Michaela Martens News

San Francisco Opera inaugurated its 95th season with a weekend of celebrations and performances beginning on Friday, September 8 with two galas Opera Ball 2017 at The Imperial Palace and the BRAVO! CLUB Opening Night Gala and a performance of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot in artist David Hockney's colorful production. At the opera's conclusion, San Francisco Opera Music Director Nicola Luisotti, who conducted the performance, was awarded the San Francisco Opera Medal.

San Francisco Opera's production of Richard Strauss'Elektra opens in a new staging by acclaimed English director Keith Warner at the War Memorial Opera House on Saturday, September 9. Absent from the Company's repertory for two decades, Strauss' 1909 opera, with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and based on the Greek tragedy by Sophocles, returns with a powerful cast headlined by soprano Christine Goerke in the title role. Hungarian conductor Henrik Nanasi makes his Company debut leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra

San Francisco Opera inaugurates its 95th season on Friday, September 8, with Puccini's Turandot, staged in the iconic production by English artist David Hockney and conducted by Company Music Director Nicola Luisotti, and two opening night galas. Saturday, September 9 features the opening of a new production of Richard Strauss' Elektra. The festivities continue on Sunday, September 10, with San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park, an annual Bay Area tradition celebrating the opening of the opera season with a free concert in Golden Gate Park.

San Francisco Opera announced today a casting update for its season-opening production of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, running from September 8 through 30 at the War Memorial Opera House. American soprano Toni Marie Palmertree will sing Liu, replacing Maria Agresta who has withdrawn due to illness. Originally scheduled to portray Puccini's tragic heroine on September 24 and 30, Palmertree will now perform in all six September performances.

San Francisco Opera announced today a cast change for Richard Strauss' Elektra, which opens on Saturday, September 9, in English director Keith Warner's new staging at the War Memorial Opera House. American mezzo-soprano Michaela Martens will sing the role of Klytemnestra, replacing mezzo-sopranoStephanie Blythe who has withdrawn from the production for personal reasons.

Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House, in partnership with The Millay Colony for the Arts, marks the centenary of Women's Suffrage and the reopening of New York State's oldest surviving theater with a new production of Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's 1947 opera, THE MOTHER OF US ALL - a comic and profound musical pageant of 19th Century American social and political life.

Music Director David Robertson conducted the St. Louis Symphony in a concert performance of John Adams's critically acclaimed oratorio,The Gospel According to the Other Mary, on Friday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. The program featured mezzo-sopranos Kelley O'Connor as Mary Magdalene and Michaela Martens as Martha, with tenor Jay Hunter Morris as Lazarus. The cast also includes countertenorsDaniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings, and Nathan Medley, and the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, directed by Amy Kaiser.

Music Director David Robertson conducts the St. Louis Symphony in a concert performance of John Adams's critically acclaimed oratorio,The Gospel According to the Other Mary, on Friday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.

Houston Grand Opera expands its commitment to broadening the audience for opera with a 2017-18 season that includes the first presentations of Leonard Bernstein's classic musical West Side Story by a major American opera house and the world premiere of composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Royce Vavrek's holiday opera The House without a Christmas Tree. HGO will present its first performances in a quarter century of two iconic works: Richard Strauss's revenge-filled Elektra with virtuoso sopranoChristine Goerke in the tempestuous title role and 2016 Richard Tucker Award-winner and HGO Studio alumna Tamara Wilson in her role debut as Chrysothemis, under the baton of HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers; and Bellini's grand-scale tragedy Norma showcasing the debut of stellar dramatic soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska in the notoriously difficult title role, with 2015 Tucker winner and HGO Studio alumna Jamie Barton as Adalgisa.

First performed in 1905, Salome was originally censored in Vienna, banned in London, and even protested in New York. However, now it's considered a classic. Salome helped reinforce Strauss's reputation as "the greatest genius of the age".

Pittsburgh Opera continues its 78th season with Richard Strauss's powerful Salome, at the Benedum Center November 5th-13th.

Pittsburgh Opera continues its 78th season with Richard Strauss's powerful Salome, at the Benedum Center November 5th -13th.  BroadwayWorld has a first look below!

Pittsburgh Opera continues its 78th season with Richard Strauss's powerful Salome, at the Benedum Center November 5th-13th.

Pittsburgh Opera continues its 78th season with Richard Strauss's powerful Salome, at the Benedum Center November 5th-13th.

Carnegie Hall's 2016-2017 season is fast approaching, and the venue is looking forward to exciting new projects and outstanding concerts.

David Alden's double Olivier Award-winning production of Jana?ek's first opera Jen?fa returns to the London Coliseum. This 'formidable production' (The Guardian), was first seen in 2006.

Washington Concert Opera is proud to announce its 2016-2017 lineup, which marks the organization's 30th anniversary. WCO begins its season with a special 30th Anniversary Concert on September 18th, followed by a performance of Massenet's Herodiade on on November 20th and ending on March 5th, 2017 with Beethoven's Leonore. All performances will start at 6pm and will take place at Lisner Auditorium on the campus of George Washington University.

On Tuesday evening, April 12 North Carolina Opera revealed its upcoming new season at CAM Raleigh (Contemporary Art Museum). Over 300 fans and friends of the organization excitedly gathered for the unveiling of the new season's productions and casting as presented by NCO Artistic & Music Director Timothy Myers, along with live performances of excerpts from the operas.

San Francisco Opera's Summer 2015 Season opens June 7 with the long-awaited return of one of the most significant pieces in the operatic repertoire-The Trojans (Les Troyens).

American mezzo-soprano Michaela Martens will make her San Francisco Opera debut as the prophetess Cassandra in the Company's upcoming production of Hector Berlioz's grand-scale opera Les Troyens (The Trojans) on Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 20. San Francisco Opera today announced that Martens replaces mezzo-soprano Daveda Karanas, who has withdrawn from the physically demanding role due to pregnancy.