Howard Watkins

Review: Met Season’s First DON GIOVANNI Shows Off a Great Score for the Audience to Relish
by Richard Sasanow - Sep 26, 2025

Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI was one of my first operas and remains among my favorites, despite its misogyny and the difficulty in putting together the kind of cast that can do justice to the string of show-stoppers in the score. The season's premiere of the opera had much to admire.

Review: Top Singing and Tap Dancing Highlight Richard Tucker Awards Gala
by Richard Sasanow - Nov 3, 2024

As usual, the gala concert of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation started off with an interloper from the golden age of opera: Richard Tucker himself, singing Mascagni’s “Addio alla Madre” from CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA. A tough act to follow for those singing live at Carnegie Hall, but happily no one seemed daunted by it. That doesn’t mean everything went smoothly at the gala concert, which is par for the course of the annual event. Despite the prestige of the Richard Tucker Awards, the world doesn’t stop when the Tucker Foundation comes a calling.

More Artists Join Lineup for Richard Tucker Music Foundation 2024 Opera Gala at Carnegie Hall
by Stephi Wild - Oct 10, 2024

 The Richard Tucker Music Foundation presents its annual Gala on Sunday, October 27, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, tenor Anthony Léon, soprano Nadine Sierra, and soprano Elena Villalón join the star-studded line-up of previous Richard Tucker Award Winners, Grant Recipients, and special guests.

Richard Tucker Music Foundation Announces 2024 Gala At Carnegie Hall
by A.A. Cristi - Sep 3, 2024

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation announced its 2024 Gala will take place on October 27 at Carnegie Hall, featuring performances by renowned opera stars.

Savannah VOICE Festival Serves Community With Partnerships And Free Events During Their Twelfth Season This August
by A.A. Cristi - Jul 23, 2024

For its 12th “Homecoming” season, the Savannah VOICE Festival (SVF) is serving the community by collaborating with community partners and making the vocal arts accessible to once again through outreach and free events. The season includes festival venue partnerships with nonprofit organizations including Yamacraw Performing Arts Center, The Davenport House Museum, and The Demere Center for Living/Hospice Savannah. 

92NY to Present COTTON: Denyce Graves, Mezzo-Soprano And Justin Austin, Baritone
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Apr 1, 2024

Join the 92nd Street Y for COTTON: Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano and Justin Austin, baritone. See when you can catch the performance and learn how to purchase tickets.

Carnegie Hall's FALL OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC: DANCING ON THE PRECIPICE Festival Continues This Spring
by A.A. Cristi - Feb 29, 2024

Experience the continuation of CARNEGIE HALL's FALL OF THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC: DANCING ON THE PRECIPICE festival this spring.

Justin Austin to Star In New York Premiere Of Damien Geter's COTTON at 92NY
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Feb 26, 2024

2024 Marian Anderson Vocal Award winner Justin Austin will star in composer Damien Geter's COTTON, presented by The 92nd Street Y, New York. Learn more about the premiere and see how to purchase tickets.

Baritone Justin Austin to Perform Solo Recital At Carnegie Hall in March
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jan 8, 2024

Baritone Justin Austin will be performing a solo recital at Carnegie Hall on March 5, 2024. Don't miss this impressive performance by the award-winning artist.

Carnegie Hall to Present 100+ Events as Part of Weimar Festival
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Dec 6, 2023

Carnegie Hall has revealed a schedule of 100+ events for the Weimar Festival, January-May 2024.

Review: Plenty of High Notes at Unusually Low-Key Richard Tucker Awards Gala
by Richard Sasanow - Nov 2, 2023

An historic recording of golden age tenor Richard Tucker singing “Sound an Alarm” from Handel’s JUDAS MACCABEUS” set the tone for the Richard Tucker Music Foundation’s Gala concert at Carnegie Hall. There was wonderful singing ahead of us—but of a certain kind. Like many other classical organizations, the Tucker Foundation, has found that, as Charles Dickens said in “A Tale of Two Cities,” “It was the best of times, the worst of times.” The “best” is for the quality of the singers that the foundation has supported through varying kinds of grants. The “worst”? Money from the usual donor pool is in shorter supply than usual, which meant a less elaborate evening

Baritone Justin Austin to Perform In Marian Anderson Vocal Award Recital At The Kennedy Center
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Oct 26, 2023

Baritone Justin Austin performs in Marian Anderson Vocal Award Recital at the Kennedy Center. Don't miss this impressive performance by the winner of this year's Marian Anderson Vocal Award.

Park Avenue Armory to Celebrate Recital Series In 2023 Season, Marking 15 Recital Debuts And 15 Premieres
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Feb 28, 2023

Park Avenue Armory's 2023 season will mark the tenth year of its celebrated Recital Series, bringing chamber music programs by world-renowned artists to the restored Board of Officers Room.

Dayton Performing Arts Alliance Presents MARIA CALLAS: A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
by A.A. Cristi - Jan 27, 2023

Dayton Performing Arts Alliance presents an Opera Star Recital honoring prima donna Maria Callas Sunday, February 5 at 2:30 pm in the Schuster Center. Dayton native and University of Dayton alum, pianist Howard Watkins joins four young rising stars as they honor the centennial celebration of Maria Callas' birth.

World Premiere of SONGS IN FLIGHT Comes to The Met Next Thursday
by Stephi Wild - Jan 6, 2023

In 2019, Cornell University started “Freedom on the Move,” a database of “runaway ads” collected from early newspapers in the United States. These ads, placed by enslavers, preserve snapshots of more than 30,000 enslaved people who took their fate into their own hands, liberating themselves from a cruel, ugly cycle whose effects ripple to this day.

World Premiere Of SONGS IN FLIGHT By Shawn Okpebholo & More to be Featured in SparksLIVE Winter 2023 Events
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Dec 7, 2022

Sparks & Wiry Cries will present a week of sparksLIVE events, from January 10 to 13, 2023 in New York, including the world premiere of Songs in Flight, co-presented by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, plus additional events at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Works & Process At The Guggenheim to Present Preview of The Metropolitan Opera's MEDEA By Luigi Cherubini
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Sep 15, 2022

Works & Process at the Guggenheim will present a preview presentation of The Metropolitan Opera's upcoming production of Medea by Luigi Cherubini, featuring performance highlights and panel discussion with the creative team. The event will take place on Monday, September 19, 7:30 pm.

Sparks And Wiry Cries Announces 2023 SongSLAM Festival
by A.A. Cristi - Aug 18, 2022

Sparks & Wiry Cries (Sparks), led by Co-Founders and Directors Martha Guth and Erika Switzer, will present its 2023 songSLAM Festival from January 10 to 13, 2023, in New York with events at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, DiMenna Center for the Arts, and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. 

Soprano Karen Slack Announces Season Highlights
by Stephi Wild - Aug 17, 2022

Karen Slack has announced her 2022-2023 season, featuring an expansive range of programming spanning the recital, orchestral, and operatic worlds.

Savannah VOICE Festival To Celebrate Human Voice With Concerts Of Many Different Genres
by A.A. Cristi - Aug 3, 2022

The Savannah VOICE Festival celebrates the beauty of the human voice with concerts featuring many different genres of song during this tenth anniversary season, which runs from August 7-21.