Christopher Maltman News

The Dallas Opera, in the latest installment of The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series, will present the phenomenal American tenor,Matthew Polenzani, in an exclusive, one-time-only recital on the afternoon of Sunday, January 11, 2015 at Southern Methodist University's popular Caruth Auditorium (an intimate 490-seat venue located in the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop, Dallas, TX 75205). The two o'clock recital will also feature the exciting and accomplished playing of Mr. Polenzani's frequent recording partner, pianistJulius Drake.

?Bartlett Sher's effervescent production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) returns to Town Hall Theater's big screen as part the Metropolitan Opera "Live in HD" series.

A revival of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia will open at the Met November 18, withLawrence Brownlee as the lovestruck Count Almaviva; Isabel Leonard as Rosina, the feisty ward who captures his heart; andChristopher Maltman in his first Met performances of Figaro, the title barber whose skills extend far beyond hair-cutting.Michele Mariotti conducts the performance, which also stars Maurizio Muraro as Dr. Bartolo and Paata Burchuladze as Don Basilio. Bartlett Sher's acclaimed staging premiered at the Met in 2006. The November 22 matinee performance will be transmitted worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which is now seen in more than 2,000 movie theaters in 69 countries around the world.

The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Series continues in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre at 1 pm on November 22nd with Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA.

Already the undisputed 'reigning new diva of the 21st century' (Associated Press), Anna Netrebko scored a fresh triumph this past month, winning ECHO Klassik's 'Female Singer of the Year' award for a record-breaking third time. Never content to rest on her laurels, however, the ever-evolving Russian-born soprano continues expanding her horizons in 2014-15. She makes two American role debuts at the Metropolitan Opera, as Verdi's Lady Macbeth in an all-star Macbeth that will be beamed live around the world to launch the company's Live in HD season, and headlining a new staging of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta that will be broadcast Live in HD on Valentine's Day. In Europe, she makes house role debuts in the title roles of a new Manon Lescaut at the Bavarian State Opera and Anna Bolena at the Zurich Opera, besides reprising her portrayal of Anna Bolena at the Vienna State Opera and completing her season's quartet of leading roles as Mimì in La bohème at Covent Garden, where her final performance will again be broadcast live to cinemas worldwide. In concert this season, Netrebko remains the soprano of choice for gala appearances, in the Richard Tucker Gala at New York's Lincoln Center and in Munich and Salzburg, as well as singing a recital in Colorado, 'Verdi and Verismo' arias in Barcelona, selections from Macbeth in Rome, Strauss's Four Last Songs in Paris, and revisiting her acclaimed Iolanta on a European concert tour that culminates at London's Royal Albert Hall.

The Capitol Center for the Arts is pleased to announce that it will present 10 productions in next season's Met: Live in HD series, beginning with Verdi's Macbeth on Saturday, October 11, at. Single tickets for this series are on sale now for $26 Adults; $22 Seniors/Met/CCA Members; and $15 Students. Season subscriptions are also available at $208 Adults; $176 Seniors/Met/CCA Members; and $120 students.

Ailyn Perez, born and bred in Chicago, returns to her hometown's famous Ravinia Festival for two performances (Aug 14 & 16) as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni - a role that the Dallas Morning News has said shows her to be 'a singer of considerable nuance.' LA Opera Music Director James Conlon leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the run, which also features baritone Christopher Maltman in the title role, baritone David Bizi? as Leporello, soprano Tamara Wilson as Donna Anna and tenor Saimir Pirgu as Don Ottavio. The Chicago Tribune praised Perez's 2012 appearance at Ravinia, as Pamina in Die Zauberflote, as 'show-stopping…all floating pianissimos and diminuendos and delicate pathos, which roused the sold-out crowd to a long, well-deserved ovation.'

Ailyn Perez, born and bred in Chicago, returns to her hometown's famous Ravinia Festival for two performances (Aug 14 & 16) as Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni - a role that the Dallas Morning News has said shows her to be "a singer of considerable nuance." LA Opera Music Director James Conlon leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the run, which also features baritone Christopher Maltman in the title role, baritone David Bizi? as Leporello, soprano Tamara Wilson as Donna Anna and tenor Saimir Pirgu as Don Ottavio. The Chicago Tribune praised Perez's 2012 appearance at Ravinia, as Pamina in Die Zauberflote, as "show-stopping…all floating pianissimos and diminuendos and delicate pathos, which roused the sold-out crowd to a long, well-deserved ovation."

