Opera Interviews

After being seen on Broadway in the 2012 revival of Godspell, Celisse has toured with acts like Brandi Carlile, Dave Matthews Band, John Legend, and John Mayer. Now, she has partnered with the new company, Catapult Opera, to create a 30-minute opera and short film entitled “When All I Knew Changed.”...

Don Giovanni is an egotistical and infamous womanizer, brazen in his shameless seductions. But his betrayals soon catch up to him when divine retribution exacts the ultimate price. Set in the 1930s, this new production centers the women who cross paths with Don Giovanni and ultimately deliver his gr...

A company and audience favorite, Chioldi made his SO debut as Baron Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca in 2021...

BroadwayWorld chats with Tara Branham who is making her mainstage debut as director at Opera San Jose with the Puccini classic 'Tosca' running April 15 to 30....

Stephanie Blythe looks for “creativity, imagination and curiosity” in her students. The first two are required of any good artist. Curiosity is a little less obvious, but she credits it for her ever expanding interests. Kate Smith led to reading about song writers, which In turn led to playing ukule...

Stephanie Blythe is probably the only opera singer who represents an ukulele company. That she embodies the unexpected is further confirmed by her upcoming roles in the San Diego Opera's next production, two one-act operas by Puccini. The mezzo soprano will first sing a deeper contralto as the Princ...

BroadwayWorld chats with baritone Darren Drone & soprano Chanae Curtis, stars of Verdi's comedic masterpiece 'Falstaff' at Opera San Jose February 11-26. The 2 up-and-coming singers represent the new face of opera....

The Daughter of the Regiment has romance, humor, vocal pyrotechnics-and one of the most unique roles in the repertoire, the Duchess of Krakenthorp. This cameo role has a storied history of portrayal by actors and public figures (including late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsburg and Golden Gi...

When Paul Moravec calls himself as “a sort of Method composer,” in describing his work on A NATION OF OTHERS, commissioned for the Oratorio Society of NY, debuting at Carnegie Hall on Nov. 15, he’s likening his writing to the “Method Acting” technique: getting inside the heads of his characters, und...

Set for a March 25, 2023, premiere at the Herbst Theater, the upcoming opera is based on The Tempest...

In theatre, as well as in life, we all need a little help from our friends. This holds true for Director Ryan Gibbins at Arkansas State University-Beebe Theatre Department, who will be presenting BIG FISH this Thursday through Saturday, November 3 through 5, in the Owen Center Theatre, beginning at ...

BroadwayWorld chats with 17-year-old classical music phenom about her opera 'Cinderella' which she will be conducting in Opera San Jose's lavish production November 12 to 27....

Cranna’s unique history with the company extends over a 40-year period....

Brian Watkins is the writer of Epiphany, which just opened at Lincoln Center Theater. He is also the creator, and showrunner, and executive producer of Outer Range on Amazon Prime Video, and has a film project in the works. Read BroadwayWorld's interview with Watkins about Epiphany, the differences ...

He expresses himself as articulately when speaking as he does when singing...

The Richard Tucker award-winning singer’s star is rising at an astonishing rate...

Can you imagine the Met--or any other major opera house--cutting the length of a new opera so commuters could make the last train? That’s what baritone Etienne Dupuis told me about the world premiere in Paris of Verdi’s DON CARLOS (1867). Dupuis is starring as Don Rodrigue, Marquis de Posa, at the M...

One of Broadway’s favorite leading ladies Kelli O’Hara will be appearing with SiriusXM Radio staple Seth Rudetsky for a one-night concert at The Wallis April 2, 2022 as part of The Wallis Broadway @ concert series. Kelli was gracious enough to carve out a little time to answer a few of my theatrical...

Conductor Yves Abel arrived in San Diego from Europe a few days ago to begin rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet by French composer Charles Gounod. The Maestro does get around a lot, even for an internationally in-demand musician. His wife and boys five and eight sometimes travel with him when he conduc...

LA Opera’s next production St. Matthew Passion will open March 12, 2022, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. LA Opera’s music director James Conlon conducts with choreographer John Neumeier staging Johann Sebastian Bach’s scared masterpiece with members of the Hamburg Ballet. The always busy Maestro f...

'I'm just Reggie from Atlanta' baritone Reginald Smith, Jr. explained during our hour-long discussion on Zoom. That may be how he would like to view himself, but it's hardly how most others do since he's also a Grammy winning opera star who's performed at the Met. Until high school, neither o...

