Klaus Florian Vogt is regarded as one of the most sought-after Wagnerian tenors his generations. He has marveled audiences with his intense lyricism and his commitment to each role he portrays. This week he returns to the Metropolitan Opera for the first time since 2006 when he made his debut in the title role of Wagner’s “Lohengrin.” This time Met {…}
Krassimira Stoyanova will be at the Met Opera shop this April 11 at 3 P.M. EST signing copies of her two new albums. The Bulgarian soprano recently released “Verismo” and “Puccini: Complete Songs for Soprano and Piano.” The latter album features pianist Maria Prinz. The “Verismo” album features arias from “Manon Lescaut,” “Adriana Lecouvreur,” “L’Amico Fritz,” “Turandot,” “Madama Butterfly,” “La {…}
Filming “Carmen” with Francesco Rosi and Plácido Domingo was a major moment in the career of Julia Migenes, potentially career defining. The American mezzo, born on March 13, 1949, had already put together a solid career prior to the 1984 film, starring in a film version of “Eine Nacht in Venedig” and the original Broadway production of “Fiddler on the {…}
This week audiences will have an opportunity to experience rarities from the Bel Canto and baroque era as well as hear one of the supreme Wagnerian tenors. Take a look. Lohengrin Klaus Florian Vogt is known as one of the supreme interpreters of “Lohengrin” and thanks to the Royal Concertgebouw, audiences will get another chance to hear his interpretation in {…}
Matthew Polenzani loves Mozart’s “Idomeneo.” During a recent interview with OperaWire, the tenor went so far as to call it the composer’s “greatest opera.” That’s right, with output that includes gems such as “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “Don Giovanni,” “Così Fan Tutte” and “Die Zauberflote,” Polenzani, who is among the greatest exponents of these very operas, puts his marker on {…}
The Manhattan School of Music is set to perform Leoš Janáček’s “Adventures of Vixen Sharp-Ears.” The opera is inspired by a comic strip called “Sharp-ears” that ran in a Prague daily newspaper. Janáček decided to adapt the strip, about a vixen and her adventures in the forest, into the libretto for this opera. In doing so, he transformed the originally comedic source {…}
New Yorkers will have a chance to meet Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva at the Metropolitan Opera Shop next Wednesday, March 15 at 3 P.M. EST. The soprano’s new album “Handel” recently hit stores and includes music from the composer’s opera’s, “Giulio Cesare in Egitto,” “Alcina,” “Rodelinda,” “Agrippina,” “Theodora” and “Rinaldo.” This is Yoncheva’s third album with Sony Classical. In 2015 {…}
Anna Caterina Antonacci is regarded as one of the greatest mezzo-sopranos of our time. She has performed all over the world in diverse repertoire and has thrilled audiences with her dramatic acting and vocal fireworks. Recently she has been making waves in Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine,” one of the most popular one-woman operas in the world. She has performed the {…}
“Simon Boccanegra” was one of Verdi’s most sublime operas and a prized creation for the composer. After suffering a brutal premiere back on March 12, 1857, the work was essentially left for dead, likely to never get a chance to firmly establish its place alongside many of Verdi’s other masterworks. But on March 24, 1881, the composer premiered another version {…}
Of all his operas, Verdi’s “Don Carlo” (or “Don Carlos), which had its world premiere on March 11, 1867, is often referred to as his most “Shakespearean.” For most people, this description comes down to one thing – tragically complex characters. That said, when they talk about “complex,” King Philip and Princess Eboli are perhaps the most talked about with Elisabetta {…}
It is arguably the most misogynistic piece in all of opera, its text essentially calls women “fickle” and “small-minded.” And yet everyone revels in its sumptuous melody that has become opera’s most iconic number. When Verdi first composed “La Donna e mobile” for his “Rigoletto,” which premiered on March 11, 1851, he hid it for tenor Raffaele Mirate because he {…}
