Martti Talvela was one of Finland’s greatest opera stars. Born on Feb. 4, 1935, in Hiitola as the eighth of 10 children, he studied in Lahti and Stockholm. Initially, he was on the path to be a school teacher and actually engaged with that occupation between 1957-60. However, he made his operatic debut in Helsinki in 1960 and would then {…}
The Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan has been awarded the 2020 Léonie Sonning Music Prize, Denmark’s highest musical honor. The soprano will receive the award at a concert on April 23, 2020, in Copenhagen’s DR Concert House. Hannigan will also conduct the Danish National Symphony Orchestra at the event. The award will also include a monetary award of €100,000 and it {…}
Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo has been awarded the Leonard Bernstein Prize of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. The award, which is worth 10,000 Euros, will give D’Angelo the opportunity to perform in concert in Lübeck on August 16, 2019 with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. In a press release, jury member Christian Kuhnt said, “Emily D’Angelo has a distinctive, slim-line {…}
OperaVision will start streaming the Norske Opera and Ballett’s production of Britten’s “Billy Buddy” on Feb. 8, 2019. The production will be directed by Annilese Miskimmon with conductor Mark Wigglesworth in the pit to lead the Norwegian National Opera. The cast will feature Peter Hoare as Vere, Jacques Imbrailo as the title character, John Relyea as John Claggart, Aleksander Nohr {…}
The Houston Grand Opera and its Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers have announced that Ana María Martinez will join the artistic team as the first-ever artistic advisor. Martinez will begin her new post this season and it will be a three-year appointment. In her new position, the soprano will advise on casting and future productions, mentor the HGO Studio artists, {…}
Soprano Erin Morley is one of opera’s most sought-after lyric coloraturas, having wowed audiences and critics alike in such quintessential coloratura roles as Zerbinetta in “Ariadne auf Naxos,” Sophie in “Der Rosenkavalier,” Cunegonde in “Candide,” and, Olympia in “Les Contes d’Hoffmann.” In early January, the Salt Lake City native finished her debut run as Pamina in “The Magic Flute” at {…}
Sentimentality is possibly one of the most dishonest emotions we, as human beings, experience. It is also a destructive force in that it inserts a filter between reality and our perceptions, we cease to see the world as it is, but rather allow ourselves to construct a self-indulgent version, in which our feelings are deliberately accentuated or even completely manufactured, {…}
What is “La Liberazione di Ruggiero?” No doubt that this very opera profile might strike some curiosity from unknowing readers. Its importance is tantamount to the art form, especially in the 21st century. Simply put, “La Liberazione di Ruggiero” is the first opera composed by a woman. Moreover, it was also one of the first works to shift the narrative {…}
Few artists go through as many transitions as Helga Dernesch did in her career. Born on Feb. 3, 1939, the Austrian artist started her career as a mezzo before transitioning to a lyric soprano. From there she would turn into a dramatic soprano and in her later career she returned to a mezzo. She studied at the Vienna Hochschule für {…}
Most musicologists concur that Handel did a major cut and paste job on “Rinaldo,” as more than two thirds of the score was cribbed from earlier compositions. There are also three versions of this tremendously successful opera from 1711, 1717 and 1731. Depending on singers’ availability and vocal condition, innumerable nips and tucks occurred at almost all 53 performances during Handel’s {…}
The Washington National Opera is set to present Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” for the first time in 30 years. The company will revive Robert Carsen’s classic production, originally created for the Metropolitan Opera. In the lead roles, the company has lined up two Bolshoi Opera singers. In the title role, baritone Igor Golovatenko will make his American and WNO debut and {…}