“Luisa Miller” is long considered to mark the beginning of Verdi’s “middle period” with themes of class division and an ill-fated romance that foreshadow the composer’s brilliant “La Traviata.” It also came at a time when Verdi was more open to sourcing from outside of his homeland, with the German playwright Friedrich von Schiller’s Kabale und Liebe the material for {…}
Easter weekend in the US is a time when opera houses remain relatively quiet. So you’ll notice that one house gets major prominence in this weekend’s recommendations. Così fan tutte – Metropolitan Opera We recommended this showcase a few weeks ago and will recommend it once again. “ At its core, the opera is one big joke that all the characters {…}
In a surprising turn of events, the Metropolitan Opera is set to work alongside the Scottish Opera to showcase “BambinO,” an opera for toddlers aged between 6 and 18 months. Per a press release,“‘Bambino’ is an operatic experience for infants that will stimulate them with new sounds and images in a 40 minute immersive performance. The opera is composed by {…}
When Verdi’s “Luisa Miller” hits the stage on Thursday, March 29, it will be the first time the opera is staged with the company in exactly 12 years. The cast will include Plácido Domingo and Piotr Beczala among the male leads, but will also showcase the third major work headlined by Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva at the Met in 2017-18. {…}
This Saturday, audiences around the world will get a chance to see a rare performance of Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte” in cinemas as part of the company’s famed Live in HD broadcast. The showcase kicks off at 12:55 p.m. EDT and will star Amanda Majeski, Serena Malfi, Kelli O’Hara, Ben Bliss, Adam Plachetka, and Christopher Maltman in a new production {…}
“Lucia di Lammermoor “ is, in many ways, the DIVA opera. You have a title role for soprano filled with a ton of duets (one with each of the main male leads), and at the climax of it all, opera’s most famous mad scene. And that’s without mentioning her other aria and the sextet that she dominates. It’s a daunting {…}
Massimo Cavalletti is one of the most accomplished baritones of his generation, singing in every major opera house in the world including the Teatro alla Scala, Salzburg Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Opéra de Paris, among others. For years, he has performed many of the great lyric baritone roles to strong success and has recently begun to add heavier roles to {…}
It was intermission at the premiere of Phelim McDermott’s new Metropolitan Opera production of Mozart and Da Ponte’s “Così Fan Tutte” and someone made this statement to me. “It’s fun and everything, but why set it on Coney Island?” It’s a great point, but one could extrapolate that entire statement to the opera itself – “It’s got great music and {…}
Conductor James Levine has sued the Metropolitan Opera. The AP reported that Levine opted to sue the opera company on Thursday after a sexual misconduct investigation that ended in the conductor being fired. According to Levine’s representative the company “exploited baseless allegations to tarnish him and then fired him without so much as a phone call. The lawsuit accuses the company {…}
A few years ago, Amanda Majeski got the opportunity of a lifetime. Most singers wait a ton of time before getting a shot at opening the Metropolitan Opera season. Many singers never get that opportunity at all. But there was Majeski on Sept. 22, 2014. Richard Eyre’s massive set for “Le Nozze di Figaro” was rotating to reveal the Countess’ {…}
Ermonela Jaho has canceled tonight’s performance of “Madama Butterfly.” The Metropolitan Opera announced via Twitter that due to illness Jaho would not be able to perform. As a result, Inna Dukach will sing the role of Cio-Cio-San, making her Met debut. Dukach, who has been covering “Madama Butterfly” since the fall, sang the role of Cio-Cio-San in Anchorage and Atlanta. {…}