The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced its 2017-18 season, which will feature a whopping six new productions and a total of 41 operas. The season opens in Japan in September with the “Così fan tutte” officially kicking things off in Munich at the end of the month. The New Productions The first new production of the year will be Mozart’s “Le {…}
I preface this by stating that this review is for the performance on March 31, 2017. I would also like to recognize that this is just one, performance of a seven-performance run. In an ideal situation, I would attend every performance and write a detailed review of the overall work. As it stands, I can only go on my perspective of one performance. Despite being such a familiar opera, {…}
The Tri-Cities Opera released their new 2017-18 season this past week at its Preview Gala. The company’s resident artists, including Soprano Stacey Geyer, Mezzo-Soprano Mary Beth Nelsom, Tenor Jordan Schreiner, and Baritone Scott, all teased the audience with selections from the upcoming productions. Puccini’s classic “La Bohème” will kickstart the season on Sunday, October 15th at the Fordum Theatre. The next {…}
April Fools Day is the day to prank fellow friends and enjoy watching them suffer under false assumptions. Of course, the clincher of a true April Fool’s joke is that you let the person know they have been fooled once it is all over. Opera’s greatest works are filled with characters playing massive pranks on one another, to the audience’s {…}
Patricia Racette has withdrawn from the Metropolitan Opera’s upcoming revival of Alfano’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” The Met announced that Racette had an abdominal hernia that would also cause her to cancel her scheduled Singer’s Studio Masterclass and conversation at the Bruno Walter Auditorium. As a result, Jennifer Rowley will replace Racette in the role of Roxanne. Rowley made her Met {…}
A year ago, the name Ryan Speedo Green might not be quite the household name that it has become. The bass, born on April 1, 1986, has had a whirlwind of a year. From his high-profile turn at the Metropolitan Opera in “La Bohème” to the release of “Sing for Your Life: A Story of Race, Music and Family,” a {…}
LA Opera’s Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program will have a new shining Artistic Advisor, internationally renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham. Graham will be in residence for 10 full weeks, and possibly longer, providing leadership counseling and guidance for the younger rising stars in the LA Opera. She will specifically help out with their skills, methodologies and philosophy departments of having a long-lasting {…}
Sergei Rachmaninoff’s claim to fame is the piano. His virtuosic ability as a performer was always admired, but his piano concertos are the legacy that keeps on giving. Today, his second and third piano concertos are fixtures of the instrument’s repertoire and have been for the past century. But Rachmaninoff was also a composer of other works, including several orchestral {…}
Dmitri Hvorostovsky has confirmed that he will return to the stage in April for a joint concert with Anna Netrebko. The baritone, who is fighting a brain tumor plans to appear on stage twice on April 25 and April 29. The first concert will take place in Toronto with Netrebko and her husband Yusif Eyvazov at the Four Seasons featuring arias, {…}
Anna Netrebko will perform Strauss’ “Salome” at the Metropolitan Opera in a future season. The news was revealed in an interview with Music Director Designate Yannick Nezet-Seguin. The New York Times also revealed that for Nezet-Seguin’s first season the company will open with Verdi’s “Aida,” starring Netrebko in a new production. The interview also revealed that Nezet-Seguin wants to perform {…}
Sonya Yoncheva has canceled two concerts from her “Baroque Heroines tour.” The soprano announced on Facebook that due to contractual issues she would not perform in Munich nor Vienna. She stated, “I am very sorry that after a year of preparations and rehearsals two of my four ‘Baroque Heroines’ concerts had to be canceled. Unfortunately, the promoter ‘München Musik’ and {…}