(Photo Credit: Chris Gonz) In 1994, when he was 10 years old, Julian Prégardien sang the role of the First Boy as a member of the Limburger Domsingknaben, performing in “Die Zauberflöte” all around the Frankfurt region. Fast forward more than 20 years to 2010 when Prégardien, whose career has seen him perform for the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Staatsoper Hamburg, Bayerische {…}
(Photo: Frances Marshall) With Ireland’s Blackwater Valley Opera Festival about to get underway, OperaWire thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up with mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty, who will be playing the role of Sesto in the festival’s headline presentation, Handel’s “Giulio Cesare.” 2024 is proving to be a busy year for Carty. She has had a full calendar, {…}
(Photo credit: David Allen) Romanian baritone Eugene Brancoveanu recently returned to Opera San Jose for the title role of “Rigoletto” as a Resident Artist Emeritus. It’s a role he has performed on numerous occasions and one that he continues to explore with each production. His return to Opera San Jose was also special as he has been with the company {…}
(Photo credit: Leonor Anthony) Hours before her final debut performance as Mimì in Florida Grand Opera’s “La Bohème,” soprano Rebecca Krynski Cox announced via Instagram that she is nine months pregnant. Cox and Florida Grand Opera’s General Director Maria Todaro spoke with OperaWire about working together through this process and on the importance of supporting women and pregnant people within {…}
Marco Angioloni is not a name that is particularly well-known to Italian audiences. Having left Italy 12 years ago to study in Paris, he then chose to establish his career in France and now rarely returns to the country of his birth, at least not for professional reasons. A thoughtful and careful singer, Angioloni has developed his talents in line {…}
(Photo credit: Claudia Greco) Opera singers, for the most part, seem to take on certain characteristics of the role they are portraying. But the French mezzo-soprano, Virginie Verrez, does not just portray the role—she becomes it. No matter what she is singing, Verrez enchants the listener and has the gift of taking one at once into her world which she {…}
(Photo: Christopher Wallace) In 2021, OperaWire reviewed a splendid concert presentation of Handel’s “Ariodante” at the Göttingen Handel Festival. With a strong cast, which included star names such as Marie Lys and Emily Fons. Quality performances were certainly expected, and they did not disappoint. However, it was soprano Rachel Redmond, whom I had previously never heard sing, in the role {…}
(© Photo: Ben Wolf) Chilean-American tenor Jonathan Tetelman released his second Deutsche Grammophon album “The Great Puccini,” and made his Metropolitan Opera debut just over six months apart. He spoke with OperaWire about his recent success and the power of Puccini. Tetelman made his Met debut in the role of Ruggero in “La Rondine,” and will be returning as Pinkerton {…}
(Credit: Fay Fox) Few works of American literature have had quite the impact of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.” Published in 1939, the seminal Pulitzer Prize-winning novel focuses on a poor family of tenant farmers, the Joads, as they are driven from their homes and forces to face the difficult world of the Great Depression. The film received an {…}