Dolora Zajick News

Award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke looks at the intense pressures young opera singers face as they struggle to succeed in one of the difficult professions in the performing arts in The Audition.

The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and Clowes Memorial Hall of Butler University will host two competitions for the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council (MONC) this month.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe also appears in the Puccini triple-bill.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe also appears in the Puccini triple-bill.

The 79th consecutive season of the Metropolitan Opera Saturday Matinee Radio Broadcasts launches on December 12, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. EST with a live performance of Puccini's Il Trittico, starring Patricia Racette singing all three leading soprano roles.

Hui He will sing the title role of Verdi's Aida on March 26, 31, and April 3 matinee, replacing Hasmik Papian, who has withdrawn. The performances mark He's Met debut.

Olga Borodina will sing Amneris in this evening's performance of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera, replacing Dolora Zajick, who is ill. Zajick is still scheduled for performances on October 24, 29, November 2 and 6. The October 24 matinee of Aida will be shown Live in HD in movie theaters internationally.

Tickets for the fourth season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's popular, award-winning series of live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, are now on sale to the general public in the U.S. The 2009-10 season, featuring nine live opera transmissions, kicks off on Saturday, October 10 at 1:00 p.m. ET with a new production of Puccini's Tosca starring Karita Mattila.

Opera is exciting, passionate, spectacular - and expensive. 'We're constantly complaining that young people aren't being exposed to opera,' says THT executive director Douglas Anderson, 'but a primary reason is the high ticket price. We wanted to do something about that.'

Tickets for the fourth season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's popular, award-winning series of live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, are now on sale at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater.

Tickets for the fourth season of The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's popular, award-winning series of live transmissions in movie theaters around the world, are now on sale to the general public in the U.S. The 2009-10 season, featuring nine live opera transmissions, kicks off on Saturday, October 10 at 1:00 p.m. ET with a new production of Puccini's Tosca starring Karita Mattila.

Verdi's grand Egyptian pageant, Aida, returns to the Met stage with soprano Violeta Urmana singing the title role for the first time with the company and mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick as Amneris, one of her most renowned interpretations.

The Metropolitan Opera has reason to celebrate; $2.5 million worth of tickets were sold on Sunday, the first day of sales, through its box office, telephone call center and Web site, up from $2 million on the first day of sales last year, according to the Associated press.

Dolora Zajick will sing the role of Azucena in Il Trovatore on April 21, 25, 29, and May 2, replacing Luciana D'Intino who is ill. Mzia Nioradze will replace D'Intino for the final performance on May 8.

The Metropolitan Opera today announced the winners of the 2009 National Council Auditions. They are: Paul Appleby of South Bend, Indiana; Anthony Roth Costanzo of Durham, North Carolina; Sung Eun Lee of Seoul, South Korea; and Nadine Sierra of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Selected from eight finalists who performed arias with the Met Orchestra, conducted by Patrick Summers, at the Grand Finals Concert on February 22, each winner takes away a cash prize of $15,000.

This spring, the Metropolitan Opera will present The Audition, a documentary film about the intense challenges and pressures young opera singers face as they try to become opera stars. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, The Audition will be shown on 400 screens across the country on April 19 at 3pm EST (and in Canada on June 6 at 1pm EST) as part of the Metropolitan Opera's series of high definition presentations in movie theaters and performing arts centers. The Audition is a suspenseful competition narrative that provides a revealing behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make it as an opera star. The feature-length film documents the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, where each year thousands of hopefuls compete for a cash prize, the chance to sing on the storied Met stage-and the opportunity to launch a major operatic career. The film focuses on the final week of the competition, as judges narrow the field down from 22 semi-finalists to11 finalists while the stakes get higher and the pressure grows more intense. The documentary crew was given unprecedented access to the singers, judges, and events backstage at the Met.

The Metropolitan Opera today announced the names of eight finalists who will sing in the 2009 National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on February 22 at 3:00 p.m., with the Met Orchestra conducted by Patrick Summers.

A cast of internationally most acclaimed Verdi singers is showcased in the Met's new production of the Italian master's melodic tour de force, Il Trovatore, which opens February 16. Renowned director David McVicar makes his Met debut, and Gianandrea Noseda conducts a cast that includes Marcelo ?lvarez in his first Met performances of the heroic title role, and three singers who are celebrated interpreters of their parts: Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora, Dolora Zajick as Azucena, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Count di Luna. Kwangchul Youn makes his Met role debut as Ferrando. In later performances, Marco Berti is Manrico; Hasmik Papian is Leonora; Luciana D'Intino is Azucena, ?eljko Lučić is di Luna, and Burak Bilgili is Ferrando, conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Performances run through May 8.

A cast of internationally most acclaimed Verdi singers is showcased in the Met's new production of the Italian master's melodic tour de force, Il Trovatore, which opens February 16. Renowned director David McVicar makes his Met debut, and Gianandrea Noseda conducts a cast that includes Marcelo ?lvarez in his first Met performances of the heroic title role, and three singers who are celebrated interpreters of their parts: Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora, Dolora Zajick as Azucena, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Count di Luna. Kwangchul Youn makes his Met role debut as Ferrando. In later performances, Marco Berti is Manrico; Hasmik Papian is Leonora; Luciana D'Intino is Azucena, ?eljko Lučić is di Luna, and Burak Bilgili is Ferrando, conducted by Riccardo Frizza. Performances run through May 8.

Eight new productions, four of which are company premieres, will highlight the Metropolitan Opera's 2009-10 season. General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine jointly announced plans that include: the Met premieres of Rossini's Armida, Verdi's Attila, Jan?ček's From the House of the Dead, and Shostakovich's The Nose; new productions of Bizet's Carmen, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Thomas's Hamlet, and Puccini's Tosca; and 18 revivals from the company's repertory. The season is the first to be entirely planned under Gelb's leadership, in collaboration with Levine (the past three seasons were planned before Gelb became General Manager in 2006-07 but included some productions, repertoire, and casting changes made by Gelb).