(Credit: Maritere Casillas Rice) Ramón Tebar recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting “La Bohème,” a work he knows all too well. But this debut did not come as a surprise or as a rising star conductor. He has been working for years building his resume at some of the greatest houses in the world while also building up Opera {…}
(Credit: Olivia Renaud) On Nov. 1, Rachel Willis-Sørensen performed the world premiere of a new song cycle especially composed for her. The cycle was Jeff Beal’s “Our Better Selves,” which the soprano commissioned for herself and which she also contributed a poem for one of the movements. Willis-Sørensen, a renowned soprano is known for her Strauss, Mozart, Wagner and Verdi {…}
(Credit: Olivia Kahler) Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal is one of the most prolific and respected composers working in Hollywood having written music for numerous films and TV shows such as “Pollock,” “Rome,” “Carnivàle,” “House of Cards,” “Appaloosa,” “Monk” and “All Her Fault.” This month, Beal is premiering a new song cycle he wrote for soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen, whom he met {…}
The Denyce Graves Foundation began as a way to bridge the past to the future by honoring overlooked musical voices and empowering the next generation of world-class artists. Founded by opera star Denyce Graves, the foundation celebrates trailblazing musicians, music educators, and composers of color through community engagement programs, concerts and presentations, creation of new works of art, establishment of {…}
Ed Lyon is known for his baroque interpretations as well as his passion for early music. He has performed all over the world at such major theaters as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Opera di Roma, Garsington Opera, Opera North, La Monnaie Brussels, Pinchgut Opera, Salzburg Festival, The Grange Festival, Grand Théâtre de Génève, and Oper Köln. In addition {…}
(Credit: Marine Cessat-Begler) Since winning Operalia in 2019, Adriana González’s career has steadily risen to the top, singing at many of the great theaters around the world and creating memorable interpretations. She has become renowned for her interpretations of Micaëla in “Carmen” and the Countess in “Le Nozze di Figaro” as well as Mimì in “La Bohème.” Last season she {…}
(Credit: Ricardo Beas) When composer Missy Mazzoli went into a meeting with Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb, she hoped for a commission and had one idea to offer: a huge graveyard full of ghosts, built around Abraham Lincoln’s grief. That idea became “Lincoln in the Bardo,” adapted from George Saunders’ novel, with a libretto by Royce Vavrek, with whom {…}
(Photo A. Simopoulos) As a child, Vassilis Christopoulus woudl sit on the floor of an Athens rehearsal room next to his father, the principal oboist watching conductors, studying their every gesture, the “magic of their movements.” Decades later, Christopoulus will be on the podium when the Greek National Opera makes it Carnegie Hall in a program that honors the legacy {…}
(Photo: Anna Kolata) Florian Amort, born in Berchtesgaden in 1992, serves as the Director of the Stiftung Händel-Haus and the Artistic Director of the Händel-Festspiele Halle. He succeeds Dr. Bernd Feuchtner, who passed away in February 2025, shortly before his planned retirement. A former scholar of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Amort studied musicology, art history, history, and Catholic theology {…}