The Canadian Opera Company is set to present Massenet’s “Werther.” The opera will star tenor Russell Thomas in the title role and mezzo-soprano Victoria Karkacheva as Charlotte. The production also stars bass-baritone Gordon Bintner and soprano Simone Osborne as Albert and Sophie, alongside bass Alain Coulombe and tenor Michael Colvin as Werther’s friends, Johann and Schmidt. The role of Charlotte and {…}
The Baltimore Symphony has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Music Director Jonathon Heyward conducts Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and Scriabin’s “Prometheus: Poem of Fire,” alongside Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé: Suite No. 2” and Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain.” The concert features George Li and the University of Maryland Concert Choir. Performance Dates: Nov. 6-9, 2025 Patrick Quigley conducts {…}
The Canadian Opera Company has announced its 2025-26 season. The company opens its new season with Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette” starring Bekhzod Davronov and Kseniia Proshina. The cast also includes Robert Pomakov, Gordon Bintner, Korin-Thomas Smith, Owen McCausland, Alex Halliday, and Alex Hetherington. Yves Abel conducts Amy Lane’s production. Performance Dates: Sept. 27-Oct. 18, 2025 Robert Carsen’s production of Gluck’s {…}
For the first time in 11 years, the Metropolitan Opera has revived what I consider to be one of its greatest productions in my lifetime. Herbert Wernicke’s production of “Die Frau ohne Schatten” is simply one of the most sublime marriages of stage direction and opera in recent Met history. First off, it’s a challenging piece, not only musically, but {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard/Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera is set to revive Strauss’s “Die Frau ohne Schatten.” The production by Herbert Wernicke, which premiered on Dec. 13, 2001, and was last revived in 2013, will star soprano Elza van den Heever in her Met role debut as the Empress, soprano Lise Lindstrom in her Met role debut as the Dyer’s Wife, {…}
(Photo: Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera) We need Beethoven. Especially the 9th Symphony with Schiller’s Ode to Joy. “Freude, schöner Götterfunken/Tochter aus Elysium,/Wir betreten feuertrunken,Himmlische/, dein HeiligtumFreude menschen gotterfunken./Oh friends, no more of these sounds!/Let us sing more cheerful songs, More full of joy!/Joy, bright spark of divinity,/Daughter of Elysium,/Fire-inspired we tread Thy sanctuary!/Thy magic power reunites/All that custom {…}
The Metropolitan Opera season is only one week away and with a new season comes anticipated new productions and revivals and will showcase some of the world’s best singers. So without further ado here are OperaWire’s most anticipated productions of the 2024-25 season. Ainadamar As listed in the 10 operas to see this fall, the Osvaldo Golijov is one of {…}
(Photo credit: © Marc Brenner/Royal Opera) N.B. In this performance of “Tosca” Russell Thomas replaced the previously scheduled Yusif Eyvazov, who was indisposed. Entitlement enlightens spectators on the contrasting and yet comparable personas of soprano Floria Tosca and barbaric chief of police Scarpia: spoiled brats forsaking all who block their way. Sways of a dress’s train portray the former’s annexing {…}
On August 23, the Black Leadership Arts Collective (B.L.A.C.) will present an Inaugural Gala. The evening will feature musical favorites at Manhattan School of Music, featuring members of B.L.A.C. and Grammy-nominated pianist Kevin Miller hosted by Terrance McKnight. Soloists will include Russell Thomas, Morris Robinson, Laquita Mitchell, J’Nai Bridges, Kenneth Kellogg, Kenneth Overton, Nicole Heaston, and Lawrence Brownlee. The proceeds {…}
(Photo: Tosca © ROH 2024) One of the more frequent criticisms aimed at opera singers, by those not acquainted in any way with the art form, pertains to what it is, exactly, they do other than sing. In OperaWire’s interview with the Cavaradossi of this production, Russell Thomas, the tenor said of many critics: “it’s a career that everybody who {…}
(Credit: Fay Fox) Content Warning: Please note the following includes some explicit language. American tenor Russell Thomas is now one of the most sought-after tenors of his generation having established his reputation in key lyric roles such as Don Carlo, Manrico in “Il trovatore,” Don Alvaro in “La forza del destino,” and Pollione “Norma.” As an alumnus of the Metropolitan {…}