Tenor Russell Thomas will replace Brandon Jovanovich, who has withdrawn due to illness, in the New York Philharmonic performances of the Verdi Requiem, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert.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Tenor Russell Thomas will replace Brandon Jovanovich, who has withdrawn due to illness, in the New York Philharmonic performances of the Verdi Requiem, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert.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!
“To be blunt, Sergei is not a nice guy,” says tenor Brandon Jovanovich, talking about his current role at the Metropolitan Opera in Dmitri Shostakovich's LADY MACBETH OF MTENSEK. “He's the kind of fellow who's jovial and friendly one minute…and then you hear he's robbed a store. He uses and abuses people--we all know someone like that, don't we?” he adds, laughing.
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 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.
Beginning November 10, the Met will present a rare revival of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Shostakovich's controversial 1934 opera about an adulteress whose forbidden romance leads to murder and devastation. This season's performances will be conducted by James Conlon, who also led the work's Met premiere in 1994; it has only been revived once by the company, in 2000. Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek will sing her first Met performances of the central role, Katerina Ismailova, which she has sung to acclaim at numerous leading opera houses around the world. American tenor Brandon Jovanovich sings the role of Sergei, Katerina's lover. The revival of Graham Vick's 1994 production will also star Raymond Very as Zinovy Ismailov, Katerina's ineffectual husband, and Anatoli Kotscherga as her brutal father-in-law, Boris. Dutch tenor Frank van Aken will sing Sergei in the November 21 performance.
Brandon Jovanovich has agreed at short notice to step into the role of Don José in this evening's performance of Carmen, replacing Aleksandrs Antonenko, who is ill. Jovanovich is currently rehearsing for next month's revival of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Met. He sang the October 13 performance of Carmen substituting for Antonenko as well.
Conductor James Conlon leads a rare revival of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Metropolitan Opera in six performances beginning Monday, November 10, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. The cast for Graham Vick's production includes soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role as Katerina Ismailova, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Sergei, tenor Raymond Very as Zinovy Ismailov, and baritone Anatoli Kotscherga as Boris Ismailov. Tenor Frank van Aken sings the role of Sergei in the November 21 performance.
Brandon Jovanovich has agreed at short notice to step into the role of Don José in this evening's performance of Carmen, replacing Aleksandrs Antonenko, who is ill. Jovanovich is currently at the Met rehearsing for next month's revival of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
Angela Meade - the face of Opera News's forthcoming annual "Diva" issue - dominates the New York cultural scene this season. In concert, the American soprano makes her New York Philharmonic debutunder Alan Gilbert's direction in Verdi's Requiem (Jan 15-17), and gives two performances at Carnegie Hall, first joining the Philadelphia Orchestra for Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony (Oct 31), and then starring in Rossini's William Tell with Italy's Teatro Regio di Torino led by Gianandrea Noseda (Dec 7), in the penultimate stop on their North American tour.
Set in Tennessee around the time of the Dust Bowl, 'Susannah' takes its inspiration from a story in the book of Daniel. Composer Carlisle Floyd's decision to remove the original's redemptive prophet seems to condemn Christianity, but also gives his revised version the dramatic thrust needed to explore the human condition and turn out a masterpiece.
Michael Tiknis, President and Managing Director of the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, today unveiled Beyond the Aria, a new performance series produced by Harris Theater in a unique first-time association with Lyric Unlimited, on the Pritzker Pavilion Stage at Millennium Park.
