Stephanie Blythe News

Lincoln Center's acclaimed American Songbook series returns for its 21st year, celebrating the expansive scope and intricacy of the popular music canon from January 22 - February 29, 2020. This year's concert series includes lauded singer-songwriters, groundbreaking composers, storytellers speaking truth to power, experimental vocalists, and multitalented performers whose artistic breadth reflects the far-reaching perspectives and experiences of the essential American Songbook.

It was a spectacular start to the four night 2019 Cabaret Convention at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater Last night.

In a combined triumph for the Classic Popular Songbook, its purveyors and adherents, and the professionalism and perseverance of THE MABEL MERCER FOUNDATION, that unique organization presents its 30th Annual New York Cabaret Convention at The Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, beginning Monday, October 28th and running through Thursday, October 31st. The four individual concerts will be offered at 6:00 PM each evening, and more than seventy-five vocalists and musicians are scheduled to perform. Tickets are on sale at the Jazz at Lincoln Center box office and www.jazz.org starting today, Monday, September 9.

The popular duo KT Sullivan and Jeff Harnar bring a new night of music and a new tribute to Broadway composers to The Laurie Beechman Theatre.

The Metropolitan Opera's annual Summer HD Festival, presenting free outdoor screenings of operas in Lincoln Center Plaza, returns for the 11th time this summer, with one screening each night now through Monday, September 2, 2019 (Labor Day). The series features ten performances from the company's acclaimed Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions, including performances from the 2018 19 season as well as some of the most popular transmissions from past years. Preceding the festival, on Friday, August 23, the classic movie musical Funny Face will be screened in the plaza, in association with Film at Lincoln Center. Funny Face features songs by George and Ira Gershwin, whose opera, Porgy and Bess, will be presented in a new production to open the Met's forthcoming 2019 20 season in September.

The Bearded Ladies, Opera Philadelphia, and FringeArts are pleased to announce the full line-up of performers for the 'Late Night Snacks,' the one-of-a-kind pop-up cabaret bar created in partnership with Vox Populi, Hidden City Philadelphia, Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation, and the Mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs The inclusive, welcoming environment will open on September 7, 2019 at a refitted industrial space at 1316 S. Percy Street, Philadelphia, and feature programming Tuesday to Sunday through September 29, 2019.

The Metropolitan Opera Guild today announced that the honorees of its “Diamond Jubilee” celebration will be luminaries Martina Arroyo and Teresa Stratas.  The Guild's 85th Annual Luncheon will take place on Wednesday, November 20th at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.  Special remarks by Stephanie Blythe and musical tributes by Ailyn Pérez and Matthew Polenzani will be performed during the event.

The 30th anniversary season of the Bard Music Festival a?" an exploration of a?oeKorngold and His Worlda?? a?" opens this Friday, August 9, with Weekend One: Korngold and Vienna. The first of the weekend's six themed concerts, Program One: a?oeErich Wolfgang Korngold: From Viennese Prodigy to Hollywood Master,a?? offers a broad overview of the composer's multi-faceted career.

In a combined triumph for the Classic Popular Songbook, its purveyors and adherents, and the professionalism and perseverance of The Mabel Mercer Foundation, that unique organization presents its THIRTIETH annual New York Cabaret Convention at The Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, beginning Monday, October 28th and running through Thursday, October 31th. The four individual concerts will be offered at 6 o'clock each evening, and more than seventy-five vocalists and musicians are scheduled to perform.

The Bearded Ladies, Philadelphia's experimental cabaret group, has teamed up with Opera Philadelphia, FringeArts, Vox Populi, Hidden City Philadelphia, Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation, and the Mayor's Office of LGBT Affairs to present a one-of-a-kind pop-up bar which will feature nightly performances from some of the world's most renowned cabaret artists, along with cocktails and an inclusive, welcoming environment. "Late Night Snacks" will open on September 7, 2019 at a refitted industrial space at 1316 S. Percy Street, Philadelphia, and feature programming Tuesday to Sunday through September 29, 2019.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation presents one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, the 2019 Richard Tucker Gala, on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 6:00pm in Stern Auditorium Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.

