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Reviews, Stage Reviews

Amigos Canarios de la Opera 2025-26 Review: Otello

https://operawire.com/amigos-canarios-de-la-opera-2025-26-review-otello/

The title role of Verdi’s “Otello” is one of the hardest roles ever written for a tenor in the Italian repertoire. Luciano Pavarotti simply recorded it while Carlo Bergonzi (who was considered a Verdi expert) and Franco Corelli always refused to sing it. On the other hand, Plácido Domingo debuted the role when he was 34 years old, and though {…}

Special Features

Opera is a Place: Understanding Why Younger Audiences Come to the Opera House

https://operawire.com/opera-is-a-place-understanding-why-younger-audiences-come-to-the-opera-house/

(Photo Credit: Octavio Alonso Maya Castro) Visiting the Palacio de Bellas Artes made me fall in love with opera again. The open plaza welcomed groups of young people walking, laughing, and congregating. The bronze-tiled dome gleamed like a radiant sunset, hugging the luminous marble archway. Stepping inside, the grand foyer projected an entirely different regal stature. Whereas the exterior of {…}

Behind the Scenes, Interviews

Q & A: Janet Farrell on INSERIES & Being a Recipient of a National Opera Trustee Recognition Award

https://operawire.com/q-a-janet-farrell-on-in-series-opera-being-a-recipient-of-a-national-opera-trustee-recognition-award/

Janet Farrell is one of five recipients of the National Opera Trustee Recognition Awards by Opera America. Farrell, who loves singing, was brought to the INSERIES by the dynamic artistic director, Timothy Nelson. With Farrell’s professional business acumen and experience at M&T Bank and her love of opera, she has been able to draw attention and support to INSERIES, something {…}

News

Ryan Opera Center Ensemble to Present ‘Rising Stars in Concert’

https://operawire.com/ryan-opera-center-ensemble-to-present-rising-stars-in-concert/

The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago will present “Rising Stars in Concert” on Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lyric Opera House. The 2025-26 Ryan Opera Center Ensemble, which includes performs with the Lyric Opera Orchestra under Music Director Enrique Mazzola in a program directed by Kyle Lang. The {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Virginia Opera 2025-26 Review: Aida

https://operawire.com/virginia-opera-2025-26-review-aida/

  Those accustomed to the grandeur of larger houses like the Metropolitan Opera might approach a performance at the Virginia Opera with moderated expectations, but the company proves such caution unnecessary. While the scale may be smaller and simpler, Virginia Opera consistently delivers excellent vocal talents and imaginative stagings that make the most of their admittedly limited budget. This season’s {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Washington National Opera 2025-26 Review: The Crucible

https://operawire.com/washington-national-opera-2025-26-review-the-crucible/

(Credit: Scott Suchman) On March 21, the Washington National Opera opened “The Crucible,” its second production of the spring season at the Lisner Auditorium. The Washington National Opera’s decision to showcase this work spotlights the importance of art’s resilience in times where where institutions like the John. F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts are being taken over by regimes {…}

Behind the Scenes, Interviews

Q & A: Gregory Spears on ‘Fellow Travelers’ & His Upcoming Opera ‘Sleepers Awake’

https://operawire.com/q-a-gregory-spears-on-fellow-travelers-his-upcoming-opera-sleepers-awake/

Composer Gregory Spears is in the middle of celebrating his breakthrough opera “Fellow Travelers,” which premiered 10 years ago. The opera, which is based on the Thomas Mallon novel set in Washington D.C., during the McCarthy era of the 1950s and focuses on the “lavender scare,” a witch hunt and mass firings of gay people from the United States government, {…}

Behind the Scenes, Interviews

Q & A: Director Jorinde Keesmaat on ‘SHE/HER/ME’ & the Female Perspective in Opera for International Women’s Day

https://operawire.com/q-a-director-jorinde-keesmaat-on-she-her-me-the-female-perspective-in-opera-for-international-womens-day/

(Photo: Welmer Keesmaat) Director Jorinde Keesmaat is working on the concept and staging of a new project, “SHE/HER/ME,” an opera film installation with film and dialogue by Jean Cocteau, music by Philip Glass, and new composition by Molly Joyce. Keesmaat was invited as the keynote speaker to a Women’s Leadership event, ahead of International Women’s Day, to the Consulate General {…}