The Bard SummerScape has announced its 2020 season celebrating the Life and Times of Pioneering Parisian Polymath Nadia Boulanger, with Seven-Week Arts Festival in New York’s Hudson Valley. For the purpose of this article we will only focus on the vocal performances. Opera This season will mark the first fully-staged American presentation of Chausson’s “King Arthur,” directed by award-winner Mary {…}
The Longborough Festival Opera has announced its 2020 season. Following Longborough’s acclaimed “Das Rheingold,” the company continues its presentation of Wagner’s Ring with “Die Walküre,” conducted by Longborough’s Music Director Anthony Negus and directed by Amy Lane. The cast is set to include Mark Le Brocq, Sarah Marie Kramer, Paul Carey Jones, Madeleine Shaw, Lee Bisset, and Julian Close. Performance {…}
(Credit: James Weber/ Merri Cyr) The Festival Napa Valley has announced its 2020 slate which features a wide range of unique musical performances. For the purpose of this article, we will only focus on vocal performances. The opening night showcase will be headlined by baritone Thomas Hampson, who will perform “Song of America.” The concert, which will also feature pianist {…}
Mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey is set to perform an Alice Tully Hall Vocal Arts Recital on April 1, 2020. The mezzo-soprano will be joined by pianist Brian Zeger as they interpret Haydn’s “Arianna a Naxos,” Berg’s “Sieben frühe Lieder,” Berlioz’s “Les nuits d’été,” Obradors “En el pinar” and “El vito,” and Nin’s “El amor es como un niño” and “El Jilguerito {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera) The Metropolitan Opera has confirmed that Francois Girard will direct the upcoming production of Wagner’s “Lohengrin.” The New York Times reported the update on Girard’s forthcoming project with the Met. Girard’s staging will be made in collaboration with the Bolshoi, which was announced in 2017 alongside new renditions of “Salome” and “Aida.” This “Lohengrin” {…}
(Credit: Dario Acosta) The Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced major cast changes for its upcoming Ring Cycle with two bass-baritones replacing Eric Owens in the role of Wotan. Owens has withdrawn to receive treatment for ongoing health issues. In his stead, audiences will hear baritone Brian Mulligan in “Das Rheingold.” Mulligan was previously scheduled to appear as Donner, a {…}
(Credit: Karen Almond/ Dallas Opera) “…[A] dramatist of considerable dramatic sophistication, capable of great irony in his musical treatment,” so says Stephen Lawless of Gaetano Donizetti. The comment appears in a director’s note in the program booklet for Los Angeles Opera’s production of Donizetti’s “Roberto Devereux” which opened Feb. 22 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. A Stunning Production & Leader {…}
(credit: Jiyang Chen) Opera Naples has announced its casting for its final production of the 2019-20 season. The company has revealed that Norwegian conductor Rune Bergmann will lead Mozart and Da Ponte’s “Don Giovanni” on April 29 and 30, 2002 at the Artis-Naples Center. In the title role, audiences will hear Xiaomeng Zhang. David Crawford will appear as Leporello with {…}
The San Francisco Opera has announced that it has received a gift of $6 million from Tad and Dianne Taube to support the company’s general director position. As such, the position will now be known as the Tad and Dianne Taube General Director. Matthew Shivlock, who has been the company’s seventh general director is now the first to hold that {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera) This week, the Metropolitan Opera opens a new production of “Der Fliegende Holländer” bringing a superb cast and a stellar team to one of the great German operas. One of the most anticipated parts of this new production, however, is undoubtedly the long overdue debut of soprano Anja Kampe. The German-Italian dramatic soprano is {…}
(Credit: Richard Termine / Met Opera) The role of Violetta in “La Traviata” is one of the most challenging in all of the repertory despite its ubiquity. As such, there are a lot of sopranos who manage to pull off the role, though few with overall great vocal and dramatic consistency on stage. But Lisette Oropesa, taking on the role {…}