(Photo credit: Music Academy of the West) The Music Academy of the West announces its 2026 Summer Music Festival and School under the theme, “American Mosaic.” Here’s a look at the classical voice events. “Oh Beautiful: Songs from Home” features the Music Academy’s Lehrer Vocal Institute fellows performing art songs from their native land. Performance Date: July 1, 2026 The Lehrer {…}
The Houston Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2026-27 season. Here are the vocal performances. Steven Reineke conducts opening night with Isabel Leonard as the soloist. Performance Dates: Sept. 19, 2026 Juraj Valčuha conducts a Rachmaninoff performance with Aleksey Bogdanov and the Houston Symphony Chorus. Performance Dates: Oct. 2, 3, & 4, 2026 Juraj Valčuha conducts Sasha Cooke in a program that {…}
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2026-27 season. Klaus Mäkelä conducts Thomas Hampson in a program of music by Gabrieli, Stravinsky, and Walton. Performance Dates: Oct. 8 & 9, 2026 Klaus Mäkelä conducts Thomas Hampson in a program of music by Stravinsky, and Walton. Performance Date: Oct. 10, 2026 Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider conducts Brahms’ German Requiem with Louise Alder and Konstantin Krimmel. {…}
(Photo: Ally Schmaling) Call me elitist, but any song recital focused largely on works written in American English makes my forehead wrinkle. The American songbook is great, and despite the common complaint, English can work beautifully when sung lyrically. The issue is that these recitals often flirt with a certain campiness—especially the Broadway-musical kind—that very few opera singers can convincingly {…}
Sasha Cooke will headline Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Weekend Concert Series on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. “Of Thee I Sing, a recital of American song, will feature the famed mezzo-soprano alongside pianist Myra Huang. The program features the Boston premiere of Jasmine Barnes’s new song cycle “American Lament,” co-commissioned by the museum, which sets Langston Hughes’s poem {…}
(Photos: © Sasha Cooke press / Jasmine Barnes press) The pending arrival of 2026- the country’s Semiquincentennial, got mezzo- soprano Sasha Cooke thinking about what it means to be an American in these times of unrest and division, and what the country has represented these 250 years. Her five-city “Of Thee I Sing” recital tour begins November 4th and features {…}
The Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao has announced its 2025-26 season. Here are the vocal performances on offer. Orchestral Sasha Cooke joins Ramón Tebar for Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. The concert also includes Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. Performance Dates: Oct. 16-17, 2025 Carlos Mena conducts Bach’s St John Passion with Ana Quintans, Rodrigo Carreto, José Coca Loza, and Peter Harvey. Performance {…}
The Wiener Konzerthaus has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances of the season. The Constellation Choir & Orchestra under Sir John Eliot Gardiner perform Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Performance Date: Sept. 14, 2025 Fabio Luisi conducts the Wiener Symphoniker in Franz Schmidt’s “Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln.” Soloists incude Maximilian Schmitt, David Steffens, Giulia {…}
Vocal Arts DC has announced its 2025-26 season, “35 Years of Song.” Soprano Erin Morley and tenor Lawrence Brownlee perform a recital titled “Golden Age” with pianist Gerald Martin Moore. Performance Date: September 28, 2025 The world premiere of a new song cycle by composer Jasmine Barnes is presented by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and pianist Myra Huang. Performance Date: November {…}
Music Academy of the West has announced its 2025 summer season. Here is a rundown of the vocal performances on offer. Sasha Cooke headlines a Mozart and Ravel chamber music program alongside pianist Jeremy Denk and clarinetist Richie Hawley. Also performing on the concert is the Takács Quartet and cellist Julie Albers. Performance Date: June 26, 2025 Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” {…}
The San Francisco Symphony has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Donald Runnicles conducts Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. Irene Roberts is a soloist. Performance Dates: Sept. 26-28, 2025 Jane Glover conducts Händel’s “Messiah” with Heidi Stober, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Josh Lovell, and Will Liverman. Performance Dates: Dec. 5 {…}