San Francisco Opera’s 2019 Summer Season opens with Bizet’s “Carmen” with an all-star cast. The production by Francesca Zambello is set to star American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges in her first professional performances of the title role and American tenor Matthew Polenzani in his role debut as Don José. They are joined by Romanian soprano Anita Hartig, who makes her San {…}
The New York Opera Fest 2019 kicked off on Monday, April 29 and for the next several weeks, New Yorkers will get ample opportunity to enjoy opera in a variety of unique ways. As has been OperaWire’s tradition over the years, we have reached out to a number of the companies participating in the festival and have asked them a {…}
The Opera Maghiara di Cluj Napoca in Romania has announced a new production of “I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata.” The new production by Csaba Némedi will mark the opera’s Romania premiere and will showcase legendary soprano Elena Mosuc in her role debut as Giselda. The production will also star Sorin Lupu, István Kovács, Orsolya Veress, Arnold Gergely, Zsombor Rétyi, László Mányoki, Adorján {…}
On May 4, 2019, George Gagnidze will celebrate his 100th performance in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” at the Metropolitan Opera. Rigoletto has become George Gagnidze’s signature role, having performed it in his career since the very beginning. “Rigoletto has been a key to success right from the beginning of my career and I owe him so much”, says the Georgian baritone. “In {…}
Pacific Opera Project’s “Madama Butterfly,” presented recently in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, was acclaimed for presenting Puccini’s opera in Japanese and English, the languages the characters would actually have spoken. But one of the other talking points around town was the “last-minute” assumption of the title role by Melbourne-born soprano, Janet Szepei Todd. OperaWire caught up with Janet at Cafe {…}
Most people can easily identify the first words that a character sings the moment they grace the stage. And there are a fair share of iconic goodbyes. But in general, those final lines of text aren’t quite as renowned for a fair share of characters. So for this quiz, we put you to the test to see if you can {…}
The true tragedy of Benjamin Britten and Ronaldo Duncan’s “The Rape of Lucretia” is that its story, about a virtuous woman in Ancient Rome who is raped by a powerful man, continues to re-enact itself in the modern world. What is arguably most complicated about the opera itself is that this tragedy is framed by the male gaze, which only {…}
The New York Opera Fest 2019 kicked off on Monday, April 29 and for the next several weeks, New Yorkers will get ample opportunity to enjoy opera in a variety of unique ways. As has been OperaWire’s tradition over the years, we have reached out to a number of the companies participating in the festival and have asked them a {…}
This weekend has a ton of incredible productions to behold. The New York Opera Festival is in full swing as some of the major companies from around the country start to close their doors for the summer. The Rape of Lucretia – New Camerata Opera The Britten piece gets a unique new production directed by Bea Goodwin that will also {…}
This weekend sees two world premieres continue their first runs. It will also include a major role debut for a rising star tenor, one acclaimed production, and one rarely-performed work. Les Bienveillantes – Opera Vlaanderen, Belgium Peter Rundel conducts Hector Parra’s new opera in a production by Calixto Bieto. The work stars Peter Tantsits, Rachel Harnisch, Natascha Petrinsky, and Günter {…}
Puccini’s “La Rondine” soared out of Berkeley’s Hillside Club Sunday afternoon, in full flight. Pocket Opera, under the artistic direction of Nicholas A. Garcia and music director David Drummond, gave voice to its bittersweet charm. With the Pocket Philharmonic tucked neatly upstage and the small cast of ardent singers weaving in and out of a petite and well-designed set, the {…}