Stephanie Blythe News

Opera Philadelphia – “one of the most creative and ambitious companies in this country” (New York Times) – is set to take the opera world by storm once again, as it looks forward to O18, the second installment of its pioneering Festival O, with the “spirit ... not to follow taste but to lead it” (Philadelphia Inquirer). Festival 018comprises five operatic happenings – two world premieres, two new productions, and a three-part cabaret event – at multiple venues across the city from September 20-30, and features two superstar opera divas: coloratura soprano Brenda Rae and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, co-stars of Opera Philadelphia's acclaimed spring 2017 production of Rossini's Tancredi. Rae headlines a new production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor from celebrated director and designer Laurent Pelly that anchors both the O18 festival and the company's year-round Opera at the Academy series. Blythe (aka Blythely Oratonio) takes the stage at Philadelphia's Theatre of Living Arts (TLA) for a three-night, three-part cabaret takeover titled Queens of the Night, along with self-described “drag queen king” Dito van Reigersberg (aka Martha Graham Cracker). It all leads up to a reprise performance of Dito & Aeneas: Two Queens, One Night, Opera Philadelphia's 2017 cabaret-play spectacular, which was hailed as “smart and bubbly in all the right places” (Philadelphia Inquirer). The two divas even perform together on the TLA stage, when Rae makes a special guest appearance opposite Blythe, comedically echoing the tragic lovers of Tancredi. 

BroadwayWorld has a first look at Great Performances at the Met: Cendrillon, starring Joyce DiDonato as the titular heroine and Alice Coote as Prince Charming alongside Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother and Stephanie Blythe as Madame de la Haltiere. The season 12 finale airs this Sunday, September 9 at 12:00 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

Opera Philadelphia is set to take the opera world by storm once again, as it looks forward to O18, the second installment of its pioneering Festival O.

You can't accuse Opera Philadelphia's O18 Festival--running September 20-30 at various city venues--of being predictable. But no one would chastise you if you were to think: How do you follow-up what seems like a once-in-a-lifetime event, last year's O17? Well, as Monty Python used to say, 'And now for something completely different...'

Season 12 of Great Performances at the Met concludes Sunday, September 9 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) with Cendrillon, Massenet's operatic take on the classic fairy tale Cinderella, starring Joyce DiDonato as the titular heroine and Alice Coote as Prince Charming, alongside Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother andStephanie Blythe as Madame de la Haltière.

Lauded as “one of the most creative and ambitious companies in this country” (New York Times), Opera Philadelphia justified that reputation once again when it launched its inaugural Festival O last season; the Washington Post found it “one of the most enjoyable additions to the fall calendar in years,” and the Philadelphia Inquirer noted the festival's ambition “not to follow taste but to lead it.”

Matthew Rose has been appointed as the Artistic Consultant to the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, the company's elite program for artists on the cusp of international opera careers. An acclaimed bass, Matthew Rose has sung at leading opera houses around the world, including the Met, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and English National Opera. He is an advisory member of the Mahler Foundation and has coached young singers at the National Opera Studio and the Britten-Pears Young Artist Program. In his new role, he will work closely with the new director of the program, Sophie Joyce, to implement a series of one-on-one and group coaching sessions, as well as master classes.

Glass Handel is one of two innovative and thought-provoking world premiere productions that highlight O18, the second edition of Opera Philadelphia's annual season-opening festival. Staged on September 22, 23 and 30 in the expansive Annenberg Court of Philadelphia's Barnes Foundation, home to O17's The Wake World, the new work is an immersive, multidisciplinary operatic installation headlined and created by American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo – “a bona-fide star” (New Yorker) – in collaboration with producer Cath Brittan and avant-garde fashion/art company Visionaire. Under their curation, music by Baroque master George Frederic Handel and living legend Philip Glass meets the worlds of art, fashion, dance, and film through collaboration with a host of luminaries: fine artist George Condo; designer Raf Simons from fashion house Calvin Klein; choreographer Justin Peck; ballet dancers David Hallberg and Patricia Delgado; performance artist Ryan McNamara; and filmmakers including James Ivory, Maurizio Cattelan, Mickalene Thomas and Mark Romanek. Opera Philadelphia's world premiere production also marks the official launch of ARC, Costanzo's solo album debut, a collection of Glass and Handel arias due for September 21 release on Decca Gold.

The Metropolitan Opera's annual Summer HD Festival, which presents free outdoor screenings of operas on Lincoln Center Plaza, will return for the tenth time this summer, with one screening each night from Saturday, August 25, to Monday September 3, 2018 (Labor Day). The series will present ten recent performances from the company's acclaimed Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions. As a prelude to the festival, the Marx Brothers' classic film, A Night at the Opera, will be presented on the plaza on Friday, August 24, in association with the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Tickets go on sale today for the Met's Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning Live in HD series' 2017-18 season, which begins on October 7 with the company's new production of Bellini's Norma.

Advance tickets go on sale today for the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert, one of the most highly anticipated operatic events of the season. Coming to Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage on Sunday, October 21 at 6pm, the concert features bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, winner of the 2018 Richard Tucker Award, with a host of opera luminaries from around the world: soprano Anna Netrebko, tenors Javier Camarena and Yusif Eyvazov, and five past Tucker Award-winners: sopranos Christine Goerke, Angela Meade, and Nadine Sierra; mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe; and tenor Michael Fabiano. This starry lineup will join forces for an evening of favorite arias and ensembles under the baton of Marco Armiliato, with the support of the New York Choral Society and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The gala concert is presented by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.

World-renowned opera singer and recitalist Stephanie Blythe will premiere her new cabaret act, 'The Tender Trap,' as a special benefit for The Mabel Mercer Foundation today evening, June 14th at Feinstein's / 54 Below. Ms. Blythe, acclaimed by The New York Times as 'a force of nature,' will celebrate 'love, obsession, and the stuff in between,' in a repertoire selected from the Great Popular Songbook of the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s - a golden age for the melodies and lyrics of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway, and (eventually) Hollywood.

Free For All, one of the capital's cherished annual traditions, will return this summer to Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC), offering two weeks of free performances of the Company's 2016 production of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. Directed by STC Associate Artistic Director Alan Paul, whose hit production of Camelot has extended through July 8 due to popular demand, the production will run at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St NW) from August 21-September 2, providing more than 12,000 people the chance to see the play free of charge.

Coast to Coast Music Theatre & Voice Intensive has announced its inaugural session to take place this summer, July 16th through July 20th, 2018 in Tualatin, Oregon at the Living Savior Lutheran Church.

MasterVoices - dedicated to the art of musical storytelling and the celebration of the human voice - presents a free performance of a new version of the dramatic oratorio Naamah's Ark by composer Marisa Michelson and librettist Royce Vavrek, on Sunday, June 17 at 7:00 p.m. at Rockefeller Park. The event is produced in collaboration with the River To River Festival, presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), and Battery Park City Authority.

More than 400 opera aficionados and performers – including opera stars Alice Coote, Jennifer Rowley and Laurent Naouri – were among those who attended the 13th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards at The Plaza Hotel last night.

Gallery Met Shorts presents a film by artist Elizabeth Columba, which will be shown in more than 2,000 movie theaters in 73 countries during the intermission of the Met's final Live in HD performance of this season.

The Met's new CENDRILLON is a Cinderella of a production, finally allowing Massenet's take on the classic tale of the girl from the cinders who finds her Prince Charming to reach the Met's stage 119 years after its premiere at the Opera-Comique in Paris.