Anna Netrebko News

The 33rd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals continues on Sunday, March 15 at Temple Emanu-El's Martin Meyer Sanctuary with celebrated pianist Martin Katz and San Francisco Opera Center Adler Fellows Jacqueline Piccolino, Zanda Švde, Chong Wang and Matthew Stump.

Vancouver, BC ~ Are you ready to waltz? Rehearsals are underway for VO's rollicking production of Die Fledermaus, onstage for four performances only at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Vancouverites are in for a treat as the all-Canadian cast gets ready to make audiences laugh with mistaken identities, hypnosis by pocket watch, plenty of bubbly, and of course, the delightful music of Johann Strauss Jr.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2015-16 season will present 227 opera performances in a varied repertory, ranging from rarely performed masterpieces to perennial audience favorites. The season features six new productions and 18 revivals, starring the world's greatest singers and conductors, many of them in repertory they have not previously performed with the company.

Vancouver, BC ~ Are you ready to waltz? Rehearsals are underway for VO's rollicking production of Die Fledermaus, onstage for four performances only at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Vancouverites are in for a treat as the all-Canadian cast gets ready to make audiences laugh with mistaken identities, hypnosis by pocket watch, plenty of bubbly, and of course, the delightful music of Johann Strauss Jr.

Celebrated mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato concludes her season-long Carnegie Hall Perspectives series on Wednesday, March 18 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, joining The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Maurizio Benini for a program of bel canto arias, ensembles, and orchestral selections with special guests and close colleagues soprano Nicole Cabell and tenor Lawrence Brownlee. Music from Donizetti's Maria di Rohan and L'elisir d'amore, Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Rossini's Zelmira will be performed, along with other pieces.

The best seats for New York and London's stage productions may just be at The Ridgefield Playhouse when stunning shows are broadcast in HD. From London's National Theatre on Sunday, February 15, at 3:30 p.m. comes family entertainment -- Treasure Island, which is suitable for 10+ years. From the Met on Sunday, February 22, at 12 p.m., Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle will enchant. Skylight starring Carey Mulligan and Stephen Daldry, will be screened on Wednesday, February 25, at 6 p.m. Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee James Franco and Tony Award nominee Chris O'Dowd star in the hit Broadway production Of Mice And Men, Sunday, March 8, at 12 noon, filmed on stage by National Theatre Live.

Anna Netrebko has agreed to sing with the MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in the concert this Sunday afternoon, February 8, replacing Elna Garana, who has withdrawn due to illness

Break out the champagne! Every night will be party night when VO's intoxicating Die Fledermaus hits the Queen Elizabeth. Be prepared to laugh as the all-Canadian cast transports audiences to high society Vienna, complete with costume swaps, mistaken identities, hypnosis by pocket watch and plenty of bubbly.

I don't know when the next time the Met is planning to bring back Tchaikovsky's final opera, IOLANTA (libretto by his brother Modest) into its repertory, but they should, and quickly. And if you have the opportunity, run to see it as fast as you can. It's not often that the Met puts on a opera and production so compelling and glorious to watch and hear.

Ilya Bannik will sing the role of King René in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta on February 3, 7, 10, and 14 matinee, replacing Alexei Tanovitski, who is ill.

Giuseppe Verdi's adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth comes to THIRTEEN's Great Performances at the Met with an internationally renowned cast headed by Russian star soprano Anna Netrebko in her North American debut as the fatally ambitious Lady Macbeth. Serbian baritone Željko Lu?i? sings the title role; German bass René Pape is among his victims of his bloody rise to the throne as Banquo, and Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja sings the role of his heroic rival Macduff.

San Francisco Opera Center and the Merola Opera Program present the 33rd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals, beginning February 8, 2015 with soprano Erin Johnson and pianist Sun Ha Yoon at Temple Emanu-El's Martin Meyer Sanctuary in San Francisco.

Russian-born bass Ildar Abdrazakov makes his U.S. solo recital debut tomorrow, Thursday Jan 29, on the main stage of Carnegie Hall at 8pm. Joined by pianist Mzia Bakhtouridze, the singer will perform a program pairing works by Faure, Liszt and Ravel with Russian art songs by Glinka, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky. The New York Times has described Abdrazakov's voice as "sturdy, dark and rich," adding that the "refinement and clarity" of his singing is what ultimately makes it "so moving."

Ilya Bannik will make his Met debut as King René in Thursday's performance of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, replacing Alexei Tanovitski, who is ill. The originally scheduled premiere of Iolanta was canceled as a result of yesterday's city-wide ban on road travel and the shutdown of public transportation due to adverse weather conditions. This Thursday's performance will now be the Met premiere of Iolanta, which will be presented in a double bill with Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle.

Ilya Bannik will make his Met debut as King René in tonight's performance of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, replacing Alexei Tanovitski, who is ill.

DALLAS, JANUARY 22, 2014 –The Dallas Opera and The Dallas Opera Guild are proud to announce historic levels of participation in the first phase of the newly expanded Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition, scheduled to take place on the weekend of April 18-19, 2015 in the acoustically acclaimed setting of the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

Beginning January 26, the Met will present a double-bill of two rarely performed one-act operas: Tchaikovsky's romantic fairy tale Iolanta, with Anna Netrebko in the title role of a blind princess and Piotr Beczala as Count Vaudémont, a knight who loves her; and Bartók's harrowing Bluebeard's Castle, with Nadja Michael as a bride who discovers the terrifying truth about her new husband, sung by Mikhail Petrenko. Valery Gergiev returns to the Met to conduct both operas, which will be presented in a production by acclaimed Polish director Mariusz Treli?ski in his Met debut. This season's performances will be the company premiere of Iolanta, Tchaikovsky's final opera, and the Met's first-ever staged performances of Bluebeard's Castle in the original Hungarian. The February 14 matinee performance will be transmitted worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 2,000 movie theaters in 69 countries around the world.

On Wednesday 14 January 2015, at HUSH in Mayfair, the finalists of the International Opera Awards 2015 were announced. These were selected by the jury chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera magazine and classical music critic with The Daily Telegraph.

The Merola Opera Program and the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch present Merola Goes to the Movies, the free, opera-on-film series.

For New York opera-goers, what was the event of the year? Undoubtedly, John Adams's THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER, not only for the kerfuffle caused by the [unfounded] claims of anti-Semitism but for the opera's exciting debut at the Met. (The Met's contentious labor negotiations nearly edged it out, though.) As we head into the spring season, here's a look back at some of the performances that put a song in my heart, not in any particular order.