Vast Imagination – Directors Shawna Lucey & Michelle Ainna Cuizon on Bringing their Vision to Opera San José & the Opera World at Large

(Photo credit: Louis Chan / David Allen) What does the future look like for female directors in opera? Opera San José, the opera company in the heart of Silicon Valley, California, now entering its 41st season, gives OperaWire a look at two young trailblazers: the current CEO and General Director, Shawna Lucey, and Michelle Ainna Cuizon, presently in residence and {…}

Oct 31, 2024

Q & A: Regents Opera’s Ben Woodward & Caroline Staunton on Putting on Wagner’s full Ring Cycle Independently in London

(Photo Credit: Frances Marshall, Marshall Light studios / Sara Porter) The Ring Cycle is a massive undertaking, one that requires an opera company with a built-in infrastructure to do it. But it is also the peak of opera production and one that every director / manager dreams of doing. So despite, the massive challenge it entailed, Regents Opera’s artistic director {…}

Oct 25, 2024

Q & A: Kitty McNamee on Her Directorial Debut at the LA Opera

This week the LA Opera is set to revive a production of “Roméo et Juliette.” The production was first created in 2005 and has not been performed since 2011. Now as the company prepares for the revival, famed choreographer Kitty McNamee will be making her directorial debut reviving the production. McNamee choreographed the production when it was first premiered and {…}

Oct 17, 2024

Q & A: Conductor Raphaël Pichon on the World Premiere of ‘Le Lacrime di Eros’

This November the Dutch National Opera will premiere “Le Lacrime di Eros,” an experimental work that brings together music from the Renaissance with contemporary electronic music composed by the American composer Scott Gibbons, under the baton of the French conductor Raphaël Pichon, who is responsible for creating and developing the concept. The work is built around rarely heard pieces from {…}

Oct 10, 2024

Q & A: Composer & Conductor Juan Trigos on his Azireli Commission for International Music

When he was but nine-years-old, Juan Trigos woke up one day and ran to his mother to tell her what he was going to do with his life. “She of course laughed and so did I, but I had already decided,” he told OperaWire in a recent interview on the occasion of being the winner of the 2024 Azrieli Commission {…}

Oct 8, 2024

Q & A: Composer Yair Klartag on His Azrieli-Winning Commission ‘The Parable of the Palace’

(Photo by Anne-Laure Lechat) “I was lucky to have a great music teacher in my teens, who gave us very inspiring compositional assignments. I remember the experience of going to school as a teenager and thinking about my compositions I was writing for the class, and fell in love with the experience of spending my thinking time on abstract sounds. {…}

Oct 6, 2024

Q & A: Composer Jordan Nobles on His Azrieli Prize-Winning ‘Kanata’

“I was drawn to composing because of an intrinsic fascination with sound and a strong curiosity in figuring out how music that moves me was created,” Composer John Nobles told OperaWire in a recent interview. Nobles is the recipient of the Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music for his piece “Kanata” for Large Choir. A JUNO Award-winner for “Classical Composition of {…}

Oct 1, 2024

Q & A: Composer Josef Bardanashvili on His Azrieli Prize-Winning ‘Light to My Path’

At an early point in his life, Georgian and Israeli composer Josef Bardanashvili was set to become a painter like his father and older brothers. But it all changed at age 13 when he started to learn how to play the trumpet. From there, his love for music was irresistible and he would eventually make his way to the Tbilisi {…}

Sep 25, 2024

Q & A: Karim Sulayman on His Role in the Premiere of David T. Little’s ‘What Belongs to You’

(Photo credit: Erin Baiano) GRAMMY-winning tenor Karim Sulayman, the star of David T. Little’s new monodrama,“What Belongs to You” spoke with OperaWire about undertaking this uniquely challenging role, and working with the close-knit creative team. “What Belongs to You” is based on Garth Greenwell’s debut novel of the same name. He describes it as “the story of a man caught {…}

Sep 19, 2024

Q&A: ONEcomposer’s Stephen Spinelli & Tamara Acosta on Florence Price & ‘Beyond the Years’

Stephen Spinelli and Tamara Acosta, the co-founders of ONEcomposer talked with OperaWire about their research and the importance of documenting the lives and work of underrepresented composers. Specifically they dive into their finding on Florence Price and the creation of the new album, “Beyond the Years,” with Karen Slack and Michelle Cann. “Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price” {…}

Sep 18, 2024

Q & A: Alma Deutscher On Mozart & Making Classical Music Imaginative

(Photo Credit: Benjamin Ealovega) According to renowned conductor Zubin Mehta, Alma Deutscher is “One of the greatest musical talents today.” According to others, she is comparable to Mozart, a former child prodigy, British composer, pianist, violinist and conductor, who started playing music at the age of two and who could read music before she could read words. Her music has {…}

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