Opera season remains in full swing across North America as summer fast approaches. With so many companies in business this weekend, we have opted for a slight shift in structure. Instead of a series of paragraphs, we will go list form for this week’s edition and any with this massive amount of productions. Behold the opera events of the weekend {…}
For 50 years, the Metropolitan Opera has made its home in Lincoln Center, creating numerous cathartic and revelatory memories for both audiences and artists alike. In speaking with some of the world’s greatest artists that have performed at the Met, OperaWire has been granted the opportunity to hear some unique, enriching and entertaining stories and experiences that have taken place {…}
Franco Alfano’s “Cyrano de Bergerac” has never truly managed to establish a foothold in the operatic canon. The work only premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 2005 and Roberto Alagna, the opera’s most dedicated interpreter has stated that he struggled to find a company willing to take a chance on it. Despite its Italian composer, the music works very much {…}
On Tuesday, May 2, 2017, the Metropolitan Opera will revive Alfano’s “Cyrano de Bergerac.” The opera doesn’t have a massive history with the company, its first ever performance with the company coming only a decade ago. On May 13, 2005, Alfano’s masterwork got its Metropolitan Opera premiere, a rather shocking surprise considering the opera’s premiere took place in 1936. The Met {…}
The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of “Der Rosenkavalier” by Robert Carsen is as high stakes as it gets these days for the company in both the short and long-term view. In the short-term view, this production is the punctuation on the current season, its final new staging. It will also be the final HD performance of the season, and more {…}
I am going to be rather forward with you. This analysis of Wednesday’s “Don Giovanni” at the Metropolitan Opera will kick off on a positive note before turning a bit sour in tone. But lo and behold, after that, I am going to return to my boyish enthusiasm for what I experienced at the opening of this revival run. The {…}
Opera season is in full swing in the United States and Canada with a ton of offerings across the continent. Here is a look at the big highlights. East Coast The Metropolitan Opera will showcase “Der Rosenkavalier” on Friday before giving “Der Fliegende Holländer” Saturday afternoon and “Don Giovanni” on Saturday evening. OperaWire will attend the Friday performance with a {…}
Every opera singer has a dream of performing at the Metropolitan Opera in a leading role. The dream takes a lot of work and hours of rehearsing, practicing, auditioning and, in many ways, luck. But it also takes years of building an international career. For Amber Wagner 2017 marks her first big contract with the theater after making her debut {…}
Wagner’s first masterpiece “Der Fliegende Holländer” returns to the Metropolitan Opera on Tuesday, April 25 after a seven-year absence. Despite being well-known throughout the opera world, “The Flying Dutchman,” as translated in English, has had a rather interesting history at the Met marked by long hiatuses. The opera opened the 1889-1890 season in its first-ever performance. The cast that included {…}
Let’s just throw it out there. You could be anywhere in the U.S. this weekend and find an opera somewhere nearby. The Metropolitan Opera will have a few performances over the weekend, namely “Der Rosenkavalier” on Friday, an HD broadcast of the Saturday matinee of “Eugene Onegin” and “Rigoletto” in the evening. Also in New York, Tri-Cities Opera will perform {…}
It was March 31, 2017, one day before the infamous day where people play tricks on one another. Soprano Jennifer Rowley was getting some shuteye, her days consumed by the task of taking on Samuel Barber’s “Vanessa” at the Toledo opera. On that very night, she would be singing the first of two performances for the demanding work. The phone {…}