(Credit: Diana Guledani) 2022 was a year of difficulty for Andrei Kymach. His family were in Ukraine when Russia invaded, beginning a war which has now lasted for over nine months. The baritone immediately spoke out against the war and has continued to use his voice to bring attention to it. In many ways, he has become an operatic hero {…}
Back in 1983, Hao Jiang Tian arrived in New York from Beijing with $35 in his pocket and limited communication skills in English. One of his first stops from that trip was the Metropolitan Opera where he witnessed a performance of “Ernani” with Luciano Pavarotti. A decade later, Tian would take the stage with the famed Italian singer as part {…}
Japan Society will premiere Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang’s newly commissioned opera, “note to a friend,” as part of the 10th Anniversary of the Prototype Festival in January 2023. This new work reimagines three texts written by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and navigates the nuanced complexities of a human being’s perspective on his own life and afterlife. OperaWire visited more with Lang about {…}
(Photo:Robert Piwko ) Only a matter of weeks ago, OperaWire reviewed Wexford Festival Opera’s production of Félicien David’s neglected opera “Lalla-Roukh,” in which the Northern Irish baritone Ben McAteer caught the attention with a beautifully sung and brilliantly acted performance in the role of Baskir. The review noted that he had “a real flairfor the comic, with his timing invariably {…}
One of the delights from this year’s Janáček Festival was the Brno Conservatory’s production of a work entitled “The Weeping Fountain.” It was a short opera, lasting approximately one hour, which explored the relationship between the composer and his daughter Olga Janáčeková, focusing on the letters she sent to him whilst spending time away from home in St Petersburg. The {…}
Aleksandra Kurzak’s early singing career saw her perform as a specialist in lyric and coloratura soprano roles before moving into heavier roles in 19th-century Romantic and verismo operas. The 2004-05 season saw her have two hugely successful debuts, at the Metropolitan Opera House and the Royal Opera House. She has since sung many leading roles in opera houses throughout the {…}
Jiří Rajniš belongs to the youngest generation of operatic singers from the Czech Republic. From an early age, the baritone was exposed to music from his parents who were also opera singers. He then went on to study in the U.S. and became a member of the Junges Ensemble at the Semperoper Dresden. Over the last few years, he has {…}
(Photo: Patrick Redmond) Soprano Kelli-Ann Masterson continues to notch up wonderful reviews for her performances across Ireland with Irish National Opera, Opera Collective Ireland, Blackwater Valley Festival and Wexford Festival Opera. At present, she is on tour with Irish National Opera wowing audiences with her Norina in the company’s riotous “Don Pasquale” OperaWire: What was the first opera you saw? {…}
Composer, librettist, and singer Ashi Day is a composer with a strong penchant for revitalizing opera’s antiquarian stories and gender hierarchy. As one of the eight women to receive funding as part of Opera America’s Opera Grants for Women Composers (OGWC), her present chamber opera project, “Waking the Witch” is scheduled to receive its first workshop performance December 9-10th at {…}