Sondra Radvanovsky News

Tenor Matthew Polenzani--he of the refined singing, elegant deportment and serious nature--is having a great season at the Met, with major roles in a pair of new productions. First, he was Nadir, whose love for the priestess Leila (Diana Damrau) tempts her to give up her vows in Bizet's LES PECHEURS DE PERLES (THE PEARL FISHERS). Now he's working his mojo on no less than Elisabetta (Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen of England), in the new production of Donizetti's ROBERTO DEVEREUX at the Met, premiering March 24.

?After a months-long series of competitions at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of expert judges named five young singers as the winners of the nation's most prestigious vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $15,000 cash prize and the prestige and exposure that come with winning the competition that launched the careers of many of opera's biggest stars.

Sondra Radvanovsky completes her season-long quest to sing the leading roles in all three operas in Donizetti's Tudor queens trilogy on March 24, when she stars as Queen Elizabeth I in the Met premiere of Roberto Devereux. Radvanovsky gave acclaimed performances as Anne Boleyn in Anna Bolena and Mary, Queen of Scots in Maria Stuarda earlier this season. Her performances in Roberto Devereux will make her the first singer since Beverly Sills in the 1970s to perform all three roles in a single New York season.

Following yesterday's highly competitive semi-final competition, nine young singers will advance to the final phase of the Metropolitan Opera's 2016 National Council Auditions, America's most prestigious vocal competition. The selected finalists, chosen by a panel of experts from the classical music industry, will compete on the Met stage on Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. The winners will receive individual cash prizes of $15,000 and the prestigious-and potentially career-launching-title of National Council Auditions Winner. The Grand Finals Concert will feature Antony Walker conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as each finalist performs two arias.

San Francisco Opera today announced plans to return to KQED 9 for the sixth season of spectacular opera and musical theater works featuring a roster of internationally renowned singers, conductors, directors and designers, all recorded live in high-definition from the War Memorial Opera House.

The winners of the 45th annual George London Foundation Awards Competition for young American and Canadian opera singers were announced at the conclusion of the competition's final round this evening, which took place in a front of an audience at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. 

The Met's new production of Puccini's MANON LESCAUT opens February 12 with Kristine Opolais as the seductive, tragic heroine and Roberto Alagna in a role debut as her ardent lover, the Chevalier des Grieux.

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.

The Met's new production of Puccini's MANON LESCAUT opens February 12 with Kristine Opolais as the seductive, tragic heroine and Roberto Alagna in a role debut as her ardent lover, the Chevalier des Grieux.

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.

CHICAGO - Subscriptions go on sale February 1 at 10:00am for Lyric Opera of Chicago's 62nd season. Next season offers world-renowned artists, nine tremendous new-to-Chicago productions, and the start of Wagner's famed Ring cycle, Das Rheingold.

San Francisco Opera partners again with Sundance Kabuki Cinemas to present the latest installment of the San Francisco Opera Grand Opera Cinema Series for winter 2016.

General Director Plácido Domingo has announced the repertory and artist roster for the company's 2016/17 season. Created by Mr. Domingo in collaboration with Music Director James Conlon and President and CEO Christopher Koelsch, the season will include six mainstage productions and a classic musical presented at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. A total of 40 performances will take place in that venue, while an additional 13 performances will be presented elsewhere through the company's Off Grand initiative. 

Sondra Radvanovsky sings the second of the three Queens in Donizetti's 'Tudor trilogy' when she stars as the devout, doomed Mary, Queen of Scots in Maria Stuarda, opening January 29. Maria Stuarda tells the story of the political and personal rivalry between two queens: Mary, Queen of Scots and her cousin and rival, Queen Elizabeth I. Radvanovsky is the first soprano in Met history who will sing the lead roles in all three Donizetti Queen operas in the course of a single New York season, a feat famously accomplished by Beverly Sills at New York City Opera in the 1970s.

Baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky returns to Carnegie Hall in a recital with pianist Ivari Ilja on Wednesday, February 17 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, performing works by Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mahler, and Richard Strauss. The concert marks more than 25 years since Mr. Hvorostovsky's Carnegie Hall debut 1990; he last performed at the Hall with Mr. Ilja in 2013.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today announced it is investing $2.5 million in support of O, Opera Philadelphia's innovative new season-opening festival. Set to launch in September 2017, O will be a 12-day experience that will attract both opera buffs and new audiences to Philadelphia as a vital destination for experiencing opera in an exciting urban setting.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's general director Anthony Freud and music director Sir Andrew Davis confirmed today the repertoire and casting for the company's 2016/17 season - the second season that they have fully planned together.  

Canada's greatest achievement in music, LOUIS RIEL, is returning to the Canadian Opera Company stage in a new production to help mark the 150th anniversary of the country's confederation. LOUIS RIEL is one of six landmark operas unveiled today at the public launch of the COC's 2016/2017 season at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

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. 

DALLAS, NOVEMBER 11, 2015 – 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 4that 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.