Giuseppe Giacosa News

Rehearsals have begun for Theater Latté Da's production of LA BOHÈME, the beloved Puccini opera re-imagined by Peter Rothstein and orchestrator Joseph Schlefke. The production brings together rising stars in the opera world along with favorite performers from the Twin Cities music scene. Among the top 5 operas performed around the globe, LA BOHÈME features music by Giacomo Puccini and libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The production is directed by Theater Latté Da Artistic Director Peter Rothstein [1] with Music Direction by Eric McEnaney and features a new orchestration by Joseph Schlefke.

Opera Saratoga announced today the three operas that will be featured at the center of the company's 2020 Summer Festival, to be presented at The Spa Little Theatre in Spa State Park, from June 20th through July 5th, 2020.

Director Olivier Tambosi's production of Manon Lescaut, composer Giacomo Puccini's first triumph, returns to San Francisco Opera for six performances on the War Memorial Opera House stage, from November 8 through the 26th.

Director Olivier Tambosi's production of Manon Lescaut, composer Giacomo Puccini's first triumph, returns to San Francisco Opera for six performances on the War Memorial Opera House stage, from November 8 through the 26th. +

Elizabeth Caballero's captivating performance as the tragic romantic heroine Cio Cio San, the titular lead of Puccini's classic opera Madame Butterfly, is so breathtakingly, so exquisitely heartbreaking that she alone is enough to make the 2019-20 season opening production from Nashville Opera a triumph, but director John Hoomes surrounds her with a cast of equally impressive singers who bring the romantic tragedy to life with such vigor and style that any of them might serve as reason enough for audiences to take note.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at the Met's MADAMA BUTTERFLY! Leading sopranos Hui He and Ana María Martínez share the heartbreaking title role of the doomed geisha, with tenors Piero Pretti and Andrea Carè as the American naval officer who abandons her. Paulo Szot and Markus Brück share the role of Sharpless, and Elizabeth DeShong is Suzuki, alternating with Maria Zifchak. Pier Giorgio Morandi is on the podium for Anthony Minghella's sweeping production, a perennial audience favorite.

Madama Butterfly will play at La Fenice Opera House in Venice, Italy for limited dates in late September and early October. 

Juilliard's Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, under the leadership of artistic director Brian Zeger, announces its 2019-20 season of opera and vocal arts performances. Highlights of the upcoming season include three mainstage operas: Mozart's Così fan tutte, conducted by alumnus Nimrod David Pfeffer and directed by faculty member David Paul, on November 13, 15, and 17, 2019, in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater; Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's MetLiveArts and the New York Philharmonic with Juilliard singers, conducted by Daniela Candillari and directed by Louisa Proske, on February 8, 11, 12, and 14, 2020, in the Charles Engelhard Court at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Puccini's La bohème, conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson and directed by Stephen Wadsworth, on April 22, 24, and 26, 2020, in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

Over the last couple of years reviewing opera with BroadwayWorld, I have become a fan. Not only a fan of the classical work but a fan of Austin Opera and the sumptuous productions they bring to the stage. It makes my heart soar to hear the first strains of the orchestra conducted by the amazing Peter Bay and watch the curtain rise on pure magic.

Is a realistic portrayal of Japanese people and culture even possible in BUTTERFLY, given that its source material was conceived entirely through a western lens? Can that lens be flipped somehow?

Opera180 of Kansas City concludes its 1st season with the classic La Boheme, with music by Giacomo Puccini and libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Performances are May 30, 31, and June 1 at The Drawing Room by Weinberger Fine Art at 1903 Wyandotte in downtown Kansas City. The production will be sung in Italian.

Puccini's story of the strong-willed diva returns to the Kennedy Center stage in WNO's Tosca, from May 11 25, 2019. Tickets start at $35.

On Sunday April 14 Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera, Madama Butterfly, in Japanese and English in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo. The company also live-streamed it online. Did anyone ever think an American Navy officer would speak to a young Japanese lady in Italian? l'd expect him to speak English and the lady from Nagasaki to speak Japanese. That is what happened at the performance on Sunday. Despite translations from Goro, the marriage broker, and Sharpless, the American consul, Pinkerton and Butterfly had trouble understanding each other as they came from completely different cultures.

The Metropolitan Opera Guild, a premier arts education organization, today launched the first of its series of Online Learning courses, Libretti and Librettists, exploring the connection between words and music across the operatic art form. The second course, Wagner's Ring: Music, Motifs and Magic, is scheduled to open for enrollment in May.

General Director Ken McConnell and Artistic Director Tobias Picker today announced Tulsa Opera's 72nd season comprising classics such as Bizet's Carmen and Puccini's Madama Butterfly, and a new production of Mr. Picker's 1996 opera Emmeline, to be performed in Oklahoma for the first time, and led by Mr. Picker in his opera-conducting debut.

Pacific Symphony continues its semi-staged operatic series with Puccini's poignant opera, “Madame Butterfly,” which tells the story of a young naïve Japanese geisha who believes that her love for a handsome American naval officer is eternal. With its lush score and heartbreaking arias, it is a timeless tale that will stir your emotions. Eric Einhorn is once again the stage director, returning after his masterful work on “Tosca” and “Turnadot.” Longtime artistic partner Pacific Chorale, led by Artistic Director Robert Istad, will join the Symphony on stage again as well, after their last appearance in a Symphony opera with 2018's “The Magic Flute.” Soprano Yunah Lee will be performing the lead role of Cio-Cio-San, followed by tenor John Pickle's performance as Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton. Mezzo-soprano Sabina Kim and baritone Luis Ledesma both appear to perform the roles of Suzuki and Sharpless, respectively.

With a mix of new and traditional takes on opera, Seattle Opera unveils a 2019/20 Season that offers something for everyone. Audiences will experience new-to-Seattle productions of Rigoletto, Cinderella, and Eugene Onegin; the company premiere of Charlie Parker's Yardbird; and the return of a beloved classic, La boh me.

Met favorite Sondra Radvanovsky and rising star Jennifer Rowley share the title role of the volatile diva at the heart of Puccini's operatic thriller. Joseph Calleja brings his stylish tenor to the role of Cavaradossi, and Wolfgang Koch and Claudio Sgura share the role of the nefarious police chief Scarpia. Carlo Rizzi conducts Sir David McVicar's resplendent production.

When Opera Philadelphia's inaugural Festival O launched the present season, the opera world responded with a standing ovation, welcoming it as 'one of the most enjoyable additions to the fall calendar in years'

When Opera Philadelphia's inaugural Festival O launched the present season, the opera world responded with a standing ovation, welcoming it as "one of the most enjoyable additions to the fall calendar in years"