On June 18, 2023, the Hungarian State Opera will celebrate legendary Hungarian soprano Éva Marton’s 80th birthday. The event will include performances by former and current students, along with winners of the Éva Marton International Singing Competition. Directed by company artistic director András Almási-Tóth, the gala will also include special guest artist Jonathan Tetelman, with the HSO Orchestra led by {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its next two weeks of streams, which include a plethora of famed opera stars, modern operas, and classic productions. The company will also showcase the streaming premiere of the 1984 telecast of Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra,” starring Sherrill Milnes, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, and Vasile Moldoveanu and the 2000 telecast of Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” with Karita Mattila, Ben Heppner, {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced the next month of nightly streams which focus on a number of unique themes including operas in English, holiday works, and even an entire work dedicated to one of the most iconic artists of all time. Week 39– In Plain English Monday, December 7 – Thomas Adès’s The Tempest Starring Audrey Luna, Isabel Leonard, Iestyn Davies, Alek Shrader, {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its schedule for Week 20 of nightly streams. The company will present a slew of major superstars in this latest edition, including Anna Netrebko, Roberto Alagna, Jonas Kaufmann, Mirella Freni, and Renée Fleming, among others. Here is the full breakdown. Monday, July 20 –Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” Starring Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Christopher Maltman, {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced the 17th week of its nightly streams. This week’s streams include such opera stars as Anna Netrebko, Luciano Pavarotti, Ben Heppner, and Eva Marton. Monday, July 6 – Puccini’s La Bohème Starring Sonya Yoncheva, Susanna Phillips, Michael Fabiano, Lucas Meachem, Alexey Lavrov, Matthew Rose, and Paul Plishka, conducted by Marco Armiliato. From February 24, 2018. Tuesday, {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced the 10th week of its nightly streams. Here is a rundown of all the performances which includes two classic performances. Monday, May 18 – Mozart’s Idomeneo Conducted by James Levine, starring Nadine Sierra, Elza van den Heever, Alice Coote, and Matthew Polenzani. Transmitted live on March 25, 2017. Tuesday, May 19 – Wagner’s Lohengrin – {…}
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced the recipients of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts Gold Medal in the Arts. This year, the awards will be handed to performers and arts leaders in their respective international communities. Among this year’s recipients are conductors Ádám Fischer and Ivan Fischer; composer and pianist György Kurtág; soprano {…}
On November 4, 2018, the Hungarian State Opera’s tour featured a gala celebrating the music and dance of their homeland. I was surprised to learn that the date chosen for this celebration marks the 68th year since the Soviet intervention of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, wherein a large number of Hungarians gave their lives for their country against the {…}
Eva Marton, born on June 18, 1943, is arguably the most famous Hungarian soprano of the last few decades. She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy and made her professional debut at Hungary’s Margaret Island Summer Festival. Then at the Hungarian State Opera, she appeared for the first time in “The Golden Cockerel” in 1968. From there she made her {…}
Puccini’s “Turandot” is an operatic fixture and one would expect that the work, so popular at the Metropolitan Opera thanks to Franco Zeffirelli’s famed production, would have been around the house for as long as one can remember. And yet the opera experienced a long hiatus of 30 years before regaining its foothold at the Met. Along the way, some {…}
Eva Marton and Iréne Theorin. Two sopranos with gargantuan voices from different eras born on the same day. For Marton, it was June 18, 1943 while Theorin was born exactly 20 years later. Two sopranos with huge voices like these two women are bound to share some repertoire and the truth is that they have. Here is a look at {…}