The Pierre Boulez Saal of Berlin has announced its 2019-20 season featuring numerous concerts. For this article, we will only feature vocal performances. Marion Tassou performs an evening with conductor Matthias Pintscher and director Silvia Costa. The program will include music by Blondeau, Lindberg, and Vivier. Performance Date: Sept. 22, 2019 Christian Gerhaher performs an evening of Mahler with Gerold Huber. {…}
(Photo: Suzanne Vinnik) Santa Fe Opera has announced that Nicaraguan-American soprano Gabriella Reyes will take on the role of Musetta in the company’s upcoming new production of Puccini’s “La Bohème.” She will replace Kirsten MacKinnon, who “has withdrawn from the production for personal reasons,” according to the press release. Reyes is a 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions grand finalist. She made {…}
The Palau de la Musica de Valencia has announced its 2019-20 season. The season opens with María José Montiel and Ramón Tebar performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. Performance Date: Oct. 18, 2019 Raquel Lojendio, Cristina Faus, Vicente Ombuena, and José Antonio López will perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Ramón Tebar conducting. The concert will also include Ba reconstruction of the composer’s Symphony No. {…}
It has been announced that Welsh National Opera Artistic Director David Pountney will receive the honor of knighthood for his services to opera. Pountney, whose hit production of “Katya Kabanova” at the 1972 Wexford Festival brought him international recognition, served as English National Opera’s Director of Productions and as a guest director at some of the foremost opera houses around {…}
Opera America has announced the recipients for the grants given to female composers. The recipients include Du Yun, for her opera “Sweet Land;” this work is set to be presented by The Industry in Los Angeles, California. The work was written by Douglas Kearny and Aja Couchois and will also be co-composed by Raven Chacon. Next up is Caroline Shaw {…}
The International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI) and the Institut Canadien D’Art Vocal (ICAV) have announced their slates for New York and Montréal. First up will be IVAI’s New York showcase, which takes place between June 12 and 23, 2019. The program, which is run by Music Director Paul Nadler and Artistic Director Joan Dornemann will feature a series of masterclasses {…}
This week, Terrence Blanchard will present his second opera “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” The work is set to world premiere at the Opera Theater Saint Louis and soprano Karen Slack will be headlining the production. In recent years the American soprano has garnered acclaim for her work in contemporary opera and distinguished herself for her powerful voice. Her {…}
Israeli operatic contralto Mira Zakai passed away on May 20, 2019 at the age of 76. According to Haaretz, her death was attributed to complications from a stroke she suffered last year. Zakai was “known worldwide” for her many appearances with esteemed ensembles such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Israeli Opera, Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, {…}
The Spoleto Festival USA has announced that it will be producing a new untitled opera that will be the first opera by Rhiannon Giddens. The work will center on the 1831 autobiography of Omar Ibn Said, an enslaved Muslim-African who came to Charleston’s Gadsden’s Wharf in 1807. Giddens, will be composer and librettist on the project. She is a Grammy {…}
The Royal Opera is set to showcase the Jette Parker Young Artist Summer Performance on July 21, 2019. The performance will be directed by Noa Naamat with conductors James Hendry, Patrick Milne, Thomas Payne, and Edmund Whitehead leading the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The performance will include sopranos Haegee Lee, Jacquelyn Stucker, and Yaritza Véliz. Mezzo-sopranos Aigul Akhmetshina {…}
(Credit: Javier del Real / Teatro Real de Madrid) Benjamin Britten’s “Gloriana” is one of his unique works, created to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The opera had its world premiere on June 8, 1953 with Joan Cross in the role of Queen Elizabeth and Peter Pears as Earl of Essex. Gerain Evans was Lord Mountjoy. It is {…}