Susan Graham News

The 33rd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals continues on Sunday, March 6 at the new Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater with bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and pianist John Churchwell.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season, the 50th anniversary of its home at Lincoln Center, will feature 225 opera performances of 26 operas in a varied repertory that ranges from 18th century masterpieces to one of the most acclaimed operas in recent years. Repertoire for the company's 132nd season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's 2000 opera L'Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Dvo?ak's Rusalka, and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company's Lincoln Center location with performances by opera's leading stars honoring the Met's past and future. Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.  

 The Dallas Opera resumes the 2015-2016 Season in early spring with Jules Massenet's heart-wrenching and seductive tale of love, lust, and spectacularly bad choices: MANON, opening March 4, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House for the first of four performances.

San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program present the 33rd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals. This season, the recitals move to the state-of-the-art Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco Opera's new Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, located on the fourth floor of the Veterans Building (401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco). The February 28 series-opener—Ports of Call with New York Festival of Song Artistic Director Steven Blier and 2016 San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows Amina Edris, Edward Nelson and Brad Walker—marks the inaugural public performance in the Taube Atrium Theater, which boasts the innovative Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system. The 5:30 p.m. Sunday recital series continues on March 6 with bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and pianist John Churchwell; March 20 with baritone Efraín Solís accompanied by pianist Robert Mollicone; and April 24 with baritone Kihun Yoon and pianist Mark Morash.

The Merola Opera Program is pleased to recognize Merola 1988 alumna Patricia Racette with the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony tonight, January 7, 2016, in San Francisco.

No more carping about out-of-tune singing (for the rest of 2015). No more bemoaning opera directors who don't seem to like the art of opera (for the next five minutes). No more worrying whether traditional opera will go the way of all flesh (for the next few days, at least). It's time to give up on my Scrooge tendencies and be thankful for the gifts that opera gave me, in and around New York this past year, alphabetically speaking.

Tony Award-winning star of theater, film, and television Nathan Lane joins this year's edition of the New York Philharmonic's annual New Year's Eve celebration, LA VIE PARISIENNE, narrating Saint-Saens's CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS.

On Sunday, January 17, Opera Index will present its 37th Distinguished Achievement Award to Dolora Zajick, a true dramatic mezzo-soprano, acclaimed by The New York Times as “a mezzo in a class by herself,” at a gala evening beginning at 6 p.m. at JW Marriott Essex House, 160 Central Park South.

Tony Award-winning star of theater, film, and television - will join this year's edition of the New York Philharmonic's annual New Year's Eve celebration, La Vie Parisienne, narrating Saint-Sae?ns's Carnival of the Animals. Conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, the performance will also feature pianists Inon Barnatan, the Philharmonic's Artist-in-Association, and Makoto Ozone.

The Merola Opera Program is pleased to recognize Merola 1988 alumna Patricia Racette with the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony on Monday, January 7, 2016, in San Francisco.

Andrey Nemzer will sing the role of Orlofsky in this evening's performance of Johann Strauss, Jr.'s Die Fledermaus, replacing Susan Graham, who is ill.

The Merola Opera Program is pleased to recognize Merola 1988 alumna Patricia Racette with the Merola Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony on Monday, January 7, 2016, in San Francisco. The ceremony is an invitation-only event for members of Merola's Gold Circle and above. Those wishing to join Merola may find information at www.merola.org.

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, 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.

Mireille Asselin will sing the role of Adele in this evening's season premiere performance of Johann Strauss, Jr.'s Die Fledermaus, replacing Lucy Crowe, who is ill.

MasterVoices, formerly The Collegiate Chorale, was honored at the Martina Arroyo Foundation's11th Annual Gala.MasterVoices was recognized along with American couture designer Joanna Mastroianni and The Michel Maurel award-winner Ernst Rieser. Brian Kellow and Terrance McKnight hosted the gala, with performances by the young artists of Prelude to Performance, Jennifer Rowley, Michele Angelini and Cecilia Violetta Lopez (both featured in the October issue of Opera News), as well as other special guests.

After a 44-year career at the Met, during which he has led performances of more than 85 operas, James Levine expands his company repertory with his first-ever Met performances of the sparkling Johann Strauss operetta Die Fledermaus.

The Warner Theatre's Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Series continues with Berg's LULU in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre at 12:30 pm this Saturday, November 21, 2015.

Who or what is Lulu, the eponymous character in Alban Berg's landmark opera? Is she saint or sinner? Femme fatale or victim? Put-upon or mistress of her own fate? Whatever else she might be, she is fabulous in the hands of German soprano Marlis Petersen, as the center of William Kentridge's vibrant, thrilling new production at the Met.

New York City, NY --- Marking the commencement of the 2015-16 Tribeca New Music festival, AN AMERICAN MAVERICK | JEROME KITZKE AT 60 celebrates composer-storyteller JEROME KITZKE in a two-night concert series November 13-14, 2015, at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Known for creating works that are uniquely and bracingly American, where freedom and ritual converge, Kitzke shares his career-long dedication to social justice and the human condition in this special program comprised of a dozen of his works composed between 1987 and 2015, including the world premiere of For Pte Tokahewin Ska. From the premier string quartet ETHEL and pianist Anthony de Mare to Hammond B-3 rising star Wil Smith and accordionist Guy Klucevsek, 26 of today's top contemporary artists will come together to perform and honor the inimitable musical language of Jerome Kitzke.