Deborah Voigt News

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, commences its 62nd season with a showcase of the program's rising stars in the Schwabacher Summer Concert. A jaded courtesan longing for true love, star-crossed lovers, a comic marriage, a deal with the devil, and brothers separated at birth all take the stage as Merola's talented young artists bring some of opera's most exciting moments to life by performing scenes from La rondine, Lucia di Lammermoor, Die schweigsame Frau, Faust, and Il trovatore.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation announced today that Lisette Oropesa has been named as the winner of the 2019 Richard Tucker Award. The soprano already headlines major productions worldwide, and after her recent house debuts in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Real Madrid and Royal Opera House, The Guardian declared: "The Cuban American soprano is sensationally good. She makes the stratospheric vocal fireworks … sound easy; indeed, her every note is part of a convincing portrayal of a complex character." Widely referred to as the "Heisman Trophy of Opera," the Tucker Award carries the foundation's most substantial cash prize of $50,000, and is conferred each year by a panel of opera industry professionals on an American singer at the threshold of a significant international career.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation announced today that Lisette Oropesa has been named as the winner of the 2019 Richard Tucker Award. The soprano already headlines major productions worldwide, and after her recent house debuts in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Real Madrid and Royal Opera House, The Guardiandeclared: “The Cuban American soprano is sensationally good. She makes the stratospheric vocal fireworks … sound easy; indeed, her every note is part of a convincing portrayal of a complex character.” Widely referred to as the “Heisman Trophy of Opera,” the Tucker Award carries the foundation's most substantial cash prize of $50,000, and is conferred each year by a panel of opera industry professionals on an American singer at the threshold of a significant international career. Past winners include such luminaries as Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Matthew Polenzani, and Deborah Voigt. Oropesa will be inducted into this who's who of American opera at the foundation's annual gala, a perennial highlight of the opera season, on Sunday, October 27, at Carnegie Hall.

After a months-long series of auditions involving more than 1,000 singers at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of expert judges named five singers as the winners of the 65th annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $15,000 cash prize.

Following yesterday's highly competitive semifinal competition, nine singers will advance to the final phase of the 65th annual Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, America's largest vocal competition. The winners will receive individual cash prizes of $15,000, while the remaining finalists will receive prizes of $7,500.

Twenty-one young opera singers who have won regional auditions around the United States will compete in the semifinal round of the country's leading vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, on Sunday, March 24. The closed semifinal competition, held on the Met stage before a panel of judges, will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition-the Grand Finals, which is open to the public and will be held on the Met stage on Sunday, March 31.

The San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet/Kronos Performing Arts Association(KPAA) is pleased to present Kronos Festival 2019, Kronos' fifth annual, three-day music festival, at SFJAZZ Center on May 30-June 1. Kronos Festival 2019 will highlight the voices of singers, storytellers, and activists over three evening concerts, a Saturday morning family concert and Kronos Labs, free public events that are new this year. Kronos has long collaborated with vocal artists, including in its recent Grammy Award­-winning album Landfall (Nonesuch Records) with Laurie Anderson and its new album Placeless (Kirkelig Kulturverksted) with Iranian singers Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat.

American Symphony Orchestra concludes its 2018-19 season on a high note by offering an exceedingly rare performance of Bohuslav Martin 's opera Julietta at Carnegie Hall on Friday, March 22.

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, launches its 62nd season offering audiences a look at the opera stars of tomorrow. The 2019 Merola Summer Festival announces this year's 29 Merola artists, selected from more than 800 international applicants from as far away as Brazil, South Korea, New Zealand, and Colombia, as well as across the U.S. Along with the announced world premiere of If I Were You (August 1-6) by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, the singers will perform in the Schwabacher Summer Concert (July 11 & 13) and Merola Grand Finale (August 17). The 2019 Merola Summer Festival includes performances in San Francisco at various locations. Individual event tickets and information available at www.merola.org or 415-864-3330.