The Warner Theatre has announced its 2014-2015 MetOpera: Live in HD Season which will feature 10 operas, 9 of which will be streaming live from the Metropolitan Opera, and 1 encore performance.

LA Opera will soon present the first full-scale production in this century of John Corigliano's grand opera buffa, one of the most acclaimed operas of our time. Extravagantly scaled, gloriously tuneful, supremely touching and yet uproariously entertaining, The Ghosts of Versailles turns history on its head as love attempts to alter the course of destiny. Running February 7- March 1, 2015, the production will feature direction by Tony winner Darko Tresnjak.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Edo de Waart open the 2014 Beethoven Festival with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 today, March 21-23, 2014 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.

Ravinia's 2014 season, dubbed 'Summer of Love/Season of Stars,' was announced today by Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman. Brimming with talent and romance, the festival's 2014 schedule brings some the biggest names in the world of music as well as repertoire that explores the theme of great love in its various manifestations. No fewer than three musical incarnations of the most famous love story of all time, Romeo and Juliet, will be featured, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky's Overture-Fantasy (July 27), a suite from Prokofiev's ballet setting of the story (July 16) and the score of West Side Story as the classic film is shown (July 17-18). In other examples of love, soprano Deborah Voigt describes it as 'Something Wonderful' on a Broadway evening (July 13), the legendary Broadway team of Lerner and Loewe will be celebrated (July 20), and Chanticleer even jabs at the battle of the sexes in an evening titled 'She Said/He Said' (July 6). In fact, love lurks, longs and lingers across genres in most of the more than 130 events that Ravinia will present in 2014, its 110th year and its 78th as the summer residence of the CSO.

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Edo de Waart open the 2014 Beethoven Festival with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 on March 21-23, 2014 at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. The program features the MSO Chorus, soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo- soprano Kelley O'Connor, tenor Thomas Cooley, and baritone Christopher Maltman. The performances open with John Adams's The Wound-Dresser, a setting of Walt Whitman's Civil War prose.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartok's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.

Nadler, a member of the Met's music staff, has conducted 49 performances with the company since his debut in 1989. Later this season, he will conduct the February 15 performance of Dvo?ák's Rusalka. He has led Met performances of Verdi's Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, Aida, Don Carlo, and La Traviata; Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia; Wagner's Tannhäuser; Giordano's Andrea Chénier; Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, Le Rossignol, and Oedipus Rex; Bizet's Carmen; Beethoven's Fidelio; Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin; Gounod's Roméo et Juliette; and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.

Two-time Tony Award-winning Broadway legend Patti LuPone joins with opera diva Patricia Racette for the new Los Angeles Opera production of THE GHOSTS OF VERSAILLES in early 2015 according to a new announcement.

Conductor Teodor Currentzis, with his orchestra and choir MusicAeterna, has made a no-compromise studio recording cycle of Mozart's three Da Ponte operas.

Before seeing the Met's new production of Johann Strauss Jr.'s DIE FLEDERMAUS, directed by Jeremy Sams, on Saturday night, I listened to the afternoon's live broadcast of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE. Both were written in German and performed in English to make them more palatable to their target audiences (Broadway musical lovers and young opera-goers-in-training, respectively). But, while the Mozart had its guts cut away, to shave the running time to 90 minutes without an intermission, the FLEDERMAUS went on--and on and on--for four hours. Both had the same result--and it was not good.

A new production of Johann Strauss Jr.'s New Year's Eve classic, the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus, will open at the Met tonight, December 31, with two Broadway stars appearing. Check out the excerpt from Act II of Johann Strauss's 'Die Fledermaus' with Jane Archibald (Adele), Anthony Roth Costanzo (Orlofsky), Christopher Maltman (Eisenstein).

A new production of Johann Strauss Jr.'s New Year's Eve classic, the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus, will open at the Met tonight, December 31, with two Broadway stars appearing. Check out the excerpt from the Act I trio of Johann Strauss's 'Die Fledermaus.'