Let’s briefly address the elephant or rather demon in this particular review, as it were. Namely, what is it with the fascination of so many 19th century composers with this classic Romantic literature – often considered the greatest work of German literature – Goethe’s “Faust”? There is Hector Berlioz’s masterpiece, “La damnation de Faust”, which I recently reviewed in a {…}
The Des Moines Metro Opera has announced its 2025 Festival Season. “The 2025 Festival Season builds on the company’s reputation for curating a daring collection of works. These three fascinating pieces—legends, myths and parables—are drawn from far-flung corners of the operatic repertory and each elevates the intrinsic appeal of the other in beautiful ways,” said Linda Koehn General and Artistic {…}
(Photo credit: John Matthew Myers) Houston Grand Opera and the Asia Society Texas announced their co-production of the world premiere of Meilina Tsui and Melisa Tien’s opera “The Big Swim.” The new opera weaves together Eastern and Western cultures, with Tsui’s score incorporating opera buffa, Peking and Cantonese opera, Gregorian chants, American and Asian pop music, animated musicals, and more. {…}
The Orchestra Now has announced two performances for May 2023. First up will be “Before and After Soviet Communism” on May 4. The concert will feature Eastern European works including Karol Szymanowski’s “Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin,” Boris Tishchenko’s Fifth Symphony, and György Kurtág’s “… concertante….” The concert will feature mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce, violinist Luosha Fang, and violist Rosemary Neils. {…}
Houston Grand Opera is set to present “Giving Voice” for the third straight year. The showcase, which was created by tenor Lawrence Brownlee back in 2020, will feature Nicole Heaston alongside Blake Denson, Sun-Ly Pierce, William Guanbo Su, Peixin Chen, Key’mon W. Murrah, Ryan Speedo Green, and pianists Kevin J. Miller and Bin Yu Sanford. The program will include arias, {…}
(Credit: Iko Freese) In celebration of its 50th Anniversary Season Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO) will present Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” on March 5 and 6, 2022 at the Des Moines Civic Center. Singing their DMMO debut roles are soprano Raven McMillon as Pamina and tenor Aaron Blake as Tamino. Soprano Audrey Luna returns to the DMMO stage to sing {…}
(Credit: https://www.papercitymag.com/) The Houston Grand Opera has announced that it will present Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera “Hansel and Gretel” on its digital platform on May 28, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. CT. The opera will feature mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce in the role of Hansel, soprano Raven McMillon in the role of Gretel, tenor Richard Trey Smagur as The Witch, mezzo-soprano Lindsay Kate-Brown {…}
The Houston Grand Opera has announced the winners of the 32nd annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, which took place in the Cullen Theater of the Wortham Theater Center. The company announced that the first place prize of $10,000 was awarded to the mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce. Meanwhile, second place prize of $5,000 went to the bass {…}
The Houston Grand Opera has announced the semifinalists for the 32nd annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias. The event, which will take place on Feb. 7, 2020 at 7 p.m. at the Wortham Theater Center. Sopranos led the semifinalists with a total of seven participants – Tatiana Carlos, Lindsey Chinn, Amani Cole-Felder, Caitlin Gotimer, Emily Kern, {…}