20Vespertine: The Birth of Aphrodite (Live)01:00
• 21Vespertine: Unison (Live)05:33
• 22Vespertine: The Golden Age (Live)01:49
• Total Runtime01:17:41

Info for Björk: Vespertine - A Pop Album as an Opera (Live)

An album as an opera. Pop music is theatrical, it lives on stories, constantly creating new characters of art. In addition, no other style has changed and influenced music reception so enduringly as pop music. Most people can draw biographical references on the map of pop music. So, it seems high time to open the doors of the opera to a new visitor. With its symphonic elements, dramatic singing lines and ethereal choir vocals, Vespertine seems to be the perfect model for the complex project.

OehmsClassics begins the new partnership with the Nationaltheater Mannheim (NTM Edition) with a bang. Rarely has a premiere in Germany experienced such a press echo as this did in May 2018.

Hotel Pro Forma
Orchester des Nationaltheater Mannheim
Matthew Toogood, conductor

Matthew Toogood
is a Berlin based conductor and pianist. Since September 2016 he is Kapellmeister and Assistant to the General Music Director, Alexander Soddy, at the Nationaltheater Mannheim. In his first season he conducted the Premiere of Spoliansky's Wie werde ich reich und glücklich, revival performances of Hänsel und Gretel, My Fair Lady, The Merry Widow, numerous family and cross-over concerts, and assisted for Elektra and Aida. In the current 2017/2018 season he conducts performances of Aida, Norma, La cenerentola, Turandot, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Hänsel und Gretel, Die Zauberflöte, My Fair Lady, Wie werde ich reich und glücklich and the Premiere of Vespertine after the Album by Björk. He assists on the productions of Der Rosenkavalier, Tannhäuser und Don Giovanni. In Dezember 2017 Mr Toogood guested at the Theater Chemnitz for Hänsel und Gretel.

Mr Toogood was on the music staff of the Komische Oper Berlin for 4 seasons (2010-2014), during which time he assisted on over 40 productions, including Reimann’s Lear, Dvorak’s Rusalka and Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen. During this time he was responsible for conducting the off-/backstage orchestras in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier and Mozart's Don Giovanni. In 2014 he conducted performances at the Komische Oper Berlin of Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel and Prokofiev’s Peter und der Wolf. In 2017 he returned as guest conductor for a re-working of Monteverdi/Kats-Chernin's Die Krönung der Poppea and the revival of Monteverdi/Kats-Chernin's Orpheus.

Mr Toogood has worked with Sir Simon Rattle at the Berliner Philharmoniker, Simon Halsey at the Rundfunkchor Berlin, Axel Kober at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, interned at Oper Frankfurt, accompanied the Bundeswettbewerb Gesangs and taught at the Musik Landesakademie Hessen.

As Artistic Director and Conductor of Shoestring Opera Melbourne Mr Toogood has produced successful chamber productions, such as Offenbach's Le 66 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in April 2016. Other work in Australia has included being part of the inaugural and subsequent Nagambie Lakes Opera Festival, conducting concerts with the Stonnington Symphony Orchestra, and numerous seasons with Melbourne Opera, conducting productions of Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Tosca, La Traviata, La Boheme and Cosi fan tutte.

Mr Toogood was a semi-finalist at the 2011 Blue Danube International Opera Conducting Competition and winner of the 2007 Stonnington Symphony Conductor Prize.

He has participated in Masterclasses with Jorma Panula, Colin Metters, Johannes Fritzsch, Christopher Seaman, Sebastian Lang-Lessing and Geoffrey Lancaster, conducting the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, The Queensland Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. He completed his Masters of Music (Conducting) with John Hopkins OBE in 2008.

Booklet for Björk: Vespertine - A Pop Album as an Opera (Live)