Brandon Jovanovich News

For the first time since 2001, San Francisco Opera presents Richard Wagner's DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NURNBERG in a new David McVicar co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Having opened last night, November 18, the production features an illustrious team of Wagner interpreters led by James Rutherford as Hans Sachs, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Walther von Stolzing and debuting soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Eva, with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Sir Mark Elder in his Company debut. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

San Francisco Opera presents Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, opening tonight, November 18.

SAN FRANCISCO (November 11, 2015) –– For the first time since 2001, San Francisco Opera presents Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in a new David McVicar co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Opening on November 18, theproduction features an illustrious team of Wagner interpreters led by James Rutherford as Hans Sachs, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Walther von Stolzing and debuting soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Eva, with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Sir Mark Elder in his Company debut.

San Francisco Opera today announced a cast change for Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, opening November 18. British baritone James Rutherford will sing the central role of Hans Sachs, replacing Greer Grimsley who has withdrawn from the production. The David McVicar production, a co-presentation of San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Glyndebourne Festival Opera, is conducted by Sir Mark Elder and runs for six performances November 18-December 6, 2015 at the War Memorial Opera House.

Lyric Opera general director Anthony Freud announced that the stage of the Civic Opera House has been named for Kenneth G. Pigott, who served as Lyric's president and CEO from 2011 until his death on February 13.

Lyric Opera of Chicago invites the public to join the Lyric Opera family as we celebrate the life of Kenneth G. Pigott, who served as president and CEO of Lyric Opera of Chicago from 2011 until his death in February 2015.

Lyric Opera of Chicago invites the public to join the Lyric Opera family as we celebrate the life of Kenneth G. Pigott, who served as president and CEO of Lyric Opera of Chicago from 2011 until his death in February 2015.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Mieczys?aw Weinberg's powerfully haunting opera, The Passenger, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis in a new-to-Chicago production by David Pountney. It opens on Tuesday, February 24 with six performances through Sunday, March 15. Performance dates are Feb. 24, 28, Mar. 4, and 9 at 7:30pm; and Mar. 12 and 15 at 2pm. The Passenger will be sung in Russian, German, Polish, French, Yiddish, Greek, Czech, and English with projected English translations.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, today announced Memory and Reckoning, a confluence of activities related to the Chicago premiere of Mieczysaw Weinberg's The Passenger, on stage at Lyric tonight, February 24 through March 15. This poignant and gripping 20th-century masterpiece portrays the story of the Holocaust from the perspectives of both victim and perpetrator, and was only recently rediscovered after more than 40 years of suppression.

With all its money problems, why hasn't the Met thought about doing some lesser known works in concert? Or, for that matter, marshalled some of its glamorous resources to put on the Verdi REQUIEM? For the time being, we have to be grateful for the New York Philharmonic and its Music Director Alan Gilbert for reminding us how powerful this music can be.

Tenor Russell Thomas will replace Brandon Jovanovich, who has withdrawn due to illness, in the New York Philharmonic performances of the Verdi Requiem, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert. The performances will also feature soprano Angela Meade (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi, bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, this weekend, January 15, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, January 17 at 8:00 p.m.

Tenor Russell Thomas will replace Brandon Jovanovich, who has withdrawn due to illness, in the New York Philharmonic performances of the Verdi Requiem, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert. The performances will also feature soprano Angela Meade (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi, bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, January 17 at 8:00 p.m.

Soprano Angela Meade, the youngest singer ever featured on the cover of the “Diva Issue” of Opera News (November 2014), launches 2015 with a trio of high-profile events in January. She makes her eagerly awaited debut with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert in three performances of Verdi's Requiem at Avery Fisher Hall (Jan 15-17). Later in the month audiences have the opportunity to hear her star turn in the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert on aLive From Lincoln Center broadcast. “Richard Tucker Opera Gala: A New Century”, which was taped last October, airs on PBS on Friday, January 23, 2015. This weekend Meade is performing in a more intimate New York setting at the Morgan Library (Jan 11) where she shares the bill of a George London Recital with baritone Nicholas Pallesen, a fellow winner of the George London prize.

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced the Company's 2015-16 season repertory and roster of international and critically acclaimed guest artists, conductors and creative teams scheduled to appear at the War Memorial Opera House.

The January broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with Alan Gilbert leading the Orchestra in an all-Mozart program: the Mass in C minor, Great, and Piano Concerto No. 22, featuring Emanuel Ax as soloist. The Mass features soprano Jennifer Zetlan, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, tenor Paul Appleby, baritone Joshua Hopkins, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt.

Los Angeles Philharmonic presents Anthony Newman, John Adams, Kremer & Trifonov in Recital, and more January-March 2015 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

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.

The January broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with Alan Gilbert leading the Orchestra in an all-Mozart program: the Mass in C minor, Great, and Piano Concerto No. 22, featuring Emanuel Ax as soloist. The Mass features soprano Jennifer Zetlan, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, tenor Paul Appleby, baritone Joshua Hopkins, and the New York Choral Artists, directed by Joseph Flummerfelt.

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in Verdi's Requiem, featuring soprano Angela Meade (in her Philharmonic debut), mezzo-soprano Lilli Paasikivi, tenor Brandon Jovanovich (debut), bass-baritone Eric Owens, and the New York Choral Artists directed by Joseph Flummerfelt, Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, January 17 at 8:00 p.m.

Compared to Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Katerina Ismailova in LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK at the Met, Barbara Stanwyck and Lana Turner were couple of pikers in their film noir triumphs, “Double Indemnity” and “The Postman Always Rings Twice.” Westbroek kills her father-in-law with rat poison, strangles her husband with her lover's belt and, as the piece de resistence, drowns her lover's new girlfriend, while going under herself. And she has to do it all while effortlessly singing Shostakovich's demanding score. What a dame!