Christian Van Horn News

Beginning December 27, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a brilliant new staging of Berg's masterpiece by William Kentridge, starring Peter Mattei and Elza van den Heever. On stage through January 22. 

Beginning December 27, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads a brilliant new staging of Berg's masterpiece by William Kentridge, starring Peter Mattei and Elza van den Heever. On stage through January 22. 

The 2019-2020 season of The Met: Live in HD will continue at the Warner Theatre on Saturday, January 11 with the new production of Berg's WOZZECK at 12:55 pm in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre. 

Peter Mattei makes his role debut as Wozzeck opposite Elza van den Heever as Marie, the mother of his child in William Kentridge's new production of Alban Berg's expressionistic masterpiece Wozzeck for The Metropolitan Opera. Regarded for its intense emotional power and brilliant score Wozzeck is one of the most significant operas of the 20th century. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts. Wozzeck comes to The Ridgefield Playhouse on the big screen in HD on Sunday, January 12th at 12:55pm, part of the Classical Series underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Liz & Steven Goldstone, and Sabina & Walter Slavin, with support from Whistle Stop Bakery.

It's hard to imagine the logistics in putting together a complex program like the one that the audience at Carnegie Hall was treated to on Sunday evening for the 2019 RICHARD TUCKER GALA. But New York-born conductor James Gaffigan pulled it off wonderfully with the help of members of the Met Orchestra and the New York Choral Society--and a gaggle of amazing singers, beginning with this year's winner of the Tucker Award, Lisette Oropesa.

Vito Priante will sing Dandini in all performances of Rossini's La Cenerentola, replacing Davide Luciano.

The Metropolitan Opera presents Puccini's La Bohème, conducted by Marco Armiliato, with eight initial performances beginning October 25, 2019. Ailyn Pérez returns to the role of the seamstress Mimì; her lover, the poet Rodolfo, is portrayed by Matthew Polenzani in his Met role debut. Olga Kulchynska makes her Met debut as the singer Musetta, while David Bizic sings the role of the painter Marcello.

Verdi's heart-wrenching romantic drama Luisa Miller returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago for the first time in more than three decades on Saturday, October 12 at 7:30pm. Enrique Mazzola, Lyric's music director designate, will be on the podium.

Billy Budd recently opened at San Francisco Opera and the critics were in attendance! Find out what they had to say.

San Francisco Opera presents Benjamin Britten's masterpiece of law and order on the high seas, Billy Budd, in six performances at the War Memorial Opera House September 7–22. Based on the unfinished novella by Herman Melville and set to a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, Billy Budd returns to the Company's repertory after a 15-year absence in the “powerful” (New York Times) staging by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage. Lawrence Renes conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and an all-male cast of 75 artists, including 44 men from the San Francisco Opera Chorus prepared by Chorus Director Ian Robertson and 8 boys from the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. The performances coincide with the Melville bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of the posthumous discovery of the American author's unfinished manuscript ofBilly Budd.

San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Chronicle present the latest edition of the annual Opera in the Park concert at 1:30 pm on Sunday, September 8, 2019.

Verdi's heart-wrenching romantic drama follows a pair of star-crossed lovers who are driven apart by one man's selfish plot. The battle between passionate love and violent jealousy is set to thrilling, electrifying music. 

San Francisco Opera presents Benjamin Britten's masterpiece of law and order on the high seas, Billy Budd, in six performances at the War Memorial Opera House September 7a?"22. Based on the unfinished novella by Herman Melville and set to a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, Billy Budd returns to the Company's repertory after a 15-year absence in the a?oepowerfula?? (New York Times) staging by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage. Lawrence Renes conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and an all-male cast of 75 artists, including 44 men from the San Francisco Opera Chorus prepared by Chorus Director Ian Robertson and 8 boys from the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. The performances coincide with the Melville bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of the posthumous discovery of the American author's unfinished manuscript of Billy Budd.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation presents one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, the 2019 Richard Tucker Gala, on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 6:00pm in Stern Auditorium Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.

San Francisco Opera partners with the San Francisco Giants for Opera at the Ballpark, a free live simulcast of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Romeo et Juliette) on Saturday, September 21, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. at Oracle Park.

Single (non-subscription) tickets for San Francisco Opera's 2019 Fall Season at the War Memorial Opera House are now available for purchase online at sfopera.com, in-person at the San Francisco Opera Box Office and by phone at (415) 864-3330. Tickets are also available for Full, Half and Design Your Own Flexible Series subscription packages, special events such as Opera Ball 2019, the San Francisco Opera Chorus in concert at the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater and The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Concert at Herbst Theatre.

San Francisco Opera presents George Frideric Handel's Orlando in a bold production by director Harry Fehr that updates the setting to World War II London during the Blitz. English conductor Christopher Moulds makes his Company debut leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and a cast of five leading Handelian artists, each of whom is singing their roles for the first time. Handel's rarely performed work of love and madness will be presented June 9 27 at the War Memorial Opera House.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation announced today that Lisette Oropesa has been named as the winner of the 2019 Richard Tucker Award. The soprano already headlines major productions worldwide, and after her recent house debuts in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Real Madrid and Royal Opera House, The Guardiandeclared: “The Cuban American soprano is sensationally good. She makes the stratospheric vocal fireworks … sound easy; indeed, her every note is part of a convincing portrayal of a complex character.” Widely referred to as the “Heisman Trophy of Opera,” the Tucker Award carries the foundation's most substantial cash prize of $50,000, and is conferred each year by a panel of opera industry professionals on an American singer at the threshold of a significant international career. Past winners include such luminaries as Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Christine Goerke, Matthew Polenzani, and Deborah Voigt. Oropesa will be inducted into this who's who of American opera at the foundation's annual gala, a perennial highlight of the opera season, on Sunday, October 27, at Carnegie Hall.

While the cast for the season's revival of Mozart's LA CLEMENZA DI TITO looked good on paper, it didn't even hint at how good the singing was going to be at the Met this week. From top—tenor Matthew Polenzani, elegant and vibrant in the title role (“Se all'impero”), and the great mezzo Joyce DiDonato as Sesto (who delivers the opera's “hit” aria, “Parto, parto,” and more in opulent style)--to bottom, the cast delivered in every way possible.

Judging by the number of small opera companies in New York alone--see the 2019 New York Opera Fest that starts performances next month--there's no shortage of up and coming opera singers trying to make their way on the scene. But there's no showcase like the Finals Concert of the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions to give a singer a leg up--and this year's group of talented performers seemed to give us more hope than usual that all's right with the world…at least when it comes to opera.