The Prague Summer Nights Festival, presented by Classical Movements, is a program with a mission to develop the next generation of opera singers and allow young artists to perform in historic venues and find a platform to begin their careers. Baritone Dominic Veilleux is new to the program this year. The baritone, who is portraying Papageno in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte,” {…}
It was backstage at the Washington National Opera Gala after a star-studded evening. The stars standing outside their dressing rooms receiving backstage guests as they started to accumulate at the bottom of the stairs in their evening wear. That’s where we caught WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, who had, as she is known to do, watched the entire show from {…}
Baritone John Holland is returning to the Prague Summer Nights Festival for the third with his participation this year. As an alumnus of the program, the baritone has performed numerous roles including Masetto in “Don Giovanni” at the Estates Theatre in Prague, Vodník in “Rusalka” in the Czech Republic, Belcore in “L’Elisir D’Amore,” Alberich in “Der Ring Des Nibelungen” with {…}
A few years ago, tenor Paul Appleby made headlines for a potent and powerful showcase in Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress.” Little did he know that that role debut would turn out to be a major calling card in his career. He is now heading into his third major production of the opera at the Festival Aix-en-Provence and is finding the {…}
Celso Albelo possesses a glorious instrument that allows him to sing a wide range of bel canto operas with great ease. But in speaking with the tenor, it became very clear that he doesn’t take a single thing for granted. He might be able to whip up a few phrases without thinking about it or throw off the highest of {…}
The Prague Summer Nights is underway and OperaWire will be providing extensive coverage of the showcase. Produced by Classical Movements, the festival seeks to promote young artists with John Nardilillo as its artistic director and conductor. Nardolillo has appeared with numerous orchestras including the Seattle, San Francisco, Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, National, Utah, Columbus, Oregon, Fort Worth, Alabama, North Carolina, Toledo, Vermont {…}
From South Africa to America. Between those two countries is a vast ocean and traversing from the former to the latter presents a number of major challenges, not only physical, but emotional and economic. Opera is rife with characters battling the ocean on their way to success or tragedy. Just to name a few are the characters in Jake Heggie’s {…}
Creamy. Sweet. Intense. Warm. Thick. Bubbly. Dark. Light. Potent. Vibrant. Any one of those words could be used to describe an operatic voice. But as Matt Burns, founder of Magnum Opus Tasting Concerts (spelled officially Magnvm Opvs” to emphasize “voice” and “vine”), could tell you, they can also be used to represent wine. With his project, founded rather recently, the {…}
Opera requires a singer to perform in numerous languages. This can be daunting for anyone who does not speak any given tongue or does not have a connection to the corresponding culture. While some singers overcome this challenge by learning as much as is needed for a given piece, others feel that total immersion is the key to success. Case {…}