The Santa Fe Opera has announced its 2019 season. While the 2018 season has yet to begin, the upcoming 2019 edition will showcase five productions, including one new world premiere. Here is a look Productions Vanessa Vasquez and Mario Chang lead Puccini’s “La Bohème” with a stellar cast that also includes Kirsten Mackinnon and Zachary Nelson. Jader Bignamini conducts the production {…}
It was intermission at the premiere of Phelim McDermott’s new Metropolitan Opera production of Mozart and Da Ponte’s “Così Fan Tutte” and someone made this statement to me. “It’s fun and everything, but why set it on Coney Island?” It’s a great point, but one could extrapolate that entire statement to the opera itself – “It’s got great music and {…}
The New York Choral Society will honor Stephanie Blythe in the company’s annual Spring Gala. The company will honor Blythe with the NYChoral Award for musical excellence. Blythe has performed all around the world and is considered one of the greatest mezzos of her generation. She returns to the Metropolitan Opera for “Cendrillon” and is also scheduled to make an appearance {…}
The Met Opera’s upcoming “Così fan tutte” is set to make a major splash in coming weeks. The new production set on Coney Island, which is set to feature more than a number of major tricks, will undeniably play a major role in its popularity. But any opera will live and die with its singing actors, and the cast that {…}
The Canadian Opera Company has announced its 2018-19 season, which will feature six operas. Every opera is undeniably the sum of all its parts, but there is certainly a lot to be said about how one performer can become the big story for his or her upcoming showcase. Here is a look at the six exciting singers to keep an {…}
The Seattle Opera has announced its 2018-19 season featuring five fully staged works. The season opens on August 11, 2018, with George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.” Angel Blue stars as Bess alternating with Elizabeth Llewellyn while Alfred Walker and Kevin Short will alternate the role of Porgy. Lester Lynch and May Elizabeth Williams round out the cast. Francesca Zambello directs the {…}
The famed New York Festival of Song will celebrate its 30th anniversary in style. The event, founded three decades ago by Steven Blier and Michael Barrett, will feature four major concerts, all showcased at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York. The first of these performances will be one dedicated to Leonard Bernstein on Nov. 7, 2017. Entitled “Take Care {…}
The world’s greatest opera singers are immersed in a wide range of activities as the summer season hits its apex. Some are on vacation, while others are rigorously rehearsing for upcoming performances. Anna Netrebko previewed a section from “Aida” on her Instagram. The clip showed Netrebko in the rehearsal room alongside her colleagues and Riccardo Muti conducting. “Aida” opens on {…}
The Rome Opera has announced its 2017-18 season showcasing a number of new productions. New Productions The season opens on Dec. 6, 2017, with Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust.” Conducted by Daniele Gatti, the opera will get a new production by Damiano Michieletto, who recently directed a highly acclaimed “Il viaggio a Reims” for the company. The opera will star {…}
This is a review for the final performance of the run, which took place on May 12, 2017. The first opera I saw during the Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-17 season was Richard Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde.” So it was only fitting that the last one I saw this season was “Der Fliegende Holländer,” the first to truly establish the composer as {…}
The Frankfurt Opera has announced its new season with a line-up of new productions and a number of stars. New Productions The first new production of the year, Verdi’s “Il Trovatore,” opens on Sept. 10. Elza Van Den Heever and Leah Crocetto lead an all-star cast that also includes Piero Pretti and Alfred Kim in the lead role. David Bösch directs the new production {…}