The Wiener Staatsoper has announced a conductor change for its new production of “Turandot.” The company said that Marco Armiliato will take over the run of performances for Franz Welser-Möst who recently announced he was canceling engagements due to illness. The Italian conductor is one of the most sought-after opera conductors in the world. In recent years he has conducted {…}
(Credit: Karen Almond) Days after proclaiming to the world that it would not broadcast the entire Metropolitan Opera 2023-24 season, The Classical Station has reversed course. The organization made a formal announcement on its website noting that “After careful deliberation, due consideration, and hearing from our supporters, listeners, and the public, The Classical Station has decided to broadcast the entire {…}
Rhiannon Giddens has spoken out against The Classical Station’s decision to ban the broadcast of numerous operas presented by the Metropolitan Opera. The North Carolina-based station noted that it would not present such works as “Dead Man Walking,” “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” “The Hours,” “Florencia en el Amazonas,” and “El Niño” due to concerns over content {…}
(Credit: Marty Sohl / Met Opera) “Nabucco” returned to the Metropolitan Opera after a seven-year absence. The opera was set to return during the 2020-21 season but was canceled due to the pandemic. Now Verdi’s early gem is finally back in the company’s legendary Elijah Moshinsky production that has become emblematic of the Met’s grandeur and its gorgeous tableaus. Having {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced a new cast change for its production of “Un Ballo in Maschera.” The company noted that Liv Redpath will replace Nina Minasyan in the role of Oscar. Redpath made her Met debut in 2021 with the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall. This season she is also set to perform Pamina in “The Magic {…}
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 {…}
(Credit: Karen Almond) The Metropolitan Opera re-opened its doors on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, with a new production of “Dead Man Walking” by Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally. The production kicks off a major initiative for the company. Last year, the Met announced that due to the success of contemporary works, including “The Hours,” it would invest more potently on {…}
This week the Metropolitan Opera opened its 2023-24 season with the Met premiere of Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking” with it an all-star cast. Among the performers is Latonia Moore, making her role debut as Sister Rose. In a recent interview with OperaWire, Moore noted that Heggie music “is composed in a Bel Canto way and composed with the singer {…}
(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 {…}
Baritone Samuel Schultz is calling out the Metropolitan Opera for opening the season with “Dead Man Walking” and casting Susan Graham. Schultz took to social media and said, “The Metropolitan Opera opens this season with Dead Man Walking, an opera that explores a nun’s push to remove the death penalty for a convicted rapist/murderer. In the story, the victims are {…}
The Metropolitan Opera’s General Manager Peter Gelb has received Ukraine’s Order of Merit. Gelb received the award on Sept. 21 during an address by President Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. He was one of several recipients recognized for the Met’s support of Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion. Since the {…}