(Credit: ©2026 Tristram Kenton) Gaetano Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment,” first perfomed in 1840, was something of a near disaster. On opening night, the lead tenor was frequently off pitch and when it premiered in Italy, shortly after, it was labelled as “worthless” and closed after just six performances. Fortunately for Donizetti, (and everyone else), it quickly turned round and {…}
“Lucia di Lammermoor” remains one of the supreme achievements of Romantic opera, capable of transforming inner conflict into pure musical expression. Premiered at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples in 1835, Gaetano Donizetti’s masterpiece transcends the conventional sentimental tragedy to offer one of the most complex female psychological portraits of the nineteenth century. Based on Walter Scott’s The Bride {…}
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) has expanded his investigation into the mismanagement of the Kennedy Center. The senator sent a new letter to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to investigate the Kennedy Center leadership’s potential mismanagement of federal funding and disregard of federal contracting standards in an {…}
(Photo: Matthias Baus) There are operas that survive on the strength of their plot, and then there are those that survive because the music transforms the improbable into the inevitable. “Samson et Dalila” belongs decidedly to the latter camp. Saint-Saëns fashioned a score of extraordinary sensuality around a drama whose biblical certainties had long ceased to compel. Production Details Argentine {…}
The Venice Symphony has announced its newest Board members. The new members are Linda Cantrell, Bob Hite and Samuel Stempler. Also, the Board of Trustees re-appointment of Roger Effron as the chair of the Venice Symphony. Cantrell is an award-winning professional with more than 35 years in the financial services and payments industry. She has extensive experience in business development, {…}
On July 24 and July 26, 2026, OPERA IN THE PARK Portland will present two free outdoor concert performances of José “Pepe” Martínez and Leonard Foglia’s “Cruzar la cara de la luna” (“To Cross the Face of the Moon”). Baritone Octavio Moreno and mezzo-soprano Cecilia Duarte, both members of the original Houston Grand Opera cast that premiered the work in {…}
(Photo credit: Jules Ko) Knoxville Opera announces its 2026-27 season. The “Opera Under the Stars” series brings opera, musical theatre, and familiar favorites to the Augusta Quarry. Performance Dates: July 23, Aug. 27, & Sept. 24, 2026 The Knoxville Opera Salon Series, which takes place throughout the season, is presented in partnership with the historic Eugenia Williams House. Performance Dates: {…}
Piedmont Opera announces its 2026-27 and 50th anniversary season. Prior to her recital Renée Fleming hosts “Music and Mind with Renée Fleming: Harnessing the Arts to Heal & Connect.” Performance Date: Sept. 18, 2026 Renée Fleming presents “Voice of Nature—The Anthropocene.” Performance Date: Sept. 19, 2026 Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s “Another Sunrise” and “Before It All Goes Dark” will {…}
(Photo: Krzysztof Mystkowski/ Baltic Opera Festival) Józef Beer’s “Polish Wedding” is one of those works in which history seems almost as dramatic as its plot. Premiered in Zurich in 1937 under the title “Polnische Hochzeit,” the operetta became an immediate international success, was translated into eight languages (but not Polish), and quickly established itself across Europe. Then history intervened. As {…}
The American Symphony Orchestra announces its 2026-27 season. Here’s a look at vocal works included in the 25th anniversary season. Leon Botstein leads the Orchestra in “Mozart & Friends” with the Bard Festival Chorale directed by James Bagwell. Soloists will be announced at a later date. Performance Date: Nov. 5, 2026 (Riverside Church, NYC) The “All-Beethoven Program” is presented by {…}
Olivier Award winner, Peter Whelan, is known as one of the most dynamic and versatile exponents of historical performance of his generation. He is currently the Artistic Director of Irish Baroque Orchestra and Curator for Early Music of Norwegian Wind Ensemble. In addition to taking up the role of Artistic Partner with National Symphony Orchestra Ireland in January 2026 and {…}