Carolyn Choa News

Those of us who keep an eye on the comings and goings of singers at major opera houses around the world, have known that Friday’s debutant, Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian, was going to be one to watch. And it was. No worries about whether her voice would translate from Europe’s smaller houses to the Met’s enormous hall: Grigorian may have been singing Puccini’s Cio-Cio-San/Madama Butterfly this time around, but she’s a well-schooled Lady Macbeth and Turandot as well, bringing a notably large voice with her. She survived the Met’s notoriously short rehearsal time for revivals (particularly for the second cast of the season). Lastly, she even made it through the final curveball, when tenor Jonathan Tetelman became ill and standby Chad Shelton had to take over as Pinkerton; he did well considering the circumstances, but he was no match for her.

Watch Asmik Grigorian sing an excerpt from Cio-Cio-San’s Act II aria in a stage rehearsal for the Met Opera's Madama Butterfly, running through May 11, in the video here!

Get a first look at Puccini’s Madama Butterfly which returns to the Met stage for 16 performances, starting January 11.

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly will return to the Met stage for 16 performances, starting January 11.

The complete cast has been set for the world premiere of Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker. See who is starring and learn how to purchase tickets.

Get ready for an incredible lineup! The Met: Live in HD has revealed its 2023-24 season, featuring nine must-see performances. Find out when and where you can catch these amazing shows in this article.

Wagner’s ghostly drama Der Fliegende Holländer returns to the Met for four performances, May 30–June 10.

On March 2, 2020 Alison Clancy a?oeMade Dance Historya?? (The Dance Enthusiast) performing an 11-minute dance solo at The Metropolitan Opera for the overture of Richard Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer.

The Met had a wonderfully conducted performance of Wagner's DER FLIENGENDE HOLLANDER with a marvelous singer in the title role. Unfortunately, that was in 2017, when the Met's Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin was on the podium and Michael Volle was the forceful Hollander. This time around, when Francois Girard's new Expressionist production had its premiere the other night, with Valery Gergiev at the helm and Evgeny Nikitin as the Dutchman, things did not go so smoothly.

The Metropolitan Opera presents a new production of Wagner's early masterpiece Der Fliegende Holländer on March 2, 2020, with performances continuing through March 27. Valery Gergiev conducts the new staging from director François Girard, whose interpretation is centered on the young woman Senta's obsession with a portrait of the Dutchman.

The Metropolitan Opera will present a new production of Wagner's early masterpiece Der Fliegende Holländer on March 2, 2020, with performances continuing through March 27. Valery Gergiev conducts the new staging from director François Girard, whose interpretation is centered on the young woman Senta's obsession with a portrait of the Dutchman.

Alison Clancy – an accomplished contemporary dancer fluent both in high-brow and downtown style – will be making her debut as a soloist at The Metropolitan Opera during the overture of Richard Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer. In this New York premiere, directed by François Girard and choreographed by Carolyn Choa, Clancy takes center stage at the venerable NYC institution in a dance prologue, created especially for this staging, in which she is a psycho-spiritual embodiment of Senta, the opera's leading lady.

MADAMA BUTTERFLY was never my favorite Puccini until the current production conceived by Anthony Minghella. Before, Butterfly always seemed too submissive, Pinkerton too brutish and their child, well, too cute. Now—particularly with the current cast, headed by the magnificent Kristine Opolais as the young geisha and the dashing Roberto Alagna as the clueless Pinkerton, her American husband--seemed to put my past reservations to rest. The result was a magnificent performance, from beginning to end.

By this time in the Met's season, audiences can be a little “been there, done that”--but not when it came to Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais, singing the title role in Puccini's MADAMA BUTTERFLY for the first time in New York. They nearly stormed the stage when she came out for her curtain call, and with good reason. She was spectacular.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2013-14 season will feature many of the world's greatest singers, conductors, and theater artists in 26 operas, including six new productions, of a varied repertory that ranges from the Baroque era to the 21st century. Met Music Director James Levine will return to the Met podium for the first time in two years, conducting three operas with which he has long been associated: a new production of Verdi's final masterpiece Falstaff, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Berg's Wozzeck. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will be conducting two operas in the 2013-14 season, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

There used to be an ad campaign from a New York bakery company, “You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's rye bread.” Well, a similar statement could be made about Richard Wagner's final opera (or as he called it, a büenenweihfestspiel , or “a festival play for the consecration of the stage”): You don't have to be Christian to love PARSIFAL, with its themes of redemption, honor and loyalty. It is a unique experience, regardless of one's faith, because the music's the thing. And I'd follow the cast, orchestra and chorus of the Metropolitan Opera's new production anywhere. Heard at the opera's second performance of the season, February 18, they were superb.

The new production of PARSIFAL opens in just 2 days! Jonas Kaufmann stars alongside Katarina Dalayman, Peter Mattei, Evgeny Nikitin, and Rene Pape. Daniele Gatti conducts. Check out a sneak peek of Francois Girard's new production below!

Jonas Kaufmann will sing the title role in a new staging of Wagner's final opera, Parsifal, conducted by Daniele Gatti and directed by Francois Girard in his Met debut. BroadwayWorld has a behind-the-scenes interview with Director, Francois Girard. Check it out below.

Jonas Kaufmann will sing the title role in a new staging of Wagner's final opera, Parsifal, conducted by Daniele Gatti and directed by Francois Girard in his Met debut. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.

Jonas Kaufmann will sing the title role in a new staging of Wagner's final opera, Parsifal,conducted by Daniele Gatti and directed by Francois Girard in his Met debut. The new production of Wagner's transcendent masterpiece will open February 15 with an extraordinary cast of Wagnerian stars, including Katarina Dalayman as the mysterious Kundry; Peter Mattei in his role debut as Amfortas, the wounded King of the Knights of the Holy Grail; Rene Pape as the wise knight Gurnemanz; Evgeny Nikitin as the evil Klingsor; and Runi Brattaberg in his Met debut as Titurel, Amfortas's father. The production team for Girard's staging includes set designer Michael Levine, costume designer Thibault Vancraenenbroeck, lighting designer David Finn, video designer Peter Flaherty, choreographer Carolyn Choa, and dramaturg Serge Lamothe. The Saturday, March 2 matinee performance of Parsifal will be transmitted worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which is now seen in more than 1,900 movie theaters in 64 countries around the world.