(Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera) Gustavo Dudamel has extended his contract with the LA Philharmonic. The orchestra announced that the conductor will remain music director with the orchestra until the 2025-26 season. Dudamel originally had a five-year contract, which was first extended through the 2018-19 season, before getting another extension halfway into 2022. In a press release Dudamel stated, {…}
(Credit: Steven Kemp/Johnny Tran/Pat Kirk) Opera San José has announced its 2020-21 season with its new General Director Khori Dastoor leading the company. In a press release Dastoor said, “Our current charge is to elevate the company as a vibrant artistic incubator in the heart of Silicon Valley. In its next chapter, Opera San José is committed to expanding access {…}
OPERA America has announced the recipients of its 2020 National Opera Trustee Recognition Awards, which are given to trustees of opera companies for their strong leadership and generosity. This year, the recipients include Robert Ellis of San Francisco Opera, H. Bernt von Ohlen of Minnesota Opera, Linda Koehn of Des Moines Metro Opera, Phil Meyer of Pacific Opera Project, and {…}
(Credit: Julien Benhamou) Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust” returns to the Metropolitan Opera for the first time since 2009. While recognized as one of the great works by its composer, it has not been a fixture at the Met by any stretch of the imagination. While it had its company premiere all the way back in 1896, it has only {…}
International soprano Naděžda Kniplová has died at the age of 87. Born in Ostrava to a musical family, Kniplová began her vocal training from her father and later went on to study under Jarmila Vavrdová at the Prague Conservatory from 1947 to 1953. After conservatory she went on to make her professional opera debut in 1957 at the opera house {…}
(Credit: Courtesy of Donizetti Opera Festival) The Donizetti Opera Festival has announced its 2020 season, which is set to open on Nov. 19 and close on Dec. 6, 2020. The season will open with a concert performance of “Belisario” with Plácido Domingo in the title role. In a press release Domingo, who is celebrating his birthday today, stated, “Dear friends, {…}
The Teatro alla Scala has announced two cast changes for its Jan. 21, 2020 performance of Gounod’s “Roméo et Juliette.” The company announced that due to indisposition Damrau will not perform. As a result, Vannina Santoni will takeover the title role. La Scala also announced that Marina Viotti, who is performing Stephano, will not take part in the performance and {…}
(Credit: Tatiana Vlasova) The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA) today announced the Awards for 2020 and picked famed Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka as Artist of the Year. Austrian-Russian pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, while the Italian cellist Erica Piccotti was picked as Young Artist of the Year. The Discovery Award was awarded {…}
(Credit: Jiyang Chen) The Opéra National de Paris has canceled the opening night performance of Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” scheduled for January 21 at the Opéra Bastille, according to the official statement on the company’s website. The cancellation came as a result of the strike notice against the French government pension reform and is the latest in a series of {…}
(Credit: Sasha Vasiljev / Mathias Bothor, Deutsche Grammophon) The Festival Aix-en-Provence has just announced the program for 2020 season, which will include a total of six works. The season will open with Berg’s opera “Wozzeck,” starring Christian Gerhaher, Anja Kampe, Daniel Brenna, Peter Hoare, Brindley Sherratt, Evan LeRoy Johnson, J’Nai Bridges, Alexander Kiechle, Tomasz Kumięga, and Graham Clark. Sir Simon {…}
Canadian soprano Tonia Evans Cianciulli has won the Canadian Book Award for her recent “The Heart’s Obsession.” The book, which centers on the musical journey of opera singer Georgina Ann Stirling, also known as Marie Toulinquet and “The Nightingale of the North,” separates fact from fiction by examining the documents and artifacts left after the famed singer’s passing. Stirling was {…}