(Credit: The Riker Brothers) LA-based composer and baritone Samuel Siskind is a high school senior whose music has garnered significant international recognition. He is a winner of the 2024 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award and is also an LA Phil Composing Fellow, under the direction of acclaimed composer Andrew Norman. His music has been played at Carnegie Hall and {…}
Despite living in a horrific Nazi concentration camp, Jaap Polak and Ina Soep continued to write love letters to one another. The couple’s letters were published in 2000 and were featured in a documentary film of this same title. Their relationship inspired Composer Gerald Cohen and librettist Deborah Brevoort‘s first opera together, “Steal a Pencil for Me.” The couple was {…}
It was January 2020, on the Brooklyn waterfront. A bone-chilling wind funneled through old buildings, slamming the streets. Inside, “Ellen West” would have its premiere. But my mind wasn’t on opera; that very day, I learned my brother had cancer. As I arrived, a cluster of people stood on the steps. Ricky Ian Gordon was in the aisle, easy to {…}
After 140 years, Wagner’s final opera, “Parsifal,” first performed at the second Bayreuth Festival in 1882, finally got its Mexican premiere in April of this year. While not quite an opera—it was defined by Wagner as an ‘Bühnenweihfestspiel,’ or a ‘stage festival play’ with a sacred focus—Wagner’s final piece testifies to his consummate understanding of opera as not just a {…}
(Photo: Alex Dowling) During the pandemic, the composer, Emma O’Halloran, and librettist, Mark O’Halloran, produced a piece for Irish National Opera’s hugely successful and innovative “20 Shots of Opera.” The work, entitled “The Wait,” is an impressive opera that brilliantly showcased O’Halloran’s compositional skills, in which OperaWire drew attention to her “wonderfully evocative score, with its contrasting densities and textures, {…}
Italian librettist Fabrizio Funari‘s newest opera with music by composer Gaia Aloisi, “Aqua Tofana,” is set to premiere on September 22nd in London at the Tête à Tête Festival. “Aqua Tofana” also features director Rosie Kat, producer Ted Blackburn, lighting designer Mildred Moyo, and singers soprano Sarah Parkin, mezzo-soprano Alexandra Dinwiddie and baritone Thomas Litchev. Following its London premiere, the {…}
Entrepreneur extraordinaire Dr. Shanté Williams, is a notable businesswoman, intellectual property strategist, specialist in neuro-oncology and pharmacology, and the first woman and person of color to lead Opera Carolina in the role of General Director. Dr. Williams talked with OperaWire about her unique journey to the opera world, her leadership style, and plans for the company. OperaWire: You hold degrees {…}
On July 13, the Santa Fe Opera is set to present the world premiere of “The Righteous” by Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith. The opera explores the tension between genuine faith and the fraught world of 1980s politics. Spears’ eighth opera represents the 19th world premiere for the company. Over the years, Spears’ acclaim as a contemporary composers has {…}
Most opera enthusiasts across the world know about the Glyndebourne Festival. They may also know about other high-profile festivals set in country houses across England, such as The Grange Opera and the Longborough festivals. Few, however, will have heard of the Waterperry Festival, situated close to the city of Oxford. Established in 2017, the festival opened its doors the following {…}
Since 2008, James Robinson has served as the Artistic Director of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL). He has emphasized a great deal on bringing modern works to the company and has directed such operas as Terence Blanchard’s “Champion” and “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” John Adams’ “The Death of Klinghoffer,” Marc Blitzstein’s “Regina,” Jack Perla’s “Shalimar the {…}
(Photo: Olivier Metzger) French soprano Julie Fuchs has been busy thrilling opera audiences all over Europe with her wide-ranging repertoire, from Baroque to contemporary. She is currently making her American debut in the title role of Händel’s “Partenope” at San Francisco Opera. A lifelong singer, Fuchs began her musical training in Avignon before going on to study at the Conservatoire {…}