Something old, something new…there's still plenty going on for fans of opera and classical vocal music in the Northeast now that summer is upon us. Here's a taste of what to look for.

The Dallas Opera is proud to announce the winner of the 2019 "Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year" Award: the incredible, one-of-a-kind American mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, for her saucy, scene-stealing portrayal of Mistress Quickly in our critically-acclaimed spring production of Verdi's Falstaff.

The Metropolitan Opera's annual Summer HD Festival, presenting free outdoor screenings of operas in Lincoln Center Plaza, returns for the 11th time this summer, with one screening each night from Saturday, August 24, to Monday, September 2, 2019 (Labor Day). The series features ten performances from the company's acclaimed Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions, including performances from the 2018 19 season as well as some of the most popular transmissions from past years. Preceding the festival, on Friday, August 23, the classic movie musical Funny Face will be screened in the plaza, in association with Film at Lincoln Center. Funny Face features songs by George and Ira Gershwin, whose opera, Porgy and Bess, will be presented in a new production to open the Met's forthcoming 2019 20 season in September.

'In equal measures intelligent, playful, ambitious and moving, the program illuminated the shape-shifting power of the human voice.' That intoxicating New York Times review of the inaugural Resonant Bodies Festival in 2013 marked its arrival as an immediately valuable contributor to the city's music scene. The festival has since evolved into something akin to New York Fashion Week for the new music set, offering a chance for buck-the-trendsetters to experience the high-energy epicenter of experimental vocal music. The flagship festival returns to Roulette this September 3-5, kicking off the concert season with three fast-paced nights of vocal luminaries and artistic renegades converging in the best 'see and be seen' creative energy New York has to offer.

The CU New Opera Workshop (CU NOW), a three-week program to refine an in-progress professional opera, celebrates 10 years at the University of Colorado Boulder this summer. Starting on May 28 and running through mid-June, voice students will collaborate directly with award-winning composer Tom Cipullo to workshop and perform his new piece, "Hobson's Choice."

The Atlanta Opera broke new records this season. Even before its final presentation Francesca Zambello's new take on La traviata, which closed this past weekend 2018-19 was already guaranteed to be the company's highest-grossing season of the past decade, highlighted by last fall's West Side Story, the highest-selling production in the Atlanta Opera's 39-year history (Opera News).

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation announced today that Lisette Oropesa has been named as the winner of the 2019 Richard Tucker Award. The soprano already headlines major productions worldwide, and after her recent house debuts in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Real Madrid and Royal Opera House, The Guardian declared: "The Cuban American soprano is sensationally good. She makes the stratospheric vocal fireworks … sound easy; indeed, her every note is part of a convincing portrayal of a complex character." Widely referred to as the "Heisman Trophy of Opera," the Tucker Award carries the foundation's most substantial cash prize of $50,000, and is conferred each year by a panel of opera industry professionals on an American singer at the threshold of a significant international career.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation announced today that Lisette Oropesa has been named as the winner of the 2019 Richard Tucker Award. The soprano already headlines major productions worldwide, and after her recent house debuts in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Real Madrid and Royal Opera House, The Guardiandeclared: “The Cuban American soprano is sensationally good. She makes the stratospheric vocal fireworks … sound easy; indeed, her every note is part of a convincing portrayal of a complex character.” Widely referred to as the “Heisman Trophy of Opera,” the Tucker Award carries the foundation's most substantial cash prize of $50,000, and is conferred each year by a panel of opera industry professionals on an American singer at the threshold of a significant international career. Past winners include such luminaries as Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Matthew Polenzani, and Deborah Voigt. Oropesa will be inducted into this who's who of American opera at the foundation's annual gala, a perennial highlight of the opera season, on Sunday, October 27, at Carnegie Hall.

Palm Beach Opera presents Johann Strauss II's high-spirited opera "Die Fledermaus" in a colorful production at Kravis Center for the Performing Arts for one weekend only, March 22-24.