(Credit: © Alex Schröder) This summer, after 40 years onstage, legendary soprano Nelly Miricioiu said goodbye to her performance career with concerts at Wigmore Hall and in Bucharest. The Romanian soprano was well-known for her interpretations in the bel canto and verismo repertoire and performed at all the leading opera houses in the world including the Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan {…}
(Photo: Jean Philippe Raibaud) Italian Soprano Carmen Giannattasio has been in huge demand by all the major opera houses and companies around Europe and the USA after taking First Prize and the Audience Award at Placido Domingo’s Operalia, Paris in 2002. Her potential was first acknowledged when her piano teacher advised that she had an operatic voice and persuaded her {…}
Fresh off a successful run of Heggie and Scheer’s “Three Decembers,” the Berkshire Opera Fest is set to open the main stage production of “Don Giovanni” at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA, on August 20th. 2022. The show will have additional performances on August 23 and 26. In this round table-style interview, OperaWire spoke with Co-founders Jonathon Loy and Brian {…}
(Photo: Daniel Welch) Italian/American composer and librettist Mark Adamo has just enjoyed the UK premiere of his opera, “Little Women” at Opera Holland Park. Although written in 1998, it has taken 24 years to be performed on British soil and was warmly received throughout. At the time of its composition, Adamo noted: “I recognized that ‘Little Women’ itself solves certain {…}
(Photo: Roxanne Matiz) What was the first opera you ever attended? It was an operetta, “No, no Nanette” by Youmans. What was the first opera you performed in? Offenbach’s “Orphée en Enfers.” I played Euridice. In what opera are you currently performing? “Le Comte Ory.” What is the next opera you are scheduled to perform? “I Capuletti e I Montecchi” {…}
(Photo: Olivier Metzger) One of the many stars appearing at this summer’s Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro is the French soprano Julie Fuchs, who is making her festival debut as La Comtesse Adèle in “Le Comte Ory.” Known for her dazzling singing, versatile acting and innate musicality she has wowed audiences in both concert halls and theaters across Europe in {…}
Whether one wishes it to be true, contemporary opera and those who create it have an undeniable responsibility to engage with the world and its many polemics and difficulties. Although not a new concept, having been liberated from its purely entertainment existence so many centuries ago, the operatic genre now fully occupies the role of participant and commentator within an {…}
On July 20, the New Jersey Symphony will perform at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. The performance will see Maestra Xian Zhang conducting the featured soloists Shanghai Isaac Stern-winning violinist Nancy Zhou (violin), Chopin-competition prize-winner Chelsea Guo (piano), Esther Maureen Kelly (soprano), and Yongzhao Yu (tenor) in a program entitled “East/West: A Symphonic Celebration.” The program will feature a wide variety of music inspired by China and {…}
(Photo: Patrick Browne) Opera in Ireland has recently been going through a boom time. Whereas only a few years ago, Irish singers were being forced to look abroad to establish a career, owing to the lack of opportunities at home, now, with the emergence of Opera Collective Ireland, the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, and, most significantly, Irish National Opera, along {…}