Leah Hawkins, Maria Brea, Rafael Moras & SeokJong Baek Lead Arizona Opera’s 2024-25 Season

The Arizona Opera has announced its 2024-25 season. The season opens with Arizona Opera’s new “Beyond Downtown” program, the newest evolution of the company’s McDougall RED Series, which will bring operatic performances throughout Arizona, reaching beyond the walls of the theaters in which the company typically performs. Performance Dates: TBD Caitlin Gotimer, SeokJong Baek, Benjamin Taylor, and Emma Marhefka perform {…}

Mar 14, 2024

Sasha Cooke, John Holiday, Liv Redpath, Leah Hawkins, Mario Chang Headline San Francisco Symphony’s 2024-25 Season

The San Francisco Symphony has announced its 2024-25 season. Here is a rundown of the vocal performances on offer. Joe Hisaishi conducts a concert of music from the films of Hayao Miyazaki. The concert will feature the participation of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Performance Dates: Sept. 5 – 8, 2024 Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Verdi’s Requiem with Leah Hawkins, Karen Cargill, {…}

Mar 5, 2024

Dutch National Opera to Present ‘Il Trittico’ with Michael Volle

The Dutch National Opera is set to present Puccini’s triptych “Il Trittico” for the first time. The opera will premiere on May 3, 2024 and will be shown in celebration of the centenary of Puccini’s death 1924-2024. “Il Trittico” will be conducted by Lorenzo Viotti. Stage director Barrie Kosky will helm the production and will star baritone Michael Volle in {…}

Jan 18, 2024

Joyce DiDonato, Leah Hawkins, Joshua Hopkins & Nina Stemme Lead Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2024-25 Season

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, {…}

Dec 26, 2023

Best of 2023: OperaWire’s Top 11 Singers of 2023

It’s time of the year. The moment we wrap up the year and look back at our favorite moments. After releasing our favorite performances of 2023 and showcasing our rising stars of the year, it’s time for OperaWire’s annual tradition of naming our top 11 singers of the year, performers that we thought stood out and had major breaks or performances. So {…}

Dec 22, 2023

Leah Hawkins, Lindsay Ammann, Joshua Blue, & Stefan Egerstrom Lead Dvořák’s ‘Requiem’ With the American Symphony Orchestra

(Photo credit: ©Kerry Hallihan, ©Rod Evans, ©Caitlin Odham ©Holli Egerstrom) The American Symphony Orchestra and the Bard Festival Chorale present Antonin Dvořák’s “Requiem,” Op. 89 on Jan. 25 at Carnegie Hall. Soprano Leah Hawkins, mezzo-soprano Lindsay Ammann, tenor Joshua Blue, and bass Stefan Egerstrom serve as soloists in one of the composer’s lesser-known choral works. They are joined by the Bard {…}

Nov 5, 2023

Metropolitan Opera 2023-24 Review: X: the Life and Times of Malcolm X

(Credit: Marty Sohl) The Metropolitan Opera’s 2023-24 season unfurled a tapestry of music, history, and Afrofuturistic magical realism with Broadway producer Robert O’Hara’s “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” composed by Anthony Davis, to a libretto by Thulani Davis, based on a story by Christopher Davis. The Met, traditionally a bastion of opera’s classic repertoire, transformed into a {…}

Oct 27, 2023

Will Liverman Leads Metropolitan Opera’s ‘X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X’

(Credit: Zenith Richards / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera is set to present the company premiere of Anthony Davis’s “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.” The opera will open on Nov. 3 and will be conducted by Kazem Abdullah in a newly revised score, which features a layered, jazz-inflected setting. The opera will star baritone Will Liverman, soprano Leah {…}

Sep 28, 2023

Metropolitan Opera 2023-24 Review: Verdi’s Requiem

Credit: Richard Termine As a mopey high schooler, requiems were my thing: Mozart’s, Fauré’s, Verdi’s — it was these that introduced me to choral music on a grand scale, and if not for them, in all likelihood, I wouldn’t have been sitting in the Met auditorium watching Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin lead soloists and the Met Orchestra and Chorus {…}

Sep 24, 2023

Leah Hawkins & Matthew Polenzani Lead Verdi’s Requiem

(Credit: Richard Termine / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera is set to present Verdi’s Requiem. The work will be conducted by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and will star soprano Leah Hawkins, mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill, tenor Matthew Polenzani, and bass Dmitry Belosselskiy. Verdi’s Requiem has been performed at the Met more than 50 times, beginning on Feb. 17, 1901, when it commemorated the composer’s death {…}

Jul 8, 2023

Los Angeles Philharmonic Announces Cast Change for Verdi Requiem

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced a cast change for Verdi’s Requiem on July 11, 2023. The company said that Leah Hawkins will sing the soprano role, replacing Angel Blue. Hawkins added on her social media, “When your instincts tell you to pack a score, PACK it ! (It’s time for me get an iPad, I’ve fought long enough…. *eyeroll* {…}

leah hawkins