Italian. French. German. Russian. English. These languages are at the core of opera’s standard repertory. But what many don’t know, is that Spanish-language opera has as rich a heritage to choose from and many works in Spanish deserve a similar foothold in the standard repertory. For this week’s quiz, we are going to shine the slimmest of lights on the {…}
Daniel Catán is one of the great opera composers in the last half of the 20th century. The Mexican composer created a number of operas throughout his career before his death at age 62 in 2011. He had stated openly his desire to create a strong tradition of Spanish-language opera, which is still lacking to this day. For this week’s {…}
Virginia Opera has announced its 45th-anniversary season, which will include four main stage productions spanning three centuries of operatic works. Artistic Director Adam Turner will preside over the musical direction for all four productions of the 2019-20 season. The season will start off with Lillian Groag’s production of Puccini’s “Tosca,” part of VO’s ongoing series, “The Puccini Cycle.” The production {…}
It is Hispanic Heritage month! The Latin American community has, particularly in recent years, been a major boon to the opera world, providing it with great singers and composers, and a number of great operas. As the first part of this weekly series, we look at some of the most popular Hispanic operas ever written. We are not looking at {…}
A few weeks ago, Metropolitan Opera Music Director Designate Yannick Nézet-Séguin made the proclamation that he would be bringing newer and fresher composers to the Metropolitan Opera throughout his tenure. A few days later it was reported that among the new composers he would be bringing would be Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking.” It’s a great start, considering Heggie, who {…}