(Photo credit: Artist’s website) Baritone Zachary James gives the opening concert at the 2026 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Music Director Cristian Măcelaru leads the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music’s 64th season. In the concert titled, “On Freedom,” Zachary James gives the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 15. He is joined by the Festival Orchestra. Glass’ six-movement {…}
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 {…}
The McAllen Arts District is set to present “Opera at the Atelier” on May 3, 2025. The showcase will feature bass-baritone Zachary James, soprano Megan Nielsen, and composer Bonnie Montgomery as they take on a program that includes opera selections from such composers as Puccini, Verdi, and Mozart, and new compositions by Montgomery. The showcase kicks off at 7 p.m. {…}
The National Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Matthias Goerne and Daniil Trifonov lead Schubert’s “Winterreise.” Performance Date: Oct. 21, 2025 Gianandrea Noseda teams up with Camilla Nylund and Tomasz Konieczny for Alexander Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 – Adagio, and Richard Strauss’ “Till Eulenspiegel’s lustige Streiche.” Performance {…}
LA Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the program. Opera Gabriella Reyes and Duke Kim star in the company premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.” James Conlon conducts the production by Francesca Zambello. Performance Dates: Sept. 20-Oct. 8, 2025 Puccini’s “La Bohème” will return Janai Brugger, Oreste Cosimo, Erica Petrocelli, Gihoon Kim, Emmett O’Hanlon, and {…}
Welcome back for this week’s review of the major CD and DVD releases. This week, audiences are in for many world premiere recordings as well as rarely performed works. Here is a look at some of the pieces audiences will discover! Virko Baley: Music for Emily Dickinson Toccata Classics releases an album dedicated to the music of Virko Baley, a {…}
Grammy award-winning artist Zachary James released his first full-length classical vocal album, “Song of Myself” on Sept. 7. “Song of Myself” is James’ classical composition debut. The song cycle was born from the words of Whitman’s iconic work of the same title. There is additional music by cellist Wick Simmons, percussionist Ariel Campos, and guitarist Frederick Poholek. When writing James {…}
Zachary James is set to team up with voices from the West End, Broadway, and the English National Opera for a limited one-night-only event to benefit Soup Kitchen London and Maestra UK. The evening set to be performed on March 5, 2023 at Wonderville is entitled “Some Enchanted Evening” and will feature Kelly Glyptis and Telly Leung alongside James. Laura {…}
Zachary James has released an American Mixtape in celebration of July 4. The mixtape features patriotic anthems, new poetry, and a full reading of the original Constitution of the United States. The album is in response to the Supreme Court’s recent overturning of Roe v. Wade and the continued climate of division in the United States. In a statement, James {…}
The Recording Academy has invited more than 2,000 people to become voting members. The Academy announced on June 28 that it was also inviting more than 600 additional people to become professional (non-voting) members. In a statement, the Academy said, “it has been aggressive in recent years about expanding and diversifying its membership. It currently has more than 12,000 voting members {…}
(Photo Credit: Ken Howard / Met Opera) Opera is a way in which we can creatively examine momentous historical shifts and rediscover the possibilities of radical change in an existentially emblematic and exuberant way, especially at the Met. However, what is it that makes this art form balanced enough not to tip over into becoming purposefully deceptive and overly politically {…}