(Credit: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD season will continue with Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” on April 26, 2025. The production by Richard Eyre will be conducted by Joana Mallwitz and will star Michael Sumuel and soprano Olga Kulchynska as Figaro and Susanna. They will be joined by Joshua Hopkins as Count Almaviva, Federica Lombardi as the {…}
The Metropolitan Opera revived “Le Nozze di Figaro” for the 2024-25 season. I’ve seen this Richard Eyre production countless times and it’s always a breath of air to see how different casts can take the same directions, but breathe new life into them. And this cast was no different. When I reviewed the opera in 2021-22, I remarked how different {…}
The San Francisco Symphony has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Donald Runnicles conducts Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. Irene Roberts is a soloist. Performance Dates: Sept. 26-28, 2025 Jane Glover conducts Händel’s “Messiah” with Heidi Stober, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Josh Lovell, and Will Liverman. Performance Dates: Dec. 5 {…}
The Metropolitan Opera is set to revive “Le Nozze di Figaro” for 13 performances. The opera will be conducted by Joana Mallwitz, who makes her company debut and will showcase Richard Eyre’s production. There will be two casts for the work, the first of which showcases Federica Lombardi, Olga Kulchynska, Sun-Ly Pierce, Joshua Hopkins, and Michael Sumel. The second cast {…}
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: Curtis Perry) Baritone Joshua Hopkins and Yannick Nézet-Séguin give the U.S. orchestral premiere of Jake Heggie and Margaret Atwood’s “Songs for Murdered Sisters.” Hopkins’ sister, Nathalie Warmerdam, was one of the victims in one of Canada’s worst cases of domestic violence. Since Warmerdam’s murder in 2015, Hopkins has since set out on a journey to use his voice {…}
The Canadian Opera Company is set to present Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” for the first time in 30 years. The opera will be presented between April 26 and May 18, 2024 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, with an additional one-night-only performance starring current and graduate artists of the COC’s Ensemble Studio on May 14, 2024. The opera {…}
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2024-25 season. Here are the vocal performances. Nicholas Kraemer conducts a program that includes the music of Händel, Beethoven, and Mozart. Soloists include Amanda Forsythe, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Josh Lovell, and Michael Sumuel. Performance Dates: Oct. 17-19, 2024 Fabien Gabel and Konstantin Krimmel team up for a program of music by Britten, Mahler, {…}
The Philadelphia Orchestra has announced its 2024-25 Season. Here is a look at the vocal performances for the season. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Joyce DiDonato as the featured soloist. Performance Dates: Oct. 3-5, 2024 Riccardo Muti conducts Verdi’s Requiem with soloists Juliana Grigoryan, Isabel De Paoli, Giovanni Sala, and Maharram Huseynov. Performance Dates: Oct. 24-26, {…}
Carnegie Hall is set to celebrate the holiday season on Dec. 7 with J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. The famed piece with be performed by Orchestra of St. Luke under Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie. Soloists will include soprano Lauren Snouffer, contralto Avery Amereau, tenor Andrew Haji, and baritone Joshua Hopkins. They will perform alongside La Chapelle de Québec. This concert is {…}
On April 13, 2023, the Metropolitan Opera opened its April run of Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore.” Bartlett Sher’s 2012 production was met with new life thanks to a number of stunning debuts from the cast. The staging itself presents a view of Italy during unification which neither rebukes nor flatters the historical context of the work, leaving an authentic, if understated, {…}