Anna Netrebko News

Celebrating its landmark 10th edition, Abu Dhabi Festival (ADF) 2013 will bring a spectacular three-week programme of world-class artistic talent to the UAE capital, featuring new commissions and Arab World Premieres which further affirm the festival as one of the leading cultural events on the world stage.

Joyce DiDonato stars in the Met premiere of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, in a new production by Scottish director David McVicar, opening with a gala performance on New Year's Eve.

Many of today's biggest names in opera - such as baritones Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Gerald Finley; mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina; tenors Stephen Costello, Marcello Giordani, and Giuseppe Filianoti; bass Ildar Abdrazakov; and bass-baritone Erwin Schrott - will light up TV screens across the country on Thursday, December 13 at 8 pm (check local listings) for the national broadcast of the Richard Tucker Opera Gala on PBS's Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center.

Prepare to experience The Nutcracker like never seen before as Flat Rock Playhouse, in partnership with Pardee Hospital and Pardee Hospital Foundation, presents the world premiere of The Nutcracker, adapted by Chase Brock from E. T. A. Hoffman's story The Nutcracker and The Mouse King onstage now through December 22 at Playhouse Mainstage. This new interpretation of the holiday all-dance classic is choreographed by Playhouse YouTheatre alum Chase Brock, choreographer of the Broadway hit, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production in the photos below!

Prepare to experience The Nutcracker like never seen before as Flat Rock Playhouse, in partnership with Pardee Hospital and Pardee Hospital Foundation, presents the world premier of The Nutcracker, adapted by Chase Brock from E. T. A. Hoffman's story The Nutcracker and The Mouse King onstage today, November 28 through December 22 at Playhouse Mainstage. This new interpretation of the holiday all-dance classic is choreographed by Playhouse YouTheatre alum Chase Brock, choreographer of the Broadway hit, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

Ildar Abdrazakov takes the title role in Don Giovanni for the first time at the Met beginning November 28, conducted by Edward Gardner, in his second major Mozart role assumption of the season. The first revival of Michael Grandage's 2011 production features a cast of rising stars, almost all of whom make house role debuts in Mozart's classic opera of seduction, vengeance, and retribution. Other cast members singing their first Met performances of their roles include Susanna Phillips as Donna Anna,Emma Bell as Donna Elvira, Ekaterina Siurina as Zerlina, Charles Castronovo as Don Ottavio, Erwin Schrott as Leporello, and David Soar in his Met debut as Masetto; they are joined by Raymond Aceto as the vengeful Commendatore.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation holds its 37th annual gala, one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, tonight, November 11 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York's Lincoln Center. Soprano Ailyn Perez, winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award and the first Latina singer to be so honored, joins a dazzling array of special guests - including baritones Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Gerald Finley; mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina; tenor Marcello Giordani; bass Ildar Abdrazakov; bass-baritone Erwin Schrott; and many more - in a program of favorite arias and ensembles, including selections by Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Massenet, Mascagni, Handel, and Wagner. Maestro Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director of Houston Grand Opera, leads the lineup of luminaries, supported by members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the New York Choral Society.

Prepare to experience The Nutcracker like never seen before as Flat Rock Playhouse, in partnership with Pardee Hospital and Pardee Hospital Foundation, presents the world premier of The Nutcracker, adapted by Chase Brock from E. T. A. Hoffman's story The Nutcracker and The Mouse King onstage November 28 through December 22 at Playhouse Mainstage. This new interpretation of the holiday all-dance classic is choreographed by Playhouse YouTheatre alum Chase Brock, choreographer of the Broadway hit, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

My distant cousin Walter Elias 'Walt' Disney had a knack for turning everything into perfection, or at least practically perfect in every way. He took the mean, cranky nanny from P.L. Travers' book "Mary Poppins" and turned her into a saint. He excised two of the four Banks children, allowing the cutest ones to remain in the story. Travers' nanny couldn't dance on rooftops, didn't have adventures with Bert, didn't win at the horse races and couldn't sing. Travers was Australian; they take pride in being able to endure aggressive crocodiles, harsh deserts and appalling alloparenting. For those of us in the northern hemisphere who prefer our protagonists to be a bit on the spoonful of sugar side, Disney's Mary Poppins is just the ticket.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation holds its 37th annual gala, one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, on Sunday, November 11 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York's Lincoln Center. Soprano Ailyn Perez, winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award and the first Latina singer to be so honored, joins a dazzling array of special guests - including baritones Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Gerald Finley; mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina; tenor Marcello Giordani; bass Ildar Abdrazakov; bass-baritone Erwin Schrott; and many more - in a program of favorite arias and ensembles, including selections by Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Massenet, Mascagni, Handel, and Wagner. Maestro Patrick Summers, Artistic and Music Director of Houston Grand Opera, leads the lineup of luminaries, supported by members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the New York Choral Society.

Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore (The Elixir of Love) will kick off this season's The Met: Live in HD opera series at the Peterborough Players today, Oct. 13th at 1:00 pm.

On the heels of his success at London's legendary Last Night of the BBC Proms this past weekend-which was broadcast live on television, radio, online, and in cinemas across the U.K.-Joseph Calleja, "arguably today's finest lyric tenor" (NPR), returns to the Big Apple tonight, October 11 to perform selections from his new Decca Classics recording, Be My Love: A Tribute to Mario Lanza, in a concert with orchestra at City Winery in downtown Manhattan.

Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore (The Elixir of Love) will kick off this season's The Met: Live in HD opera series at the Peterborough Players on Saturday, Oct. 13th at 1:00 pm.

Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) has just announced the release of the seventh album on its record label St. Luke's Collection: a live recording of Schoenberg and Riehn's masterful chamber arrangement of Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. The work was performed to great acclaim in September 2011 by St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble with conductor George Manahan, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and tenor Paul Groves at Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC).

The Metropolitan Opera will open its 2012-13 season tonight, September 24 at 7:00 p.m. with a new production of Donizetti's delightful comic gem L'Elisir d'Amore, starring Russian diva Anna Netrebko-in her second consecutive Met opening night-as the irresistible heroine Adina. Matthew Polenzani sings the role of the lovelorn peasant Nemorino, Mariusz Kwiecien sings Sergeant Belcore, his romantic rival, and Ambrogio Maestri is the potion-peddling Doctor Dulcamara in Bartlett Sher's new staging of the classic love story, which will be conducted by Maurizio Benini. The principal singers and conductor will return to reprise the opera this January and February, with Netrebko's offstage partner Erwin Schrott replacing Maestri in the role of Dulcamara.

Principal Guest Conductor Leonard Slatkin will lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) in a weekend of BNY Mellon Grand Classics concerts that feature the world premiere of Arlington Sons.

Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov [ahb-drah-ZAH-koff], fresh from his appearances with Italian maestro Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Festival, commences a powerhouse 2012-13 season with two iconic Mozart roles. First, in September, the two-time Grammy Award-winner appears as the infamous anti-hero of Don Giovanni at the Washington National Opera; then, in October and November, he sings the title roles of Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera.

On the heels of his success at London's legendary Last Night of the BBC Proms this past weekend-which was broadcast live on television, radio, online, and in cinemas across the U.K.-Joseph Calleja, "arguably today's finest lyric tenor" (NPR), returns to the Big Apple on Thursday, October 11 to perform selections from his new Decca Classics recording, Be My Love: A Tribute to Mario Lanza, in a concert with orchestra at City Winery in downtown Manhattan.

The Metropolitan Opera will open its 2012-13 season on September 24 at 7:00 p.m. with a new production of Donizetti's delightful comic gem L'Elisir d'Amore, starring Russian diva Anna Netrebko-in her second consecutive Met opening night-as the irresistible heroine Adina. Matthew Polenzani sings the role of the lovelorn peasant Nemorino, Mariusz Kwiecien sings Sergeant Belcore, his romantic rival, and Ambrogio Maestri is the potion-peddling Doctor Dulcamara in Bartlett Sher's new staging of the classic love story, which will be conducted by Maurizio Benini. The principal singers and conductor will return to reprise the opera this January and February, with Netrebko's offstage partner Erwin Schrott replacing Maestri in the role of Dulcamara.

The Emmy® and Peabody award-winning "The Met: Live in HD" series returns to U.S. cinemas for a seventh season featuring 12 live operas from the Metropolitan Opera's 2012-13 season.