Andrés Orozco-Estrada & Elizabeth DeShong Highlight Houston Symphony Orchestra’s 2020-21 Season

(Credit: Houston Symphony Orchestra) The Houston Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2020-21 season featuring three vocal performances. Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducts the rarely performed work Schmidt’s “The Book with Seven Seals.” The cast is set to include Christian Elsner, Nicholas Brownlee, Meghan Kasanders, Kelley O’Connor, Maximilian Schmitt and Jan Martiník. The Houston Symphony Chorus is led by Betsy Cook Weber. Performance {…}

Jan 30, 2020

Iréne Theorin, Lise Davidsen & Franz Welser-Möst Highlight Lincoln Center 2020-21 Great Performers Season

Lincoln Center has announced its 2020-21 Great performers Season, featuring number of vocal and orchestral works. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on vocal works only. The season will open with the first event in the series “Symphonic Masters,” featuring soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo-soprano Daryl Freedman, tenor Julian Prégardien and bass Peter Kellner in his New York {…}

Jan 30, 2020

‘The Voice of Silence’ To Feature World Premieres by Georgia Shreve

Conductor Steven Mercutio will lead a performance of “The Voice of Silence,” which will feature two world premieres by composer Georgia Shreve. The showcase, set for March 30, 2020 at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, will feature sopranos Alexandra Nowakowski and Meredith Lustig; mezzo-sopranos Megan Moore and Carla Jablonski; tenors Adrian Dwyer and Roy Hage; and baritones Brandon Cedel {…}

Jan 30, 2020

Four Emerging Artists Join Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio for 2020-21

The Canadian Opera Company announced that four new opera artists will join its Ensemble Studio training program for the 2020-21 season including soprano Midori Marsh, baritone Jonah Spungin, bass-baritone Alex Halliday, and pianist/intern coach Frances Thielmann. Marsh has won the First Prize and the Audience Choice Award at the 2019 Ensemble Studio Competition. At the same competition, Halliday claimed the {…}

Jan 30, 2020

Rayanne Dupuis to Perform All-Bolcom Program At Baruch Performing Arts Center

(Image provided by Classical Music Communications) The Baruch Performing Arts Center is set to present the U.S. premiere of William Bolcom’s “Poèmes libres des droits.” The concert, which is set for March 24, 2020, will feature soprano Rayanne Dupuis alongside pianist Guy Livingston, who commissioned “Poèmes libres des droits.” The duo world premiered the piece in London and Paris as {…}

Jan 30, 2020

The Crossing to Premiere ‘Knee Plays’

(Credit: Christian Stewart) The Annenberg Center in Philadelphia is set to present “Knee Plays” featuring The Crossing. The performance, which is set for Feb. 21 and 22, 2020, is a newly staged theatrical production that will center on Philip Glass’ “Knee Plays” from his famed “Einstein on the Beach.” The concert will also present David Byrne’s “The Knee Plays” with {…}

Jan 30, 2020

Brooklyn Art Song Society to Present Music of Bartok, Kodaly, Janacek

The Brooklyn Art Song Society is set to showcase a concert featuring the music of Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly, and Leos Janacek on Feb. 7, 2020 at the Brooklyn Historical Society in New York. The concert will feature sopranos Lucy Fitz Gibbon and Caitlin Mead alongside mezzo-sopranos Kate Maroney and Allison Gish, as well as tenor Dominic Armstrong. Brooklyn Art {…}

Jan 30, 2020

Opera Meets Film: How ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’s’ Overture Provides Best Picture Winner ‘The King Speech’ With Narrative Structure & Subtext

“Opera Meets Film” is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema. We will select a section or a film in its entirety, highlighting the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections from an opera can alter our perception of a film that we are viewing. This week’s installment features Tom Hooper’s Academy {…}

Jan 30, 2020

Erin Wall & Tamara Mumford Highlight Grand Teton 2020 Summer Festival

(Credit: Kristin Hoebermann) The Grand Teton Music Festival has announced highlights from its summer 2020 program, which will open on July 3, and is set to run until August 22. For the purpose of this article, we will focus only on vocal works. Singer and actress Bernadette Peters will officially open the festival with a solo concert. Performance Date: July {…}

Jan 30, 2020

Pacific Opera Project 2020 Review: Gianni Schicchi & L’Enfant et les sortileges

[Credit: Martha Benedict] For the first production of their 10th anniversary season, Los Angeles’s Pacific Opera Project chose to pair two one-act operas, Puccini’s late comic opera “Gianni Schicchi” with Ravel’s magical “L’Enfant et les sortilèges.” The performance took place at Thorne Hall at Eagle Rock’s Occidental College. Pacific Opera Project (POP) claims that this is the first time these {…}

Jan 30, 2020

The Great Link – Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Operas Experiencing Major Renaissance At Deutsche Oper Berlin

(Credit: Pierre Petit) When Giacomo Meyerbeer died on May 2 in 1864 in Paris, he was one of the most performed composers of his time. Among the surviving manuscript documents in the Meyerbeer archive in Berlin is to be found a prayer that Giacomo Meyerbeer wrote on 8 December 1863, a few months before his death: “Great almighty God! … {…}