(Photo: David Beale) Every Friday, Polina Lyapustina delivers a short essay on some of the most sensitive topics in the industry with the intent of establishing a dialogue about the opera world and its future. The choice of topics discussed, how they are researched, and how they are portrayed is conducted independently of OperaWire’s editors. With the end of the {…}
AGMA has released a statement in response to the recent lockout by the Metropolitan Opera against Local One stagehands. The Union said, “As an affiliate of the Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds (COBUG), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local One stagehands do not stand alone in the lockout by the Metropolitan Opera. All of the affiliates – {…}
Following the Metropolitan Opera’s decision to lockout stagehands, the Met Orchestra has issued a statement. “The musicians of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, represented by AFM Local 802, stand in solidarity with our IATSE Local 1 stagehand colleagues who have been locked out of The Metropolitan Opera, a particularly callous action taken by Met management in this unprecedented pandemic,” the organization {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced it will institute a lockout of its Local One–represented employees. The employees affected by this lockout will be stagehands and it will be effective at midnight. In a statement, the Metropolitan Opera said, “even though we’ve had a number of bargaining sessions over the last four months since our contract with Local One expired, and {…}
Get ready for another exciting and unique week of operatic experiences. From streams of some of the greatest repertory staples to arguably the biggest online gala experience of 2020 and a reimaging of a holiday classic, this week’s streaming options are sure to please all kinds of opera fans around the world. Falstaff – Bayerische Staatsoper (NOW) For those seeking {…}
(Credit: Metropolitan Opera / Marty Sohl) The Metropolitan Opera has announced its first online Family Holiday Festival. The festival will run from Dec. 17 through Dec. 21, 2020 and will include a free, all-virtual festival which will be presented across five days. The festival will open with a complete performance of a holiday favorite, Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” streaming for {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced the next month of nightly streams which focus on a number of unique themes including operas in English, holiday works, and even an entire work dedicated to one of the most iconic artists of all time. Week 39– In Plain English Monday, December 7 – Thomas Adès’s The Tempest Starring Audrey Luna, Isabel Leonard, Iestyn Davies, Alek Shrader, {…}
Bryn Terfel will continue the Metropolitan Opera’s “Met Stars Live in Concert” series on Dec. 12, 2020. The event, which will begin at 1:00 p.m. ET, will feature the superstar live from the historic Brecon Cathedral in his native Wales. The program will feature traditional holiday favorites such as “Silent Night,” “O Holy Night,” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.” {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has postponed Sonya Yoncheva’s Met Stars Live in Concert performance. The company announced that the performance featuring the famed soprano, which was rescheduled for this Saturday, Nov. 28, has now been moved to Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021, as Yoncheva is still ill (with a non-Covid illness). The new date will be performed live from the Schussenried Cloister {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced the 2020-21 season encore radio broadcast. The company will broadcast encore recordings starting Dec. 5 at 1 p.m. with Mary Jo Heath hosting and Ira Siff as a commentator for the broadcasts. The broadcasts will also include dynamic intermission features, live backstage interviews with artists, and the ever-popular Opera Quiz. The broadcasts begin with Prokofiev’s “War {…}
The Metropolitan Opera is looking to make a deal with its furloughed employees in exchange for long-term concessions. Per The New York Times, the company is offering to pay many of the 1,000 full-time employees who have been furloughed without pay since April up to $1,500 per week in exchange for new union contracts. Per the report, these contracts would {…}