Bel Canto

Music at Kohl Mansion Receives Chamber Music America's 2026 Community Impact Award
by A.A. Cristi - Jul 7, 2026

Music at Kohl Mansion and Executive Director Patricia Kristof Moy have been named Chamber Music America's 2026 Community Impact/Presenter of the Year.

Donizetti’s Comic Masterpiece DON PASQUALE Brings Wit, Romance, and Bel Canto Brilliance to Theatro São Pedro
by Claudio Erlichman - Jul 6, 2026

Donizetti’s Don Pasquale returns to the stage at Theatro São Pedro as part of the theater’s 2026 lyric season, with performances on July 10, 12, 15, 17, and 18. Conducted by Ira Levin and directed by Lívia Sabag, the production brings new life to one of the finest examples of Italian comic opera. Premiered in 1843, Don Pasquale combines sparkling humor, lyrical beauty, and dazzling bel canto writing in the story of an aging bachelor whose marriage plans are hilariously undone by a pair of young lovers. A cornerstone of the operatic repertoire, the work remains a showcase of Donizetti’s melodic genius, theatrical wit, and unforgettable characters.

Review: I PURITANI, Royal Ballet And Opera
by Franco Milazzo - Jul 2, 2026

Thirty-four years is a long time to leave an opera in the attic, and I puritani has spent most of that period gathering dust for good reason. Bel canto — that Parisian tradition of vocal style over dramatic substance producing works that, to many, are all fur coat and no knickers — has never quite recovered its mass audience since the Sutherland-Callas generation retired, and Bellini's last opera, which substitutes plot for vocal spectacle with a candour that even its admirers find trying, is not the obvious place to start rebuilding one. That Richard Jones has now properly turned his attention to it for the first time in his long career suggests either a late conversion to the cause or, more plausibly, that he has simply run out of twentieth-century miseries to reframe as grand opera.

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR to Open at Berkshire Opera Festival This Summer
by A.A. Cristi - Jun 25, 2026

Berkshire Opera Festival announced a new production of Donizetti's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, conducted by Brian Garman and directed by Jonathon Loy, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater Adds 8 New Board Trustees
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jun 24, 2026

Milwaukee Repertory Theater revealed eight new Board Trustees, including former TCG President Ben Cameron and Medical College of Wisconsin President Dr. Shekar Kurpad, to serve three-year terms guiding the theater's next chapter.

Rice University’s Shepherd School Of Music Reveals 2026–27 Season
by Stephi Wild - Jun 18, 2026

Rice University's Shepherd School of Music announced its 2026-27 season, featuring orchestral, chamber, opera, and faculty recital programming, including a Texas premiere of Matthew Aucoin's Eurydice and multiple World Premieres.

Obituary: Operatic Superman Speight Jenkins
by Erica Miner - Jun 16, 2026

Opera enthusiasts, and devotees of Seattle Opera in particular, have been grieving the recent loss of a titan whose memory never will be absent from the minds of people who knew and loved him. Having succeeded Seattle Opera founder Glynn Ross in 1983 as the company’s second general director, Jenkins held the position for an unprecedented 31 years, from 1983 to 2014.

NO TENORS ALLOWED Summer Concert Series to Launch Opera Orlando's 2026-27 Season
by Stephi Wild - Jun 10, 2026

Opera Orlando will present NO TENORS ALLOWED, a summer concert series featuring sopranos Nola Richardson, Yeawon Jun, and Johanna Will across three consecutive Sunday performances at Dr. Phillips Center.

Interview: Jack Swanson of VOCALISE at VOCALISE
by Jared Fessler - Jun 9, 2026

Opera audiences know Jack Swanson for his performances on many of the world's leading stages, from the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera to engagements across Europe. But it wasn't a role onstage that recently caught his attention—it was what singers were finding offstage in pharmacies abroad.

JASON ROBERT BROWN & FRIENDS and More Set for The Wallis 2026-2027 Season
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jun 5, 2026

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills revealed its 2026-2027 season, opening in the Bram Goldsmith Theater in September with the Joshua Redman Quartet, plus more.

TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, I PURITANI and More to Screen at The Met’s Summer HD Festival
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jun 3, 2026

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2026 Summer HD Festival returns to Lincoln Center Plaza in September. The free festival features five performances from the company’s celebrated The Met: Live in HD series.

Palm Beach Symphony Names Three Educators Winners of 2026 Randolph A. Frank Prize
by Stephi Wild - May 27, 2026

Palm Beach Symphony announced three recipients of the Randolph A. Frank Prize for the Performing Arts, honoring educators Mickey Smith Jr., Heather Lescaille, and Roberto J. Vidal for their contributions to Palm Beach County's cultural life.

Review: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE at St. Louis Opera Theatre
by Steve Callahan - May 26, 2026

It's almost a century-and-a-half old, but it's as fresh and appealing as when it first bounded into the public eye on New Year's Eve, 1879.  It's The Pirates of Penzance—perhaps the most irresistible of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic 'Savoy' operas.  Opera Theatre of St. Louis has opened a delicious production of this gem.

L'ELISIR D'AMORE to Close Independent Opera Company's 14th Season in LA
by A.A. Cristi - May 19, 2026

Independent Opera Company will present a fully staged production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore at La Cañada Congregational Church in La Cañada Flintridge, CA, featuring local singers in costume with piano accompaniment.

New Production of I PURITANI Will Come to Royal Opera
by Stephi Wild - May 14, 2026

The Royal Opera will present a new staging of I PURITANI, directed by Olivier Award winner Richard Jones, with soprano Lisette Oropesa as Elvira and conductor Riccardo Frizza making his Royal Opera debut.

Review: MONÉT X CHANGE & GUESTS at Staatstheater Wiesbaden
by André Böke - May 7, 2026

Global drag excellence conquers the acclaimed “International May Festival” in Wiesbaden: Drag superstar Monét X Change, for one night only. Somewhere between opera, pop, and chanson unfolds a glittering gala concert evening – at times dreamy, at times exalted – unlike anything the sophisticated grand hall of the spa city has accommodated before.

Soprano Erin Morley and Tenor Lawrence Brownlee Will Perform in GOLDEN AGE at 92NY
by Stephi Wild - Apr 21, 2026

Soprano Erin Morley and tenor Lawrence Brownlee join pianist Malcolm Martineau at 92NY's Kaufmann Concert Hall for GOLDEN AGE, a bel canto recital tied to their new duo album.

Review: LUCREZIA BORGIA at Opera Royal De Wallonie Liège
by Alexandre DIACONU - Apr 20, 2026

Some evenings remind you why opera exists. LUCREZIA BORGIA at Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège did exactly that, in a space that feels fully aligned with what opera stands for, vocal mastery, ritual, and a visual world built to carry myth sized emotion.

Interview: John Costello of BEL CANTO SEATTLE at Sunset Hill Community Hall
by Erica Miner - Apr 13, 2026

With recordings and live performances in 2026, they plan to transform, enchant and move audiences across the Seattle area

OrpheusPDX Takes Strategic Hiatus in 2026, Plans Return for 2027 Season
by A.A. Cristi - Apr 2, 2026

OrpheusPDX founder and artistic director Christopher Mattaliano announced the Portland opera company will not produce opera in 2026, citing the decision as an intentional pause to plan and reset ahead of a planned 2027 return.