Photos: In Rehearsals for THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA National Tour
by Jennifer Broski - Oct 16, 2025
The new North American Tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legendary musical, The Phantom of the Opera is getting ready to hit the road! The tour will premiere at the Hippodrome Theatre in Baltimore, MD before traveling to major markets including Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and more.
Arizona Opera Announces Casting For Its 2022/23 Season
by A.A. Cristi - May 11, 2022
Arizona Opera announced casting today for their vibrant 2022/23 Season, which will feature an exciting array of productions, ranging from beloved classics to new works, including a return to five in-theater shows in both Phoenix and Tucson.
COME HOME: A CELEBRATION OF RETURN to be Performed Next Month
by Gigi Gervais - Oct 30, 2021
The Kennedy Center will present the Washington National Opera musical event, Come Home: A Celebration of Return. The event will feature the musical stylings of Pretty Yende, Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Alexandria Shiner, David Butt Philip, Christian Van Horn, and more.
Washington National Opera Announces 2021-2022 Season
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 13, 2021
Washington National Opera today announced its 2021–2022 season featuring a triumphant return to the Opera House stage, four world premiere commissions celebrating the Kennedy Center’s 50th Anniversary, debuts from acclaimed and rising opera stars, the return to the pit for Principal Conductor Evan Rogister and the WNO Orchestra & Chorus, and more.
The Glimmerglass Festival Announces Plans for Summer 2021
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Mar 1, 2021
The Glimmerglass Festival, the summer opera and musical theater festival in Cooperstown, New York, has announced plans for the summer of 2021 in the wake of its 2020 season cancelation due to COVID-19. The 2021 season will run July 15 through August 17.
BWW Review: The Met Anoints Its New 'Fab Five' at National Council Auditions' GRAND FINALS CONCERT
by Richard Sasanow - Mar 2, 2020
Saturday night, I heard soprano Lisette Oropesa deliver an alternatingly delicious and desperately dramatic Violetta in Verdi's LA TRAVIATA at the Met. Less than a day later, she was the emcee at the GRAND FINALS CONCERT of the Met's National Council Auditions--where she was a winner herself in 2005 and “it changed my life,” she recalled--delivering the latest batch of opera babies into the big time.
Five Singers Named 2020 Winners Of The Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions
by Stephi Wild - Mar 1, 2020
After a months-long series of competitions at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of expert judges named five singers as the winners of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $20,000 cash prizea?"up from $15,000, the first increase since 1998a?"and the prestige and exposure that come with winning the competition that launched the careers of many of opera's biggest stars.
Nine Singers Advance To The Final Round Of The 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
by Stephi Wild - Feb 26, 2020
Following yesterday's semi-final competition, nine young singers have advanced to the final round of the Metropolitan Opera's 2020 National Council Auditions. In the public concert, finalists perform on the Met stage Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m., for an audience of judges, agents, industry leaders, and the general public (in the auditorium and live on the radio). The finalists, chosen by a panel of opera administrators from the Met and other companies, each perform two arias with the Met Orchestra conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Prize money will increase for the first time in 20 years, with the winners receiving individual cash prizes of $20,000 (previously $15,000), and the prestigious and potentially career-launching title of National Council Auditions Winner. The remaining finalists receive $10,000 (previously $7,500).
Metropolitan Opera Has Announced 23 Semifinalists in its National Council Auditions
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Feb 18, 2020
The 23 young opera singers who have won regional auditions around the United States will compete in the semifinal round of the country's leading vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, on Monday, February 24. The closed semifinal competition, held on the Met stage before a panel of judges, will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition-the Grand Finals, which is open to the public and will be held on the Met stage on Sunday, March 1.
BWW Review: Choral Arts Society Of Washington Finishes Season In All-French Program At Kennedy Center Concert Hall
by Mary Lincer - May 21, 2019
When Scott Tucker, in his pre-concert introductory remarks before Sunday's Choral Arts Society of Washington performance, said that composer Florent Schmitt's style in Psalm 47 is 'off the wall,' he wasn't kidding. The 1903 setting for chorus, soprano, orchestra, and organ also includes brass, percussion, harp, timpani and sounds more like Mahler, Wagner, or Schonberg than the work of a man trained in composition by the always diplomatic innovator, Gabriel Faure. The gigantic, melodramatic, and ever dynamic piece--fun for musicians such as these, challenging, hard to sing, dandy--concluded an interesting program in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.
Richard Tucker Music Foundation Names Lisette Oropesa as Winner of 2019 Richard Tucker Award
by Tori Hartshorn - Apr 8, 2019
The Richard Tucker Music Foundation announced today that Lisette Oropesa has been named as the winner of the 2019 Richard Tucker Award. The soprano already headlines major productions worldwide, and after her recent house debuts in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Real Madrid and Royal Opera House, The Guardiandeclared: “The Cuban American soprano is sensationally good. She makes the stratospheric vocal fireworks … sound easy; indeed, her every note is part of a convincing portrayal of a complex character.” Widely referred to as the “Heisman Trophy of Opera,” the Tucker Award carries the foundation's most substantial cash prize of $50,000, and is conferred each year by a panel of opera industry professionals on an American singer at the threshold of a significant international career. Past winners include such luminaries as Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Matthew Polenzani, and Deborah Voigt. Oropesa will be inducted into this who's who of American opera at the foundation's annual gala, a perennial highlight of the opera season, on Sunday, October 27, at Carnegie Hall.