Maria Nockin worked at the Metropolitan Opera in New York while attending Fordham University across the street from Lincoln Center. At the same time, she studied voice, piano, and violin privately. For many years she taught English as a Second Language as well as courses in Art and Theater at New York City and Hauppauge Long Island schools. She has also served as soprano soloist at Long Island's Cathedral of St. Agnes. She spent summers working at the Salzburg Festival where some iof her reviews were translated and read on Austrian Radio. Upon retirement from teaching, she moved to the warmer climate of the Southwest United States where, in winter, she writes about opera and classical music in the major cities of Arizona and California. In summer she covers operas and concerts in Santa Fe New Mexico. In summer 2014, Maria taught Music Theory at the Institute for Large Dramatic Voices. One of her students was Jonah Hoskins, a 2020 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions.
BWW Feature: Streaming Opera For The Week Of 9/20
September 20, 2021
September 20, 2021
Verdi’s Il Trovatore can be seen live online on Sunday, October 3 at 2:00 pm or on Wednesday, October 6 at 7:30 pm live streamed directly from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Streamed live, they will not be able to be re-visited. Access to these performances is $30.00, available by clicking on the link below. LINK https://www.laopera.org/performances/2122-season-page/il-trovatore-3/
BWW Feature: Streaming Opera For The Week Of September 13 - 20, 2021
September 13, 2021
September 13, 2021
Los Angeles Opera presents its 2006 rendition of La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. The performers are Renée Fleming, Rolando Villazón, and Renato Bruson, James Conlon conducts and Marta Domingo directs.LINK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZywmSJkKYE&t=83s
BWW Feature: OPERA ODYSSEY SEPT. 7, 2021, at Home Computer Screens
September 6, 2021
September 6, 2021
Lyric Opera of Chicago has recorded Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci on film. Last week, the company announced that registration was open for audiences to secure free links to screen the new Pagliacci made at the Lyric Opera House. Audiences can now secure a free, on-demand viewing of this verismo production. More information about the production and reservations are available at lyricopera.org/pagliacci.
BWW Review: PAGLIACCI at Lyric Opera of Chicago
September 1, 2021
September 1, 2021
Lyric Opera of Chicago announced that registration is now open for audiences to secure a free link to screen its new, original film production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, made at the Lyric Opera House. Audiences can now secure a free, on-demand viewing of this verismo production. More information about the production and reservations are available at lyricopera.org/pagliacci.
BWW Feature: Streaming Opera For The Week Of 8/26
August 26, 2021
August 26, 2021
Mid afternoon, our tour group meets on the Magic Opera Flying Carpet at Los Angeles Airport (LAX). We watch LA Opera’s digital short entitled Gallup, or Na'nízhoozhí in Navajo. The scene incorporates the high desert New Mexico landscape and the city famed for Navajo jewelry. Tour members should wear the biggest and best turquoise they have for the show!
BWW Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR at Home Computer Screens
August 13, 2021
August 13, 2021
Raehann Bryce-Davis’s Brown Sounds is a joyous celebration of Black art, Black bodies, and Black consciousness that we watch on our way to the Bay Area. Bryce-Davis is currently singing Verdi and Wagner at Glimmerglass.
BWW Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Simulcast To Cars in Parking Lot
August 5, 2021
August 5, 2021
British stage director Netia Jones put her singular stamp on a production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream seen at the Santa Fe Opera on August 4, 2021. Performed in the opera house, it was simulcast to the lower parking lot where hundreds of patrons watched from the safety of their cars. One can take the entire family in the car.
BWW Review: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at Santa Fe Opera
August 4, 2021
August 4, 2021
The singing in this performance made it one of the best Figaros I’ve seen in many years. Despite singing recitative, vocal runs, and high notes with silvery tones for three and a half hours, Ying Fang as Susanna never sounded the least bit tired. Her character was a 20th century woman with dreams of equality. At the behest of conductor Harry Bicket, she and all the other leading artists decorated the repeats in their arias.
