Conductor Rafael Kubelík, born on June 29, 1914, is not often one of the names often associated with the operatic greats. And he never quite got the opportunity to build that legacy due to a number of mitigating circumstances with two of the great opera companies in the world. Here is a look at his career at those major companies. {…}
Jennifer Rowley will sing Puccini’s “Tosca” at the Metropolitan Opera. The soprano, who had a breakout this past season with the company, will sing one performance of the role on Jan. 12. Rowley will cover performances of “Tosca” for Sonya Yoncheva, who will open the new production by Sir David McVicar. Rowley recently sang the role at the New Orleans Opera and {…}
The Metropolitan Opera’s “Tosca” has been completely altered since its cast was announced earlier this year. When the Met made its announcement earlier this Spring, Jonas Kaufmann and Kristine Opolais were the lead roles. Now the cast will be headlined by Vittorio Grigolo and Sonya Yoncheva. Yoncheva, who was already scheduled to sing “Le Nozze di Figaro,” will be replaced {…}
Petr Nekoranec will sing tonight’s Central Park SummerStage recital concert. He will replace Stephen Costello, who is ill. The Metropolitan Opera announced the news on Twitter. Nekoranec has become recognized as one of the most distinctive young singers in the Czech Republic. In September 2016, he attended the Lindemann Program for Young Artists at the Metropolitan Opera and became the {…}
This Sunday, the Metropolitan Opera’s recent production of “Rusalka” will hit TVs around the country as part of PBS’s Great Performances series. The performance will air on June 18 at 12 p.m. EDT. The opera stars Kristine Opolais in the title role, Jamie Barton as the witch Jezibaba, Eric Owens as the Water Sprite, and Brandon Jovanovich as the Prince. The {…}
Every opera career has a different path. Not everyone wins competitions, not everyone starts at the top opera houses or young artist programs, and not everyone begins at the same age. And that is very clear for Angel Blue, who has taken unconventional paths to becoming one of the most promising young artists in opera. “I am definitely open and {…}
Benjamin Bowman will be the new concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra. He will join current concertmaster David Chan as one of the two leaders of the group. Bowman will kick off a one-year tenure for the 2017-18 season. The American-born violinist who holds a Canadian citizenship has served as concertmaster with the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra since 2014. He was {…}
Famed English conductor Jeffrey Tate passed away on Friday, June 2, 2017, leaving a massive void in the musical world. The renowned conductor, born on April 28, 1943, performed at many of the major theaters of the world and dedicated much of his career to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. His Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1980, when he led {…}
Elena Souliotis and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau were both born on May 28. The former came into the world in 1943 while the latter came 18 years earlier in 1925. Both singers had tremendous careers, the German baritone among the greatest lieder interpreters of all time. Meanwhile, the soprano was one of the leading interpreters of the Italian repertoire. Ultimately they are {…}
Let me preface this by saying that I love the Metropolitan Opera. It is my home opera house and OperaWire.com does not exist if not for the hundreds of nights spent at that house over the past decade. But it was truly disheartening this week to read that the company is still struggling to fill the theater. The New York {…}
After looking at the top female and male singers as well as the finest maestros of the 2016-17 season, we now turn the spotlight on the 10 best-assembled casts of the season. This was a truly difficult piece to put together as this Met season had great casts for almost every single opera. But the casts listed below were simply {…}