a?oeI am very optimistic about opera in America,a?? says OPERA America President/CEO Marc A. Scorca. a?oeWhen I entered the industry decades ago, new American operas were rarely commissioned or performed. Today, the flow of creativity from American composers, librettists, directors and designers has generated an American opera repertoire that spans the gamut of styles and subject matter.a??
In the video below, Jamie Barton sings an excerpt from Orfeo's Act III aria in the final dress rehearsal. Production: Mark Morris. Conductor: Mark Wigglesworth.
The Last Night of the Proms is the culmination of the world's biggest musical festival. It's less a concert, more a cultural experience. The Royal Albert Hall is transformed with flags, banners, balloons and a tangible party atmosphere. The occasional glimpse of an inflatable flamingo or helium parrot just added to the evening's charm and eccentricity.
Award-winning podcast, 'The Guilty Feminist' will travel to the BBC Proms on Saturday 14 September for a unique episode looking back at the 2019 season ahead of the Last Night of the Proms.
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts, will begin its 14th season on October 12, with the Met's production of Puccini's Turandot, starring Christine Goerke in the title role, led by the Met's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announces single tickets to the 2019a?'20 season will be available on Monday, Aug. 5 at HGO.org. There is truly something for everyone in HGO's 65th season, which features a diverse set of operas containing epic biblical dramas, love triangles, dangerous curses, heart-filling family narratives, stories of true love, tales of revenge, and whimsical quests.
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.
The Metropolitan Opera's 2019-2020 Live in HD season of satellite transmissions to movie theaters worldwide begins Oct. 12 with the late Franco Zeffirelli's sumptuous production of Puccini's "Turandot." The series brings live Met performances to movie theaters and performing arts centers in more than 70 countries on six continents, including Gettysburg College's Majestic Theater. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, July 17 at noon.
The Richard Tucker Music Foundation presents one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, the 2019 Richard Tucker Gala, on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 6:00pm in Stern Auditorium Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.
San Francisco Opera presents Antonin Dvo?ak's Rusalka at the War Memorial Opera House, June 16-28, in David McVicar's "thoughtfully conceived and brilliantly executed" (Chicago Tribune) production. The Czech fairy tale opera features a cast headed by Rachel Willis-Sorensen in her role debut as Rusalka,Brandon Jovanovich as the Prince, Jamie Barton as Ježibaba, bass Kristinn Sigmundsson as Vodnik and Sarah Cambidge as the Foreign Princess. South Korean maestra and Houston Grand Opera Principal Guest Conductor Eun Sun Kim leads the cast and San Francisco Opera Orchestra in her first Company engagement. Chorus Director Ian Robertson prepares the chorus.
San Francisco Opera presents Anton n Dvo k's Rusalka at the War Memorial Opera House, June 16 28, in David McVicar's thoughtfully conceived and brilliantly executed (Chicago Tribune) production. The Czech fairy tale opera features a cast headed by Rachel Willis-S rensen in her role debut as Rusalka, Brandon Jovanovich as the Prince, Jamie Barton as Je ibaba, bass Kristinn Sigmundsson as Vodn k and Sarah Cambidge as the Foreign Princess. South Korean maestra and Houston Grand Opera Principal Guest Conductor Eun Sun Kim leads the cast and San Francisco Opera Orchestra in her first Company engagement. Chorus Director Ian Robertson prepares the chorus.
Twenty-one young opera singers who have won regional auditions around the United States will compete in the semifinal round of the country's leading vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, on Sunday, March 24. The closed semifinal competition, held on the Met stage before a panel of judges, will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition-the Grand Finals, which is open to the public and will be held on the Met stage on Sunday, March 31.
The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, America's longest running festival of new orchestral music, celebrates its 57th season, July 28 - August 11, 2019, with a remarkable women-centric season, featuring a series of relevant and forward-looking commissioned works.
Twenty of the world's most outstanding classical singers are today [4 March 2019] announced for BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2019. The biennial competition returns to Cardiff between 15-22 June 2019 and audiences in the UK and beyond can follow all the live drama of the competition on BBC TV, radio and online.
The 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series continues withJamie Barton on Saturday, March 23, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. Accompanied by pianist Kathleen Kelly, Barton's one-night-only recital will feature classics from Haydn, Strauss, and Ravel while showcasing the voices of women, including works by composers Nadia and Lili Boulanger and Americans Elinor Remick Warren and Amy Beach. Barton's performance also features Love After 1950, a contemporary song cycle by Libby Larsen that uses offbeat vocal styles like blues, tango, and honky-tonk to evoke different moods. Tickets for this program are $49-$69.
Beginning June 5 and continuing through the 29th, San Francisco Opera presents a trio of extraordinary lyric works Georges Bizet's Carmen, George Frideric Handel's Orlando and Anton n Dvo k's Rusalka featuring powerful leading women in the title roles. Spanning three centuries and sung in French, Italian and Czech, the 2019 Summer Season repertory will occasion the Company debuts of four conductors, including two women, in productions that are new to the War Memorial Opera House stage. Some casting updates for the repertory were announced today and additional casting of supporting roles will be released at a future date.
The 2018-2019 Renee Fleming VOICES series continues with singer-songwriter Nellie McKay today, February 8, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the Terrace Theater. McKay's one-night-only solo set will include songs from her recent Sister Orchid, as well as others in her catalog. Tickets for this performance are $25-$35.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced today the winners of the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, which took place in the Cullen Theater of the Wortham Theater Center. This is the third year the Concert of Arias was streamed live on Facebook, and the second for livestreaming on YouTube. The livestream was hosted by HGO Studio alumna Andrea Carroll. She is currently performing in The Pearl Fishers as Le la and placed first in the 2012 Concert of Arias. The winners were announced during the second portion of the program.
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.
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has selected the finalists for the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Wortham Theater Center on February 1, 2019, at 7 p.m. A limited number of general admission tickets for the performance are available for purchase here. The program will also be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube for all to enjoy, inviting viewers to cast their votes for the Online Viewers' Choice Award.
