(Photo: Tomas Kullström) Swedish mezzo-soprano Alexandra Olsson Andersen’s work spans opera, concert, theater, and film, with a growing reputation for physically demanding roles and a strong presence in the trouser repertoire. She studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, the Norwegian National Academy of Opera in Oslo, and the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where she {…}
Opera history is full of lost works. It is also missing champions with the interest and desire to find the missing pieces and give these operas a second life. That’s not the case with Lawrence H. Levens, custodian and guardian of the Barnes/Dixon/Myers Historical Harlem Papers, who has worked tirelessly to restore a work by Will H. Dixon, a pioneering African-American {…}
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 {…}
(Photo: Press Image) Included in the TOP TEN rising stars of opera by OperaWire in 2022, soprano Francesca Pia Vitale has won numerous international awards after graduating in 2020 from the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan. She is renowned for her eclectic repertoire that in recent months ranges from “Tancredi” to “Rigoletto” and “Orfeo ed Euridice.” She is currently {…}
(Credit: Gemma Escribano) This month Ruth Iniesta is set to return to the Teatro de la Zarzuela, where she will sing the role of La duquesa de Medina in “Jugar con Fuego.” The zarzuela by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, which premiered in 1851, is relatively unknown and for this production, the Madrid theater will present a new production. Throughout the past {…}
Valeria Sepe is one most sought-after Italian sopranos of her generation. A graduate of the Conservatory “G. F. Ghedini” in Cuneo, she has performed at leading house in Firenze, Naples, Palermo, Parma and Verona, growing her reputation as a major Verdi, Puccini, and verismo interpreter. This season, Sepe will make her debut as Maddalena in “Andrea Chénier” and will sing {…}
(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 {…}
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 {…}
IN Series Artistic Director, Timothy Nelson, who is passionate about opera is presenting a series of “Passion Plays” based on the music of J.S. Bach, Gabriel Fauré and Adrienne Torf. While IN Series does not normally present a festival of new works, this is a special offering to audience members who can purchase tickets to all three events, each of {…}