Bright Shiny Things has announced that it will be releasing the premiere recording of Ricky Ian Gordon and Frank Bidart’s “Ellen West” this fall. The album, which will be released on Sept. 25, 2020, stars Jennifer Zetlan, Nathan Gunn, the Aeolus Quartet, Evan Premo, Djordje Nesic, and conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya. The recording was captured this past January at the Prototype {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Santa Fe Opera) “Cold Mountain” is a groundbreaking retelling of the popular 1997 Charles Frazier novel of the same name. American composer Jennifer Higdon wrote the opera to mark the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. It premiered at the Santa Fe Opera on August 1, 2015, with subsequent showings at the Opera Philadelphia and {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced the 21st week of its nightly streams. This week’s slates will feature a number of notable artists as well as performances dating between 1992 through 2020. Monday, August 3 – Mozart’s The Magic Flute Starring Ying Huang, Erika Miklósa, Matthew Polenzani, Nathan Gunn, and René Pape, conducted by James Levine. From December 30, 2006. Tuesday, August {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its schedule for Week 20 of nightly streams. The company will present a slew of major superstars in this latest edition, including Anna Netrebko, Roberto Alagna, Jonas Kaufmann, Mirella Freni, and Renée Fleming, among others. Here is the full breakdown. Monday, July 20 –Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” Starring Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Christopher Maltman, {…}
(Credit: Bill Cooper / Marty Sohl) Even though reopening plans are in full effect, there are still several opera companies streaming performances online. So with the lockdown very much in flux, here are 10 operas we think you should check out this week. Don Giovanni – Glyndebourne (Streaming Now) Last week, the Glyndebourne Festival kicked off its streaming service with {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard) The Metropolitan Opera has unveiled week 6 of its streaming service which features an all-star gala and six operas with such stars as Sonya Yoncheva, Anna Netrebko, Nina Stemme, Renée Fleming, Natalie Dessay, Joyce DiDonato, and Juan Diego Flórez, among others. Here is a breakdown. Monday, April 20 – Strauss’s Elektra Starring Nina Stemme, Adrianne Pieczonka, Waltraud Meier, {…}
This past summer, OperaWire published an interview with “Ellen West” headliner Jennifer Zetlan. When asked what she wanted audiences to take away from her experience with the opera, Zetlan’s replied that, to her, an extremely successful evening of live theater or opera was one in which the audience leaves feeling their soul touched, adding “… I hope our audiences will find themselves deeply moved {…}
Jennifer Zetlan is set to take on the title role in the New York City premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Frank Bidart’s “Ellen West” at the Prototype Festival on Jan. 14-19, 2020. Zetlan interpreted the role in the world premiere of the opera during the summer of 2019 at Saratoga Springs. “Ellen West is the pseudonym of a real {…}
(Credit: Matthew Staver) Pittsburgh Opera is set to continue its 81st season with its first-ever Spanish-language opera, Daniel Catán and Marcela Fuentes-Berain’s “Florencia en el Amazonas.” The acclaimed work is inspired by the magic realism of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gabriel García Márquez and his novels “Love in the Time of Cholera” and “One Hundred Years of Solitude” will feature a {…}
Beth Morrison Projects has announced its 2019-20 season, which will include 64 performances on four continents. James Darrah will direct Ellen Reid’s “Prism.” The production will star mezzo-soprano Rebecca Jo Loeb as Lumee and soprano Anna Schubert as her ill daughter, Bibi. Performances will be held at Teatro Municipal in São Paulo (in its South American premiere) and at the {…}
On Monday, June 10, 2019, the Metropolitan Opera’s annual Summer Recital Series was launched amidst stormy weather. Lovers of opera braved the rain to gather at Central Park’s Summer Stage for an evening of arias and duets sung by Metropolitan Opera artists Nathan Gunn, Ben Bliss, and Ying Fang. Through the cloudy sky and almost constant veneer of rain, their {…}