Joyce DiDonato News

Two-time Emmy Award winning composer, lyricist, conductor, pianist, and producer Glen Roven, has passed away at the age of 60.

Carnegie Hall today announced that summer 2018 performances by its three national youth ensembles—presented in top venues around the globe and featuring collaborations with internationally-renowned artists—will be webcast live, free of charge, to a worldwide audience

The Metropolitan Opera's annual Summer HD Festival, which presents free outdoor screenings of operas on Lincoln Center Plaza, will return for the tenth time this summer, with one screening each night from Saturday, August 25, to Monday September 3, 2018 (Labor Day). The series will present ten recent performances from the company's acclaimed Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions. As a prelude to the festival, the Marx Brothers' classic film, A Night at the Opera, will be presented on the plaza on Friday, August 24, in association with the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, culminates its 2018 Summer Festival with the Merola Grand Finale, featuring the 2018 Merola young artists in a dazzling array of opera's most exciting arias and ensembles.

The George London Foundation for Singers has been honoring, supporting, and presenting the finest young opera singers in the U.S. and Canada since 1971. The foundation and the George London Awards (the prize of the foundation's annual competition) are named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone, one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century, who devoted much of his time and energy in his later years to the support and nurturing of young opera singers.

Tickets go on sale today for the Met's Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning Live in HD series' 2017-18 season, which begins on October 7 with the company's new production of Bellini's Norma.

This summer 2018, the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA), featuring 106 outstanding young musicians from across the United States, comes together for its sixth year of extraordinary music-making, performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City(Thursday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m.), and in five cities across Asia, including Taipei, Beijing,Shanghai, Seoul, and Daejeon.

This July, Carnegie Hall places the spotlight on more than 200 of the nation's finest teen musicians from 36 US states with three performances presented over eight days in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.

Advance tickets go on sale today for the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert, one of the most highly anticipated operatic events of the season. Coming to Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage on Sunday, October 21 at 6pm, the concert features bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, winner of the 2018 Richard Tucker Award, with a host of opera luminaries from around the world: soprano Anna Netrebko, tenors Javier Camarena and Yusif Eyvazov, and five past Tucker Award-winners: sopranos Christine Goerke, Angela Meade, and Nadine Sierra; mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe; and tenor Michael Fabiano. This starry lineup will join forces for an evening of favorite arias and ensembles under the baton of Marco Armiliato, with the support of the New York Choral Society and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The gala concert is presented by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.

This July, Carnegie Hall will bring together more than 200 of the finest young musicians from across the country to take part in its acclaimed trio of national youth ensembles: the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA), NYO2, and NYO Jazz, a new group that makes its debut this summer, celebrating this uniquely American musical art form. All three ensembles will take part in an intensive training residency at Purchase College, State University of New York before performing at Carnegie Hall and embarking on tours across the country and around the world, serving as America's dynamic musical ambassadors. In total, the musicians of NYO-USA, NYO2, and NYO Jazz represent 36 US states plus Puerto Rico, reflecting both the highest level of musical talent as well as exceptional diversity found across the country. All three programs are free for all participants, ensuring that all aspiring young players who are accepted have the opportunity to take part.

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, offers audiences a look at the opera stars of tomorrow with a lively, fully-staged production of The Rake's Progress. Based loosely on the eponymous eight paintings and engravings by William Hogarth (1733-1735), Stravinsky's dramatic opera follows the decline and fall of a profligate heir who makes a devil's bargain with Nick Shadow, abandoning life in the country and his tender fiancee for the wicked temptations of London.The Rake's Progress will be performed 7:30pm, Thursday, August 2 and 2:00pm, Saturday, August 4 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. For tickets or more information, visit www.merola.org or call (415) 864-3330.

This July, Carnegie Hall will bring together more than 200 of the finest young musicians from across the country to take part in its acclaimed trio of national youth ensembles: the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA), NYO2, and NYO Jazz, a new group that makes its debut this summer, celebrating this uniquely American musical art form. All three ensembles will take part in an intensive training residency at Purchase College, State University of New York before performing at Carnegie Hall and embarking on tours across the country and around the world, serving as America's dynamic musical ambassadors. In total, the musicians of NYO-USA, NYO2, and NYO Jazz represent 36 US states plus Puerto Rico, reflecting both the highest level of musical talent as well as exceptional diversity found across the country. All three programs are free for all participants, ensuring that all aspiring young players who are accepted have the opportunity to take part.

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program presents the stars of tomorrow in Mozart's Il re pastore. Merola is one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, featuring 29 artists selected from more than 800 international applicants. This exquisite early Mozart work featuring a string of thrilling arias explores the competing pulls of love and duty, as a young shepherd finds he must renounce his true love in order to reclaim his lost throne. Il re pastore will be performed 7:30pm, Thursday, July 19, and 2:00pm, Saturday, July 21, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. For tickets or more information, visit www.merola.org or call (415) 864-3330.

Placido Domingo, LA Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad General Director, announced today that he has chosen the performers who will join LA Opera's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program in the 2018/19 season. The artists were chosen from 650 applicants, 200 live auditions and, ultimately, 28 final candidates. The finalists auditioned in April for a panel led by Mr. Domingo that included Sebastian Paul and Marybelle Musco President and CEO Christopher Koelsch, the program's Artistic Advisor Susan Graham and Artistic Administrator Samuel Gelber, along with Stephen King, head of vocal instruction for the program, and Nino Sanikidze, head coach for the program.

The George London Foundation for Singers has been honoring, supporting, and presenting the finest young opera singers in the U.S. and Canada since 1971. The foundation and the George London Awards (the prize of the foundation's annual competition) are named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone, one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century, who devoted much of his time and energy in his later years to the support and nurturing of young opera singers.

In the space of just a brief recital, Joyce DiDonato brings World History to Covent Garden (and makes some).

OPERALIA, the international Opera competition founded by Placido Domingo in 1993, will be presented in Portugal for the very first time this summer. The competition will take place at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, which is located in the historical center of Lisbon's Chiado District since its inauguration in 1793. A theatre of extraordinary architectural value and beauty, São Carlos has enjoyed a long prestigious history interrupted only by the Portuguese Civil War of the 19th Century and the repairs it sustained in the 1930s. It has welcomed numerous notable international artists, including Maria Callas, Alfredo Kraus, Monserrat Caballe and Placido Domingo, who made his debut in Lisbon in the title role of Verdi's Otello in 1989. The Teatro Nacional de São Carlos now welcomes the 26th Edition of the prestigious OPERALIA competition from August 27th to September 2nd, 2018. The competition will feature 40 competitors from 24 different countries, including two Portuguese singers.

The Houston Symphony announced today the international release of the live recording of Haydn-The Creation on the Dutch classical music label Pentatone. The CD is now available for purchase through houstonsymphony.org. Digital downloads are available through Amazon.

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the world, launches its 61st season offering audiences a look at the opera stars of tomorrow. Some of opera's greatest moments will come to life as Merola's young artists perform staged scenes from Vanessa, Il tabarro, Les pecheurs de perles, and Don Giovanni in the Schwabacher Summer Concert.

Can you imagine coming out on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera--facing an audience of about 4000 and be ready to sing without really much of a chance to warm up? That takes guts--and it's what the nine finalists in the Met's National Council Auditions Grand Final Concert did on Sunday, April 29. At stake? A grand push forward for the careers in opera that they've dreamed about. (There was also some money involved: $15,000 apiece for the winners, $5,000 each for the runs up.)