(Credit: © Erik Castro) As music can travel through time, space, and lands, Gabriela Lena Frank has traveled through a multitude of worlds that now brings her to the Metropolitan Opera debuting her Spanish-language opera “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego,” May 14th. Recent winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Music, the 25th anniversary Heinz Award, and the {…}
(Photos: courtesy of the artists) Chamber opera is growing in appeal. Not only with composers, such as Missy Mizzoli and Nico Muhly, but also with producers such as Pocket Opera and West Edge Opera looking for small and untraditional venues in which to present their work. Minimalist opera in small halls invariably attracts new, young, inquiring audiences and companies such {…}
It was during her years working as an opera singer in Germany that Breana Stillman first encountered the transformative power of the art form beyond the stage, specifically through children’s choirs involved in opera productions. What she witnessed there, the musical growth, the exposure to languages and cultures, the discipline and sense of community it fostered in young people, planted {…}
(Photo credit: GSA) Will Liverman is one of the great baritones of his time performing at the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Atlanta Opera, Minnesota Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. In the midst of his run as Figaro in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” at Houston Grand Opera, Will Liverman took time to talk with OperaWire about “Factotum: The {…}
On April 17, 2026, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University raised the curtain on their mainstage production of Verdi’s comedic opus, “Falstaff.” Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the school has grown from its inception as Rice’s music department through the support of community partnerships and donors, and has developed into a vibrant and effective center of musical education and {…}
The International Friends of Festival Verdi is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing essential support to Teatro Regio di Parma’s annual Verdi Festival, Verdi Off, and Accademia Verdiana. It also is celebrates the enduring legacy of Giuseppe Verdi and seeks to foster robust cultural exchange between the Verdi Festival and its supporters around the world. This year the organization will {…}
(© Fundación Ibáñez Atkinson) This year, the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition held its first South American auditions in over 70 years. This historic event was several years in the making, with Andrés Rodríguez Spoerer as its main champion. As Music Director of Chile’s Fundación Ibáñez Atkinson (FIA), Rodríguez Spoerer spent years building the relationships, programs, and infrastructure that would make {…}
Janet Farrell is one of five recipients of the National Opera Trustee Recognition Awards by Opera America. Farrell, who loves singing, was brought to the INSERIES by the dynamic artistic director, Timothy Nelson. With Farrell’s professional business acumen and experience at M&T Bank and her love of opera, she has been able to draw attention and support to INSERIES, something {…}
(© Geoffroy Schied) Serge Dorny is one of the most powerful men in opera. Beginning his career as a dramaturge under Gerard Mortier at Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, he would eventually become Artistic Director of several major institutions before climbing to some of the most prestigious positions in the industry. He led as General Director of Opéra National {…}
Composer Gregory Spears is in the middle of celebrating his breakthrough opera “Fellow Travelers,” which premiered 10 years ago. The opera, which is based on the Thomas Mallon novel set in Washington D.C., during the McCarthy era of the 1950s and focuses on the “lavender scare,” a witch hunt and mass firings of gay people from the United States government, {…}
The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale recently announced its 2026-27 season, the first with Peter Whelan as its new Music Director. For Whelan, what distinguishes Philharmonia Baroque from the outset is its energy. He describes the ensemble as a group of “musical time-travelers” who bring a visceral, theatrical charge to every performance, and speaks warmly of the Bay Area audience’s {…}