(Photo credit: Destiny Grace) Opera Parallèle has announced the details of its annual benefit event, “Boum!” taking place on March 14. Mezzo-soprano, activist, and current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow Nikola Printz previews the upcoming world premiere of “Birds and Balls,” singing the lead role of Billie Jean King. Printz is accompanied by pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi. This year Opera Parallèle {…}
Conductor John Storgårds has been appointed the new Chief Conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. The conductor will take over the role in the autumn of 2024, and the four-year term will extend until the end of the spring season in 2028. Storgårds will become the 14th Chief Conductor of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. In a statement, Storgårds said “It {…}
YoungArts announced the nominees for the 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts. Of the 60 students nominated Detola Badmus, Remi Baker, William Bolin, Ale Fonseca, Ethan Hanzlik, Kai Lavender, Gabrielle Liberman, Leah Rutherford, Gage Samaddar, and Molly Sierra are in the vocal category. Nominees represent 19 states and one American abroad, and nine artistic disciplines. The students were nominated {…}
The Metropolitan Opera is joining forces with National Sawdust to co-present a concert centered on excerpts from Paola Prestini’s upcoming opera “Sensorium Ex.” The event, which is part of the “Opera Evolved” series, features such artists as J’Nai Bridges, Hailey McAvoy, stage director Lileana Blain-Cruz, and Brenda Shaughnessy (librettist of “Sensorium Ex”), as they alternate between performance and discussion. Prestini {…}
Photo: Winslow Townson The first time my partner watched Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” he couldn’t believe that the composer ever thought a Stalinist regime would be pleased with the opera. The “in-your-face” power of the work made him—a (handsome) man whose political convictions ponder between socialism and cowboyism—find endearing that ‘Shosta’ could not see his censoring coming. Even today, {…}
Photo credit: © António Pedro Ferreira / São Carlos This year marks the 50th anniversary of Portugal’s Carnation Revolution, a momentous historical event which brought down the totalitarian regime installed by fascist dictator Antonio Salazar in 1974. This bloodless revolution led the small Iberian nation on a path towards a modern, humanist and democratic European republic. This season many of {…}
South Korean composer Unsuk Chin has been awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize presented by the Swiss-based Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The award is given to a composer, performer, or musicologist, who has made exceptional contributions to the music industry. Chin will be awarded the prize on May 18, 2024 at Munich’s Herkules Hall, where her works will be {…}
Photo: Marco Borrelli On Sunday January 28th, 2024, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo gave the penultimate performance of a new production of Handel’s “Giulio Cesare in Egitto,” the third in a series of Handel productions featuring Cecilia Bartoli, following “Ariodante” in 2019 and “Alcina” in 2023, both staged by Christof Loy. This time, the staging was entrusted to Davide Livermore, scenographer {…}
Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get to hear a new recording by one of the world’s most renowned soprano as well as the complete recordings of baroque masterpieces and some world premiere pieces. Les Talens Lyriques perform Louise Bertin’s “Fausto” Les Talens Lyriques and {…}
The Chamber Society of Lincoln Center has announced its 2024-25 season featuring a number of vocal performances. Here is a look. The company will present an Opening Night concert entitled “Haydn’s Suprise” dedicated to Haydn. Soloists include Stephanie Blythe, Michael Stephen Brown, Wu Han, Aaron Boyd, Daniel Phillips, Pinchas Zukerman, Paul Neubauer, David Finckel, Nina Bernat, and the Viano Quartet. {…}
Diana Damrau is set to return to New York for a Carnegie Hall recital on Feb. 6, 2024, at the Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Pianist Helmut Deutsch will join the soprano and they will perform 19th- and 20th-century works by Robert and Clara Schumann, Richard Strauss, and Spanish composers Rodrigo, Granados, Turina, and Obradors. The concert is part of {…}