Director Bill Barclay and conductor JoAnn Falletta talk about mounting a dramatic adaptation of Antony & Cleopatra that pairs Shakespeare’s words with Florent Schmitt’s jaw-dropping music from the 1920 Paris production of the play.

May 24, 2019 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, Composers, French Composers | tagged Andre Gide, Barbican, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Bill Barclay, Buffalo Philharmonic, Camille Chevillard, Concert Theatre Works, Florent Schmitt, Henry Purcell, Ida Rubinstein, JoAnn Falletta, Midsummer Night's Dream, Orchestre Lamoureux, Peer Gynt, Sakari Oramo, Schmitt, Shakespeare 400, Shakespeare's Globe, The Fairy Queen, Virginia Arts Festival, Virginia Symphony Orchestra | Leave a comment

By now, it seems that Florent Schmitt’s two Antoine et Cléopâtre Suites, Op. 69 have at last transitioned from being true rarities to become orchestral repertoire that is actually known. There are now four commercial recordings of the suites (three of them made within the past decade), and in the past several years the music […]

Bill Barclay, music director of Shakespeare’s Globe, talks about bringing Florent Schmitt’s Antony & Cleopatra (1920) to the Hollywood Bowl and the Barbican Centre.

December 3, 2016 · by Phillip Nones | in Ballet, Composers, French Composers | tagged Andre Gide, Antoine et Cleopatre, Antony & Cleopatra, Barbican, BBC Symphony, Bill Barclay, Bramwell Tovey, Florent Schmitt, Hollywood Bowl, Iqbal Khan, Jess Lusk, Kimberly Schuette, LAPO, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lucy Taylor, Mark Pullinger, Paul Hughes, Rob Cross, Rodney Martell, Sakari Oramo, Schmitt, Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Globe, Virginia Arts Festival, William Shakespeare | Leave a comment

Florent Schmitt’s incidental music to Antoine et Cléopâtre, Op. 69 is one of the composer’s most intriguing works – a bright star in the constellation of sumptuous “orientalist” compositions created by this French master. The music was composed for André Gide’s 1920 adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, with the role of Cleopatra performed by the celebrated […]

Is Florent Schmitt’s Antony & Cleopatra (1920) beginning the transition from “rarity” to “rep we know”?

April 16, 2016 · by Phillip Nones | in Classical Music, Composers, French Composers | tagged Andre Gide, Antoine et Cleopatre, Antony & Cleopatra, Barbican, BBC Music Magazine, BBC Symphony, Berlioz, Bill Barclay, Bramwell Tovey, Buffalo Philharmonic, Cybelia, Fabien Gabel, Fanfare Magazine, Florent Schmitt, Hollywood Bowl, Ida Rubinstein, JoAnn Falletta, Jongen, Korngold, LAPO, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mahler, Much Ado About Nothing, NAXOS Classics, Orchestre de Paris, Romeo & Juliet, Sakari Oramo, Schmitt, Shakespeare, Shakespeare 400, Shakespeare's Globe, Symphony Concertante, Tchaikovsky, The Classical Source, William Shakespeare | 1 Comment

This year, Florent Schmitt’s opulent score will be presented by two leading orchestras — the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony — in collaboration with Shakespeare’s Globe. It’s quite interesting to witness a piece of classical music make the journey from being a rarity to becoming mainstream. I can think of several examples, headlined by […]