The Wagner Society has awarded its Reginald Goodall Award to the Longborough Festival Opera’s co-founders Martin and Lizzie Graham. The Grahams are set to receive The Reginald Goodall award at a ceremony at The Royal Over-Seas League in London on March 20, 2019. The award is given to individuals who have honored the famed composer and his work. Among those previously honored with {…}
The Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod has announced that Dr. Edward-Rhys Harry will join the festival as its ninth music director. The organization announced that Edward, an internationally renowned music director, will work to encourage the next generation of solo artists at the 2019 Llangollen Eisteddfod. In a press release Chairman of the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Dr Rhys Davies, said, “As a {…}
OperaVision will start streaming Vivaldi’s “Juditha Triumphans” from the Dutch National Opera and Ballet on Feb. 28, 2019. The baroque opera will feature Gaëlle Arquez, Teresa Iervolino, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Francesca Ascioti, Polly Leech, and Gloria Giurgola with Andrea Marcon conducting and Floris Visser directing. The stream kicks off at 7 p.m. local time. That’s around 1 p.m. EDT and 10 {…}
German baritone Ekkehard Wlaschiha has died at the age of 80. The baritone, who passed away on Feb. 20, was born in Pirna, Saxony, and studied music at the Musikhochschule in Weimar. The baritone started his operatic career at the Theater Gera and went on to perform at the Sächsisches Landestheater Dresden-Radebeul, the Nationaltheater Weimar, and the Leipzig Opera. He became a member of the {…}
Opera North has announced its new season featuring seven operas and two new productions. Here is a look at what to expect! The season opens with Bohuslav Martinů “The Greek Passion” in a new production by Christopher Alden. Gary Walker conducts the masterful score with a cast headed by Nicky Spence, Magdalena Molendowska, Paul Nilon, Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, Stephen Gadd, John Savournin, Steven {…}
The Bard Summerscape 2019 festival has been announced. This year the festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary season and will focus on “Korngold and His World.” There will be film screenings, opera, recitals, and dance. For this article, we will only concentrate on the operatic and vocal showcases. Opera Christian Räth directs the American premiere of Korngold’s “The Miracle of Heliane” {…}
The George London Foundation and George London Awards have announced their annual competition winners. The George London Award was given to mezzo-soprano Samantha Gossard, soprano Rebecca Pedersen, mezzo-soprano Carolyn Sproule, tenor Charles Sy, and tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven. The five singers each got $10,000. Meanwhile, the George London encouragement award, which is a $1,000 prize, was given to Amanda Lynn Bottoms, Sarah Joyce Cooper, Ron Dukes, Vartan Gabrielian, Shannon {…}
French baritone Jean-Christophe Benoît passed away on Feb. 22, 2019, at the age of 93. He was born in Paris on Mar. 18, 1925 to a family of musicians. His mother, Léontine Benoit-Granier, was a composer, and his father, Henri Benoit, was a violinist. His sister Denise was an actress, dancer, and singer. Benoît studied under Olivier Messiaen at the {…}
The Praemium Erasmianum Foundation, a Dutch cultural institution dedicated to supporting the arts and humanities, announced on Feb. 21 that composer John Adams will be awarded its 2019 Erasmus Prize. According to the press release, the prize “is awarded annually to a person or institution that has made an exceptional contribution to the field of humanities, social sciences or the {…}
Elisabetta in “Roberto Devereux” is considered one of the most demanding roles in the soprano repertory and has always been a major measuring stick for leading Bel canto sopranos. Now, Joyce El-Khoury will take on the challenging role and look to make her mark. With her upcoming portrayal of Elisabetta at the Welsh National Opera, El-Khoury will continue to explore the Donizetti Tudor {…}
Following on from its production of “Il Sogno di Scipione,” Venice’s La Fenice staged another Mozart rarity, “Il Re Pastore.” Although being a more mature work, the two operas share many characteristics; both were set to a libretto by Metastasio, written for sopranos and tenor voices (although in the latter work the role of Aminta was written for a castrato, {…}