Martina Serafin

The Wiener Staatsoper has announced its upcoming 2020-21 season.

The Met's production of Turandot delivers a visual blast from the moment the curtain rises. The gilded set is probably one of the most brilliant, opulent, and dense sets of any opera. It really is gorgeous. Likewise, the chorus is strong and magnificent. The memorable combination takes this somewhat trite and even satirical (Ping, Pang, Pong!) story to its much deeper level as a story about revenge, morality, and the transformative power of love.

BraoadwayWorld has a first look at Turnadot at The Met. See the video below!

Franco Zeffirelli's staging of Puccini's final opera Turandot returns to the Met from October 12 for an initial ten performances through to November 16 starring soprano Oksana Dyka in the title role and tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko as Cal f. Led by Carlo Rizzi, performances also feature soprano Maria Agresta as Li with bass-baritone James Morris as Timur.

San Francisco Opera inaugurated its 95th season with a weekend of celebrations and performances beginning on Friday, September 8 with two galas Opera Ball 2017 at The Imperial Palace and the BRAVO! CLUB Opening Night Gala and a performance of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot in artist David Hockney's colorful production. At the opera's conclusion, San Francisco Opera Music Director Nicola Luisotti, who conducted the performance, was awarded the San Francisco Opera Medal.

San Francisco Opera inaugurates its 95th season on Friday, September 8, with Puccini's Turandot, staged in the iconic production by English artist David Hockney and conducted by Company Music Director Nicola Luisotti, and two opening night galas. Saturday, September 9 features the opening of a new production of Richard Strauss' Elektra. The festivities continue on Sunday, September 10, with San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park, an annual Bay Area tradition celebrating the opening of the opera season with a free concert in Golden Gate Park.

San Francisco Opera announced today a casting update for its season-opening production of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, running from September 8 through 30 at the War Memorial Opera House. American soprano Toni Marie Palmertree will sing Liu, replacing Maria Agresta who has withdrawn due to illness. Originally scheduled to portray Puccini's tragic heroine on September 24 and 30, Palmertree will now perform in all six September performances.

Have you ever dreamed of being on the War Memorial Opera House stage? San Francisco Opera is looking for adult supernumeraries (extras) to appear in the Company's upcoming Fall 2017 Season. An open audition will be held on Monday, July 31 beginning at 6 p.m. at the War Memorial Opera House. No previous experience is required and there is no fee to audition.

San Francisco Opera Guild in collaboration with San Francisco Opera Association today announced details for Opera Ball 2017 at The Imperial Palace, a gala benefit celebrating the opening of the Company's 95th Season on Friday, September 8.

Single (non-subscription) tickets for San Francisco Opera's 2017 Fall Season at the War Memorial Opera House go on sale Monday, June 26, 2017, at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online at sfopera.com; in-person at the San Francisco Opera Box Office, located at 301 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco and open Mondays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and by phone at (415) 864-3330 during Box Office hours. Full and Half Series subscription packages are also available. Tickets for the three cycles of Wagner's Ring during the summer of 2018 are available as complete, four-opera cycles only.

Sarasota Opera is pleased to announce the line-up for the 2017 season of 'HD at the Opera House'.  This weekly Sunday afternoon series of filmed performances, which debuted in 2014, has allowed Sarasota Opera to expand its programming from the fall and winter season to year-around.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2017-18 season will feature 220 performances of 26 works, including two Met premieres, one co-commissioned by the company and one an older masterpiece having its first Met performances; a variety of repertory favorites, three in new productions; and performances of Verdi's towering concert work for soloists, orchestra, and chorus, the Requiem. Of note, Broadway star Kelli O'Hara is set to return to the Met in Così fan tutte this season.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced plans for the 2017-18 repertory season. The Company's 95th season will open Friday, September 8 with a gala performance of Giacomo Puccini'sTurandot led by Maestro Luisotti and an international cast starring Martina Serafin, Maria Agresta and Brian Jagde.

