(Credit: Kristina Kalinina) At the beginning of the season, soprano Venera Gimadieva was forced to cancel a performance of “Francesca da Rimini” in Amsterdam. It was for the first time in her 13-year career as an opera singer that she had to take such an action and withdraw from an engagement. But the reason was simple and understandable for any {…}
The Teatro Cervantes de Málaga has announced its 150th anniversary season with part of its 2020-21 season. The theater previously announced its 2019-20 season which you can find here. The two new operatic performances are as follows. Carlos Álvarez sings the title role in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” in a production by Curro Carreres. The opera also stars Rocío Ignacio, Rodrigo {…}
The Grammy Awards have unveiled their nominations for the 62nd annual ceremony. For the purposes of this article we will focus on categories related to the opera world. Best Opera Recording In the Best Opera Recording categories, the first nominees is George Benjamin’s “Lessons in Love & Violence,” under the musical direction of the composer himself. Benjamin leads the Orchestra {…}
Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, Co-Artistic Directors of Opera Atelier, Executive Director Alexandra Skoczylas, and the Board of Directors have announced “Campaign for Creation: Opera Atelier’s Fund for Our Future.” Opera Atelier’s first major capital campaign officially launched with the single largest individual gift in the company’s 30-year history, totaling $500,000 from longtime patron Vivian Elizabeth Pilar. Opera Atelier’s {…}
(Photo Credit: Marty Sohl / Met Opera) On Nov. 16, 2019, the Metropolitan Opera premiered this season’s production of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.” Amidst the modern set of Richard Eyre’s production, the stellar cast of artists brought no shortage of laughter while delivering a musically splendid performance. Making his conducting debut with the company was Antonello Manacorda who was {…}
The Crossing @ Christmas is set to showcase the world premiere of Edie Hill’s “Spectral Spirits” in New York City and Philadelphia this December. The performances are set to take place on Dec. 20 at the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia followed by a showcase on Dec. 21 at the Met Cloisters in New York. A day later, the {…}
(Credit: Brent Calis) On Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, the Opéra de Montréal held its third TALENT Gala which showcased the National Auditions for the Atelier lyrique Program. The event raised around $360,000, a major increase from the year before. Moreover, the company announced the 10 finalists for five spots in the Atelier Lyrique, a two-year artist-in-resident training program with the {…}
(Credit: Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera) Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” opened at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House to round out the fall season repertoire. Composed in the 1890s, Humperdinck based the opera on Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, hinting at some of the darker ideas resplendent in the original tale. But alas, none of that seems to have permeated the modern {…}
(Credit: Philippe Stirnweiss) Since its world premiere in 2017, “Another Brick in the Wall” has garnered popularity throughout North America. The opera, based on the era defining album “The Wall” by Julien Bilodeau and first performed in Montreal before heading to the United Stated. The work, which set out to “give the audience an opportunity to discover a new dimension {…}
The Wiener Staatsoper has added two languages to its subtitles. The prestigious company announced that audience members will now be able to see subtitles in Spanish and Chinese. The company previously offered English, French, Italian, German, Japanese, and Russian subtitles. The Wiener Staatsoper previously installed a new subtitle systems for the 2017-18 season. During that season a total of 2,021 {…}
John Wegner has died at the age of 69 of Parkinson’s Disease. When the baritone was first diagnosed in 2015, he told Advance Rehab Centre, “It was gut wrenching, I didn’t know much about it. The first thing you ask is how long to you have it before you’re really bad?” “Luckily I spoke to a Parkinson’s voice therapist and {…}