(Credit: Elisa Haberer) Aigul Akhmetshina is considered one of today’s promising stars in the opera world and has been hailed for her “immaculate voice” and “delicate timbre.” She made history when she became the youngest Belvedere Competition Winner who debuted at the Royal Opera House as “Carmen” at the age of 21. Since then she has made major debuts at the {…}
Like last week, for this edition of the word search, we are going to spotlight some of the most renowned opera companies in the world. 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 {…}
This week, the Royal Opera House opens a new production of “Samson et Dalila” led by the company’s music and starring one of the great mezzo’s of our time. But perhaps what makes this production all the more exciting is the young tenor SeokJong Baek, who will make his house debut. The South Korean tenor, who began as a baritone, {…}
Ever since Terrence Blanchard’s opera “Champion” received its premiere in 2013, the opera has traveled to Washington D.C and San Francisco. It is also set to make its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera during the 2022-23 season. But before that, the Boston Lyric Opera will bring the work to its audiences after having been postponed in 2020. Leading the cast {…}
(Credit: Monika Ritterhaus) A lot of modern opera is based on original and new stories. But it wasn’t always like that. For hundreds of years, operas in the standard repertory, regardless of their style (baroque, classical, romantic, impressionistic) were based on some other story or event. So in honor of that unique aspect of opera (other art forms are also {…}
What would you do, say, and believe for love, and most importantly, what would you ignore for the sake of love? Such standardized questions seem to permeate the fabric of the operatic world from time immemorial to the present, and the well is not showing signs of running dry anytime soon. But we must ask a second and more important {…}
(Credit: Roberto Ricci) On April 28, the Festival Verdi held a Spring Gala at the Metropolitan Club in New York City. The gala event was especially organized for the International Friends of Festival Verdi, which represent a number of donors who give to the annual festival held in September. The gala opened with a General reception and was followed by {…}
On May 7, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna will open a new production of “Lucrezia Borgia,” one of Donizetti’s most popular works and one that has become a vehicle for a star soprano to show her vocal fireworks. However, it is also one of the composer’s most dramatic works and one that contains some of Donizetti’s most mature music. In {…}
On April 29, the Houston Grand Opera will open a production of Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette,” one of the most renowned French operas of all time and one that contains some of the greatest extended duets. And for this occasion The opera house has assembled a bright cast that includes the rising star, Adriana González. González is making her role {…}
