One of the more interesting developments in the opera world is the convergence of the theatrical experience with the audiovisual arts. At the Metropolitan Opera, this has been particularly noticeable in such works as “Satyagraha” and “The Enchanted Island,” where video projections are an essential part of the operatic experience, not only creating the environment, but also commenting on it. {…}
Over the last two years the Metropolitan Opera Guild has attempted something that few, if any, other companies have given a look at – podcasts. The increasingly popular form of media has seen tremendous growth over the last few years, becoming the go-to source for information and entertainment for busy morning commuters. Unlike videos or other forms of media, podcasts {…}
Lidiya Yankovskaya, the new Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater (COT) is a musical unifier and explorer. Her goals for the future at COT include presenting a variety of underrepresented repertoire, supporting and promoting the best of new operatic works being created in our current “golden age of American opera,” and bolstering COT’s current education and community engagement initiatives. Yankovskaya {…}
Maestro Carlo Rizzi has led over 180 performances at the Met and when all is said and done in 2017-18, he will have topped 200 performances with the company. He has led works by such composers from a vast range of Italian composers including Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, and Rossini. Of all the works he has conducted, “La Bohème” has been {…}
Lisa DeAngelis, a graduate of University of Illinois’s esteemed voice program and current Alexander Technique practitioner, has been a weekend subscriber at the Lyric Opera of Chicago since she was 20. Driving up from college on the weekends, she and her mother would attend performances up in the second balcony. Little did undergraduate Lisa know, she would be taking over the {…}
On Sept. 18, Opera Philadelphia world premiered “The Wake World” as part of its 2017 festival. Composer David Hertzberg created an immersive experience that was showcased at the Barnes Foundation and that experimented with form and melody. As one of Opera Philadelphia’s 2017-2018 Composers-in-Residence, in a program offered in collaboration with Music-Theatre Group, Hertzberg will continue to be an active {…}
Orson Welles is one of the most fascinating figures of the past century, his art among the most influential of all time. But one of the things few people know about Welles is that he was as much concerned about process as he was about the final result. In fact, some of his films, most notably “F for Fake” examines {…}
It was 2013 and Suzanne Vinnik was contacted by soprano Zulimar López, who was looking to solve a problem that every female opera singer faces – getting rid of a bunch of gowns that were hogging her closet space. “I had also experienced the same issue with my over-stuffed closet in my one bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side,” Vinnik told {…}
For any composer, the first opera is always a tall order and this was no different for Japanese composer Moto Osada. His first operatic work, “Four Nights of Dream,” was the latest in a number of major successes for a creator who has excelled in a wide range of genres, including film composition, television, dance, theater, and chamber music among {…}
In 2008, Moto Osada’s “Four Nights of Dream” had its World Premiere in Sweden. Fast-forward nine years and the opera is now on the brink of its first North American and Japanese debuts, in a new production. The man in charge of leading the new interpretation of the work is renowned Obie Award-winning director Alec Duffy, whose company Hoi Polloi has {…}
On Sept. 14, 2017, Opera Philadelphia will open “War Stories,” a double bill featuring Monetverdi’s “Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda” and Lembit Beecher’s “I Have No Stories to Tell You.” The pairing features two stories about war and their effects on their heroes. It is also a chance to see a classic baroque work juxtaposed with a modern work. Beecher {…}