Eric Owens News

The Metropolitan Opera today announced its 2019 20 season, which opens on September 23 with a new production of the Gershwins' classic American opera Porgy and Bess, last performed at the Met in 1990, starring Eric Owens and Angel Blue, directed by James Robinson and conducted by David Robertson.

92Y's Tisch Center for the Arts is proud to announce its 2019/20 Classical season, with more than 50 concerts from mid-October through early June. Curated by DirectorHanna Arie-Gaifman with Artistic Administrator Nicholas Russotto, it may be 92Y's most ambitious season to date, in both size and artistic scope. From solo recitals to chamber operas, the 19/20 offerings epitomize the world-class artistry and intelligent programming for which 92Y is known. Details on individual series and programs follow, along with a chronological list of concerts.

The Metropolitan Opera will present Richard Wagner's four-part masterwork Der Ring des Nibelungen in performances March 9-May 11, 2019.  This season's performances are the first time the Met has presented the inventive Robert Lepage staging in six seasons and are the only complete Ring cycles to be presented in North America in 2019. Marshaling the vast forces on stage and in the pit is the incoming music director of the Vienna State Opera, Philippe Jordan, who has conducted acclaimed Ring cycles in Paris and Zurich.

The International Opera Awards today announces the finalists for its 2019 Awards.

A season filled with unforgettable music, riveting stories, thrilling singers from around the world, and stirring productions goes on sale by subscription Friday, January 25, at 10am. Six new and new-to-Chicago productions including three Lyric premieres and three performances of the Ring cycle will engage and entertain audiences from late September 2019 through June 2020.

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, along with Resident Company support, celebrates Black History Month this February with an array of programming honoring African American artistic expression and culture.

MasterVoices and its 150 choristers opens its 77th season on Wednesday, November 28 at 8 pm at Carnegie Hall when the ensemble's Artistic Director Ted Sperling leads the New York premiere of a multi-media version of Handel's Israel in Egypt. The timely oratorio of exile and displacement is reflecting the biblical account of the heroic flight of Israelites enslaved in Pharaonic Egypt and their crossing the Red Sea.  

You may have seen Eric Owens, the internationally acclaimed bass- baritone, when he sang a trio of operas at the Metropolitan Opera that included the Met premiere of Kaijo Saariaho's L'amour de Loin, a new production of Rusalka under Sir Mark Elder, and a revival of Idomeneo conducted by James Levine, all of which were broadcast through the Met's Live in HD series.

Lyric Opera of Chicago is pleased to announce the participation of several outstanding singers in the Renee Fleming 25th Anniversary Concert & Gala*, to honor and celebrate American soprano Renee Fleming's extraordinary commitment to Chicago and her unparalleled contributions to our art form.

Join the fearless young Siegfried on his adventure-filled journey to manhood (and discovery of love) over the course of this playful, musically magnificent opera. This is the third part of Richard Wagner's epic four-part Ring of the Nibelung cycle, of which each opera is a feast on its own. No prior Ring experience is necessary.

Named for the groundbreaking African American contralto, the Marian Anderson Vocal Award recognizes a young American singer in opera, oratorio, or recital repertoire with outstanding promise for a significant career. Washington National Opera (WNO) named bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as the 2018 recipient earlier this year and is pleased to present him in concert today, October 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are $39.

Young opera singers from across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and for the first time, Mexico, will compete for $15,000 cash prizes and the opportunity to launch major operatic careers, when the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions launches its 65th annual auditions program this fall. Over 1,000 singers between the ages of 20 and 30 will participate in the program, the longest-running singing competition in the country. Finalists will perform on the stage of the Met at the Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 31, 2019.

Named for the groundbreaking African American contralto, the Marian Anderson Vocal Award recognizes a young American singer in opera, oratorio, or recital repertoire with outstanding promise for a significant career. Washington National Opera (WNO) named bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as the 2018 recipient earlier this year and is pleased to present him in concert on Thursday, October 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are $39.

Ted Sperling, Artistic Director of MasterVoices, announced details of the acclaimed ensemble's 77th season, celebrating the power of the human voice to unite, inspire and connect since 1941. The upcoming season will be framed by two major musical events, the New York premiere of a multi-media version of Handel's oratorioIsrael in Egypt performed at Carnegie Hall, and a new adaptation of the Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin-Moss Hart avant-garde musical, Lady in the Dark, starring Victoria Clark at New York City Center. Lady in the Dark has not been seen in New York since it was presented at New York City Center in 1994 as part of the inaugural Encores! season.

Schuster makes her Met role debut as Waltraute, a role she has sung previously at Bayerische Staatsoper and Gran Teatre del Liceu. She made her Met debut last season as Klytämnestra in Strauss' Elektra. She sings regularly for all the leading German opera houses and for international companies including Wiener Staatsoper, Paris Opéra, La Scala, the Salzburg Festival, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Her wide repertory includes many Wagner roles such as Fricka in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Ortrud in Lohengrin, Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde, and Kundry in Parsifal; 20th-century roles such as Marie in Berg's Wozzeck and Judith in Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle, and several roles in operas by Richard Strauss and in Italian repertory, including Amneris in Verdi's Aida, Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo, and Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana.

Anyone who loves Leos Janacek's gorgeous but grim operas--JENUFA, KATYA KABANOVA, MAKROPOLOUS--might be surprised by THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN. It's being presented, now through August, in a handsome production at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY.

The Metropolitan Opera's annual Summer HD Festival, which presents free outdoor screenings of operas on Lincoln Center Plaza, will return for the tenth time this summer, with one screening each night from Saturday, August 25, to Monday September 3, 2018 (Labor Day). The series will present ten recent performances from the company's acclaimed Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions. As a prelude to the festival, the Marx Brothers' classic film, A Night at the Opera, will be presented on the plaza on Friday, August 24, in association with the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

The George London Foundation for Singers has been honoring, supporting, and presenting the finest young opera singers in the U.S. and Canada since 1971. The foundation and the George London Awards (the prize of the foundation's annual competition) are named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone, one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century, who devoted much of his time and energy in his later years to the support and nurturing of young opera singers.

If you can't get enough of operas, symphonic concerts and a few musical theatre pieces thrown in for good measure, have I got a summer for you! Start in New York City and head north--almost around the corner, or a weekend (or more) away--and you'll find more than enough to keep you happy during the sultry weather ahead. (Even if it doesn't turn out quite so sultry…) It covers the gamut from Handel to Puccini, from serial podcasts to light opera, from dramma serio to musical comedy, with an added emphasis on Leonard Bernstein as the music world celebrates his 100th birthday.

The George London Foundation for Singers has been honoring, supporting, and presenting the finest young opera singers in the U.S. and Canada since 1971. The foundation and the George London Awards (the prize of the foundation's annual competition) are named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone, one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century, who devoted much of his time and energy in his later years to the support and nurturing of young opera singers.