Wednesday 18 May 2016

QUOTE OF THE DAY: MAY 18, 2016 | KATHLEEN BATTLE'S "SPIRITUAL JOURNEY"

Today’s Quote of the Day comes to us from the Greek ‘electronic’ /crossover composer and musician known as “Vangelis,” and is in tribute to this week’s grand celestial tour de force and the planet Mars, which is set to dance amongst the heavens, in a slow tango with the planets Jupiter and Saturn, providing a spectacular feast for the eyes for professional and amateur astronomers around the globe:




"I made up the name Mythodea from the words myth and ode. And I felt in it a kind of shared or common path with NASA's current exploration of the planet [Mars]. Whatever we use as a key — music, mythology, science, mathematics, astronomy — we are all working to decode the mystery of creation, searching for our deepest roots."

-Vangelis

Listen below to the 5th movement of Vangelis’ 11-movement choral symphony piece “Mythodea,”  a crossover project for the electronic composer into Classical, and which was the official music of the 2001 Mars Odyssey – NASA’s mission to send into the orbit of Mars a robotic spacecraft designed to detect evidence of historical water, present geology and the current “radiation environment” of the red planet. The album’s laserdisc had likewise been corresponded to release on the date of the spacecraft’s official entry into orbit on the 23rd of October, 2001, and was recorded from the acoustical haven of the Temple of Olympian Zeus, (constructed c. 6th century BC) at Athens, in Greece. The movement featured below is sung by American soprano Kathleen Battle.



Notice to fans of Kathleen Battle residing in Canada:

As the world waits with bated breath for the triumphant return of Ms. Battle to the MET for what will be a ‘farewell’ concert in November of 2016, residents of Southern Ontario will be treated to a preview of this silvery hued vocal nightingale at the close of this month: May 29th, 2016 at Toronto’s Roy Thompson Hall, where the American soprano will be performing a recital of spirituals (typical of her recital repertoire) based on the historical abolitionists of slavery and which will feature “traditional slave spirituals,” in what the concert hall describes as “…a journey through the spirituals and hymns that express suffering, salvation and freedom.”
The concert program, which will be repeated in New York at the close of the year is entitled “Kathleen Battle Underground Railroad: A Spiritual Journey”

Discover more:

2001 Mars Odyssey Launch History and Retrospective:
  • PDF: 2001 Mars Odyssey contemporary press release - Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA
  • 15th Year in Orbit: a Look Back at the spacecraft’s most important discoveries at NASA 
Present and Upcoming Celestial Events:
  • This week's celestial events (May 16-22) - visible from earth at Sky News
Kathleen Battle:
  • Kathleen Battle - Toronto concert and ticket information at Masseyhall.com 
  • Kathleen Battle's history and much awaited return at New York's Metropolitan Opera House
(internal link): at unravelingmusicalmyths
(external link): at NPR (*transcript*)

-Rose.

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