Joyce DiDonato News

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced today the winners of the 30th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers that took place at Stude Concert Hall at Rice University. For the second time, the Concert of Arias was streamed live on Facebook, as well as on YouTube for the first time. The livestream was hosted by award-winning soprano and HGO Studio alumna Tamara Wilson. The winners were announced during the second portion of the program.

MISTER ROGERS: IT'S YOU I LIKE Premieres March 2018 on PBS

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has chosen the finalists for the 30th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Stude Concert Hall at Rice University on February 1 at 7 p.m. A limited number of general admission tickets for the performance are available here. For the second time, the program will also be streamed live on Facebook, as well as on YouTube. The livestream will be hosted this year by award-winning soprano Tamara Wilson. Viewers will be invited to cast their votes for an Online Viewers' Choice Award.

The International Opera Awards are pleased to announce the finalists for this year's Awards. These were selected by an international jury chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera magazine and classical music critic with The Daily Telegraph: 'It's gratifying to see how the International Opera Awards just keep growing. With a record number of nominations to consider, and our biggest and most international jury yet, I'm delighted to say that our exciting shortlists-covering six continents and around 30 countries-reflect the truly cosmopolitan nature of the art form. Despite the challenges faced by opera companies almost everywhere, opera is vibrantly alive.'

Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director, today announced Carnegie Hall's 2018 2019 season featuring approximately 170 performances by many of the world's leading artists and ensembles in classical, pop, jazz, and world music, plus a broad range of innovative education and social impact programs created by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, serving audiences in New York City and beyond.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has chosen the semifinalists for the 30th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Stude Concert Hall at Rice University on February 1, at 7 p.m. A limited number of general admission tickets for the performance are available here. For the second time, the program will also be streamed live on Facebook, as well as on YouTube. The livestream will be hosted this year by award-winning soprano Tamara Wilson. Viewers will be invited to cast their votes for an Online Viewers' Choice Award.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has chosen the semifinalists for the 30th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Stude Concert Hall at Rice University on February 1, at 7 p.m. A limited number of general admission tickets for the performance are available here. For the second time, the program will also be streamed live on Facebook, as well as on YouTube. The livestream will be hosted this year by award-winning soprano Tamara Wilson. Viewers will be invited to cast their votes for an Online Viewers' Choice Award.

After a tremendously successful solo recital and performance with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra in fall 2017, pianist Daniil Trifonov continues his Perspectives series on Tuesday, February 6 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage in collaboration with baritone Matthias Goerne as they explore Trifonov's self-described fascination with vocal music. The program includes Schumann's Dichterliebe; Berg's Four Songs, Op. 2; Wolf's Three Poems of Michelangelo; selections from Shostakovich's Suite, Op. 145; and Brahms's Vier ernste Ges nge, Op. 121.

Season 12 of Great Performances at the Met begins with a new production of Bellini's masterpiece about a woman scorned, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. Norma stars Sondra Radvanovsky as the titular druid high priestess, opposite Joyce DiDonato as Norma's new rival and Joseph Calleja as her unfaithful lover a casting dream for bel canto fans.

On Friday, February 16, 2018, 16 of the best young American and Canadian opera singers will perform with pianist Craig Rutenberg before a panel of judges and an enthusiastic audience at The Morgan Library & Museum. At the event's conclusion, six of them will be named this year's winners of the George London Award, an honor that has been conferred upon hundreds of the best young singers since 1971. The award, currently a $10,000 prize, is named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone, one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century.

Ben debuts in the role of Ferrando for the company's upcoming production of 'Cosi Fan Tutte'

It's just about time to wish you all a happy 2018--but I'm not quite ready to put 2017 to rest. Though it won't go into the annals as one of the best years ever, there were quite enough performances and performers that made this year a winner for me, operatically speaking at least, in my corner of the world.

Classical music lovers around the world can share in two longstanding New York City institutions beginning this weekend, as both the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert on Sunday, December 10 (6pm ET), and the first of Trinity Church Wall Street's annual performances of Handel's Messiah today, December 15 (7:30pm ET), are broadcast by WQXR, New York City's only all-classical music station, at WQXR 105.9 FM and www.wqxr.org.

Classical music lovers around the world can share in two longstanding New York City institutions beginning this weekend, as both the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert on Sunday, December 10 (6pm ET), and the first of Trinity Church Wall Street's annual performances of Handel's Messiah on Friday, December 15 (7:30pm ET), are broadcast by WQXR, New York City's only all-classical music station, at WQXR 105.9 FM and www.wqxr.org.

Nothing beats sitting in the opera house for the thrill of hearing singers giving their all. But the new recording of Berlioz's LES TROYENS (THE TROJANS), conducted by John Nelson, comes pretty close. Taken from a couple of live concert performances in Strasbourg, France, at the Salle Erasme, with a cast headed by mezzo Joyce DiDonato as Dido (Didon, en francais), tenor Michael Spyres as Aeneas (Enee) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux as Cassandra (Cassandre) plus that famed Trojan horse--brings us all the chills and thrills we could want, short of being there.

The Grammy nominations are here! It's such a fun awards show, chock-full of accolades for mediocre pop songs sung by artists with nodules bigger than my fist-a true example of folks living the American Dream. Each year I hope for the best, thinking that, maybe, the nominating committee, or the performers, will surprise me-flipping the script on my shockingly low expectations. This year, to see if they'd accomplished that feat, I headed over to the Grammy's website to peruse the list of nominees.

Celebrated Dutch violinist Janine Jansen kicks off her five-concert Perspectives series this season at Carnegie Hall with two exciting chamber concerts in December.

Is it time for a re-evaluation of Massenet's place in the current repertoire and put it up a notch? I wondered after seeing the season's opening performance of the Met's John Cox production of Massenet's THAIS on Saturday afternoon. With the right performers, there's a good case for his juicy, melodic writing--among the plethora of BOHEMES, TURANDOTS and BUTTERYFLYs on the season's schedule--although the stipulation of right performers is, as always, the catch.

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance, in association with Lyric Unlimited, has announced the return of Beyond the Aria - the highly acclaimed performance series produced by the Harris Theater which pairs internationally celebrated opera singers of Lyric's mainstage alongside rising stars from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The 2009 winner of the George London-Leonie Rysanek Award and American opera's latest Rigoletto: Marjorie Owens, soprano, and Quinn Kelsey, baritone, with Myra Huang, piano, will offer the second event in the season's George London Foundation Recital Series at The Morgan Library & Museum on Sunday, December 10, 2017, at 4:00 pm.