(Photo credit: Karen Almond / Met Opera) This season’s premiere of Met Opera’s “Tosca” features Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, in the titular role, marking her 100th Met performance. Her Met debut was in 2004 as Olympia in Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” and her performances leading up to this season have all been unforgettable, especially Kurzak as Tosca. Her voice alongside tenor {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced that Yuval Sharon will be directing new productions of “Tristan und Isolde” and “Der Ring des Nibelungen.” Sharon will make his Met debut during the 2025−26 season with a new production of “Tristan und Isolde” (conducted by Nézet-Séguin, with Lise Davidsen as Isolde). Then in 2026-27, he debuts his new Ring cycle with Davidsen as {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced it willing be marching during the New York City Pride March on June 30, 2024. The company took to social media and said, “Did you hear the news? We’ll be celebrating Pride Month alongside New York City in this year’s annual Pride March! Keep your eyes peeled for our float, featuring the wonderful voices of {…}
(Credit: Brigitte Lacombe) While the Metropolitan Opera is finishing its season with 72 percent of tickets sold, increasing consistently and showing a growth of six percent compared to the 2022-23 season, a lot of questions remain as Met’s General Manager Peter Gelb and the company head into the off-season. When Peter Gelb and Yannick Nezet-Seguin were answering questions for the {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Met Opera) Great Performances at the Met is set to showcase Bizet’s “Carmen” on June 19, 2024 at 9 p.m. local time. The opera stars Aigul Akhmetshina in the title role. Joining her is Piotr Beczala as Don José, Angel Blue as Micaëla, and Kyle Ketelson as Escamillo. The opera is conducted by Daniele Rustioni, who {…}
(Photo: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera) Metropolitan Opera debuted John Adams’s “El Niño,” with libretto based on original sources by Peter Sellars and John Adams, to a sold out house of past, present, and future opera goers on Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024. “El Niño” is unlike anything John Adams has done before and the historical timing of this debut is {…}
(Credit: Karen Almond / Met Opera) The 350th performance of “Turandot” at the Met exceeded expectations with Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv and Russian soprano Elena Pankratova making their house debuts and intentionally working together to deliver jaw-dropping moments of overwhelming musical beauty and power. The night also featured remarkable performances by South Korean tenor SeokJong Baek, Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, {…}
(Photo: Jill Steinberg) National Sawdust and The Met Opera presented “Opera Evolved: Genre Fluidity” on Thursday, February 22nd, 2024. This was the second installment of this three-part series that, according to the program, celebrates artistic convergence by investigating the intersection of innovation and tradition at National Sawdust. The evening included composer and co-founder of National Sawdust, Paola Prestini, and theater {…}
The LA Opera has canceled plans to present the world premiere of Mason Bates’ “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay” this fall. The company said that the production was canceled due to financial issues. LA Opera CEO Christopher Koelsch told the AP News, “It was a very ambitious and therefore expensive project, and unfortunately in the current conditions, it wasn’t {…}
Photo: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera This year’s season opener of the Met’s “The Magic Flute,” on December 8th, 2023, was another high-energy holiday extravaganza. The family-friendly annual production by Julie Taymor was a familiar favorite to many; its rich fantasy world of magical symbolism dazzled and delivered. However, what set the bar for this year’s production apart from others, {…}
(Credit: Joaquín Fuentes) In 2005, Nancy Fabiola Herrera made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Suzuki in “Madama Butterfly.” Since then she has been a frequent presence at the Met singing works by Verdi, Strauss, and Bizet, among others. She has also made an important career in Spain where she has delved into dramatic operas and also made a career singing {…}