Lyric Opera of Kansas City Announces 2025-26 Season

https://operawire.com/lyric-opera-of-kansas-city-announces-2025-26-season/

The Lyric Opera of Kansas City has announced its 2025-26 season. The season opens with Rossini’s “Cinderella” in Michael Shell’s production. Performance Dates: Sept. 27-Oct. 5, 2025 Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” will be the second opera of the season. Performance Dates: Nov. 14-16, 2025 Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” will be the third production of the season. Performance Dates: Feb. 28-March 8, {…}

News

MidAmerica Productions Announces 2025 Concert Season at Carnegie Hall

https://operawire.com/midamerica-productions-announces-2025-concert-season-at-carnegie-hall/

MidAmerica Productions announces its 2025 concert season. For the purposes of this article, only vocal works are included. The New England Symphonic Ensemble accompanies all performances, unless otherwise noted. The world premiere of Paul A. Aitken’s “Missa Pro Terra: A Mass for the Earth” features soloists soprano Michele Sexton and baritone Eliam Ramos. Participating choirs are the Cantabile Singers of {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Royal Ballet and Opera 2024-25 Review: Festen

https://operawire.com/royal-ballet-and-opera-2024-25-review-festen/

(Photo: Marc Brenner) Mark-Anthony Turnage is among the front rank of living British opera composers. With “Festen”, which opened at The Royal Opera last week, he now has five to his name, with a sixth to follow at Glyndebourne this autumn in the form of “The Railway Children” – a less harrowing subject than this adaptation of Thomas Vinterberg’s 1995 {…}

News, Season Announcement

Liv Redpath, Michael Sumuel & Rafael Payare Lead San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-26 Season

https://operawire.com/liv-redpath-michael-sumuel-rafael-payare-lead-san-diego-symphony-orchestras-2025-26-season/

The San Diego Symphony has announced its 2025-26 season. In a statement, Martha Gilmer, President and CEO of the San Diego Symphony said, “Now that we have been able to experience the wonderful acoustic of our renovated Jacobs Music Center, it was a great joy to imagine our second season in this marvelous hall. In what was the Fox Movie Theatre, a {…}

Opera Meets Film, Special Features

Opera Meets Film: The Follies of Acting Singers in Paolo Gep Cucco & Davide Livermore’s ‘The Opera!’

https://operawire.com/opera-meets-film-the-follies-of-acting-singers-in-paolo-gep-cucco-davide-livermores-the-opera/

What happens when a rather questionable story where good intentions end up futile in the face of capricious behavior is re-conceptualized? “The Opera!” by directors Paolo Gep Cucco and Davide Livermore. It is a strange sort of film where the two central characters are played by opera singers (Orpheus, Valentino Buzza and Eurydice, Mariam Battistelli) who seem woefully under-prepared to {…}

IndieOpera

Daniel Kessner’s ‘The Camp’ to Make its World Premiere

https://operawire.com/daniel-kessners-the-camp-to-make-its-world-premiere/

(Photo credit: Azusa Oda & Dorothea Lange) Composer Daniel Kessner and playwright Lionelle Hamanaka’s “The Camp” will makes its world premiere at the JACCC Aratani Theatre in Los Angeles. “The Camp” tells the story of the Japanese American Shimono family who were forcibly removed from their suburban home in Southern California after Mas, a fisherman and head of the household, {…}

Special Features

Best of 2024: OperaWire’s Top 11 Singers of the Year

https://operawire.com/best-of-2024-operawires-top-11-singers-of-the-year/

It is time to wrap up the year and look back at our favorite moments and performers. After releasing our favorite performances of 2024 and showcasing our rising stars of the year, it’s time for OperaWire’s annual tradition of naming our top 11 singers of the year, performers that we thought stood out. Performers who had major breaks, headlined major productions or simply had {…}

Reviews

Opéra National de Paris 2024-25 Review: The Rake’s Progress

https://operawire.com/opera-national-de-paris-2024-review-the-rakes-progress/

(Photo: Guergana Damianova) There is a question that has tormented opera fanatics for at least a century: how can opera go on? What sound represents the future of opera? While many, especially in the mid-20th century, leaned toward musicality that was either dramatically disruptive or staunchly conservative, Stravinsky forged a career where he managed to be both. In a world {…}