Opera San José is set to present Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” in a classic rendition of the work. The production by Brad Dalton will be conducted by Joseph Marcheso, Opera San José’s Music Director and Principal Conductor. The cast is set to include Kerriann Otaño as Leonora, Mackenzie Gotcher and Alexander Boyer sharing the title role of Manrico, SeungHyeon Baek and {…}
Hui He is set to return to the title role of Puccini’s “Turandot” for her Chinese role debut in Puccini’s opera. The Chinese soprano will return to the Shanghai Grand Theatre in occasion of the 21st Anniversary of the theatre where she made her operatic debut in 1998 with “Aida.” Hui He will be joined by Maestro Xu Zhong in {…}
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is set to present “Fantasias and Carols: A Cathedral Christmas” on Dec. 14, 2019. The event will feature music by such composers as Giovanni Gabrieli, Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, John Rutter, David Wilcocks, Donald Fraser, and Marcelo Dupré, and George Frideric Handel. The performance will be led by music director Kent Tritle alongside {…}
The American Symphony Orchestra is set to perform “Sons of Bach” at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center on Dec. 19, 2019. The performance, which will be conducted by Leon Botstein, is set to feature rarely-performed works by four of Bach’s sons, including W.F. Bach’s “Erzittert und Fallet,” J.C.F. Bach’s “Die Amerikanerin,” J.C. Bach’s Symphony in G Minor, and C.P.E. {…}
The Crossing has received a major gift of $200,000 from Thomas Kasdorf of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Per a press release, the gift is intended to support the organization in its mission to commission works by Edie Hill, Tawnie Olsen, Gavin Bryars, Daniel Felsenfeld, Aaron Helgeson, Gabriel Jackson, and Michael Gordon throughout the 2019-20 season. “I believe in the power of choral {…}
The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music has announced its 2020 season, which features a wide range of early music in concert and opera. For the purposes of this article, we will focus solely on opera and vocal related program. The season opens with Ferdinando Paër’s “Leonora,” which will be directed by Mariame Clément with musical direction by Alessandro de Marchi. {…}
(Credit: Kate Glicksberg) The season’s final performance of the Verdi Requiem at the recently opened (and rather amazing) Hudson Yards Shed was something unexpectedly moving, with a very high emotional level. To be clear, this was not just some other Verdi Requiem. Let’s start with the venue itself. On this first visit, the Shed’s “McCourt” theater space appears grand, with {…}
The New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera has announced some major changes. First off, the company is now under new management with Giorgio Lalov as its new Artistic Director and Jason C. Tramm as its new musical director. Lalov assumed the position on Oct. 3, 2019. In addition to new leadership, the company has also revamped its social media accounts {…}
The Children’s Philharmonic of New Jersey is set to present Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”during this holiday season. The performance, set for Dec. 15 at The First Presbyterian Church of Verona, will feature Mozart’s final masterpiece in an English-language translation. Among the performers will be music students aged 6-12. The opera will star The Children’s Philharmonic’s Season Artists including Joseph Mayon {…}
On November 24, 2019, audiences gathered at the Metropolitan Opera to pay tribute to the life and career of Jessye Norman. The event comprised of musical performances, video highlights of Jessye’s performances, and statements from her family, friends, and colleagues. First among these highlights were two clips of Norman singing “Amazing Grace,” from her performances at the 1997 Presidential Inauguration {…}
Early music enthusiasts in Seattle showed up in full force for a single concert performance of a Baroque pastiche of the Orpheus story featuring world-class early music specialists. How could they resist the intriguing concept and such a stellar line up? Philippe Jaroussky is a major international star (a “rockstar countertenor” as the Seattle Symphony marketing department awkwardly posits) {…}