Credit: Michele Monasta Over the past years, María José Siri’s status in the opera world has grown due to her historical performances all around the world. At the Ópera de Palmas, she became the first soprano to encore with the company. She subsequently became the first soprano in the Arena di Verona’s history to perform both roles in “Cavalleria Rusticana” {…}
(Credit: © Alex Schröder) This summer, after 40 years onstage, legendary soprano Nelly Miricioiu said goodbye to her performance career with concerts at Wigmore Hall and in Bucharest. The Romanian soprano was well-known for her interpretations in the bel canto and verismo repertoire and performed at all the leading opera houses in the world including the Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan {…}
(Photo: Jean Philippe Raibaud) Italian Soprano Carmen Giannattasio has been in huge demand by all the major opera houses and companies around Europe and the USA after taking First Prize and the Audience Award at Placido Domingo’s Operalia, Paris in 2002. Her potential was first acknowledged when her piano teacher advised that she had an operatic voice and persuaded her {…}
(Photo: Roxanne Matiz) What was the first opera you ever attended? It was an operetta, “No, no Nanette” by Youmans. What was the first opera you performed in? Offenbach’s “Orphée en Enfers.” I played Euridice. In what opera are you currently performing? “Le Comte Ory.” What is the next opera you are scheduled to perform? “I Capuletti e I Montecchi” {…}
(Photo: Olivier Metzger) One of the many stars appearing at this summer’s Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro is the French soprano Julie Fuchs, who is making her festival debut as La Comtesse Adèle in “Le Comte Ory.” Known for her dazzling singing, versatile acting and innate musicality she has wowed audiences in both concert halls and theaters across Europe in {…}
On July 20, the New Jersey Symphony will perform at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. The performance will see Maestra Xian Zhang conducting the featured soloists Shanghai Isaac Stern-winning violinist Nancy Zhou (violin), Chopin-competition prize-winner Chelsea Guo (piano), Esther Maureen Kelly (soprano), and Yongzhao Yu (tenor) in a program entitled “East/West: A Symphonic Celebration.” The program will feature a wide variety of music inspired by China and {…}
(Photo: Patrick Browne) Opera in Ireland has recently been going through a boom time. Whereas only a few years ago, Irish singers were being forced to look abroad to establish a career, owing to the lack of opportunities at home, now, with the emergence of Opera Collective Ireland, the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, and, most significantly, Irish National Opera, along {…}
(© 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 {…}