LA Opera has opened their 35th season with Verdi's IL TROVATORE. Conducted by James Conlon and directed by Francisco Negrín, live performances at The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through October 10th will be supplemented by two live streams October 3rd and 6th. IL TROVATORE stars Guanqun Yu in the role...

It would appear that acclaimed baritone Sidney Outlaw is having the busiest year of his career. In addition to starring as composer Antonio Salieri in Opera San José’s new virtual production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s 'Mozart and Salieri,' Outlaw will be performing 'Barber of Seville,' 'Porgy and Bess,' a...

David Bennett is now six years into his job as general director of the San Diego Opera Association. When hired, he faced shaky finances, a loss of major donors, and huge turnover in the membership of the board of directors. The new board hired him with the understanding that downsizing and reinventi...

The first live post-pandemic opening for the company....

The New York City-based award-winning baritone and Pittsburgh, PA, native specializes in dramatic roles of Verdi, Puccini, and Strauss...

After a highly successful debut hailed as 'an operatic musical extravaganza', CANTIAMO - MZANSI OPERA CELEBRATION returns to the Mandela Theatre this month. Directed by acclaimed artistic producer and director Marcus Desando, he discusses with BroadwayWorld his role as director in this celebratory s...

You may not be aware of World Voice Day, but it’s celebrated every April 16th to demonstrate the enormous importance of the voice in the daily lives of all people. I can’t imagine a better person to observe it with than Candace Johnson, who leads CJ’s FitnesSing!™ on the MarshStream platform every F...

As I write this, mezzo soprano Emily Fons is driving from her home in Milwaukee to San Diego to rehearse the role of Rosina, the wife of roving-eyed count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville by Rossini. Three years ago Fons sang Cherubino here in the related comic opera The Marriage of Figaro by Mozar...

Emily Fons received a Grammy nomination for her work on the recording of Jennifer Higdon’s opera Cold Mountain. Fons has been lauded for her virtuosic abilities in the Baroque and Bel Canto repertoires and for the dramatic commitment and musicality she brings to modern works. She has performed with ...

Her Mozart is lyrical, lush, secure and dynamic, with a forceful top range and fluid technique that makes her vocality perfect for a role such as Donna Anna, which has challenged sopranos over the past two centuries. Yet soprano Vanessa Goikoetxea showed her versatility when she won immense kudos fo...

One of the world’s foremost, most adventurous, female producers of contemporary opera, and a tireless champion of diverse voices, Beth Morrison unequivocally embraces her seemingly limitless drive....

John Riesen made headlines earlier this year when in the early days of the health crisis, he helped bring income to artists by creating the COVID-19 Artist Support - Pure Voice Spotify playlist, Now, Riesen is continuing to bring beautiful music into the world, this time through the release of his ...

When the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus folded its tent for the last time, I’m not sure whether they held on to its title of “the Greatest Show on Earth.” But Atlanta is showing that there’s still a big tent around with some great shows to be seen. It’s the Atlanta Opera, headed by General...

Renée Fleming's long and distinguished career includes performing in some of the world's most famous opera houses, performing on Broadway, and being heard on many recordings singing everything from arias to showtunes. Tonight Ms. Fleming will add another honor to her canon as she and Vanessa Will...

A lot of repertoire you do over and over, while finding new things within those pieces, but something totally new is interesting...

the exquisite voice, dramatic stage presence and winning personality of this Grammy-nominated artist have garnered kudos throughout the opera world...

Named as one of Musical America's Top 30 Innovators in Classical Music, Josh Shaw is the Executive and Artistic Director of Pacific Opera Project (POP), one of L.A.'s most exciting opera companies. During the past nine seasons, Shaw has directed over 35 productions at POP. Since 2011, Shaw  has dire...

Here's a look at how 'Light Shall Lift Us; Singers Unite in Song' (for OPERA America), a video project featuring 107 opera singers in “a song of hope and solidarity” by Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell, came together to help raise up the spirits of their communities as we deal with COVID-19. It went '...

During the shutdown, we're taking the opportunity to look back at some memorable productions. Here, Dick Bird discusses his career with BroadwayWorld, and gives us some fantastic insights into designing the Royal Danish Theatre, Teatro Real Madrid and Scottish Opera's co-production of a modern class...