Ailyn Pérez, Angela Meade, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Samantha Hankey Lead Santa Fe Opera’s 2027 Season

(Credit: Emily Doyle Moore) The Santa Fe Opera has announced its 2027 season. John Fiore conducts Puccini’s “Turandot” with Paul Curran directing. Angela Meade, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Kathleen O’Mara, and Peixin Chen star. Performance Dates: July 2-August 28, 2027 Iván López Reynoso conducts Rossini’s “Il barbiere di Siviglia” with Stephen Barlow directing. Sun-Ly Pierce, Jonah Hoskins, Luke Sutliff, Kevin Burdette, and William Guanbo Su {…}

Apr 28, 2026

Sun-Ly Pierce Receives Music Academy of the West’s 2026 Alumni Performance Award

The Music Academy of the West has named mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce as the recipient of its 2026 Alumni Performance Award, sponsored by Kandy Budgor and the Luria/Budgor Family Foundation. As part of the award, the Academy will present Pierce in her Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall debut on April 15, 2027, featuring the world premiere of a commissioned song {…}

Mar 18, 2026

Isabel Leonard, Sasha Cooke & Nicholas Phan Lead Houston Symphony Orchestra’s 2026-27 Season

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 {…}

Jan 27, 2026

John Holiday Leads LA Opera’s ‘Akhnaten’

LA Opera is set to perform Phelim McDermott’s production of Philip Glass’s “Akhnaten.” The production will be conducted by Dalia Stasevska and will star countertenor John Holiday in the title role. He will be joined by bass Zachary James as Amenhotep III, mezzo-soprano Sun-Ly Pierce as Nefertiti, and soprano So Young Park as Queen Tye. Also starring include tenor Yuntong {…}

Dec 5, 2025

Best of 2025: OperaWire’s Top Ten Rising Stars 2025

It’s that time of the year. The end of the year. As with every year, 2025 was full of a lot of opera revelations in productions, concerts and competitions. So in recognitions of those breakouts, here’s a look at some of the young singers who are likely to make operatic waves in the very near future. Here are OperaWire’s 10 {…}

Apr 10, 2025

Federica Lombardi & Michael Sumuel Lead Metropolitan Opera’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ HD Performance

(Credit: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD season will continue with Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” on April 26, 2025. The production by Richard Eyre will be conducted by Joana Mallwitz and will star Michael Sumuel and soprano Olga Kulchynska as Figaro and Susanna. They will be joined by Joshua Hopkins as Count Almaviva, Federica Lombardi as the {…}

Sep 4, 2024

Berkshire Opera Festival 2024 Review: Faust

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 {…}

Jun 28, 2024

Ryan McKinny, Hera Hyesang Park & Joélle Harvey Lead Des Moines Metro Opera’s 2025 Season

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 {…}

Jan 7, 2024

Houston Grand Opera & the Asia Society Texas to Give the World Premiere of ‘The Big Swim’

(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. {…}

Apr 6, 2023

Sun-Ly Pierce & Katherine Lerner Lee Headline The Orchestra Now’s May 2023 Slate

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. {…}

Mar 13, 2022

Nicole Heaston, Peixin Chen, Ryan Speedo Green Headline Houston Grand Opera’s ‘Giving Voice’

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, {…}