Sasha Cooke News

Thrilling theater and unforgettable music -- that's what audiences can expect from Seattle Opera's 2016/17 Season. The company today announced the operas next up at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. They include: The Wicked Adventures of Count Ory, Hansel & Gretel, La traviata, Katya Kabanova and The Magic Flute.

 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.

This new program, The Institute for Women Conductors at The Dallas Opera, will be inaugurated today, November 28, 2015 and run through December 6, 2015, with generous support from the Richard and Enika Schulze Foundation.

For the first time since 2001, San Francisco Opera presents Richard Wagner's DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NURNBERG in a new David McVicar co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Having opened last night, November 18, the production features an illustrious team of Wagner interpreters led by James Rutherford as Hans Sachs, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Walther von Stolzing and debuting soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Eva, with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Sir Mark Elder in his Company debut. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

San Francisco Opera presents Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, opening tonight, November 18.

SAN FRANCISCO (November 11, 2015) –– For the first time since 2001, San Francisco Opera presents Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in a new David McVicar co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Opening on November 18, theproduction features an illustrious team of Wagner interpreters led by James Rutherford as Hans Sachs, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Walther von Stolzing and debuting soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Eva, with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Sir Mark Elder in his Company debut.

San Francisco Opera today announced a cast change for Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, opening November 18. British baritone James Rutherford will sing the central role of Hans Sachs, replacing Greer Grimsley who has withdrawn from the production. The David McVicar production, a co-presentation of San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Glyndebourne Festival Opera, is conducted by Sir Mark Elder and runs for six performances November 18-December 6, 2015 at the War Memorial Opera House.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Washington National Opera are seeking nominations for The Marian Anderson Vocal Award, which celebrates excellence in performance by recognizing a young American singer who has achieved initial professional success in the area of opera, oratorio, or recital repertory, and who exhibits promise for a significant career.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct the New York Philharmonic in the World Premiere- Philharmonic Commission of Marc Neikrug's Canta-Concerto, featuring mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke; Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2, with Emanuel Ax as soloist; and Brahms's Tragic Overture. The performances take place Thursday, October 1, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, October 3, at 8:00 p.m. Alan Gilbert and the Philharmonic will also perform Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2, with Emanuel Ax as soloist, on a program that includes Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, on September 30, 2015, at 7:30 p.m., as well as at Long Island University's Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Brookville, New York, on October 2, 2015, at 8:00 p.m.

Carnegie Hall's 125th anniversary season is fast approaching, and we are looking forward to an exciting variety of new projects and exceptional programming! Listed below are classical music highlights at Carnegie Hall for the 2015-2016 season.

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.

Join us for the world premiere performance of Pierre Jalbert's 'From Dusk To Starry Night,' a four-part song cycle drawing from the poetry of Walt Whitman and Stephen Foster.

Notes To Be Written Thursday, April 23,  6:30 p.m. composer talk;  7:30 p.m. performance St. John the Divine Church David Danzmayr, conductor Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano Ertan Torgul, concertmaster Pierre Jalbert, composer

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam; the Royal Concertgebouw; and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, David Robertson, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director - performed by violinist Leila Josefowicz, for whom it is written and dedicated. The concerts also include two early 20th-century Russian works, Stravinsky's Petrushka (original 1911 version) and Lyadov's The Enchanted Lake.

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam; the Royal Concertgebouw; and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, David Robertson, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director - performed by violinist Leila Josefowicz, for whom it is written and dedicated. The concerts also include two early 20th-century Russian works, Stravinsky's Petrushka (original 1911 version) and Lyadov's The Enchanted Lake.

DALLAS, FEBRUARY 20, 2015 – The Dallas Opera is preparing to whisk audiences away to the Latin Quarter of Paris for the blockbuster opera of the season: Giacomo Puccini's 1896 masterpiece, LA BOHÈME, based on Henri Murger's newspaper serial-turned-novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème.