This week we continue our celebration of pride month. We’ve now looked at some of the most popular LGBT operas and commemorated Harvey Milk and Stonewall. Now OperaWire looks at some of the legendary composers in opera and classical music who were part of the LGBT community. Some of these composers were unfortunately never able to be open about their {…}
American musicologist and historian Philip Gossett has died at 75. Gossett dedicated his career and interest to 19th-century Italian opera, a path that had its beginnings when he started listening to the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts in his youth. Gossett became an authority on the operas of Rossini and Verdi and advised many productions of the Rossini Opera Festival in Italy. He went {…}
Monglia’s Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar will move on to the final round of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Main Prize. The baritone defeated tenor Konstantin Lee, mezzo Sione Gwen Davies, Ivan Thirion, and mezzo Miriam Albano to get among the five finalists for the big showcase. His repertoire for the main prize included Rodrigo’s final two arias from Verdi’s “Don {…}
Starting on Friday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m., EDT, Apotheosis Opera presents Strauss’ “Capriccio,” with a follow-up performance on Sunday, June 18 at 3:00 p.m. EDT. The last opera by the great German composer allows the audience to get a glimpse of what happens behind the scenes in theater while positing important philosophical questions about the relationship between music and {…}
Kelsey Grammer will make his opera debut. The TV actor will make his debut in the Los Angeles Opera’s 2017-18 production of “Candide,” which is slated to celebrate Leonard Bernstein’s centennial. Grammer will take on the roles of Voltaire, author of the 1759 satirical novella, and Dr. Pangloss, the famously upbeat guru to the book’s title character. Grammer is a 16-time Emmy {…}
Anna Netrebko will return to the Bolshoi Theater in January 2018 as the eponymous Manon Lescaut in Puccini’s opera of the same name. It marks the soprano’s return to the role, which she last sang at the Metropolitan Opera in November. It also marks her return to the theater, where she made her debut in October 2016 in the same {…}
The Song Prize finalists for the Cardiff Singer of the World competition have been announced. The five people competing in the final round of this segment include John Chest, Catriona Morison, Iurii Samoilov, Louise Alder, and Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar. Chest got through primarily on American songs that included “At the River” and “Simple Gifts,” both arranged by Aaron Copland. He also {…}
San Francisco Opera’s “Don Giovanni” brings us bass-baritones with gusto, sopranos with flair, a tenor who pleads his case with feeling, and an opera that never ceases to amaze. Opening SFO’s 2017 summer season, Jacopo Spirei, in his SFO debut, offers us the ever satisfying chestnut in as provocative and seductive a production as the Don himself. Who can {…}
Simon Keenlyside is slated to be named a Kammersänger at the Vienna State Opera next Monday. The baritone has performed with the company throughout the past 20 years. Among the operas he has appeared in are “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” “Eugene Onegin,” “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “La Traviata,” “Macbeth,” “Rigoletto,” “Don Giovanni,” “La Bohème,” “Wozzeck,” “Don Carlo,” “Billy Budd,” and {…}
There is some trouble over in Lithuania as Gintautas Kevisas, the director of the national opera and ballet, was fired from his position by the government on Monday night. Compounding the situation is the fact that Kevisas held the position for 15 years. According to reports, Kevisas faced accusations of making contracts on behalf of the national opera with his {…}
Carnegie Hall. One of the great artistic temples in the world. A place so rich in musical history and tradition that only the greatest artists get a chance to showcase their talents on that stage. “Carnegie is one of the halls I love performing in,” soprano Harolyn Blackwell told OperaWire. “It is just standing on that stage and you think {…}