(Credit: Marty Sohl / Ken Howard) The Metropolitan Opera has announced new casts for its added performances in February. In the company’s production of Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” Michele Angelini will sing the role of Almaviva and James Morris will take over the role of Basilio. They will join a cast that includes Brenda Rae and Joshua Hopkins for {…}
Opera for Peace has announced that several of opera’s greatest stars are joining the organization as ambassadors and advisors. Tenor René Barbera and sopranos Elsa Dreisig and Joyce El-Khoury have become the organization’s newest ambassadors. Meanwhile, conductor Fabio Luisi, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, and baritone Ludovic Tézier have signed on as Advisors; they join baritone Thomas Hampson and soprano Sumi Jo, who {…}
The Music & Opera Singers Trust (MOST) is set to launch the International Online Singing Competition for Contemporary (Pop/Rock), Jazz, Musical Theatre and Classical and Opera, also known as ASC@Home. The competition enables artists around the world to submit one video of a performance in isolation for a chance to win a $1,000 cash prize. Videos can be taken in {…}
The Metropolitan Opera’s At-Home Gala was one of the most hotly anticipated performances of the first half of 2020; one might argue that given its sheer star power, the showcase, which was announced just two weeks ago, was more anticipated than any performance the Met had lined up as part of its regular season. While the Met initially reneged on {…}
Soprano Nicole Car has launched Freelance Artist Relief Fund Australia to help provide financial aid to artists who have been hurt financially by the COVID-19 crisis. The organization was founded in March 2020 and offers grants to Australian classical singers. An amount of $150,000 has already been raised, but the organization has its sights set on over $1 million. All {…}
Opera Arias is organizing a takeover festival showcasing a number of opera stars in their living rooms. The festival will be held every Saturday and will begin with Brian Jagde on April 4. He will be followed by Spanish tenor and rising star Pablo Garcia-Lopez on April 11. On the third week of April Jennifer Rowley will take over on {…}
(Credit: Richard Termine / Metropolitan Opera) On Feb. 15, 2020, the Metropolitan Opera raised the curtain on this season’s run of Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte.” Phelim McDermott’s dazzling Coney Island production added a large amount of spectacle to what is the least staged of the operas born from the partnership of Mozart and Da Ponte. The afternoon saw a solid {…}
It’s Valentine’s Day weekend and there is arguably no art form that captures the essence of love moreso than opera. With that in mind, we looked around and picked operas that probably won’t cater to ideal feelings of love, but are powerful in their own rights and would probably make for unbelievable nights at the opera. Frida – Anchorage Opera, {…}
(Credit: Yan Bleney) Soprano Nicole Car and Étienne Dupuis do not like to be apart. The two stars, who are currently at the Metropolitan Opera individually taking on two thirds of the Da Ponte and Mozart trilogy, not only share a home, a two-year-old boy, and as many productions as they can, but this very interview. When it was proposed {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has unveiled its 2020-21 season, which features five new productions and 17 revivals. New Productions Anna Netrebko opens the Metropolitan Opera in a new production of Verdi’s “Aida” directed by Michael Mayer. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the production which also stars Anita Rachvelishvili, Piotr Beczała, Dmitry Belosselskiy and Ludovic Tezier. The production will also showcase Latonia Moore and {…}
(Credit: Jonathan Tichler / Metropolitan Opera) The Metropolitan Opera is set to revive its new production of “Così Fan Tutte” for the first time since its initial run back in 2018. With the exception of Serena Malfi and Ben Bliss, who were among the singers to open the production, every other singer in this run is new to Phelim McDermott’s {…}
