(Credit: Andrew Eccles) Renée Fleming, a house prima donna assoluta, retired from the Met Opera at the height of her powers only a couple years ago, covered in glory while enjoying warm and enthusiastic public acclaim. Her final appearance on the Met’s stage as the Marschallin in the Robert Carsen production of Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” was given the exalted confetti {…}
The Metropolitan Opera is set to open “Manon” on Sept. 24, 2019. The work has been featured over 270 times in its history and remains a major staple of the standard repertory The main draw in the opera is the title role, one of the most challenging in all of opera, requiring not only a vocal master, but a strong {…}
The Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced that the new production of the acclaimed Broadway musical “The Light in the Piazza” will be presented for limited engagements. The company announced that Renée Fleming will star as Margaret Johnson with a cast that will include Broadway and West End stars. The new production of “The Light in the Piazza” will be {…}
The 2019-20 season is about to start with numerous new productions, revivals and world premieres. Like we did with the International houses, OperaWire has selected the 10 Must-See productions that you cannot miss this fall at the North American companies. 10. Frida – Atlanta Opera, Georgia Jorge Parodi conducts the popular work by Robert Xavier Rodriguez with Catalina Cuervo, who brings {…}
Opera Australia has announced its its 2020 Sydney season, presenting an exciting program of rare gems and some of the greatest operas. Sydney Summer Season The season opens with Puccini’s “La Bohème” with conductor Carlo Goldstein leading Gale Edwards’ production. The opera stars soprano Karah Son in the role of Mimì and tenor Kang Wang making his Opera Australia debut in {…}
(Credit: Jonathon Tichler) The REACH has announced its “inclusive, multi-genre, multidisciplinary” 2019 Opening Festival, which marks its first-ever expansion to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For the purpose of this article, we focus on opera-related events. The Festival’s “Opening Day” will “illustrate the breadth of experience that the REACH is designed to foster,” according to the {…}
(Photo Credit: Chris Lee) Renée Fleming will become the new co-artistic director new Aspen Opera Theater and VocalArts program The New York Times announced that the soprano will work alongside co-artistic director Patrick Summers to take over and redesign this program. “At the start of my career, I was incredibly fortunate to be trained at the Aspen Music Festival and {…}
It’s not often that the weather takes prominence in a review of any concert. But for this Tanglewood concert, on this Saturday night –anniversary of the moon landing! — an exception must be made. Because as much as any other element in the evening’s performances, weather — in this case, record temperatures and devastating humidity – also took center stage. {…}
(Photo Courtesy of BSO) Uma Thurman will appear in André Previn and Tom Stoppard’s “Penelope.” The unfinished work will be presented at Tanglewood on July 24, 2019 and will also feature soprano Renée Fleming, the Emerson String Quartet, and pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Thurman will take on a newly-created part of the Narrator. The work, which was originally dedicated to Fleming, {…}
Composer Kevin Puts is set to world premiere his new “The Brightness of Light” next month with the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Renée Fleming and Rod Gilfry. The new song cycle, which was co-commissioned by the BSO, is set to be based on the letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and her husband Alfred Stieglitz. The cycle will follow their relationship from when {…}
This week, two solo albums are released and a big compilation album featuring rare recordings is set for release. Il Bravo Vittorio Prato and Illiria collaborate together for the baritone’s first solo album. The new album is dedicated to the art of the great baritone Antonio Tamburini and includes selections of rare Bel Canto arias from the operas of the beginning {…}