“Opera Meets Film” is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema. We will select a section or a film in its entirety, highlighting the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections from an opera can alter our perception of a film that we are viewing. This week’s installment features “Captain America: The {…}
The San Francisco Opera has announced that Atalla Ayan has won the 2018 Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Emerging Stars Competition. Ayan, who made his Company debut as Alfredo in Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata last fall, was named “2018 Emerging Star of the Year” based on a popular vote conducted online at sfopera.com from July 9–July 31, 2018. As {…}
Opera Philadelphia’s second annual season-opening festival is set to launch on Sept. 20, 2018 with the world premiere of “Sky on Swings.” The work, which world premieres on the eve of World Alzheimer’s Day, explores Alzheimer’s disease from the creative team behind O17’s “I Have No Stories to Tell You.” The new chamber opera finds fleeting beauty in memory loss, {…}
OPERA NEWS has announced Singers’ Studio series, which is set to include some of today’s biggest stars. The series, hosted by the editors of OPERA NEWS, will showcase many stars at the Metropolitan Opera Guild’s Opera Learning Center to discuss their careers and current performances at the Metropolitan Opera. “Our Singers’ Studio sessions present a unique opportunity to engage in casual {…}
Often attention is focused on the stars of the opera world, but below the stellasphere there exist thousands of other singers, directors, conductors, and musicians pursuing their careers. Some are fairly well established and make comfortable livings on the stage and in the concert halls, some struggle to maintain a full calendar, while others are winding down as retirement approaches, {…}
There are a ton of great Spanish artists throughout the history of opera. Juan Pons is one of them. Born in Ciutadella, Spain on August 8, 1946, Pons (or Joan Pons Álvarez as he was born), would really kickstart his career in the 1980s when he made his international debut at La Scala. That kicked off a career that featured {…}
The trailer to Paul Weitz’s “Bel Canto” has been released. The new film, based on the Ann Patchett’s novel, which was also turned into an opera, is inspired by the events of the Japanese embassy hostage crisis (also called the Lima hostage crisis) of 1996-1997 in Lima, Peru. The film stars Julianne Moore, Ken Watanabe, Sebastian Koch, Christopher Lambert, Ryo {…}
The mass movement of people that is taking place, from poor countries to the wealthier countries of the West, is causing social upheaval and human suffering on scale which has not been seen since the end of the Second World War. Millions of lives have been affected by this mass migratory flow, some positively, some negatively. Earlier this year, in {…}
Update: The version that will be performed is the “Standard Version.” The Pittsburgh Opera is set to open its 80th season with Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.” Per a press release, the company will perform the second of five versions Puccini wrote of the work. The version that will be performed is known as the Brescia version in honor of the Italian {…}
Anthony Roth Costanzo leads the world premiere to an innovative showcase entitled “Glass Handel.” Per a press release from Opera Philadelphia ‘”Glass Handel’ is one of two innovative and thought-provoking world premiere productions that highlight O18, the second edition of Opera Philadelphia’s annual season-opening festival.” The new work will see Costanzo collaborate with producer Cath Brittan and avant-garde fashion/art company {…}
This week get will see two classic performances released as well as a rarely performed opera get a new DVD. There will also be a solo album by one of today’s rising bass-baritones. Here is a look at what’s in store. Cendrillon Naxos is releasing a new version of Massenet’s rarely performed work from the Theater Freiberg. Kim-Lillian Strebel takes {…}