There’s a big conversation going on in the world of opera (and at large) about the need for women to come to the forefront of the creative process. Not only managing opera houses or in a leading role, but also in creating new and refreshing works that tell new and inciting stories. More people like Marisa Michelson, who aside from {…}
“It might be good to have opera in ‘country music’ country.” Former Knoxville Opera Board Member Brenda Maupin recalls the thinking of Edward Zambara, the late bass-baritone and University of Tennessee Voice Department Chair. In 1976, with help from the city of Knoxville and opera lovers on the Greater Knoxville Arts Council, he founded Knoxville Civic Opera and became its {…}
Since winning the international singing competition ‘As. Li. Co’ in Milan, things have only been on the rise for baritone Franco Vassallo. He’s turned into one of the foremost intepreters of the bel canto repertoire of Donizetti and Bellini, as well as many Verdi, and has sung at La Scala Milan, the Vienna Staatsoper, and the Metropolitan Opera New York. {…}
Next Sunday, March 25, New York audiences will get to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event as Harry Bicket and The English Concert takes the stage of Carnegie Hall with a superstar cast. While the likes Luca Pisaroni, Jane Archibald, and Iestyn Davies are likely to have everyone’s attention before the showcase, it is another artist that could also steal some of {…}
Soprano Hyesang Park is a star on the rise. Currently represented by IMG Artists, the South Korean artist has amassed a tremendous career to this point. Not only has she been a part of the Met Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program and won the coveted Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award, but she has also appeared in a number of major {…}
Massimo Cavalletti is one of the most accomplished baritones of his generation, singing in every major opera house in the world including the Teatro alla Scala, Salzburg Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Opéra de Paris, among others. For years, he has performed many of the great lyric baritone roles to strong success and has recently begun to add heavier roles to {…}
Elaine Alvarez always knew she was destined for the stage. Or if she didn’t, her mother Yasmin Alvarez certainly did. The soprano, who is slated to make her role debut in “Florencia en el Amazonas” at the San Diego Opera (her house debut, incidentally) grew up in a musical atmosphere that nurtured this potential. In a recent interview with OperaWire {…}
A few years ago, Amanda Majeski got the opportunity of a lifetime. Most singers wait a ton of time before getting a shot at opening the Metropolitan Opera season. Many singers never get that opportunity at all. But there was Majeski on Sept. 22, 2014. Richard Eyre’s massive set for “Le Nozze di Figaro” was rotating to reveal the Countess’ {…}
Anywhere you look these days, you might find some major opera company programming “As One,” an opera by composer Laura Kaminsky and written by noted librettist Mark Campbell and filmmaker Kimberly Reed. The work, which depicts the journey of transformation for a transgender woman has mystified and engaged numerous audiences around the United States since it world premiere on Sept. {…}