Alek Shrader News

Dominant as ever in the concert hall this winter, Christine Brewer - styled "the ideal modern Wagnerian soprano" by the Los Angeles Times - joins the San Francisco Symphony and guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen for three concert performances of excerpts from Gotterdammerung, the closing chapter of Wagner's monumental Ring cycle (Dec 8-10). Following her recent account of the German composer's Wesendonck Lieder with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony, "a performance that was a model of vocal allure and musical intelligence" (South Florida Classical Review), Brewer reprises the work - coupled with Beethoven's "Ah! perfido" - with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Ward Stare (Jan 20 & 21). She returns to Beethoven for four performances of the Missa solemnis with the Boston Symphony led by Kurt Masur, first at the orchestra's Boston home (Feb 23-25) and then at New York's Carnegie Hall (March 6). Early in the new year, the "superlative Strauss singer" (New York Times) assays the great late Romantic's Four Last Songs with the St. Louis Symphony under David Robertson (Jan 13 & 14).

After Christine Brewer opened her season in a program of Wagner and Beethoven with the Atlanta Symphony, the Atlanta Journal Constitution marveled, 'Brewer's soprano is an instrument of rare luxury and power, at once silken, roaring, luminous,' and compared her to 'the great Wagnerians from legend.'

Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl Bramwell Tovey leads the orchestra in a concert version of Bernstein's comic operetta Candide, Thursday, September 2, at 8 p.m. The all-star roster of soloists in the production includes: Alek Shrader, as Candide, Anna Christy, as Cunegonde, Richard Suart as Pangloss/Martin, and Frederica von Stade, as Old Lady.

Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl Bramwell Tovey leads the orchestra in a concert version of Bernstein's comic operetta Candide, Thursday, September 2, at 8 p.m. The all-star roster of soloists in the production includes: Alek Shrader, as Candide, Anna Christy, as Cunegonde, Richard Suart as Pangloss/Martin, and Frederica von Stade, as Old Lady.

Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl Bramwell Tovey leads the orchestra in a program of music by Wagner, Elgar and Beethoven, Tuesday, August 31, at 8 p.m. He is joined by young virtuoso cellist Daniel Müller-Schott in Elgar's poignant Cello Concerto.

Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl Bramwell Tovey leads the orchestra in a program of music by Wagner, Elgar and Beethoven, Tuesday, August 31, at 8 p.m. He is joined by young virtuoso cellist Daniel Müller-Schott in Elgar's poignant Cello Concerto.

Award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke looks at the intense pressures young opera singers face as they struggle to succeed in one of the difficult professions in the performing arts in The Audition.

The Metropolitan Opera announced plans for its free outdoor events this summer, which will take place in the Lincoln Center Plaza and in parks throughout New York City. In a brand new initiative, the Met's Summer HD Festival will feature screenings of ten productions from the Met's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series in Lincoln Center Plaza on consecutive nights, beginning Saturday, August 29.

The Metropolitan Opera announced plans for its free outdoor events this summer, which will take place in the Lincoln Center Plaza and in parks throughout New York City. In a brand new initiative, the Met's Summer HD Festival will feature screenings of ten productions from the Met's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series in Lincoln Center Plaza on consecutive nights, beginning Saturday, August 29.

The Metropolitan Opera announced plans for its free outdoor events this summer, which will take place in the Lincoln Center Plaza and in parks throughout New York City. In a brand new initiative, the Met's Summer HD Festival will feature screenings of ten productions from the Met's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series in Lincoln Center Plaza on consecutive nights, beginning Saturday, August 29.