On Jan. 6, 2022, Italian baritone Carlo Meliciani died at the age of 92. The baritone died at his home in Empoli, Italy Born on Jan. 27, 1929, in Arezzo, Italy, and Meliciani began his career in the mid-1950s performing with a touring Italian opera company in Great Britain. During the 1958–1959 season, he performed with the Teatro Nuovo di {…}
History was made on May 3, 2019. The first transgender baritone, Lucia Lucas, sang the title role in Mozart/Da Ponte’s, “Don Giovanni.” Such an important milestone in both opera and transgender history didn’t take place in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago; it was in Tulsa, Oklahoma that Lucas made her debut as Don Giovanni, a crucial and extremely {…}
In late May, the COVID-19 pandemic relented for a spell, enticing parts of the United States to reopen after weeks of lockdown. Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer in the States, was in full swing. 2020 had a disastrous start, but big cities like New York had the virus somewhat contained. Worldwide, the insidious threat of sickness and {…}
“I am Khumn!” These were the first words ever spoken on stage by baritone Michael Hewitt. The phrase is one you might expect from the Narrator in “Akhnaten” but not in a fifth-grade educational history play about ancient Egypt. According to Hewitt, his entrance was dramatic and well-received. He recounted striding to center stage, dressed from head-to-toe in black and shrouded in dense fog. {…}
In keeping with the pattern developed over the last two weeks with a focus on sopranos and tenors, this week we turn to baritones. Instructions: You are free to solve the word search directly on your mobile or desktop device; just click the first and last letter of each word for it to appear on the screen. For those using {…}
This week, opera and Broadway star Paulo Szot returned to 54 Below for his eighth appearance in his show “Salute to Broadway.” The set list, music directed by Billy Stritch, drew upon songs that have played a formative role in Szot’s life and career as an artist, including songs he performed for the first time that evening. After a jazz {…}
Who says opera singers can’t be fun? That is exactly what Paulo Szot has been showing audiences this past week as he pays homage to Broadway. In his seventh appearance at 54 Below, Szot showcased his comedic and dramatic sensibilities in a cabaret performance. Music director and pianist Billy Stritch began the program with a jazz piece; then Szot entered, walking through {…}
Starting April 15, “La Boheme” will open for the Opera San José, CA, directed by Michael Shell. “I am excited to direct ‘La Boheme’ for Opera San Jose,” Shell told OperaWire. The whole two hours and forty-five-minute performance will be sung in Italian with English super-titles. “The opera will be set at the end of WWI, when Paris was delirious {…}