BWW Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR at Home Computer Screens
July 24, 2021
July 24, 2021
We board the Magic Opera Flying Carpet on Saturday morning, July 24, and go straight to the Bay Area for San Francisco Opera’s production of Richard Strauss’ Elektra.Soprano Christine Goerke stars in the title role. Director Keith Warner’s production blurs the line between past and present, myth, and reality. Conductor Henrik Nánási debuts.
BWW Review: PACIFIC SYMPHONY LA TRAVIATA at Home Computer Screens
June 27, 2021
June 27, 2021
Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s semi-staged version of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata (The Lost One) was filmed at Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, CA. This opera’s title role requires a charismatic soprano and a consummate actress who can pull the audience into the opera’s stark drama. Cecilia Violetta Lopez proved to be that kind of artist.
BWW Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR at Home Computer Screens
June 26, 2021
June 26, 2021
This is the last week to watch Los Angeles Opera’s online Signature Recital Series which gives viewers exclusive online access to fine performances filmed in stunning venues around the world. The series includes unforgettable singing by mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, tenor Russell Thomas, soprano Christine Goerke, mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges, and soprano Julia Bullock—a breathtaking showcase of vocal magic.
BWW Review: J'Nai Bridges Recital for LA Opera
June 23, 2021
June 23, 2021
On June 22, I watched J’Nai Bridges’ online recital at Los Angeles Opera’s website. Bridges has been making highly acclaimed debuts at major opera houses. For her LA Opera recital, she chose major selections by Johannes Brahms and Charles Gounod as well as many lesser-known shorter pieces. She sang with pianist Jeremy Frank, harpist Brandee Younger, violist Drew Forde, and dancer Shauna Davis. Available on LA Opera website now.
BWW Review: OEDIPUS REX Online From Los Angeles Opera
June 19, 2021
June 19, 2021
On June 18, 2021, I watched Los Angeles Opera’s film of Stravinsky’s 1927 opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex. Jean Cocteau, who wrote the libretto, based it on the ancient Greek tragedy Sophocles wrote ca. 429 BCE. Right now LAO is featuring it online for free.
BWW Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR at Home Computer Screens
June 19, 2021
June 19, 2021
On Saturday, we see Los Angeles Opera’s online stream of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex. Stravinsky based Oedipus on Sophocles’ Greek tragedy and his 1927 opera is a highly stylized, ritualistic work. A narrator describes the action throughout the course of the opera. Although the opera is in Latin, narration is spoken in the language of the audience.
BWW Review: SEATTLE OPERA TOSCA at Home Computer Screens
June 14, 2021
June 14, 2021
Seattle Opera’s film of Puccini’s Tosca, that can be streamed starting June 25, opened with the escape of political prisoner Cesare Angelotti who was once a friend of Cavaradossi. Angelotti, sung by bass Adam Lau, was exhausted from running, surmounting walls, and crashing through fences. His clothes were tattered and he almost fell into the cooling water of the church’s Baptismal Font.
BWW Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR at Home Computer Screens
June 12, 2021
June 12, 2021
Los Angeles Opera’s presentation of Oedipus Rex by Igor Stravinsky is available online from June 17 to July 18, 2021. The libretto is by Jean Cocteau. The cast includes: Oedipus, Russell Thomas; Jocasta, J’nai Bridges; Creon, John Relyea; Tiresias, Morris Robinson; Narrator, Stephen Fry; Conductor, James Conlon.
BWW Review: Pacific Opera Project's DON PROCOPIO at Heritage Square
June 5, 2021
June 5, 2021
Euphemia and Andronico bicker over Andronico's choice of the miserly Don Procopio as a husband for Bettina. Ernesto, Bettina's brother, arrives home from long travels and hears that his sister is to be married to a man she does not love. Bettina loves Odoardo. Ernesto, Odoardo, and Bettina, knowing that Procopio really wants Bettina’s money, devise a plan to stop the old man.
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