Q & A: Sonya Yoncheva on the Rebirth of the Opera Industry & Finding Her Own Freedom as an Artist

(Photo: Alexander Thompson) Sonya Yoncheva has always played by her own rules. She’s never allowed anyone to box her in and has never followed a specific route.  She has championed rarely performed like “Il Pirata,” “Siberia,” and “Medea” among others throughout her career, experimenting with all kinds of directors and often arriving at some truly immersive and original interpretations of {…}

Celebrating Native American Music in Montana – Intermountain Opera Bozeman’s Interim Artistic Director Michael Sakir & Soprano Kirsten Kunkle on ‘Circle of Resilience’

(Photos: Gillian Riesen; Intermountain Opera Bozeman; Jason Dick) Montana, where Grizzly Bear wade in chilly rivers fed by snowmelt from mountaintops and gobble up Blackspotted Cutthroat Trout. Fly-fishers do much the same but with gentle whips of line. It’s “The Treasure State,” whose motto is “Oro y Plata (Gold and Silver).” The treasure nowadays is the grandeur of the Rocky {…}

Q & A : Dingle Yandell on Digital Opera & Popular Music Videos With ‘What Power Art Thou’

(Credit: Zen Grisdale) The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) is actively creating new life in the digital realm of opera by evolving the genre’s traditional standards and exploring alternate creative interpretations to share with audience members at a broader level through a new series called “music video remake” films. The aesthetic concept underlying OAE’s recent film which features bass-baritone {…}

Q & A: Baritone Keith Phares on Recording ‘Prince of Players’ & the Challenges of COVID-19

Baritone Keith Phares, renowned as a master of a wide repertoire ranging from Mozart through to today’s most prominent composers, has been recognised as “an authentic contemporary-American-opera divo” in the media. Recently, in this year’s Grammy Awards, he shined as nominee for Best Opera Recording for his soloist role in Carlisle Floyd’s “Prince of Players.” This was a recording of {…}

Q & A: Luca Pisaroni on Why His ‘Personal Idea of Hell is Repeating the Same Thing’

(Credit: Chris Singer) In Gramophone’s Opera recording of the year, Handel’s “Agrippina” with Erato Records, there are many shinning vocal performances, including those by Joyce DiDonato, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Franco Fagioli, and Luca Pisaroni, to name but a few. Luca Pisaroni wows the listener in the role of the bumbling Emperor Claudio. Pisaroni is perhaps best-known these days for his work {…}