Samantha Hankey has won the Dallas Vocal competition. The Mezzo-soprano, who won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, was awarded a $10,000 Grand Prize, presented by competition Co-Chairs Patsy and Bob Brooks. Meanwhile, second place went to Laura Wilde with a $5,000 Prize and third prize went to soprano Mane Galoya, who won $2,500. The $1,000 “People’s Choice Award” was awarded {…}
Librettist and playwright, William M. Hoffman has passed away. The distinguished writer and professor at Lehman College, who wrote the libretto for John Corigliano’s opera “The Ghosts of Versailles,” died at the age of 78. Hoffman’s libretto for the opera was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera in 1980 but the work itself was not staged at the company until 1991. {…}
The Glyndebourne Opera Festival has announced its 2018 schedule. The company announced that next season it will present Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” in Annilese Miskimmon’s Tour 2016 production. The production will make its Festival debut and will be conducted by Omer Meir Wellber. Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” will be revived with the 2014 Richard Jones production making its return. Robin Ticciati conducts. Following {…}
Sopranos dead by the final curtain are a dime a dozen; murderous sopranos are rarer; sopranos who slay murderous roles scarcer still. As “Tosca,” in the Canadian Opera Company’s revival of Puccini’s beloved work which opened on April 30th, Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka died, murdered, and slayed, not necessarily in that order. A Triumphant Diva Her death should have been {…}
Angela Gheorghiu and Jonas Kaufmann will headline the Vienna State Opera’s upcoming live stream of Puccini’s “Tosca.” The event, which will take place on May 8, 2017, kicks off at 7 p.m. local time, ending at 9:45 p.m. local time. Kaufmann and Gheorghiu have performed many times together, most famously in this very opera in a production from the Royal {…}
Thank Saudi Arabia is set to create its own opera house and new cinemas in its upcoming reforms. Since the 1970s, the country has been without cinemas, which were banned due to the demands of the clerical establishment. But the country’s government has opted to move ahead with cultural reforms known as “Vision 2030,” as announced by Deputy Crown Prince {…}
Did you know that Gregory Kunde is the only tenor in the history of opera to sing both Verdi and Rossini’s “Otello” within a two-week span? In fact, only one other tenor, Roberto Stagno, sang both roles, but it took him 10 years to complete the feat. But that is ultimately what makes Kunde such a special artist. At one {…}
On May 5, 2015, The Opera Platform will showcase Ginastera’s “Bomarzo” live from the Teatro Real de Madrid. This is the first Spanish production for the opera by the Argentine composer. The opera, his Opus 34, had its premiere in 1967 in Washington D.C. It was supposed to premiere in Argentina’s Teatro Colón that very year but the president of {…}
Something is not right at the Teatro Colón in Argentina. Just two months after the company was struck by high drama revolving around the troubled contract with soprano Angela Gheorghiu, another top singer has walked out on the company. And this time, the blow strikes close to home. Argentine tenor Marcelo Alvarez was expected to sing his signature role “Andrea {…}
On Tuesday, May 2, 2017, the Metropolitan Opera will revive Alfano’s “Cyrano de Bergerac.” The opera doesn’t have a massive history with the company, its first ever performance with the company coming only a decade ago. On May 13, 2005, Alfano’s masterwork got its Metropolitan Opera premiere, a rather shocking surprise considering the opera’s premiere took place in 1936. The Met {…}
The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of “Der Rosenkavalier” by Robert Carsen is as high stakes as it gets these days for the company in both the short and long-term view. In the short-term view, this production is the punctuation on the current season, its final new staging. It will also be the final HD performance of the season, and more {…}