Jake Heggie’s 2000 opera “Dead Man Walking” – based on the memoirs of Sister Helen Prejean and inspired by the film of the same name – hardly conforms to operatic standards. An intersection of “Porgy and Bess”-like motifs, rock opera recitatives, and the echoes of New Orleans jazz, it treats the opera template with a moderate respect: scant arias and {…}
The Miami Music Festival has announced its 2017 season, which will feature five operas, among other programs, starting on June 6, 2017 and ending on July 31, 2017. The program, which will enter its fourth season and offers “an intensive training program for the next generation of classical musicians to work with mentors and gain performing experience,” will feature 250 {…}
The Teatro Real has finally announced its 2017-18 season, later than most other organizations. But the company has packed quite a punch for its upcoming showcase, with 13 operas on the docket. It all starts on Sept. 13 with Mozart’s rarely performed “Lucio Silla” directed by Claus Guth. The cast will be led by Patricia Petibon, who will sing five {…}
The Metropolitan Opera will finally showcase an opera by Jake Heggie. Despite Heggie’s rise to operatic fame as a composer over the last decade, the Met has seemed to not notice. Until now. According to a picture in Opera Magazine taken by New York Times Reporter Zachary Woolfe, conductor Yannick Nézet Seguin will conduct “Dead Man Walking” as part of {…}
A new opera starts its life on Saturday while a rarity gets its premiere in a major city and a modern masterwork arrives in our nation’s capital. Yes, opera is finally starting to bloom around the States, with many smaller companies getting in on the act. Arizona Opera is showcasing the world premiere of Bohmler’s “Riders of the Purple Sage.” {…}
Overcoming a traumatic experience is an arduous task that really never goes away. It leaves its mark, the smallest stimulus bringing it back with greater potency. Artists don’t always have the luxury of running away from trauma. They not only have to portray it but live it time and time again. And in the case of opera singers, they might {…}
The Minnesota Opera has announced its 2017-18 season, a celebration for the company’s 55th anniversary. The season opens with Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” on Oct. 7 and runs through the 15. It will be followed in November with a new production of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.” The opera will premier on Nov. 11 and will run through the 19. The 2018 {…}
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City kicked off the New Year celebrating awards to two prominent Resident Artists. The artists in question are Samantha Gossard and John Viscardi. The former was the recipient of the William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation Award, which awards 15 $12,000 grants to young artists. It also allows them to participate in a five-year program of {…}