Director/Chorographer Robert Longbottom and Musical Director/Conductor Kevin Stites have been announced for the Hollywood Bowl's upcoming production of Into the Woods

One of the most anticipated music events in the world, the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition will take place from June 17 – 29, 2019 in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia with support from the Government of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, with additional support from the Carmel Cultural Endowment for the Arts.

Well-Strung, the critically acclaimed singing string quartet, will make their Parker Playhouse debut in Fort Lauderdale with A Well-Strung Valentine for one night only, on Thursday, February 14 at 8:00 PM. From The Beatles to Bach, Puccini to Fleetwood Mac, Well-Strung will have you falling in love all over again with the greatest hits of the last 300 years. The internationally acclaimed singing string-quartet's celebration of love and music will make this Valentine's Day truly unforgettable. Cupid, draw back your bow, your violin bow! For tickets and information, visit www.parkerplayhouse.com or call (954) 462-0222.

The Metropolitan Opera will present Richard Wagner's four-part masterwork Der Ring des Nibelungen in performances March 9-May 11, 2019.  This season's performances are the first time the Met has presented the inventive Robert Lepage staging in six seasons and are the only complete Ring cycles to be presented in North America in 2019. Marshaling the vast forces on stage and in the pit is the incoming music director of the Vienna State Opera, Philippe Jordan, who has conducted acclaimed Ring cycles in Paris and Zurich.

Tovah Feldshuh six-time Tony and Emmy nominated star of "The Walking Dead," "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," and now CBS' "Salvation" returns to Feinstein's/54 Below in a thrilling show featuring highlights from the new Broadway-bound musical Queen of Mean, based on the New York Times best-seller biography by Ransdell Pierson.

The American Symphony Orchestra will present Sounds of the American Century, the next concert in its Vanguard series at Carnegie Hall, on Friday, January 25 at 8 pm. The program illustrates how New York City composers of the mid-20th century sought to define a new American sensibility in orchestral music, and will be highlighted by the New York premiere of Vivian Fine's Concertante for Piano and Orchestra.

If you're going to be in Provincetown for New Year's Weekend, this is a show you should see! If not, then catch them at Feinstein's/54 Below on December 11, 12 and 13.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center has announced a special one-night-only performance by the internationally acclaimed singing string quartet Well-Strung today, December 8, at 8pm. The four performers, who specialize in pairing universally recognized classical pieces while singing pop music hits, return to the Renberg Theatre with their hit holiday show, A Well Strung Christmas, directed by Richard Jay-Alexander. The show features the group's own unique pop-classical spin on some of the most beautiful and traditional holiday favorites from "Silent Night" and "Sleighride" all the way to Dolly Parton's "Hard Candy Christmas," and everything in between.

The Nutcracker is a holiday season tradition for countless young dancers whose annual turn in the Christmas fantasy marks a celebrated rite of passage. The chance to take part in the enchanting production, full of pageantry and splendor, engages the starry-eyed child dancer, while more advanced ballerinas relish opportunities to be cast in progressively more challenging roles.

This December, Tony Award-winning actress Sutton Foster and renowned actor Hugh Bonneville, of 'Downton Abbey' on MASTERPIECE, will star as guest musical artist and narrator, respectively, in the beloved annual holiday television special 'Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir' on PBS and BYUtv. A 60-minute version of the program returns for the 15th consecutive year when it premieres at 9 p.m. ET on Monday, Dec. 17 (check local listings) on PBS stations. The special has been the top-viewed holiday program on PBS nearly every year for the past 14 years[1]. BYUtv, a nationwide family entertainment network that produces the broadcast and co-presents it to millions of viewers worldwide alongside WGBH, will air the full 90-minute version at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, Dec. 20.

MasterVoices and its 150 choristers opens its 77th season on Wednesday, November 28 at 8 pm at Carnegie Hall when the ensemble's Artistic Director Ted Sperling leads the New York premiere of a multi-media version of Handel's Israel in Egypt. The timely oratorio of exile and displacement is reflecting the biblical account of the heroic flight of Israelites enslaved in Pharaonic Egypt and their crossing the Red Sea.