When he took over the job eight years ago, Steven Fox, Music Director of Cathedral Choral Society (CCS) has done his utmost to transform the organization’s direction. To that end, Fox’s initiatives have included expanding the repertory, creating programs to improve the skill set of its members, and offering up new opportunities to deepen connections with the audience. “I am {…}
(Photo credit: Daniel Welch) The 2025 edition of the Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges will celebrate the 280th anniversary of the composer’s birth by presenting its first opera. The concert version of Leoncavailo’s “Paglacci” stars tenor Limmie Pulliam as Canio, soprano Michelle Johnson as Nedda, along with tenor Leo Williams, and baritones Darnell Ishmel and Franco Pomponi. Alexis Rainbow directs {…}
(Photo credit: Gillian Riesen) When she was a child, Katerina Burton remembered her mother, a competitive figure skater, working to opera. “I loved watching her and other professionals skate to music from ‘Carmen,’ ‘Tosca,’ ‘Tristan und Isolde,’ etc…and I really just fell in love with the music and the storytelling,” Burton told OperaWire in a recent interview. That was the {…}
(Photo: Guiseppe Tricarico) Countertenor Nicolò Balducci first came to attention at the 2022 Early Music Festival in Innsbruck, where he won 3rd prize as well as the Young Artist Award in its Cesti singing competition. Three years later, he is now an established singer with an impressive CV, boasting a wide repertoire of roles from operas of the baroque era, {…}
(Photos: © Sasha Cooke press / Jasmine Barnes press) The pending arrival of 2026- the country’s Semiquincentennial, got mezzo- soprano Sasha Cooke thinking about what it means to be an American in these times of unrest and division, and what the country has represented these 250 years. Her five-city “Of Thee I Sing” recital tour begins November 4th and features {…}
(Photo: © Riccardo Sammartini) Dave Monaco is not yet 30, but has already been hailed as a “tenor with exquisite natural vocality but impetuous elegance.” He is one of the most talented singers of the bel canto repertoire, particularly valued for his interpretations of Rossini’s work. Monaco has made a name for himself as a true virtuoso in the world {…}
For 44 years, Victor DeRenzi has maintained his position at the helm of Sarasota Opera as its Artistic Director. During that time he has led over 900 opera performances. Among his major accomplishments with the company is a Verdi cycle that he initiated in 1989 and completed in 2016 with the aim to perform all of Verdi’s music. He also {…}
(Photo: Alan Neilson) The main presentation at this year’s Bayreuth Baroque Festival was a lavish, fully staged production of Francesco Cavalli’s 1666 opera, “Pompeo Magno,” boasting a large cast of high-quality singers and actors. Playing the role of Giulia was the Belgian soprano Sophie Junker, who, since winning both the London Händel Competition in 2010 and Innsbruck’s Cesti Competition in {…}
(Photo: Philippe Palma) Larissa Rosanoff spent seven years in Moscow studying piano at the Gnesin Academy of Music where she began, at the young age of five, her voyage in music. There she acquired the necessary base for continuing professional studies in Switzerland. The memories of having performed in such prestigious venues as the Tchaikovsky Hall or the Grande Hall {…}