Riccardo Muti, Anita Rachvelishvili & Francesco Meli Highlight Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 2020-21 Season

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2020-21 season with Riccardo Muti leading a number of important and rare works and international soloists. For this article we will highlight the vocal performances. A highlight of the year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth will be Riccardo Muti conducting the composer’s Missa solemnis. The maestro will conduct the Chicago {…}

Jan 29, 2020

Obituary: Mezzo-soprano Nedda Casei Passes Away At 87

(Credit: Met Opera Archives) Mezzo-soprano Nedda Casei has passed away at the age of 87. The soprano made her operatic debut at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in 1960, with her Teatro alla Scala debut coming that same year. From there she would go on to perform at a number of major opera houses including the Teatro San Carlo, {…}

Jan 29, 2020

Opéra de Paris Cancels Two Performances Set for January 29

(Credit: Opéra National de Paris) The Opéra National de Paris has canceled the presentation of Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” that was planned for January 29 at the Opéra Bastille, per the official statement on the company’s website. The cancellation came as a result of a strike notice against the French government’s pension reform. Rossini’s opera was set to star {…}

Jan 29, 2020

Diana Damrau, Simon Keenlyside & Florian Boesch To Be Featured In Wigmore Hall’s 2020-21 Season

(Credit: Jiyang Chen/ Robert Workman) Wigmore Hall has announced its 2020-21 Season with a number of recitals from some of the world’s greatest singers. The season will include a plethora of performances, including chamber music, song, piano, early music, contemporary music, and jazz. For this article, we will highlight singers. Some of the biggest highlights of the season will include {…}

Jan 29, 2020

Slovenian National Opera 2019-20 Review: The Maid Of Orleans

(Credit: SNG Opera/Darja Stravs Tisu) Performances of Tchaikovsky’s “The Maid of Orleans” are fairly rare, yet when it was premiered in 1881 it was considered to have been an unqualified success, and became the first of his operas to be staged outside Russia, in Prague the following year. It also proved to be his most ambitious opera, in which he {…}

Jan 29, 2020

Aleks Romano Headlines Pittsburgh Opera’s ‘Carmen’

(Credit: Cory Weaver) The Pittsburgh Opera is set to present Bizet’s “Carmen.” The production by Garnett Bruce is set to star Aleks Romano in the title role in her Pittsburgh debut and Scott Quinn as Don José. The cast is rounded out by Michael Todd Simpson as Escamillo and Danielle Pastin as Micaëla. Timothy Myers conducts the opera, which NPR {…}

Jan 29, 2020

Q & A: Kate Lindsey On Her Second Album ‘Arianna’ & ‘Agrippina’ At The Metropolitan Opera

(Credit: Rosetta Greek ) In 2017, Kate Lindsey released her first album “Thousands of Miles.” The album was comprised of songs by Kurt Weill and was a cross between classical music and Broadway. It was an experience that helped explore her voice and her technique in ways that she had never expected to and which posed new challenges that made {…}

Jan 29, 2020

Washington National Opera To Present ‘Blue’

The Washington National Opera is set to present the D.C. premiere of Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s poignant new opera “Blue.” The work is inspired by contemporary events and black literature, including Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Between the World and Me” and James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time.” Blue centers on the hopes and fears of a young black couple in Harlem {…}

Jan 29, 2020

Tucson Desert Song Festival 2020 Review: America Sings

On Saturday, January 25, 2020, the Tucson Desert Song Festival presented a concert of American songs by Metropolitan Opera bass Morris Robinson and Tucson choral group True Concord. American Folk Hymns The chorus opened with American Folk Hymns, the first of which was “How Firm a Foundation.” Collected by John Rippon, it is said to date to 1787. True Concord’s {…}

Jan 28, 2020

Utah Opera Announces its 2020-21 Season

Utah Opera Artistic Director Christopher McBeth today announced the programming and creative teams for Utah Opera 2020-21 season. Casting details will be announced at a later date. In this upcoming season, Utah Opera will showcase four operas at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre. Wagner’s opera “The Flying Dutchman” will open the season in October 2020, with the premiere on {…}

Jan 28, 2020

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Christine Goerke & Joyce DiDonato Lead Carnegie Hall’s 2020-21 Season

Carnegie Hall has announced its 2020-21 season featuring some of the greatest soloists and conductors in the world. For this article we will highlight the vocal performances of the season. Orchestras The season opens with the LA Philharmonic performing John Adams’ Tromba Lontana and Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Selections from Peer Gynt. Gustavo Dudamel conducts with soloists Liv Redpath and {…}