Q&A: Librettist/Director Crystal Manich & Composer Laura Kaminsky on Pittsburgh Opera’s World Premiere, Telling Audiences It’s “Time to Act” With School Gun Violence

Tonight, Pittsburgh Opera will set the stage to “Time to Act’s” world premiere. A new opera whose setting is a modern day high school and whose characters are teenagers, the opera’s slogan is “build the world you want to see.” The students’ preparation for a production of Sophocles’ classic Greek tragedy, “Antigone,” quickly turns into a parallel story of {…}

Feb 23, 2026

Q & A: Elizabeth Askren on Growing MaestraMagic! & Opera as a Comic Book

(Photo credit: J. Kraemer) Following the release of the Spanish edition of MaestraMagic!’s comic book, “La Flauta Mágica,” Dr. Elizabeth Askren sat down with OperaWire to discuss this creative journey. The project started as part of Askren’s mixed-media edutainment show that she created with her daughter Lily during the lockdown in 2020. The English version and first edition of the {…}

Feb 21, 2026

Q & A: Legendary Designer Zandra Rhodes on Her Work for Palm Beach Opera’s ‘The Pearl Fishers’

Few designers have blurred the line between fashion and art quite like Dame Zandra Rhodes. Born in Chatham, Kent in 1940 — with a mother who fitted gowns at the House of Worth in Paris and later taught at Medway College of Art — Rhodes seemed destined for a life shaped by fabric and form. She studied printed textile design {…}

Feb 18, 2026

Q & A: Music Director David Stern on Leading Palm Beach Opera into the Future

(Credit: Tom Watson) In 2024, Palm Beach Opera appointed David Stern to be the organization’s Ari Rifkin Music Director. Stern, the son of iconic violinist Isaac Stern, had been with the company since 2015 as its Chief Conductor after leading positions at Israeli Opera and Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland. The conductor has had a major international career, performing with {…}

Feb 6, 2026

Q & A: Christopher Tin on a New ‘Turandot’ Ending & His Relationship to Puccini’s Final Opera

(credit: Andy Wilkinson) The ending of “Turandot” recording has always been a point of contention for opera goers. The opera is traditionally performed with an ending constructed by Alfano following Puccini’s death, but over the years, composers and librettists have taken a stab at reconsidering this iconic and controversial work. That list includes the likes of Luciano Berio, Derrick Wang, {…}

Feb 3, 2026

A Rescue Mission – General Director Maria Todaro on Rebuilding Florida Grand Opera

In 2014, Florida Grand Opera accumulated a $19.4 million deficit. The company was in chaos, warning that the cancelation of its 2015-16 season in Broward County could be imminent if the organization was unable to secure $400,000. The future of the organization, which was founded in 1941, was uncertain and insecure. Fortunately an anonymous donor pitched in to erase the {…}

Feb 1, 2026

Q & A: Prof. Mark Tucker & Prof. Isolde Kittel-Zerer on Reviving Hasse’s ‘Artaserse’ at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg

Prof. Mark Tucker is a distinguished interpreter of the Baroque repertoire with a prestigious career performing and recording under conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and René Jacobs. For over 20 years, he has taught at Hochschule für Musik und Theater (HfMT) Hamburg, specializing in Italian vocal repertoire from 1600 to 1800 within the Historical Performance Practice {…}

Jan 28, 2026

Q & A: Alvise Casellati on Leading Teatro Massimo di Palermo & Opera’s Social Power

Alvise Casellati was born in Padua, Italy, to a Venetian musical family with important ties to the top classical music composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Rossini, Wagner, and Boito, among others. He is the founder and Music Director of Opera Italiana is in the Air (OIA), created in 2017 to bring opera concerts with with superstar singers {…}

Jan 22, 2026

Bringing Her Home – Composer Leonard Lehrman on the Decades-Long Journey to Get ‘Sima’ its NYC Premiere

(Photo by Jonathan Slaff) In the 1970s, Leonard Lehrman, a Kansas-born but Long Island-raised composer of 12 operas and seven musicals whose major mentors include Elie Siegmeister, Lenore Anhalt, and Olga Heifetz, wrote “Sima,” an opera about a Jewish girl orphaned by a pogrom in 1905 in Ukraine. For decades, the composer attempted to bring the opera to a New {…}

Jan 20, 2026

Q & A: Francesco Lodola on Starting Ben Artists Management & the Joy of Working With Opera Singers

(Credit: ©️Alessandro Lodola) In 2022, Francesco Lodola founded Ben Artists, a management and public relations agency for artists that support artists. Lodola is a graduate in his city in Science of Communication and started studying piano since he was seven years old, attending the Liceo Musicale where he had the opportunity to deepen the theoretical and practical aspects of music {…}

Jan 14, 2026

Q & A: William Powers on His New Position as General Director of Pittsburgh Opera

The Pittsburgh Opera is starting a new era under William Powers, who has been appointed its new General Director. Powers has worked in the industry for over 30 years including 14 at the Pittsburgh Opera where he served as Director of Artistic Administration, Director of Administration and Artistic Operations, and Managing Director. His experience has also led him to be {…}

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