The Metropolitan Opera revealed its 2019-20 season on Wednesday afternoon. Among the major announcements were the company’s schedule for its ever-popular Live in HD slate. Here is a look at the list of performances that will be broadcast to audiences around the world. Worthy of note is that of the 10 productions set to screen in cinemas, three will be {…}
The Atlanta Opera has announced its 2019-20 season. According to the press release, for its 40th anniversary season, The Atlanta Opera will present operas which fall under the overarching theme of “dangerous liaisons,” where the “protagonists share a propensity for self-destructive relationships that threaten to bring about their downfall.” Additionally, during this season four internationally acclaimed artists will return home to {…}
Since winning the Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2005, Nicole Cabell has performed at all the major houses around the world and has also scored major success in numerous roles. After an acclaimed Micaëla in “Carmen” at the Atlanta Opera this past season and a summer filled with concerts in Russia, Germany, and Japan, Cabell returns to the {…}
Fort Worth Opera has announced that Margo Jefferson, distinguished author, academic, and cultural critic, will be delivering a keynote lecture on George and Ira Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” on Saturday, April 27, 2019. The lecture will be part of the opening weekend for the 2019 Fort Worth Opera Festival. “I grew up with Porgy and Bess,” said Jefferson. “I’ve been {…}
Florence Quivar, born on March 3, 1944, is one of the great American mezzos of her time. She first came to love opera upon hearing the Met Opera on tour and then eventually launched on a mission to become a great opera singer in her own right. Her journey took her through the Julliard School, Philadelphia Academy of Music, and {…}
Simon Estes, born on March 2, 1938, did not have an easy career path. While the bass-baritone succeeded in Europe in his early years, the United States didn’t take too well to him. He was only accepted for minor roles at most prominent theaters and it wasn’t until 1981, 16 years after his professional debut, that the Metropolitan Opera offered {…}
The Hungarian State Opera was not authorized to perform “Porgy and Bess” with an all Hungarian cast. According to a press release the company released and an article OperaWire published, the company would be making history by performing with a non-black cast. However, the Tams-Witmark Music Library, which licenses the live stage performing rights for the opera on behalf of the owners of that work, {…}
The Hungarian State Opera will present a new production of Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” with a twist. The new production by András Almási-Tóth will break the restriction of almost 40 years that only an all-black cast can perform the piece. According to the Hungarian State Opera’s press release, “When George Gershwin’s masterpiece ‘Porgy and Bess’ was first produced in 1935, some felt aggrieved {…}
Leona Mitchell had a tremendous opera career. For years, the soprano, born on Oct. 13, 1949, was a leading singer at the Metropolitan Opera, dominating in such operas as “La Bohème,” “Carmen,” “Don Carlo,” “Die Zauberflöte,” and “La Forza del Destino,” among others. Her first-ever “Madama Butterfly” at the Met was proclaimed “a wedding of her beautiful, lyric voice to {…}
George Gershwin’s folk opera “Porgy and Bess” has proven itself a piece of American history, having withstood the controversy it garnered for its portrayal of the African American community in Charlestown, South Carolina. Premiering on September 30th 1935, “Porgy and Bess” was noted for its casting of classically-trained African-American singers rather than having actors in blackface. While many felt the {…}
From South Africa to America. Between those two countries is a vast ocean and traversing from the former to the latter presents a number of major challenges, not only physical, but emotional and economic. Opera is rife with characters battling the ocean on their way to success or tragedy. Just to name a few are the characters in Jake Heggie’s {…}