Richard Strauss News

Russian pianist, Elisabeth Leonskaja, is the unrivalled doyenne of the Russian old school, a formidably distinguished personality and one of the most celebrated pianists of our time. She has earned the moniker 'lioness of the keyboard', her every move signifying vast experience, and has remained true to herself and to her music. In doing so, she is following in the footsteps of the great Russians of the Soviet era, such as Oistrakh, Richter, Rostropovich and Gilels, who never wavered in their focus on the essence of music despite working under a grim political regime.

21C MEDIA GROUP just released its season preview of opera, vocal and choral music for 2016-17. Scroll down for details!

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado for the Orchestra's 14th- annual summer residency there, featuring six concerts July 22-29, 2016.

San Francisco Opera's partnership with the Bay Area's Classical KDFC continues with a fall season of opera radio broadcasts beginning August 7 with the star-studded, June 16, 2016 gala concert celebrating San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley. The Company's highly acclaimed 2016 Summer Season productions of Bizet's Carmen, Verdi's Don Carlo and Jana?ek's Jen?fa, along with a special 1982 'From the Archives' broadcast of Handel's Julius Caesar, will air each month through December 4. All performances were recorded live at the War Memorial Opera House and feature the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and San Francisco Opera Chorus.

Pacific Symphony launches its upcoming 2016-17 season in glorious style this September with a one-night-only spectacular—“An Evening with Renée Fleming,” featuring “America's reigning diva” (The Washington Post) for more than a decade in a rare Orange County appearance! One of the most beloved and celebrated musical ambassadors of our time, Fleming captivates audiences with her sumptuous voice, consummate artistry and compelling stage presence. From the Metropolitan Opera and the White House to the Super Bowl and now the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the internationally sought-after soprano arrives to inaugurate the Symphony's 10th season in its home. There is no better place in the world to hear this modern diva's sumptuous voice and dazzling technique than in the opulent and acoustically superior Segerstrom Concert Hall.

Pacific Symphony launches its upcoming 2016-17 season in glorious style this September with a one-night-only spectacular-'An Evening with Renee Fleming,' featuring 'America's reigning diva' (The Washington Post) for more than a decade in a rare Orange County appearance.

With its 37th season now behind it, Pacific Symphony bids farewell to three longtime, beloved and distinguished members of the orchestra: Raymond Kobler, concertmaster; Robert Becker, principal viola; and Russell Dicey, fourth horn.

SAN FRANCISCO - The acclaimed Merola Opera Program, one of the most prestigious and selective opera training programs in the United States, opens its 2016 Summer Festival with the popular Schwabacher Summer Concerts tonight, July 7 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, July 9 at 2 pm at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Brooklyn Art Song Society (BASS) is proud to announce its seventh season, beginning in October of 2017.

Academy, Grammy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley will join the Houston Symphony in an unforgettable performance of Peter and the Wolf during its Opening Night Concert and Gala at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17, 2016.

After a sold-out run at the 1998 Lincoln Center Festival, the opera PATIENCE & SARAH returns to New York as a staged concert performance for two nights only - tonight, June 23rd and tomorrow, June 24th at 7PM at the Players Theatre (115 MacDougal Street).

Although the solstice doesn't officially appear for another week or so, the summer opera clock is already ticking. There's a plethora of performances going on all over New York City, in addition to interesting, entertaining and fascinating productions that are just a hop, skip and jump away. Among them: Lincoln Center's Lincoln Center Festival and Mostly Mozart and On Site Opera's West Village venue, to the more bucolic realms of Bard SummerScape in Dutchess County (NY) for Mascagni and Caramoor in Katonah (NY) for Rossini and Beethoven.

A feast for the eyes and ears, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra pairs a majestic look at our planet with glorious music of John Adams and Richard Strauss during the BNY Mellon Grand Classics weekend, beginning today, June 10 and continuing June 12.

North/South Consonance, Inc concludes its 36th consecutive season of free-admission concerts on Tuesday evening June 21.

'ARIADNE ON NAXOS' balances wondrously between classic beauty and parody.

Strong women are in the spotlight as Opera Theater of Pittsburgh announces its 2016 SummerFest season of opera, musical theater, concerts and cabarets, June 22-July 24.

“There is no sense in which [the play] THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST needs to be an opera.” Those words aren't mine, but come directly from an article by Paul Kilbey in the program at last week's U.S. stage premiere of Irish composer/lyricist Gerald Barry's 2010 opera THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. But I couldn't agree more with the sentiment.

PITTSBURGH – A feast for the eyes and ears, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra pairs a majestic look at our planet with glorious music of John Adams and Richard Strauss during the BNY Mellon Grand Classics weekend on June 10 and 12. 

Today, June 2, 2016, four of Canada's pre-eminent singers join the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Music Director Jonathan Darlington, in 'BraVO! A Vancouver Opera Concert' - a celebratory concert of opera excerpts honouring VO's General Director James W. Wright, who is retiring June 30th after 17 years at the head of the company.