(credit: Andy Wilkinson) The ending of “Turandot” recording has always been a point of contention for opera goers. The opera is traditionally performed with an ending constructed by Alfano following Puccini’s death, but over the years, composers and librettists have taken a stab at reconsidering this iconic and controversial work. That list includes the likes of Luciano Berio, Derrick Wang, {…}
In 2014, Florida Grand Opera accumulated a $19.4 million deficit. The company was in chaos, warning that the cancelation of its 2015-16 season in Broward County could be imminent if the organization was unable to secure $400,000. The future of the organization, which was founded in 1941, was uncertain and insecure. Fortunately an anonymous donor pitched in to erase the {…}
Prof. Mark Tucker is a distinguished interpreter of the Baroque repertoire with a prestigious career performing and recording under conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and René Jacobs. For over 20 years, he has taught at Hochschule für Musik und Theater (HfMT) Hamburg, specializing in Italian vocal repertoire from 1600 to 1800 within the Historical Performance Practice {…}
Alvise Casellati was born in Padua, Italy, to a Venetian musical family with important ties to the top classical music composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Rossini, Wagner, and Boito, among others. He is the founder and Music Director of Opera Italiana is in the Air (OIA), created in 2017 to bring opera concerts with with superstar singers {…}
(Photo by Jonathan Slaff) In the 1970s, Leonard Lehrman, a Kansas-born but Long Island-raised composer of 12 operas and seven musicals whose major mentors include Elie Siegmeister, Lenore Anhalt, and Olga Heifetz, wrote “Sima,” an opera about a Jewish girl orphaned by a pogrom in 1905 in Ukraine. For decades, the composer attempted to bring the opera to a New {…}
(Credit: ©️Alessandro Lodola) In 2022, Francesco Lodola founded Ben Artists, a management and public relations agency for artists that support artists. Lodola is a graduate in his city in Science of Communication and started studying piano since he was seven years old, attending the Liceo Musicale where he had the opportunity to deepen the theoretical and practical aspects of music {…}
The Pittsburgh Opera is starting a new era under William Powers, who has been appointed its new General Director. Powers has worked in the industry for over 30 years including 14 at the Pittsburgh Opera where he served as Director of Artistic Administration, Director of Administration and Artistic Operations, and Managing Director. His experience has also led him to be {…}
(Photo: Missy Mazzoli is an acclaimed composer of experimental chamber operas whose oeuvre ranges from electronic avant rock to short-form chamber operas. One of the first two women to receive a commission from the Metropolitan Opera, she joined forces with her longtime collaborator, Pulitzer Prize-winning librettist Royce Vavrek, to created the highly anticipated “Lincoln in the Bardo,” premiering at the {…}
(Photo: Nina Wurtzel-Horiz) Jeanine Tesori is one of today’s pioneering composers. Her work transcends boundaries and spans genres, including film and opera. Her new opera, “Blue,” which received the MCANA Award for Best New Opera, and “Grounded,” the first female commissioned opera by The Metropolitan Opera, are making history. Her work focuses on political and societal complexities, woven into the {…}
Since 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 {…}
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 {…}