Opera fans in San Diego have a real treat in store. Ana María Martínez, one of opera’s foremost interpreters of Mimì, the beloved heroine of Puccini/Illica’s “La Bohème,” has come to town to wow audiences at the Pechanga Arena Parking Lot from October 24 – November 1. The Grammy Award® winning soprano has sung Mimì for nearly 25 years to {…}
Baritone Kenneth Overton recently performed for the first time in front of a live audience at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. The performance, entitled “To America,” celebrated the poetry of the civil rights activist, James Weldon Johnson, an early leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and who is buried at Green-Wood. “To America” {…}
(Credit: Jenkins Mitch) A few months back, it was erroneously reported by several publications (including this one) that soprano Marina Poplavskaya had officially retired from her career. That was far from the case. While the Russian mezzo-soprano has not been quite as active as she was at the beginning of the 2010s, she is far from finished as a singer. {…}
(Credit: Ray Burmiston/Decca Classics) “I hope that we will be more grateful for the fact that we get to do what we do, that we can sit next to each other in a concert hall and have some more respect for others when they’re not feeling great or are down. We need to come out of this pandemic more supportive {…}
(Credit: Natalia Sedinta) Moldovan soprano Natalia Tanasii was only 21 when she made her professional stage debut as Countess Almaviva (“Le nozze di Figaro”) at the Moldovan National Opera. Her unforgettable Salzburg Festival debut followed in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s staging of “Elektra” this year. In an interview with OperaWire, Ms. Tanasii discussed her career moves, repertoire choices, and her preparation process {…}
(Credit: Michael Cooper) “People are craving music and all the healing, soothing, and bonding elements it provides.” American-Canadian soprano superstar Sondra Radvanovsky was in Rio de Janeiro on March 13, 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world in full force. Radvanovsky was slated to perform at the Theatro Municipal, but the performance ended up being canceled. Faced with a {…}
Jacquelyn Wagner has become synonymous with the works of Mozart, Wagner, Strauss, and Weber. She has been hailed for her “lovely clean and focused sound” and for her “vocal command.” A leading soprano in the world, Wagner has performed at some of the leading opera houses including the Paris Opera, the Teatro alla Scala, the Zurich Opera House, the Gran {…}
(Credit: Guido Werner Photography) Young Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann currently has one of the most recognized and celebrated voices for Mozart’s operas, as well as Baroque repertoire. Already in her short career, she has performed at important international theatres such as La Scala in Milan, La Fenice Theater in Venice, and the opera houses of Zurich, Berlin, and the Salzburg {…}
(Credit: Doris Wild) Scottish mezzo-soprano Katie Coventry was facing what a lot of singers in the opera world have endured throughout 2020. As she sat in her apartment on lockdown waiting for some good news, she saw all of her professional engagements slowly disappear as the threat of COVID-19 continued to loom large. And then she got the call from {…}
(Credit: Ben Wright Photography) This year marked the 100th anniversary of the renowned Salzburg Festival in Austria. A critical milestone for the festival, they chose to still responsibly present the event this summer, albeit with a severely reduced program and heightened safety and security in response to the global pandemic. British conductor Ivor Bolton lead the Mozarteumsorchester Salzburg performing a {…}
(Credit: Studio Amati_Bacciardi) Few singers have dominated the Rossini repertory in recent years the way Daniella Barcellona has. She debuted at the Rossini Festival in 1999 in the title role of “Tancredi,” and has since appeared in recordings of such works as “Sigismondo,” “La Donna del Lago,” “Il Viaggio a Reims,” “Adelaide of Borgogna,” and “Bianca de Falliero;” she has {…}