Opera Newsroom

The recent New York premiere of Yuval Sharon’s production of THE COMET/POPPEA at Lincoln Center kicked off the summer’s 5-week residency of the American Modern Opera Company (cheekily known as AMOC, after its penchant for taking a somewhat wild and crazy approach to the art form).

Le Nozze di Figaro is a piece I’ve been living with as long as I can remember. To me, it might be the best opera ever written: it makes me laugh, it moves me to tears, the plot twists still fill me with delight, and all the characters have potential for complexity and depth. It is the only piece I’ve ever revisited: this production will be my third, and not only do I not get tired of it, it seems to get more exciting each time.

One of the operas at the top of my list for next season at the Met is the Deborah Warner staging of Tchaikovsky’s EUGENE ONEGIN that brings back soprano Asmik Grigorian for the first time since her 2024 debut in MADAMA BUTTERFLY. Not that there’s anything wrong with Puccini, the major composer I’ve heard her sing. The first was that Met debut with her golden-throated, heart-breaking Cio-Cio San, followed by her blonde bombshell of a Freudian Turandot (plus a recital) at the Vienna State Opera. Very recently, there was this season’s justifiable cheering from the audience--myself included--when she took on the three soprano roles in IL TRITTICO at the Paris Opera’s home at the Bastille.

OPERA America has awarded $180,000 in Civic Practice Grants to seven opera companies. The grants are designed to support company initiatives that align with and support civic priorities in their communities.

The Metropolitan Opera and the American Guild of Musical Artists have reached a one-year contract agreement with wage increases, including a temporary boost linked to state funding.

'This House', a world premiere opera at Opera Theatre of St. Louis is the saga of a Harlem family that is both blest and cursed.

The Metropolitan Opera's revival of Tchaikovsky’s *The Queen of Spades*, which opened on Friday, May 23, 2025, offered a visually opulent and musically ambitious evening, though not without its challenges. Elijah Moshinsky’s elegant 1995 production, with its sumptuous sets and period costumes, provided a rich backdrop for the unfolding drama.

Opera Montana - the state's oldest professional opera company -  has revealed its 2025-2026 season, the company's 48th. See the full season and learn how to purchase tickets.

The pivotal and star-crossed main characters and the Catfish Row community come alive in the highly influential, thought-provoking, and engrossing opera Porgy and Bess. This much discussed opera has its partisans and detractors but there is a distinct need to ponder and consider a work of this quality. This Washington National Opera production beautifully melds content and form in this story of a crippled man (Porgy) who must travel the lonely road (“When Gawd make cripple, He means him to be lonely. Night time, day time, He got to travel that lonesome road.”) to find wholeness with the easily gratified yet complex and caring Bess.

The Metropolitan Opera has named soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen the winner of the 2025 Beverly Sills Artist Award. The annual $50,000 award recognizes extraordinarily gifted singers with rising Met careers.

Celebrating its sixth revival, David McVicar’s critically acclaimed production of Faust is a spectacular success with stunning sets and costumes, a magnificent cast, and some of Gounod’s greatest music.

Renowned Muscogee citizen soprano Kirsten C. Kunkle makes her debut in the title role of Tosca with Santa Clarita, California's Mission Opera. Reuniting with Kunkle from the world premiere of the first Native American language (Chickasaw) opera Loksi' Shaali' (“Shell Shaker”), tenor Hugo Vera, of Tiwa heritage, sings the role of Cavaradossi.

Coinciding with San Francisco's annual Pride Weekend, San Francisco Opera celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community with a special Pride Concert featuring immersive projections and a post-show dance party on Friday, June 27 at the War Memorial Opera House. 

This past weekend, composer Kevin Puts’s BRIGHTNESS OF LIGHT, based on the long, abundant correspondence of artist Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer/gallerist Alfred Stieglitz, had its long overdue New York premiere, with the New York Philharmonic under debuting conductor Brett Mitchell, and soprano Renee Fleming as O’Keeffe and baritone Rod Gilfry as Stieglitz, friends and lovers (marital and otherwise).

When mezzo Aigul Akhmetshina stepped on stage in the Met’s new production of CARMEN, back on New Year’s Eve of 2023, it was hard to imagine her in any other role because of the way she completely inhabited it. Would we ever be able to watch her in anything else, despite credits from other houses that ran from Elisabetta in MARIA STUARDA to Charlotte in WERTHER and, yes, Rosina in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA? Now that she made her house role debut as Rosina at the Met, this past Friday, any concerns seem moot. She was terrific.

Florida Grand Opera has announced the appointment of Fidelma Leonor Fariñas-Cobas to its Board of Directors. Fariñas-Cobas is an independent wealth executive with decades of experience advising ultra-high-net-worth families on legacy planning, philanthropic strategy, and multigenerational family stewardship.

After a nationwide search, The Dallas Opera has announced the appointment of Emily Sitton as the company's next Director of Marketing and Communications.

Opera Saratoga will kick off its 2025 summer season with 'An Evening in Paris' a fabulous Parisian-inspired party and fundraiser, hosted at the premier Saratoga National Golf Club. Learn more!

1,000 orchestra administrators, musicians, conductors, and board members, will convene in Salt Lake City to learn, network, and experience the excitement of live performance at the League of American Orchestras National Conference. Learn more!

There’s an old expression, “A lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a client.” While John Adams didn’t decide to take on the libretto for his latest opera, Monday night’s Met premiere, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, all on his own, I wonder whether he might have bypassed the one resource that might have been most useful: Arrigo Boito.

Ending the season with a memorable production of one of opera’s most tour de force masterpieces is sure to motivate audiences to return for Seattle Opera’s next season

On May 10, 16, and 18, Detroit Opera will present The Central Park Five, directed by Nataki Garrett and featuring a new, expanded orchestration by composer Anthony Davis.

OPERA America has announced the nine recipients of the 2025 Marineau Opera Grants for Women Stage Directors and Conductors. Learn more about the recipients here!

By definition, the historical view of the oratorio is that it’s typically religious in nature, performed unstaged and without costumes or scenery. Going by that description, The Oratorio Society of New York’s (OSNY) program at Carnegie Hall this week—a combination of contemporary and classical works--under conductor Kent Tritle, broke some rules in both parts of its stirring, gorgeously sung and played program.

As the 2025 Summer Festival continues, director Garnett Bruce makes his Merola debut with a fully staged production of Rossini’s rarely performed comic gem, Le Comte Ory. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets.