Opera Wire: Conductor Steven Fox on the Clarion Choir, ‘Judas Maccabeus’ & Live Performances
Opera Wire
By Francisco Salazar
On Dec. 1, the Clarion Choir and Clarion Orchestra will join forces for a free concert with Isabel Leonard and Anthony Roth Costanzo to perform a suite from “Judas Maccabeus” at historic Temple Emanu-El in celebration of Hanukkah.
The program will also include arias, duets, and choruses from Händel’s “Esther,” “Israel in Egypt,” and “Rodelinda.”
OperaWire had a chance to speak with conductor and Clarion Artistic Director Steven Fox about returning to the live performances and taking on Händel’s “Judas Maccabeus.”
OperaWire: This is a return to holiday season concerts after the pandemic. How does it feel to be performing for a live audience after so long?
Steven Fox: It’s very exciting to be going in front of a live audience again. We have done some small concerts in recent months, but this will be our first Clarion production for a large audience, and we are all thrilled about it. I admire how creative musicians were in producing online content during the pandemic. But there is simply no replacement for live music. The energy that the audience brings, and the spontaneity of the performances that happen as a result of that, are part of the magic that makes us performers love to perform.
Read more here.
