(Credit: Ashley Plante) When Berlin opera houses called off their performances in March due to the COVID 19 pandemic, one rarely performed opera was stopped dead in its track- the Komische Oper’s production of “Schwanda.” Among the artists set to star in that production was American soprano Sara Jakubiak. Jakubiak, who has appeared on the most important world stages, to {…}
(Credit: Emelie Kroon) When COVID-19 struck a few months back, one of the final “live” performances to take the stage was a rendition of Wagner’s “Die Walküre” in Sweden. Among the performers in that production was dramatic soprano Elisabet Strid, who took on the role of Sieglinde. Strid, who has performed in such opera houses as the Teatro Real, Lyric {…}
(Credits: © Sim Canetty-Clarke / Dario Acosta / Patrick Allen) BBC Proms has announced the schedule for the two weeks of live performances at the Royal Albert Hall. Compared to the initial plans that were conveyed to the public in May, there will be no live audience. For the purpose of this article, we will focus only on vocal performances. {…}
(Credit: Dario Acosta NY) German mezzo-soprano Tanja Ariane Baumgartner is one of the most sought-after opera singers of our time. Baumgartner has been a member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt since the 2009-10 season. During her time in Frankfurt, Tanja Baumgartner made appearances in numerous operas including “Carmen,” “Giulio Cesare in Egitto,” “Don Carlo,” “Medea,” “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” {…}
As Renée Fleming, “America’s Diva,” introduced the third to last piece in a program that ranged from Handel to Cantaloube to Harold Arlen, the beloved singer sighed deeply. It was a testament to the magic and beauty she had spun singing one of the standout numbers of her concert, “O mio babbino caro” from Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi.” She sang the {…}
(Credit: Anne Zeuner / Salzburg Festival) Strauss’ opera “Elektra” will open this year’s Festival in Salzburg, in quite unique circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conductor Franz Welser-Möst and stage director Krzysztof Warlikowski discussed their views of the production in a recent press release from the Salzburg Festival. “The danger of becoming inebriated with the opulence of sound and losing {…}
The Royal Opera House continues its #OurHouseToYourHouse program with a screening of ZooNation’s family-friendly “The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party” on Friday, July 31 at 7:00 p.m. BST. ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company, a British hip-hop influenced dance company, reimagines Lewis Carroll’s classic tale with a 21st-century twist, zeroing in on perceptions of mental illness and the concept of “normality.” ZooNation {…}
Opera San José has announced plans to create the Fred Heiman Digital Media Studio, a state-of-the-art performance space housed within Opera San José headquarters in Northern California. The project demonstrates OSJ’s commitment to presenting the first half of its 2020 – 21 season while safeguarding audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by Opera San José trustee Peggy Heiman in honor {…}
Credit: Simon Fowler
(Credit: Candy Welz) Soprano Camila Ribero-Souza was born in São Paulo, Brazil, where she studied singing with Jocelyne Gallo, Edilson Costa, and Luiz Tenaglia. From March 2011 until January 2018, she was a member of the soloist ensemble of the Meininger Staatstheater. In February 2018, as a spinto soprano, she joined the ensemble at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, where she {…}
(Photo Credit: Dario Acosta) February 4, 2020, saw the latest installment of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, with the evening’s recital featuring renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau. The program, titled “Fauenliebe und –leben: Variations,” took Schumann’s song cycle and fleshed out a fuller narrative, using a breadth of musical works from other composers which spanned eight languages. {…}