Diana Damrau News

Carnegie Hall today announced that a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), led by its Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, has been added to its 2018-2019 season line-up. The concert, scheduled for Sunday, May 19, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, will be the National Symphony's first Carnegie Hall performance since Mr. Noseda began his tenure as the orchestra's music director in fall 2017.

Donizetti's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR--the story of a fragile young woman, Lucia, who's caught in a feud involving her family, the Ashtons, and the Ravenswoods--is one of the mainstays of the repertoire at major opera houses around the world, famed particularly for its mad scene. It's long been a favorite at the Met, with the current performances the third cast of the season, starring soprano Pretty Yende, tenor Michael Fabiano and baritone Quinn Kelsey.

With 11 titles set to be broadcast to more than 500 UK cinemas and to another 1,000 in 40 countries across the globe, the Royal Opera House's Live Cinema Season 2018/19 will showcase a wide variety of ballet and opera, including three new works, all relayed live from Covent Garden. The 2018/19 Season will feature the great classic of The Royal Ballet's repertory The Nutcracker and world-renowned opera stars including Michael Fabiano, Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko and Eva-Maria Westbroek among other treats.

LA Opera has announced two cast changes for its upcoming production of Rigoletto (May 12 through June 3, 2018).

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts, will begin its 13th season on October 6, with the Met's grand production of Verdi's Aida, starring one of the world's most acclaimed sopranos, Anna Netrebko.

Accelerating his arrival as Music Director by two seasons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will take up the post in time for the start of the Metropolitan Opera's 2018–19 season, it was announced today. By freeing up some guest conducting weeks in his busy calendar in both the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons, Nézet-Séguin will now be able to conduct three operas and two Met Orchestra concerts at Carnegie Hall in each of those seasons, instead of the two operas per season originally scheduled. With the assumption of the Music Director title in the fall of 2018, Nézet-Séguin will also be taking on the full artistic responsibilities for the orchestra, chorus, and music staff. His full-time collaboration with Met General Manager Peter Gelb on all other artistic matters will also begin at that time. As previously announced, Nézet-Séguin will begin conducting a minimum of five operas per season starting with the 2020–21 season.

Accelerating his arrival as Music Director by two seasons, Yannick Nezet-Seguin will take up the post in time for the start of the Metropolitan Opera's 2018-19 season, it was announced today.

There have been starrier casts heading up Donizetti's L'ELISIR D'AMORE at the Met--put the opera's name in the NY Times search engine and the first one that shows up is the debut of the famed tenor Tito Schipa in 1932, with bass Ezio Pinza as the quack snake-oil salesman Dulcamara. But this year's principals, soprano Pretty Yende and tenor Matthew Polenzani, gave more than enough pleasure (and then some) to send the audience out cheering.

It's just about time to wish you all a happy 2018--but I'm not quite ready to put 2017 to rest. Though it won't go into the annals as one of the best years ever, there were quite enough performances and performers that made this year a winner for me, operatically speaking at least, in my corner of the world.

The Grammy nominations are here! It's such a fun awards show, chock-full of accolades for mediocre pop songs sung by artists with nodules bigger than my fist-a true example of folks living the American Dream. Each year I hope for the best, thinking that, maybe, the nominating committee, or the performers, will surprise me-flipping the script on my shockingly low expectations. This year, to see if they'd accomplished that feat, I headed over to the Grammy's website to peruse the list of nominees.

The Dallas Opera is delighted to announce the eagerly awaited DVD and Blu-ray release of Mark Adamo's critically acclaimed new holiday opera, BECOMING SANTA CLAUS, distributed exclusively through CD Baby.

The Metropolitan Opera's annual Summer HD Festival, which presents free outdoor screenings of operas on Lincoln Center Plaza, will return for the ninth time this summer, with one screening each night from Saturday, August 26, to Monday September 4 (Labor Day). The series will present nine recent performances from the company's acclaimed Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions, with its production of Tristan und Isolde being shown over two evenings due to its length. As a prelude to the festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, in association with the Met, will present Ingmar Bergman's classic film, The Magic Flute, on Friday, August 25.

Gianandrea Noseda makes his highly anticipated first appearances as the seventh music director of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) in July with two performances: Friday, July 28, at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts and Saturday, July 29, on the National Mall (between 4th and 7th Streets) with a free concert for the community as part of the day's celebration of Music and Movement: The National Symphony Orchestra and National Dance Day.

Beginning Today, June 21, the Met will present Summer Encores, featuring select performances from the groundbreaking Live in HD series, in more than 300 movie theaters across the United States. The 2017 Summer Encores series offers screenings of four popular Live in HD transmissions: Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (June 21), Verdi's Macbeth (June 28), Verdi's Nabucco (July 12), and Bizet's Carmen (July 19).

The summer brings encore presentations of some of the most popular Met Operas back to the big screen at The Ridgefield Playhouse as part of Craig's Fine Jewelry Live in HD and Classical Series.  On Friday, June 23 at 6pm, it's the production the New York Times hails as "the sleeper hit of the Metropolitan Opera season with a dream cast -  The Met Opera ENCORE in HD: Les Pecheurs de Perles. 

El Teatro de la Zarzuela ha anunciado su programacion para la temporada 2017/2018, aumentando en ella sus esfuerzos para acercar su trabajo a un publico mas amplio al mismo tiempo que ofrece programacion a gusto del sus seguidores mas fieles.

Beginning Wednesday, June 21, the Met will present Summer Encores, featuring select performances from the groundbreaking Live in HD series, in more than 300 movie theaters across the United States. The 2017 Summer Encores series offers screenings of four popular Live in HD transmissions: Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (June 21), Verdi's Macbeth (June 28), Verdi's Nabucco (July 12), and Bizet's Carmen (July 19).

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) was in many ways the most successful operatic composer of his era. A rival to Rossini in the 1820s, he went on to become synonymous with the extravagant splendours of Parisian grand opéra and a major influence on French composers and the two titans of Romantic opera, Verdi and Wagner.

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) was in many ways the most successful operatic composer of his era. A rival to Rossini in the 1820s, he went on to become synonymous with the extravagant splendours of Parisian grand opéra and a major influence on French composers and the two titans of Romantic opera, Verdi and Wagner.

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) was in many ways the most successful operatic composer of his era. A rival to Rossini in the 1820s, he went on to become synonymous with the extravagant splendours of Parisian grand opéra and a major influence on French composers and the two titans of Romantic opera, Verdi and Wagner.