(© Sim Canetty-Clarke) At the pinnacle of the song cycle is Schubert’s “Winterreise.” It is a work that has been mythologized and has influenced generations of composers thereafter including Mahler, Britten, and Maury Yeston to name just a few. While written for tenor, it has nonetheless been recorded and performed by lower male voices as well as a plethora {…}
(Credit: CraigGibson) Originally having trained as a baritone, Freddie De Tommaso is an Anglo-Italian tenor from Tunbridge Wells who went from working in his Father’s High Street Italian restaurant to some of the great opera houses of the world. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and his star was launched when he won the Plácido Domingo Tenor Prize {…}
Praised for her unwavering vocal stamina, character portrayal, technique, and sublime timbral quality, Joyce El-Khoury has become one of the leading bel canto sopranos of our time. Not only an expressive dramaturge and highly sought after classical singer, but additionally a champion for classical singing advocacy in her home country of Lebanon with her “Lessons for Lebanon” work, El-Khoury epitomizes {…}
(Photos Courtesy of Pam Chaddon, Chamber Orchestra of the Springs / Taken during rehearsal) Back in February, Eapen Leubner’s Art Song Colorado presented “Voices of the African Diaspora,” a concert dedicated to Black composers throughout the centuries. Audiences had the chance to listen to works by Joseph Bologne, H. Leslie Adams, George Walker, Jessie Montgomery, Andre Myers, and Undine Smith {…}
Perhaps no other figure in the history of the baroque period was so transformative, productive, and instrumental in the development of England’s musical heritage than Henry Purcell. He was a composer whose legacy is, somewhat remarkably, both famous and forgotten the world round. Having been born into a musical family—beginning his musical career as a boy chorister at the Chapel {…}
(Credit: Nina Close) Alexander Chance is a fast-rising singer who became the first countertenor to win the International Handel Singing Competition. He has performed at Wigmore Hall, Musikfest Bremen, Nargenfestival in Tallinn, and The Grange Festival, among others. This season as he continues his rise with performances in Ravenna, Japan, Munich, Tel Aviv, and Prague, among many others. OperaWire had a {…}
Credit: Karjaka Studios “As more people transition, the [opera] industry is going to realize that transgender singers are just like any other singers. I was transphobic in my own beliefs and thought; ‘The voice will be less. It won’t be operatic in quality.’ There are some risks, of course, but I have the same lyric baritone range as a lyric {…}
(Credit: Marine Cessat-Bégler) Adriana González’s life changed in 2019. The lyric soprano competed in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition as one of 20 singers before heading over to Operalia and taking home first prize in both the opera and zarzuela competitions. Since then, her career has taken off in rapid succession with the soprano appearing in leading {…}
(Photo: Brescia/Amisano) Italian contralto Alessandra Visentin is a singer who tends to operate below the radar. Athough rarely in the headlines, she is a singer who is forging a very successful career. She performs in major opera houses, and has just recently released her first solo recording “Per la Signora Geltruda,” a CD of works by Vivaldi. Anyone who has {…}
Argentinean baritone Fabián Veloz is one of the most renowned opera artists in his country. His professional debut came in the South American premiere of “Estaba la Madre” at the Teatro Argentino in La Plata and he has gone on to perform with some of the major companies in the South American company including the Teatro Avenida, the Teatro Argentino, {…}
(Photo: R. Tinker) The ever-elusive Verdi baritone. A voice with a unique timbre, range, expressive quality, and psychological immersion that manages to let us into the lives of the composer’s most complex and complete characters. A lot of baritones aspire to this title, but it’s not in the cards for most of them. But it was for Todd Thomas. Just {…}