Alice Coote News

Tickets go on sale today for the Met's Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning Live in HD series' 2017-18 season, which begins on October 7 with the company's new production of Bellini's Norma.

Tenor Matthew Polenzani sings the title role of the King of Crete, with mezzo-soprano Alice Coote in the trouser role of his noble son Idamante, soprano Elza van den Heever as Elettra, and soprano Nadine Sierra as Ilia.             

On Sunday, April 30 at 2:00 p.m., Harry Bicketconducts Handel's Ariodante at Carnegie Hall with acclaimed baroque orchestra The English Concert. In this concert presentation of Handel's brilliantly melodic work, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato performs the title role joined by sopranos Christiane Karg (Ginevra) and Joélle Harvey (Dalinda), contralto Sonia Prina (Polinesso), tenors David Portillo(Lurcanio) and Tyson Miller (Odoardo), with bass-baritone Matthew Brook (King of Scotland).

The Warner Theatre's 2016-17 Met Opera Live in HD Season continues with Mozart's IDOMENEO in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre on Saturday, March 25 at 12:55 pm. A complimentary, 45 minute pre-opera lecture by Dr. Marguerite Mullee will be offered to all ticket holders in the Nancy Marine Studio Lobby at 11:00 am.

No one can accuse the Met of skimping when it put together its current revival of Mozart's opera seria IDOMENEO. Yes, the production's 35 years old, but with this cast, it hardly mattered: tenor Matthew Polenzani in the title role, elegant and Mozartian to the nth degree, the suave and poignant mezzo Alice Coote as his son, Idamante, and the pristine, gorgeous soprano Nadine Sierra as Ilia, the captured Trojan princess, under Music Director Emeritus James Levine. But it was the fourth of the leading players, the full-bodied lyric soprano Elza van den Heever, as Elettra, who blew the roof off.

Sonya Yoncheva brings her acclaimed interpretation of the doomed courtesan Violetta Valery to Live in HD audiences for the first time, opposite rising American tenor Michael Fabiano as her lover, Alfredo.  Don't miss a LIVE in HD transmission of The Met Opera's La Traviata on Today, March 11 at 12:55 p.m. as part of the Craig's Fine Jewelry Live in HD Series.  Violetta, a young and consumptive courtesan is exhausted after years of service, and wants nothing better than to relax and enjoy the time that she has left, free and footloose from men and worries. However, a chance meeting at a party she hosts, with the handsome yet naive Alfredo sees her question her existence and her loneliness without a lover to call her own. She encourages his love.

In our time, IDOMENEO is the earliest of Mozart's operas regularly done, its full title being IDOMENEO, RE DI CRETA OSSIA ILIA E IDAMANTE--or IDOMENEO, KING OF CRETE, OR ILIA AND IDAMANTE. “Ilia” of the extended title is the daughter of Priam, the king of Troy. (“Idamante” is Idomeneo's son.) At the Met starting this week, Ilia is being sung by the skyrocketing young American soprano, Nadine Sierra.

Sonya Yoncheva brings her acclaimed interpretation of the doomed courtesan Violetta Valery to Live in HD audiences for the first time, opposite rising American tenor Michael Fabiano as her lover, Alfredo.  Don't miss a LIVE in HD transmission of The Met Opera's La Traviata on Saturday, March 11 at 12:55 p.m. as part of the Craig's Fine Jewelry Live in HD Series.  Violetta, a young and consumptive courtesan is exhausted after years of service, and wants nothing better than to relax and enjoy the time that she has left, free and footloose from men and worries. However, a chance meeting at a party she hosts, with the handsome yet naive Alfredo sees her question her existence and her loneliness without a lover to call her own. She encourages his love.

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.

The Canadian Opera Company officially starts it's performance season with the following operas and free concert series in October!

The work of George Frideric Handel, a supreme artist of the Baroque era, returns to the Canadian Opera Company stage this fall in the long awaited company premiere of Ariodante.

The Warner Theatre is excited to announce its 2016-17 Met Opera: Live in HD Season, featuring 10 operas, 5 new to the series, and 2 encores, streaming live from the Met. A complimentary pre-opera lecture will be offered to all ticketholders in the Nancy Marine Studio Lobby for 45 minutes of pre-opera information and entertainment, 2 hours before broadcast. Full and Half Season Subscriptions are available.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season, the 50th anniversary of its home at Lincoln Center, will feature 225 opera performances of 26 operas in a varied repertory that ranges from 18th century masterpieces to one of the most acclaimed operas in recent years. Repertoire for the company's 132nd season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's 2000 opera L'Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Dvo?ak's Rusalka, and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company's Lincoln Center location with performances by opera's leading stars honoring the Met's past and future. Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.  

  On Sunday, March 13, at 2:00 p.m., Harry Bicket conducts Handel's Orlando at Carnegie Hall with acclaimed baroque orchestra The English Concert. In this concert presentation of Handel's opera seria of love, war, and madness, countertenor Iestyn Davies performs the title role joined by sopranos Erin Morley (Angelica) and Carolyn Sampson (Dorinda), mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke (Medoro), and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen (Zoroastro). Benjamin Sosland of The Juilliard School leads a pre-concert talk at 1:00 p.m.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the perfect midwinter getaway: a beautiful production of Richard Strauss's delectably bittersweet romantic comedyDer Rosenkavalier, which opens on Monday, February 8 for eight performances through Sunday, March 13.  BroadwayWorld has a first look below!

A Valentine's experience like no other, Mercury performs all of Bach's gleaming Orchestral Suites with internationally acclaimed guest conductor Harry Bicket on February 13, 2016 at 8 PM at the Wortham Center's Cullen Theater.  Written over many years, the four Orchestral Suites (BWV 1066-1069), are filled with some of Bach's most recognizable and beloved melodies.  This performance is a part of the 2016 Houston Early Music Festival (HEMF), generously funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance and the Texas Commission on the Arts.  To purchase tickets or HEMF festival passes, or for more information visit www.mercuryhouston.org or call 713.533.0080. 

Canada's greatest achievement in music, LOUIS RIEL, is returning to the Canadian Opera Company stage in a new production to help mark the 150th anniversary of the country's confederation. LOUIS RIEL is one of six landmark operas unveiled today at the public launch of the COC's 2016/2017 season at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the perfect midwinter getaway: a beautiful production of Richard Strauss's delectably bittersweet romantic comedyDer Rosenkavalier, which opens on Monday, February 8 for eight performances.

Lyric Opera of Chicago will begin a new chapter in its history with its 61st season - the first to be fully planned by general director Anthony Freud and music director Sir Andrew Davis. Lyric's two artistic leaders announced the repertoire and casting for the 2015-16 season today.

The Dallas Opera, in the latest installment of The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series, will present the phenomenal American tenor,Matthew Polenzani, in an exclusive, one-time-only recital on the afternoon of Sunday, January 11, 2015 at Southern Methodist University's popular Caruth Auditorium (an intimate 490-seat venue located in the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop, Dallas, TX 75205). The two o'clock recital will also feature the exciting and accomplished playing of Mr. Polenzani's frequent recording partner, pianistJulius Drake.