The Bijou Theatre presents Tosca from Opera de Paris, as a part of their Opera in Cinema Series playing on Monday, March 23rd at 6:00pm. Discussion of the Opera starts at 5:30pm. Tickets are $20 for general admission seating.

Daniela Sindram will sing the role of Octavian and Rúni Brattaberg will sing the role of Baron Ochs in this evening's performance of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Géraldine Chauvet and Peter Rose, originally scheduled to sing the roles, have withdrawn due to illness.

On Broadway, when a revival loses two out of three of its stars, the production might very well be put off until another season or, at worst, the producers might pack it in. In the opera world, companies don't have that luxury, particularly at a showplace like the Metropolitan Opera. Thus, we received Richard Strauss's DER ROSENKAVALIER, which made its season debut at the Met on Friday night, offering replacements in the two key roles of Sophie and Octavian, with variable results.

To commemorate the centennial of the opera's 1913 U.S. premiere at the Met, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier returns for a series of performances conducted by Edward Gardner and featuring a cast of international singers making company debuts and role debuts. Viennese soprano Martina Serafin sings her first Met performances of one of her signature roles, the Marschallin. Alice Coote, who currently stars as Detective Anne Strawson in the North American premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys, sings the trouser role of the Marschallin's young lover, Octavian, while Mojca Erdmann makes her company role debut as Sophie, the innocent young woman who comes between the two. Peter Rose reprises his acclaimed interpretation of the Marschallin's oafish cousin, Baron Ochs; Hans-Joachim Ketelsen sings Sophie's protective father, Faninal; and Eric Cutler returns to the role of the Italian Singer. On December 3, German mezzo-soprano Daniela Sindram will make her Met debut as Octavian, a role she will also sing on December 7 and 10. On December 13, French mezzo-soprano Géraldine Chauvet will sing her first company performance of Octavian. At the December 3 performance, two graduates of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program will sing principal roles: Erin Morley as Sophie and Mario Chang as the Italian Singer.

Erin Morley will sing the role of Sophie in all performances of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier this season, replacing Mojca Erdmann, who is still recovering from a recent case of pneumonia.

To commemorate the centennial of the opera's 1913 U.S. premiere at the Met, Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier returns for a series of performances conducted by Edward Gardner and featuring a cast of international singers making company debuts and role debuts. Viennese soprano Martina Serafin sings her first Met performances of one of her signature roles, the Marschallin. Alice Coote, who currently stars as Detective Anne Strawson in the North American premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys, sings the trouser role of the Marschallin's young lover, Octavian, while Mojca Erdmann makes her company role debut as Sophie, the innocent young woman who comes between the two. Peter Rose reprises his acclaimed interpretation of the Marschallin's oafish cousin, Baron Ochs; Hans-Joachim Ketelsen sings Sophie's protective father, Faninal; and Eric Cutler returns to the role of the Italian Singer. On December 3, German mezzo-soprano Daniela Sindram will make her Met debut as Octavian, a role she will also sing on December 7 and 10. On December 13, French mezzo-soprano Géraldine Chauvet will sing her first company performance of Octavian. At the December 3 performance, two graduates of the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development Program will sing principal roles: Erin Morley as Sophie and Mario Chang as the Italian Singer.

In his second season as General Music Director of the Zurich Opera, Grammy and ECHO Klassik Award-winner Fabio Luisi premieres important new productions of Beethoven's Fidelio and Verdi's Aida, and conducts revivals of Bellini's La straniera, Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Verdi'sDon Carlo with René Pape, which also serves as the vehicle for his return to the Teatro alla Scala. As distinguished in the concert hall as the opera house, he leads four orchestral programs with the Philharmonia Zurich, makes his long-awaited London Symphony Orchestra debut, and returns to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Cleveland Orchestra, with which he launches the new season. As Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, the distinguished Italian conductor leads productions of Puccini's Madama Butterflyand Rossini's comedy La Cenerentola, which will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world in the Met's celebrated Live in HD series.