Aidan Lang News

The crowning event in Seattle Opera’s 2023/24 season is the star-studded 60th Anniversary Concert and Gala, a festive jubilee featuring a selection of gems from the operatic repertoire performed by some of the company’s best and most beloved singers.

Seattle Opera announces lineup for 60th Anniversary Concert featuring world-class singers in a celebration of the company's artistic highlights. Join them on May 11, 2024, at McCaw Hall for an unforgettable evening of music and memories.

Welsh National Opera has announced the appointment of Christopher Barron as Interim General Director.  He will take up the role in early January 2024.

Welsh National Opera’s General Director Aidan Lang will step down at the end of this year following four years in the role and more than 40 years working in opera globally. Learn more about Lang and the Opera here.

Welsh National Opera has announced its 2023/2024 Season which includes four new productions, three of which WNO will be performing for the very first time.  

Rachel Duckett and Thando Mjandana win the Voice of Black Opera Awards. The soprano and tenor were chosen as winners at the Grand Final concert of the competition, chosen by a panel of judges chaired by internationally renowned tenor and composer Tom Randle.

Black British Classical Foundation has announced the five singers who have been chosen to advance to the Grand Final Concert of the Voice of Black Opera competition to be staged at Birmingham Town Hall on 5 December 2022.

Welsh National Opera has announced that it will no longer be able to tour to Liverpool, with immediate effect.  The decision has been made due to the substantial reduction in its public funding, which was recently announced, and as a direct consequence of that, the Company needs to introduce budget efficiencies. 

Black British Classical Foundation has announced the 12 singers selected from around the world who will be in Birmingham next month for intensive preparations for The Voice of Black Opera (VOBO) Semifinals on 24 and 25 November, 2022. Each will be vying for the chance to be one of the five who will progress to the competition Final at Birmingham Town Hall on Monday 5 December, 2022.

Welsh National Opera brings Spring 2022 Season to Milton Keynes which features Mozart's Don Giovanni and Janáček's Jenůfa. The Company's critically acclaimed new production of Puccini's Madam Butterfly which opened in Autumn 2021 will also be performed during the Season.

Welsh National Opera has announced full details of its Autumn 2021 Season which features a new production of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly and WNO’s much-loved production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. A series of digital talks and events to explore the themes of Madam Butterfly are also planned. 

Learn all about the winner - Gihoon Kim, 29, who rose to win the ultimate prize against a record-number of singers from across the globe who entered, with 16 singers from 14 countries selected to take part in the final rounds of the competition, broadcast across BBC TV and Radio this week.

Welsh National Opera has announced that the Company will return to touring in Wales and England from Autumn this year. The details announced include touring opera productions, engagement and outreach work and orchestral concert activity. 

The New York City-based award-winning baritone and Pittsburgh, PA, native specializes in dramatic roles of Verdi, Puccini, and Strauss

Grammy-winning conductor Michael Christie will lead the Welsh National Opera Orchestra to accompany finalists in the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World main prize competition. Staged without an audience in strict compliance with the latest health and safety government guidelines related to COVID-19, the competition takes place from June 12 – June 19, 2021 at St. David's Hall in Cardiff.

In a time when many arts organizations are struggling to stay afloat, two companies dedicated to classical music have found a way not only to survive, but to thrive. Beginning in early 2020, Seattle Opera and KING FM 98.1 will be housed under one roof: the opera's civic home on the Seattle Center campus. While the Opera Center was completed in December 2018, the second-floor office has remained intentionally vacant. Seattle Opera General Director Aidan Lang said the company was looking for an organization to rent the space who shared a similar vision and mission.

At one point in time, a Seattle Opera ticket offered a relatively predictable experience: an enchanted night out, a grand presentation, and often a familiar telling of a popular work. But in the past few years, Seattle Opera has been inviting audiences to explore this art form from a different perspective. Prior to its May performances of Carmen, the company will hold a free panel discussion that will flip opera's depiction of the exotic "Other" on its head. On April 26, the company presents "Decolonizing Allure: Women Artists of Color in Conversation." 

Bizet's Carmen is often labeled as a sexy opera. The leading lady is a woman who sings unabashedly of her appetite for l'amour, cigarette smoke billowing from her lips. And the music some of the most iconic in the art form can't help but get under one's skin; it's that tuneful and seductive. This May, Seattleites will be able to experience this titillating opera for themselves through a new production of Carmen under the baton of Maestro Giacomo Sagripanti, who returns following The Barber of Seville ('17). Renowned British director Paul Curran and production designer Gary McCann will treat audiences to lavish sets and a multitude of stylish factory girls, townsfolk, smugglers, soldiers, and toreadors.

Christina Scheppelmann's name is eminently recognizable among opera aficionados worldwide

Christina Scheppelmann will become Seattle Opera's fourth General Director in the company's 56-year history. Beginning in August 2019, she replaces Aidan Lang, who will become General Director of Welsh National Opera following the end of the 2018/19 season.