(Credit: Dario Acosta) There are many things to mention about this important performance under review. Let’s start by acknowledging the dramatic and historic setting of the venue – the amazing Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where world-renowned Black leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Barack Obama, and Nelson Mandela have talked and sermonized. Then, there were the arrayed forces. {…}
The San Francisco Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. The company is set to present its “Opera Ball,” co-presented with the San Francisco Opera Guild. Performance Date: Sept. 5, 2025 The season opens with Verdi’s “Rigoletto” with Eun Sun Kim conducting the work. Amartuvshin Enkhbat leads the cast in the title role alongside Adela Zaharia, Giovanni Sala, J’Nai Bridges, and {…}
(Photo credit: Jill Steinberg at National Sawdust) National Sawdust’s 10th Anniversary opening season kicked off with Artistic Director/Co-Founder & composer Paola Prestini and librettist Royce Vavrek‘s foley chamber opera world premiere “Silent Light,” featuring director & scenic designer Thaddeus Strassberger and conductor Christopher Rountree. The cast includes powerhouse soprano Brittany Renee as Esther, bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch as Johan, soprano Julia {…}
(Photo credit: Eric Woolsey) No matter the repertory selected, Opera Theatre Saint Louis’s (OTSL) 2024 season would have faced a significant challenge: following their memorable 2023 season and its refreshing inclusion of many singers of color. Surrounding a forgettable “Cosí Fan Tutte,” three productions made maximal artistic impact, including a fine “Tosca” starring Katie Van Kooten and Hunter Enoch as {…}
The San Francisco Opera has announced the 2023-24 Emerging Stars Competition. The Emerging Stars Competition, made possible by Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem, is a fund for opera singers who have made their mark on the grand stage. The company added, that through the Emerging Stars Fund, Jan and Maria help bring some of opera’s most exciting rising talents {…}
Perhaps it was the eclipse, an event typically devoid of human influence, yet on the evening of April 8, 2024, it seemed to cast an otherworldly aura over Terence Blanchard and Kasi Lemmons’ production of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” The production premiered at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2019 before moving to the Met to sold-out audiences {…}
Omar is a man, forcibly taken from his home in West Africa in 1807, and brought through the Middle Passage to America. He is sold into slavery in South Carolina and treated with brutality. He maintains his Muslim faith and eventually while in captivity, writes his autobiography in Arabic. “Omar” is an opera created by MacArthur Fellowship recipient Rhiannon Giddens, {…}