Lili Elbe’s story is an important one, especially for the Transgender community. Born in 1882, Elbe became a noted painter (known as Einar Wegener) and married Gerda Gottlieb in 1904. By the 1920s, Elbe was presenting herself as a woman and took on the name of Lili and stopped painting. In 1930, she went to Germany for gender-affirmation surgery, changed {…}
(Photo: Maria Rosenblatt) With the start of the Wexford Festival Opera now only a matter of days away, OperaWire has been busy with recent interviews featuring some of the artists involved. One of the more intriguing productions at this year’s festival is “La Ciociara,” set in Italy during the Second World War. Having just interviewed its composer, we thought it {…}
(© Laura Scaccabarozzi) When you talk about Verdi baritones in the modern era, few singers fit the bill quite like Amartuvshin Enkhbat. The Mongolian baritone possesses a potent voice with a confident upper range that can then transform into the most gentle of vocal caresses. His vast vocal palette has made him a go-to in the Italian composer’s iconic roles. {…}
This past week Latonia Moore opened the Metropolitan Opera season for the third time in her career, singing the role of Sister Rose in “Dead Man Walking.” Moore has become one of the most acclaimed Met stars in the past years following powerful turns in “Porgy and Bess,” “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” and “Aida.” She has been praised {…}
(Photo: Amati Bacciardi) Soprano Anastasia Bartoli is a rising star on the Italian and European opera scene. Over the course of this year alone, she has received a string of glowing reviews including her performance as Cristina in “Eduardo e Cristina” at the Rossini Opera Festival. In October she will be performing Lucrezia in Verdi’s “I Due Foscari” at Venice’s {…}
On Sept. 10, Ramon Vargas celebrated his 40th anniversary as a singer in a gala at the theater where he first debuted, the Palacio de las Bellas Artes. Since that debut in 1983, Vargas has gone on to sing at every major theater in the world including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, and many {…}
Few artists in the opera world today are as versatile as mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. Just take a look at the two-time Grammy Award winner’s upcoming 2023-24 season and you’ll find performances of classics such as “Don Giovanni” and “Messiah,” alongside newer works such as “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.” Last season was no different with Cooke navigating works by Mozart, {…}
For many, Kathryn Lewek IS the Queen of the Night. She holds the record for most performances of the role at the Metropolitan Opera and has taken her interpretation of the famed villain to opera houses such as the Royal Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, and the Gran Teatre del Liceu, among many, many others. This summer, she will {…}
(Photo © Rikimaru Hotta) When he was 10-years-old, Kazushi Ōno went to the opera for the first time. What opera did he witness? “La Traviata.” He was hooked. This led him to study at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music before he headed off to Germany to study as a scholar of the Japanese Ministry of Culture {…}
With less than a month to go before the start of Pesaro’s Rossini Opera Festival, OperaWire met up with one of this season’s stars, mezzo-soprano Raffaella Lupinacci, who will be playing the role of Arsace in Rossini’s opera seria “Aureliano in Palmira,” which premiered at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in 1813. Although it is not one of Rossini’s better-known operas, {…}
It all started in high school for mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon. Since her father was in the military, Dixon was constantly on the move with her family. Eventually, they settled in Georgia, where Dixon “begged” her parents to put her in the choir so that she could spend some time with friends she had just made. “Little did we know it {…}