As we get ready for Thanksgiving, we can look around and be thankful for all the opera options in North America. Here’s a look at what you can check out before you start to think about your Thanksgiving feast. Poppea – Bare Opera It might be a reduced version of Monteverdi’s masterpiece, but it remains a vital piece of work {…}
For just the third time in Metropolitan Opera history, Bizet’s “Les Pêcheurs de Perles” will receive a revival. The opera had its Met premiere on Jan. 11, 1896, but only two of its acts were performed. The first full performance of the opera would have to wait 20 years when it appeared on opening night, Nov. 13, 1916. The cast {…}
Per the Met’s press office DiGiacomo has always been scheduled to perform the Dec. 28 performance. Sonya Yoncheva will no longer perform the Dec. 28 performance of Verdi’s “Otello” at the Metropolitan Opera. The soprano’s team announced via Twitter that she would no longer appear in the performance. The soprano is slated to be at the Opéra de Paris for New {…}
It was 2014 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Clémentine Margaine, a graduate of the Paris Conservatory and winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Concours International de Marmande, was an ensemble member of the company who had just been handpicked by the casting director of the company to sing the title role of “Carmen.” “I was very lucky that {…}
Arrigo Boito’s “Mefistofele” is a work of glorious moments that has yet to find a stable place in the standard repertoire. Despite being derived from Goethe’s famed “Faust,” great arias for the major leads, and an amazing part for any opera house’s chorus, it has never been as popular as other adaptations of the same source material(ie: Gounod’s “Faust”). In {…}
On Thursday, Nov. 8, Boito’s “Mefistofele” makes its return to the Metropolitan Opera after an 18-year hiatus. Of the opera’s 67 performances, all but 13 came before 1927, which makes a statement on the opera’s popularity with the company. It has never quite turned into a major staple of the repertoire at large, though it has been growing in popularity {…}
It’s a Christian van Horn kind of year. The bass-baritone has already opened a new production of “Faust” at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, headlined opening night at Opera Philadelphia, and won the Richard Tucker Award. He also starred at the Canadian Opera and returns to the Metropolitan Opera for “La Bohème.” But perhaps his biggest assignment will come this week when he sings {…}
The Met Opera will kick off its Live in HD series this Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018, with a performance of Nico Muhly and Nichola Wright “Marnie.” The broadcast, which kicks off 12:55 p.m. Eastern time, is set to star Isabel Leonard in the title role, in what will be her sixth appearance as part of the Met’s Live in HD {…}
On Nov. 9, 2018, Michelle Bradley will perform in the last of four Verdi Requiem performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. And then in January the soprano, who adores Verdi’s music above all else, will make her role debut as Leonora in “La Forza del Destino.” It’s been a tremendous 2018 overall for Bradley, who made her role debut as {…}
On Tuesday, October 30, 2018, the Metropolitan Opera opened this season’s run of Georges Bizet’s perennial masterpiece, “Carmen.” Making his debut with the Metropolitan was Israeli conductor Omer Meir Wellber, who is set to serve as chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in 2019. Under his baton, the orchestra and experienced cast joined together in ways that put their {…}
A little over a month ago, the news struck that the Metropolitan Opera would be bringing in a plethora of new works, branching out its operations to new venues, and would be bringing in women composers to expand its creative output. Among those composers is Missy Mazzoli, whose profile as a leading composer has rocketed in the last few years. {…}