Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. It’s about the holidays so this week there is a new Christmas album as well as a final recording by one of the great mezzos of her time, a re-release of a classic recording, a new recording of Massenet’s work, and many baroque {…}
The inaugural Corelli100 Prize is set to be awarded to Jonas Kaufmann. The tenor will receive the prize on April 24 in Ancona which will be awarded by the Fondazione Teatro dell Muse. The prize is awarded to a person who has distinguished himself in the world of opera. The Fondazione said, “that Kaufmann represents the reference interpreter in the {…}
(Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photos) OperaWire is proud to present The Wonderful World of Opera Dogs, a series by Diana Burgwyn, which will focus on the relationship between opera’s most iconic stars and their beloved canines. The creation of this series and all research necessary for each individual piece was conducted solely by Diana. To learn more about the origins {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced the 2020-21 season encore radio broadcast. The company will broadcast encore recordings starting Dec. 5 at 1 p.m. with Mary Jo Heath hosting and Ira Siff as a commentator for the broadcasts. The broadcasts will also include dynamic intermission features, live backstage interviews with artists, and the ever-popular Opera Quiz. The broadcasts begin with Prokofiev’s “War {…}
(Credits: Lukasz Rajchert / © Julian Laidig / RibaltaLuce Studio) Max Emanuel Cencic, the Artistic Director of the Bayreuth Baroque Festival, has announced that the Festival Online Edition will take place from Sep. 8 – Sep. 13, 2020. Full performances will be broadcast on the Bayreuth Baroque Festival Facebook Page. For the purposes of this article, we will focus only {…}
(Credits: Bojana Dimković official website / Aaron Cawley / Pia Rabea Vornholt) The Early Music Festival will take place from Sept. 17 – Sep. 29., 2020, in Belgrade, Serbia. The festival was originally scheduled in May 2020, but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here is the full rundown. “Italian Extravaganza” will kick off the festival with {…}
There are a lot of opera stars born in April. They include the likes of Walter Berry, Leonard Warren, Monserrat Caballe, Lily Pons, Mariela Devia, Franco Corelli, Sondra Radvanovsky, Danielle De Niese, Natalie Dessay, Fiorenza Cossotto, Siegfried Jerusalem, Gianni Raimondi, Leo Nucci, Italo Tajo, and several others. So to celebrate the April birthdays we are going to dedicate this quiz {…}
Few tenors are as iconic as Franco Corelli. Born on April 8, 1921 in Ancona, he initially set out to follow in the footsteps of his father and studied naval engineering at the University of Bologna. During his studies, he entered a vocal competition as an amateur singer and was encouraged to pursue his voice further. He entered the Pesaro {…}
Brian Jagde is one of today’s rising stars in the opera world and his powerful tenor has obtained raves. Today he is in high demand around the world and one of the roles that he has garnered him attention is that of Cavaradossi. Currently starring in San Francisco Opera’s new production of “Tosca,” Jagde will break the record this season {…}
This Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, the Metropolitan Opera will bring back Puccini’s “La Fanciulla del West,” which incidentally had its world premiere with the company back in 1910. In the context of other Puccini works, this one is seldom performed. For context, “La Bohème,” is the company’s most performed work, with 1300-plus performances in the company’s history. “Tosca,” meanwhile has {…}
Franco Corelli. The tenor, who was born on April 8, 1921, is arguably one of the most lauded in opera history. His high notes are legendary, as are his movie looks. In celebration of his birthday, we offer up this quiz to see how well you know one of opera’s iconic leading men.