Gerald Finley News

New York, NY (December 10, 2015) – OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 11th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards. This year's honorees — Joseph Calleja, El?na Garan?a, Waltraud Meier, Anna Netrebko, and José van Dam — will be feted at a black tie gala celebration on April 10th at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. 

World-class opera returns to Canterbury next month. The Glyndebourne Tour 2015 brings three productions to The Marlowe Theatre, two of which transfer straight from the 2015 Glyndebourne Festival where they premiered this summer.

Toronto – Today at the Canadian Opera Company's Annual General Meeting, COC Board Chair Tony Arrell and COC General Director Alexander Neef reported on the financial and artistic successes of the 2014/2015 season. With an acclaimed season of operas, the COC maintained its impressive attendance numbers, recording an average attendance of 92%, as well as retained last year's historic-level of fundraising with contributed revenue totaling $12.6 million and posted a balanced budget, to show a modest surplus of $13,000.

World-class opera returns to Canterbury next month. The Glyndebourne Tour 2015 brings three productions to The Marlowe Theatre, two of which transfer straight from the 2015 Glyndebourne Festival where they premiered this summer.

Amazon's original dramatic comedy Mozart in the Jungle is to film part of an upcoming episode at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for tonight's July 30 'Mozart with Dudamel' performance. 

This fall, The Frick Collection presents its seventy-seventh season of classical music concerts. Debuting in 1938—just three years after the museum opened to the public—the concert series is one of the most celebrated in New York and over the years has delighted tens of thousands of visitors with a wide range of world-class performances by soloists, chamber music groups, and early music ensembles. Throughout its distinguished history, the concert program has been recognized for the special niche it fills in the highly competitive and rich world of music performance in New York.

Amazon's original dramatic comedy Mozart in the Jungle is to film part of an upcoming episode at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic during the Thursday, July 30 'Mozart with Dudamel' performance. 

The 36th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards for the 2014/2015 season were handed out in a star-studded ceremony in Toronto on the evening of Monday, June 22 at Harbourfront Centre's WestJet Stage, hosted by the hilarious Gavin Crawford, whose eight seasons on CBC-TV's This Hour Has 22 Minutes earned him numerous accolades and who recently won an ACTRA Award for his leading role in the film Two 4 One.

Stravinsky's twentieth-century operatic masterpiece The Rake's Progress will return to the Met stage for a revival of three performances only, opening May 1 and continuing through May 9. Music Director James Levine leads the performances, with rising stars Paul Appleby and Layla Claire in the central roles of the carefree Tom Rakewell and his faithful sweetheart, Anne Trulove; Stephanie Blythe as Baba the Turk, the hot-tempered bearded lady whose life becomes entangled with Tom's; English bass Brindley Sherratt in his Met debut as Anne's father, Trulove; and Gerald Finley as Nick Shadow, the mysterious man who encourages Tom to trade respectability for a life of aimless pleasure.

Music Director Gustavo Dudamel leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Mahler's Symphony No. 6 at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Mar. 5 - 8, 2015; and Adams' City Noir and Dvoak's Symphony No. 9, "From the New World," Mar. 12 and 13, 2015; before performing these works with the LA Phil on tour in Hong Kong, Shangai, Seoul and Tokyo, Mar. 19 - 29, 2015.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Richard Wagner's majesticTannhauser conducted by Sir Andrew Davis in a new-to-Chicago production byTim Albery. It opens on Monday, February 9 with seven performances through Friday, March 6. Performance dates are Feb. 9, 14, 18, 26, Mar. 2, and 6 at 6pm; and Feb. 22 at 1pm. (Note earlier curtain times.) Tannhauser will be sung in German with projected English translations.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Richard Wagner's majestic Tannhäuser conducted by Sir Andrew Davis in a new-to-Chicago production by Tim Albery. It opens on Monday, February 9 with seven performances through Friday, March 6. Performance dates are Feb. 9, 14, 18, 26, Mar. 2, and 6 at 6pm; and Feb. 22 at 1pm. (Note earlier curtain times.) Tannhäuser will be sung in German with projected English translations.

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced the Company's 2015-16 season repertory and roster of international and critically acclaimed guest artists, conductors and creative teams scheduled to appear at the War Memorial Opera House.

OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 10th Annual Opera News Awards. This year's honorees—Piotr Beczala, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Sondra Radvanosky, Samuel Ramey and Teresa Stratas—will be feted at a black tie gala celebration on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Previous Opera News Award Winners Martina Arroyo,Gerald Finley and Susan Graham are among the presenters.

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.

Canterbury welcomes the Glyndebourne Tour next month (November).

Canterbury welcomes the Glyndebourne Tour next month (November).

The Canadian Opera Company's 2014/2015 season gets off to a rollicking start with a hilarious new production of Verdi's Falstaff, from acclaimed Canadian director Robert Carsen. Inspired by the beloved Shakespearean character and the resulting folly of his ill-advised seduction attempts, Carsen's production of Falstaff sets the action in a lovingly rendered 1950s England. The all-Canadian cast stars world renowned bass-baritone Gerald Finley, returning to the COC mainstage after more than 20 years, in a highly anticipated role debut as the title character. Joining Finley is baritone Russell Braun as Ford, Falstaff's nemesis; soprano Lyne Fortinas Alice Ford, mezzo-soprano Lauren Segal as Meg Page and contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux as Mistress Quickly, the women determined to teach Falstaff a lesson; soprano Simone Osborne as the lovesick Nannetta; and tenor Frédéric Antoun as Nannetta's amorous suitor Fenton. COC Music Director Johannes Debus guides the COC Orchestra and Chorus through the lyricism and artistry of Verdi's score that captures all the joy, wisdom and profound humanity of Shakespeare's comic invention.

The Canadian Opera Company's 2014/2015 season opens with an opera hailed as the crowning achievement of Verdi's career, Falstaff. This new company production is led by master director Canadian Robert Carsen and COC Music Director Johannes Debus with internationally acclaimed Canadian bass-baritoneGerald Finley making a long-awaited return to the COC in his role debut as the impoverished, loveable knight, Sir John Falstaff. Falstaff is sung in Italian with English SURTITLESTM and comes to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for seven performances today, October 3 and October 9, 12, 14, 25, 29 and November 1, 2014.