Paul McNamara is a man with a varied career, indeed! Born in Limerick in the west of Ireland, he originally followed a path that took him, via the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London, into a successful singing career in which he performed quite a broad repertoire of tenor roles with a strong {…}
“Racette, almost continually on stage, commands our attention with seeming effortlessness.” “Racette was the shining center of it all…” “Racette’s impressive depiction of Susannah drew on the very qualities that have made so many of her performances here invaluable over the years…” These are just a few of the many reviews praising internationally renowned soprano Patricia Racette’s turn in the {…}
The world of opera is a rapidly changing place. Yet, at the heart of operatic theater is a desire to say something, to share something that is close to the core of being human. Opera allows composers to synthesize local culture with classical traditions while simultaneously infusing opera with popular music, jazz, and extended techniques across the many centuries of {…}
The end of this month sees the start of Ireland’s Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, which this year will be performing Verdi’s “Macbeth.” The staging will take place in the grounds of Lismore Castle, the perfect backdrop for evoking the atmosphere of murder, treachery and ghostly interventions, set within the walls of Inverness and Dusinane castles. The director bringing this to {…}
It is a very busy time for Brazilian pianist Ramon Theobald, as he is preparing the singers of Paris Opera’s Atelier for their production of Rossini’s “La Scala di Seta.” He works as both pianist and assistant conductor. Amid the intense routine of rehearsals, he found some time to explain further about work as a pianist in an Opera house. {…}
Ever since NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) were first introduced to the world in 2014—thanks to artist Kevin McCoy employing a digitized, hard-to-trace, and decentralized form of financial transactions known as the blockchain—what it means to fundraise has never been the same. While some see NFTs as a waste of time, others have capitalized on its ostensible uses. Many artists argue NFTs {…}
Photo: Bob-Estremera, Bonnie Perkinson, & Tania Baricklo The name and reputation of the revolutionary Classical composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges were once nearly forgotten. Through the work of Los Angeles Opera Music Director James Conlon, Marlon Daniel founder of the Saint-Georges International Music Festival, and stage director Maria Todaro, Bologne is returning to the spotlight. Below these individuals discuss {…}
Composer Francesco Filidei is on a good streak. After the success of the creation of his new cello concerto in the Festival Presences, he is having his opera, “L’Inondation,” performed a second time in Paris’s historic Operá-Comique. We met during the rehearsals of his opera to debate his views on composing and opera. OperaWire: “L’Inondation” is on its second run {…}
(Credit: Chris Christodoulou) In April, Domingo Hindoyan will return to the Metropolitan Opera for the second time. This time he will conduct Puccini’s masterpiece “Tosca” in David McVicar’s production. It will also be the second of three Puccini works in the season. OperaWire had a chance to speak with the conductor about his love for Puccini, “Turandot,” and the upcoming {…}
J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan,” the mischievous, free-spirited child who never grows up, has exerted a hold over children and even many adults for well over 100 years. His adventures set in Neverland, with its array of comic book characters such as Captain Hook, Tinker Bell, the crocodile, the Lost Boys, and Wendy, have fascinated and entertained over the generations. Peter {…}
Composer and Innovator Tod Machover breathes vitality and brightness out of his very being. Abundance and color spring from his first words. Alert and active, he spoke with me from his farm and studio in Massachusetts. He drove from his state-of-the-art Media Laboratory at M.I.T. in Cambridge, where he is the Director of the Opera of the Future group as {…}