Joyce DiDonato News

The Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season, the 50th anniversary of its home at Lincoln Center, will feature 225 opera performances of 26 operas in a varied repertory that ranges from 18th century masterpieces to one of the most acclaimed operas in recent years. Repertoire for the company's 132nd season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's 2000 opera L'Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Dvo?ak's Rusalka, and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company's Lincoln Center location with performances by opera's leading stars honoring the Met's past and future. Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.  

  On Sunday, March 13, at 2:00 p.m., Harry Bicket conducts Handel's Orlando at Carnegie Hall with acclaimed baroque orchestra The English Concert. In this concert presentation of Handel's opera seria of love, war, and madness, countertenor Iestyn Davies performs the title role joined by sopranos Erin Morley (Angelica) and Carolyn Sampson (Dorinda), mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke (Medoro), and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen (Zoroastro). Benjamin Sosland of The Juilliard School leads a pre-concert talk at 1:00 p.m.

 The Dallas Opera resumes the 2015-2016 Season in early spring with Jules Massenet's heart-wrenching and seductive tale of love, lust, and spectacularly bad choices: MANON, opening March 4, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House for the first of four performances.

With MARIA STUARDA at the Met, we're back for the second installment of Donizetti's so-called Tudor Trilogy, with ANNA BOLENA (Anne Boleyn) already off to the gallows and ROBERTO DEVEREUX (with Bette Davis and Errol Flynn, it was “Elizabeth and Essex”) still to come. It's the first time the Met is doing all three operas, with the singular soprano Sondra Radvanovsky as Anna, Maria and Elisabetta (in DEVEREUX, next month). Her Anna was grand, but her Maria was even better.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has chosen the finalists for the 28th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Theater Center tonight, February 4, at 7 p.m.

Houston, February 2, 2016—Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has chosen the finalists for the 28th annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Theater Center on today, February 4, at 7 p.m. This year's finalists are:

Donizetti's MARIA STUARDA opened at the Metropolitan Opera on January 29th. The second chapter of soprano Sondra Radvanovsky's quest to sing all three Donizetti Tudor queen operas in the same season has her playing the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots. Sir David McVicar's stunning production turns on the dramatic confrontation between Mary and her arch nemesis, Queen Elizabeth-compellingly portrayed by soprano Elza van den Heever. Riccardo Frizza conducts.

Carnegie Hall today unveiled its 2016-2017 season consisting of more than 170 concerts as well as wide-ranging education and community programs created by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute. The upcoming season includes performances by many of the world's greatest artists, including Tony winner Kelli O'Hara making her solo headlining debut at the renowned venue on Oct. 29, as well as ensembles representing classical, pop, jazz, and world music, with events presented on Carnegie Hall's three stages, in the Hall's Resnick Education Wing, and throughout New York City.

Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash concludes her Carnegie Hall Perspectives series with a performance on Saturday, February 20 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, featuring songs from her Grammy-Awarding winning album The River & The Thread. The record, a collaboration with her partner, producer, and co-writer John Leventhal, musically, narratively, spiritually, and geographically explores the American South. For the second half of the program, Cash is joined by acclaimed musician Jeff Tweedy--founding member and leader of the American rock band Wilco--to perform songs from her storied musical catalogue with an emphasis on songs from her critically acclaimed 2009 album The List.

The Merola Opera Program is pleased to recognize Merola 1988 alumna Patricia Racette with the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony tonight, January 7, 2016, in San Francisco.

The Dallas Opera is the proud recipient of two extraordinary new gifts, totaling $2 million, from The Eugene McDermott Foundation and Mrs. Eugene (Margaret) McDermott, who have requested that the position of Dallas Opera General Director and CEO be known henceforth as the “Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO” in honor of the longtime Dallas Opera Board Member and Past Chairman.  Dr. Wildenthal currently serves the company as an Officer-at-large on TDO's Executive Committee.

  Following last season's acclaimed series of master classes, open to the public and reaching viewers around the world online at medici.tv, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato returns to Carnegie Hall's Resnick Education Wing for three additional master classes focusing on opera arias on January 8-10, 2016. Four young professional singers-soprano Amalia Avilan Castillo, mezzo-soprano Miya Higashiyama, countertenor Daniel Moody, and bass Anthony Robin Schneider-have been selected to participate, along with pianists Justina Lee and Adam Nielsen. In addition to being open to the public (see ticket information below), the master classes will be available for free on medici.tv, where they will be streamed live and will remain available on-demand for one year following the classes. Additional private sessions on breathing, movement, and career development complete the program.

The Merola Opera Program is pleased to recognize Merola 1988 alumna Patricia Racette with the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony on Monday, January 7, 2016, in San Francisco.

The Merola Opera Program is pleased to recognize Merola 1988 alumna Patricia Racette with the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony on Monday, January 7, 2016, in San Francisco. The ceremony is an invitation-only event for members of Merola's Gold Circle and above. Those wishing to join Merola may find information at www.merola.org.

New York, NY (December 10, 2015) – OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 11th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards. This year's honorees — Joseph Calleja, El?na Garan?a, Waltraud Meier, Anna Netrebko, and José van Dam — will be feted at a black tie gala celebration on April 10th at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. 

In celebration of Carnegie Hall's 125th anniversary, the Weill Music Institute (WMI) has launched The Somewhere Project, a citywide exploration of West Side Story. This extensive creative learning project is engaging people through events in all five boroughs of New York City, plus those outside the city through online content, all anchored by a large-scale production of West Side Story, the classic American musical based on a conception by Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Arthur Laurents.

 DALLAS, TX, December 8, 2015 – The Dallas Opera will present opera legend Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano, for another magnificent performance in The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series. The one-time-only recital will be presented Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at City Performance Hall (a 749-seat venue located at 2520 Flora Street in the Arts District, Dallas, TX 75201). Also featured at the exclusive event will be Jake Heggie, composer (Great Scott, Moby-Dick) and accomplished pianist, who has had a long-standing artistic collaboration with Miss von Stade.

From January 19 to 23, Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute (WMI) presents The Song Continues, an annual series led by renowned mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, exploring song repertoire through master classes and concerts with the goal of encouraging, supporting, and preserving the art of the vocal recital. The series concludes with the Marilyn Horne Song Celebration, a recital featuring special guest artist soprano Nina Stemme on Saturday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall. The evening's concert also features performances by soprano Julia Bullock, mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, tenor Andrew Haji, bass-baritone Evan Hughes, and pianists John Arida, Keun-A Lee, Ken Noda, and Jennifer Szeto. Complete program information is listed below.

The Dallas Opera is delighted to present an original, musically compelling and visually stunning world premiere: Mark Adamo's BECOMING SANTA CLAUS, opening tonight, December 4th at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. 

Better Gods, a new opera by composer Luna Pearl Woolf, will have its world premiere at the Kennedy Center on January 8 and 9 presented by Washington National Opera, Francesca Zambello, Artistic Director. The story of the last queen of Hawaii and the fall of the Hawaiian monarchy, with a libretto by Caitlin Vincent, the one-hour opera is part of WSO's ambitious American Opera Initiative.  The music of Luna Pearl Woolf, praised for its “psychological nuances and emotional depth,” by The New York Times, is also featured on several new recordings and is the focus of major composer portraits in Washington, DC and in Montreal in 2016.