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 […]