Bryan Hymel News

Less than five years after making her professional operatic debut, substituting for an ill colleague as Elvira in Verdi's Ernani at the Metropolitan Opera, Angela Meade is fast becoming one of the world's top-billed interpreters of Verdi and Bellini. The soprano-winner of the 2011 Richard Tucker Award and the 2012 Beverly Sills Award from the Metropolitan Opera-has a number of notable "firsts" during the 2012-13 season, including a house debut at the Vienna Staatsoper as Elena in I vespri siciliani (Sept 9-18), Leonora in her first staged Il trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera (Jan 16), and her first staged Norma-the role that catapulted her to prominence at the 2010 Caramoor Festival-at Washington National Opera in a new production directed by Anne Bogart (March 9-24). More Bellini is in the offing for Meade at Carnegie Hall this season: a concert performance of Beatrice di Tenda with the Collegiate Chorale (Dec 5). The soprano also sings Mozart's Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for her debuts at Los Angeles Opera (Oct 11-14) and Cincinnati Opera (June 13-15). Noteworthy concert engagements in 2012-13 include Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs with the Ontario Philharmonic in Toronto (Jan 29), Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck (April 26-28), and her recital debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (Nov 10).

Fresh from her appearances in Lehar's The Merry Widow at the Opera National de Paris and Berlioz's La mort de Cleopatre with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, as well as a successful run of Australian recitals in Melbourne and Sydney, Susan Graham continues.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Angela Meade starred in the company's recent production of Ernani. In May, the soprano tackles another Verdi heroine, making her Deutsche Oper Berlin debut as Lucrezia in two concert performances of I due Foscari. More high-profile firsts follow in August when Meade makes a trio of major U.S. music festival debuts, headlining "A Night at the Opera" with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival; "Italian Opera Night" with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nezet-Seguin at Saratoga, and Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" with Robert Spano in Aspen. In June - as a preview of next season's debut with Washington National Opera - she portrays the title role of Bellini's Norma in concert at Oregon's Astoria Music Festival, and in July she sings Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore at the Festival Castell de Peralada in Spain.

The Opera Orchestra of New York continues its 41st season with an opera-in-concert performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Simon Boccanegra conducted by Music Director Alberto Veronesi at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 8:00 pm.

The Opera Orchestra of New York continues its 41st season with an opera-in-concert performance of Giuseppe Verdi's Simon Boccanegra conducted by Music Director Alberto Veronesi at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at 8:00 pm.

The Opera Orchestra of New York continues its 41st season with an opera-in-concert performance of Wagner's Rienzi conducted by Music Director Laureate, Eve Queler at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. The opera, based on the life of Cola di Rienz (1313-1354), the Italian medieval politician and popular leader of the Roman people whose goal was to transform society by raising the power of the people, stars tenor Ian Storey in the title role, with soprano Elisabete Matos as Irene and mezzo-soprano Geraldine Chauvet in her US debut as Adriano. All three artists will be making their Opera Orchestra of New York debuts.

The Opera Orchestra of New York will present its annual Vidda Award Recital featuring soprano Chiara Taigi at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Monday, December 12, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. Joined by Eve Queler at the piano, Ms. Taigi will present a program including works by Bellini, Cherubini, Mascagni, Puccini, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.

The Opera Orchestra of New York will present its annual Vidda Award Recital featuring soprano Chiara Taigi at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on Monday, December 12, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. Joined by Eve Queler at the piano, Ms. Taigi will present a program including works by Bellini, Cherubini, Mascagni, Puccini, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky.

The Dallas Opera is pleased to announce the five darkly dazzling operas that comprise the company's 2011-12 season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. With opening night on Friday, October 21, 2011, the 55th international season - "Tragic Obsessions" - will showcase compelling works by Donizetti, Janacek, Wagner, Verdi and Mozart, and will include an outstanding Dallas opera-in-concert, important debuts and some of the company's most renowned productions. Each opera will feature the superbly talented Dallas Opera Orchestra and Dallas Opera Chorus and will be performed in its original language, with English translations projected above the stage at every performance. Exclusive subscriber extras include "A Cabaret Evening with Patricia Racette" and a fun-filled family concert starring soprano Ava Pine and the Dallas Opera Orchestra.

The Dallas Opera is pleased to announce the five darkly dazzling operas that comprise the company's 2011-12 season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. With opening night on Friday, October 21, 2011, the 55th international season - "Tragic Obsessions" - will showcase compelling works by Donizetti, Janacek, Wagner, Verdi and Mozart, and will include an outstanding Dallas opera-in-concert, important debuts and some of the company's most renowned productions. Each opera will feature the superbly talented Dallas Opera Orchestra and Dallas Opera Chorus and will be performed in its original language, with English translations projected above the stage at every performance. Exclusive subscriber extras include "A Cabaret Evening with Patricia Racette" and a fun-filled family concert starring soprano Ava Pine and the Dallas Opera Orchestra.

The Dallas Opera is pleased to announce the five darkly dazzling operas that comprise the company's 2011-12 season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. With opening night on Friday, October 21, 2011, the 55th international season - "Tragic Obsessions" - will showcase compelling works by Donizetti, Janacek, Wagner, Verdi and Mozart, and will include an outstanding Dallas opera-in-concert, important debuts and some of the company's most renowned productions. Each opera will feature the superbly talented Dallas Opera Orchestra and Dallas Opera Chorus and will be performed in its original language, with English translations projected above the stage at every performance. Exclusive subscriber extras include "A Cabaret Evening with Patricia Racette" and a fun-filled family concert starring soprano Ava Pine and the Dallas Opera Orchestra.