On Feb. 20, 2025, Finnish composer Ilkka Kuusisto died at the age of 91. Kuusisto was born in Helsinki on April 26, 1933, and became interested in music as a teenager when he first heard jazz. He went on to study at the Sibelius Academy and studied composition with Aarre Merikanto and Nils-Eric Fougstedt. Kuusisto began his career as a {…}
(Credit: Joachim Giesel) On Feb. 5, 2025, German opera director and arts administrator Hans-Peter Lehmann died. The Staatsoper Hannover, where he served as Intendant announced the news and said, “We are mourning the death of our former headmaster, our honorary member Professor Hans-Peter Lehmann, a few weeks after his 90th birthday.” Born on Dec. 15, 1934, in Kassel, Lehmann studied {…}
Italian tenor Romano Emili has died at the age of 87. Born on Nov. 7, 1937, in Bologna, Italy, Emili debuted in 1965 in Rossini’s “La gazza ladra” and continued to perform until the 1990s, winning several singing competitions. In 1966, he joined the Düsseldorf opera house, where he was a favorite. He became a favorite of many Italian theaters {…}
(Credit: archive of Czech Radio) On Feb. 16, 2025, Czech conductor Vladimír Válek died at the age of 89. Born on Sept. 2, 1935 in Nový Jičín, the conductor played a pivotal role in transforming the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra into one of the most important orchestras in the Czech Republic. He led the orchestra for 33 years from 1985 {…}
On Feb. 9, 2025, Swiss soprano Edith Mathis died at the age of 86. Born Feb. 11, 193,8 in Lucerne, Mathis made her operatic debut in 1956 as the second boy in Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” and continued performing in Switzerland for the next three years. The soprano made her international debut in 1959 at the Cologne Opera and in the {…}
Chen Zhiyin, a veteran music critic whom I deeply admire and respect has died. She passed away peacefully yesterday morning at the age of 70, and her family has announced her death. While Zhiyin was a prolific writer who reviewed thousands of opera productions and served on the panels of government-run opera festivals, I will always remember her as a {…}
Italian Singer and conductor Roberto Balconi has died at the age of 58. Born in Milan, Italy in 1967, Balconi studied singing under Evelyn Tubb in England, and Margaret Hayward, among others. He made his operatic debut in 1993 at the Teatro La Fenice in Traetta’s “Buovo Dantona.” He would go to sing Cremona, Milan, San Francisco, Rome, Torino, Copenhagen, {…}
Musicologist, critic, and artistic director Luciano Alberti died on Jan. 11, 2025 in Florence. He was 93-years-old. Alberti was a teacher of music at the Università di Siena and published numerous writings about the performing arts. He was also the Artistic Director of the Teatro Comunale di Firenze and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as well as at the Accademia Chigiana di {…}
Spanish mezzo-soprano Ana Mária Iriarte has died at the age of 98. Born on Jan. 23, 1927, in Madrid, the mezzo went to the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid and later went to Vienna to continue her studies. She also studied in Milan under such renowned teachers as Elvira de Hidalgo and Mercedes Llopart. On Dec. 4, 1945 {…}
(Credit: Met Opera archives) Legendary American bass Paul Plishka has died at the age of 83. Born on August 28, 1941, Plishka was from Old Forge, Pennsylvania, and Paterson, New Jersey and studied at Eastside High School and Montclair State College. In 1961, Plishka made his operatic debut at the Paterson Lyric Opera. He toured with the Metropolitan Opera National {…}
On Jan. 13, 2025, conductor Elgar Howarth died at the age of 89. Born on Nov. 4, 1935 Cannock, Staffordshire, Howarth’s father was an engineer who also conducted the Barton Hall Works Band, in which Elgar played cornet and his brother Stanford trombone. He went to the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music and together with his classmates {…}