(Photo: Luciano Romano) Two hundred years ago Rossini’s tragic opera, “Ermione” was premiered at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Unfortunately, and uniquely it was the only one of the nine operas which he wrote for the city that met with complete failure. After five full performances and two performances of Act one it was shelved. It was not to {…}
The Oratorio Society of New York is set to perform its 146th presentation of the holiday favorite Handel’s Messiah. The ensemble will consist of a 200-voice chorus, today New York’s standard for grand choral performance. Soloists will include soprano Leslie Fagan, contralto Heather Petrie, tenor Brian Giebler, and bass Adam Lau with conductor Kent Tritle. Petrie and Giebler were finalists {…}
(Credit: Kathryn Raines) Lucy Dhegrae, vocalist and founder of the acclaimed Resonant Bodies Festival, will open The Processing Series on Nov. 23 at National Sawdust, with a program entitled “More Beautiful Than Words Can Tell.” The four-concert residency will explore the nature of trauma, and how music can help us to recover and process the aftermath of a traumatic experience. The {…}
Baritone Gordon Hawkins is set to sing the role of The Reverend in Washington National Opera’s upcoming co-commissioned production of Tazewell Thompson and Jeanine Tesori’s “Blue.” The company announced that Hawkins will replace Lester Lynch, who has withdrawn for personal reasons. Hawkins is a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the George London Grant recipient. He has {…}
West Edge Opera is set to showcase its 2020 Snapshot alongside the Earplay New Chamber Music Ensemble this winter. The event, set for Jan. 31, 2020 at Ed Roberts Campus and Feb. 1, 2020 at the Taube Atrium Theater, both in Berkeley, California, will feature a wide range of music inspired by rainforests of South America, the Han Dynasty of {…}
Purchase Opera is set to present “Dido and Aeneas” on Dec. 7 and 8, 2019. The performance will be directed by Jacque Trussel in a rendition of the work that will be set in modern corporate American with a focus on mergers and acquisitions. The showcase will be conducted by maestro Hugh Murphy and will cast students and graduates from {…}
The Defiant Requiem will present Murry Sidlin’s “Hours of Freedom: The Story of the Terezín Composer” on Dec. 5 at the Ahavath Achim Synagogue in Atlanta, Georgia. The performance will be headlined by soprano Arianna Zukerman and will also feature mezzo-soprano Leah Wool and baritone David Kravitz, under the music director. Instrumentalists include Herbert Greenberg, Julian Schwarz, and Phillip Silver. {…}
(Credit: Monika Ritterhaus) In its second annual Baroque festival, the Staatsoper Berlin spotlighted the work of two contemporaries, Alessandro Scarlatti and Henry Purcell, and the musical cultures of the Italian and English Baroque. Over 10 days and 25 musical performances, the program covered not only opera but a wide array of other material, from a Baroque harp recital to Jacobean {…}
San Francisco Performances has announced it will present the Brentano String Quartet in collaboration with soprano Dawn Upshaw. The concert is set to be presented on Dec. 4, at the Herbst Theatre. The performance will mark the sixth time the Brentano String Quartet performs with the concert series since its debut in March 2008. Meanwhile, Upshaw returns for her ninth {…}
Mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford and tenor Andrew Staples are set to appear at the Ojai Festival 2020. The pair of singers are set to interpret “Das Lied von der Erde” in an arrangements by Glenn Cortese alongside the Ensemble Intercontemporain and conductor Matthias Pintscher. The concert, which takes place at the Libbey Bowl, will also feature music of Zappa and Varèse. {…}
(Credit: Stacey Bode) Famed mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is set to appear as part of the San Francisco Performances on Dec. 11, 2019. This event marks the second time that Barton performs with the organization following her recital debut back in 2015. She will appear alongside pianist Kathleen Kelly, who will be making her SF Perfomrances debut. The program for the {…}