Aria Celeste

The Royal Danish Opera has in recent seasons presented several new productions of Verdi’s operas. Now, the turn has come to his famous operatic work, Aida.

Los Angeles Opera opens its Digital Shorts Series with Gabriela Lena Frank’s  commissioned revision of The Five Moons of Lorca, (Las Cinco Lunas de Lorca). This collaborative piece involves the work of librettist Nilo Cruz, choreographer Irene Rodríguez, and filmmaker Matthew Diamond. Musicians include countertenor Jacob Ingbar, pianist Nicholas Roehler, and members of the LA Opera Chorus. The Five Moons of Lorca, will be streamed through December 25, 2020.

It's hardly a secret that during the Met's shutdown, the company has been treating audiences with nightly telecasts of everything from the company's current 'Live In HD' series to some scratchy videos that still had decent sound. All of them, however, can also be found on the Met's online subscription series, THE MET OPERA ON DEMAND, along with some audio highlights of extraordinary Saturday afternoon broadcasts. It's worth shelling out the money for this kind of quality.

From the writer and director of the Off-Broadway hit play  Black Angels Over Tuskegee,  playwright Layon Gray explores women in baseball  with his latest work Girl Gone: Or Before A League Of Their Own. 

In recognition of her outstanding lifetime contribution to American culture, Martina Arroyo was saluted as one of five recipients of this year's Kennedy Center Honors in a star-studded gala celebration held on December 8 that will be broadcast nationwide as a two-hour prime time special on CBS-TV this Sunday, December 29 at 9pm, ET/PT. Seated with President and Mrs. Obama at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as with her fellow honorees (actress Shirley MacLaine and musicians Herbie Hancock, Billy Joel and Carlos Santana), the pre-eminent American soprano was introduced in a speech by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who also narrated a short video about Arroyo. She was then saluted by a musical tribute celebrating her legendary portrayal of the title role in Verdi's Aida. First, Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja performed Radames's aria 'Celeste Aida,' and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky sang Aida's aria 'O patria mia.' Then the two star singers were joined by graduates of the Martina Arroyo Foundation's programs-Ryan Speedo Green, Chantelle Grant, Robert Kerr, and Yuriy Yurchuk-as well as the Army Herald Trumpets and the U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club, to perform the opera's Act II finale.

Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja gave a very special surprise performance at last night's presentation of the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors.

Aida has been among the most popular operas in the Met's repertory since the "German Seasons" in the 1880s and this season's production follows suit. This Sonja Frisell 1988 production of a classic Verdi opera left the audience feeling a wide range of emotions from beginning to end. From the vast Egyptian landscapes to the extraordinary musical talents, Aida at the Met this season is a production to remember.

Verismo Opera Theatre has announced a partnership with the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Community Lecture Series.