On July 17, the Northern Lights Music Festival will open its socially distanced production of Puccini’s “Tosca.” It will mark the first U.S staged opera production since the March lockdown due to COVID-19. The festival has lined up an all-star cast, which will include acclaimed baritone Daniel Sutin, who will take on the role of Scarpia. Sutin, who is well {…}
Credit: Dahlia Katz Composed for only two performers, the first opera written about the life of legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré received its world premiere this past February in Toronto. Tapestry Opera, the only Canadian company dedicated to the creation, development, and performance of original Canadian operas, presented the first five performances of “Jacqueline” by Luna Pearl Woolf and Pulitzer {…}
Justin Werner thought his path in the opera world would be focused on performing. But early on in his training, he came to terms with the fact that it might not be the right path for him. He moved into production with the independent opera company New York Opera Exchange (he also founded the Independent Student Opera Initiative at Boston {…}
Kevin Short is one of today’s most versatile bass-baritones performing at some of the world’s greatest theaters and taking on leading roles in a wide variety of repertoire from Verdi to Gershwin to Stravinsky. In the summer, he was scheduled to perform the title role in Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s world premiere opera “Castor and Patience” at the {…}
(Credit: Harold Shapiro) On July 9, the Caramoor Festival will present a Livestream event entitled “Listening to Tom-Tom.” The event will be an in-depth exploration of Shirley Graham Du Bois’ opera, “Tom-Tom,” the first opera written and staged by an African American woman. The work has not been produced since its initial run in 1932 and all that survives of {…}
“I am Khumn!” These were the first words ever spoken on stage by baritone Michael Hewitt. The phrase is one you might expect from the Narrator in “Akhnaten” but not in a fifth-grade educational history play about ancient Egypt. According to Hewitt, his entrance was dramatic and well-received. He recounted striding to center stage, dressed from head-to-toe in black and shrouded in dense fog. {…}
On July 9, the Caramoor Festival will present a Livestream event entitled “Listening to Tom-Tom.” The event will be an in-depth exploration of Shirley Graham Du Bois’ opera, “Tom-Tom,” the first opera written and staged by an African American woman. The work has not been produced since its initial run in 1932 and all that survives of the score is {…}
Since the members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra were furloughed, the orchestra has launched a fundraising initiative in order to channel its energy into education and engagement through teaching and performing. The fundraising campaign was created in order for the orchestra to be able to do outreach programs and to create new events and concerts during these times of COVID-19. {…}
Back in 2018, baritone Jonathan Estabrooks received a call from Lynne Block, the daughter of pre-eminent bass-baritone Simon Estes. She wanted to see if Estabrooks would work with her on a short documentary about her father’s life. Estabrooks, an internationally renowned performer, was also actively involved in the recording industry, creating music-related documentaries, hybrid music videos, and directing a TV {…}