(Credit: Teatro dell’Opera di Roma/Teatro alla Scala/Paris Opera) Over the past years, many coloratura and lyric sopranos have risen to fame and created unforgettable portrayals of the repertoire. But few have left as big an impact as Lisette Oropesa. The American soprano has been hailed for her interpretative depth and her incredible acting. She has become a mainstay at such {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Met Opera) On Sept. 23, the Metropolitan Opera will open its 2024-25 season. The season opening is always one of the most glamorous events of the opera season on a worldwide scale. And to commemorate the occasion this year, the company will present Jeanine Tesori’s “Grounded” to the legendary stage for the first time with an {…}
(Credit: Marty Sohl) Throughout the entire history of opera, from its beginning in the Francophile 18th century to the American 21st, there have been numerous moments which stand out as having been controversial of their time and controversial even today due to the contentious nature of the events. If one looks to contemporary issues like Anna Netrebko’s alleged blackface while {…}
(Photo Credit: Getty Images) Maria Callas, better known as La Divina and the immortal muse of art, died on September 16, 1977, having lived a life that no-one else could have lived—or, better phrased, survived. Having sung in practically every major house in the world; recorded a enormous quantity of material from Verdi, Puccini, and Bellini, to Wagner, Spontini, Bizet, Rossini, {…}
(Credit: Meigui Zhang Facebook) This week the San Francisco Opera is set to open its 2024-25 season with a production of “Un Ballo in Maschera,” an opera that has not been performed at the company in 10 years. For this new production, the San Francisco Opera has assembled an all-star cast that includes Meigui Zhang, a rising star in the {…}
(Photo Credit: LA Opera/Cory Weaver) Throughout time, many operas have been written which, due to the nature of things, distracts from their quality, instead leaving them behind for other, newer alternatives. However, thanks to opera’s dedicated fanbase, including everyone from laymen to academics to performers and beyond, many operas which didn’t get their fair shot are given new life after {…}
This week the Salzburg Festival opens a new production of “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” with an all-star cast that includes some of the best performers of the work. Among them is Kathryn Lewek, who will be taking on the challenge of portraying all four heroines, something that has always been seen as rare and complex. In preparation for the roles, Lewek {…}
This week the Rossini Opera Festival is set to open with a new production of one of the composer’s lesser-known works, “Bianca e Falliero.” The work has been presented at the festival before famously in 1986 and is considered very difficult to sing due to the intensity of its coloratura writing. The new production will include some very important Rossini {…}
(Photo credit: François Matarasso) When you think of opera, one imagines a beautifully finished product, usually disconnected from the labor involved in its creation. But what would happen if the labor to produce opera was just as foregrounded as the result of that labor? This question has been taken up in many forms over the last six to seven decades. {…}
