Joseph Calleja News

21C MEDIA GROUP just released its season preview of opera, vocal and choral music for 2016-17. Scroll down for details!

Due to Anna Netrebko's recent decision not to add the title role in Bellini's Norma to her repertory, the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden-where she was scheduled to debut the role-as well as the Vienna State Opera and Dallas Opera have announced several related cast changes.

Beginning April 1, Met Music Director James Levine conducts Verdi's SIMON BOCCANEGRA, with Plácido Domingo starring in the title role.

Beginning April 1, Met Music Director James Levine conducts Verdi's SIMON BOCCANEGRA, with Plácido Domingo starring in the title role.

Under the direction of Bartlett Sher (whose work is currently represented on Broadway with Lincoln Center Theater's revival of The King and I, Charles Gounod's 1867 French opera ROMEO AND JULIET comes to opulent, dramatic life--with the quality and grandiosity that characterize Lyric Opera's productions. This production of Gounod's opera--with libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carre and which was first performed at the Lyric in 1981--retains the original Renaissance setting of Shakespeare's classic play and renders it larger-than-life. The inherently dramatic nature of the play makes it a fitting choice for an operatic adaptation--Romeo and Juliet's tragic love story becomes even more heightened when set to Gounod's decadent score.

Lyric Opera of Chicago continues its 61st season with ROMEO AND JULIET in a new-to-Chicago production created by Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher, tonight, February 22, through Saturday, March 19 (nine performances). This is the eighth and final mainstage opera production of the widely acclaimed 2015/16 season. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the company in action below!

The Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season, the 50th anniversary of its home at Lincoln Center, will feature 225 opera performances of 26 operas in a varied repertory that ranges from 18th century masterpieces to one of the most acclaimed operas in recent years. Repertoire for the company's 132nd season will include the Met premiere of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho's 2000 opera L'Amour de Loin, as well as new stagings of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Dvo?ak's Rusalka, and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. A gala concert on May 7, 2017 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company's Lincoln Center location with performances by opera's leading stars honoring the Met's past and future. Ticket prices will not increase, remaining the same as in the current season, and audience development programs instituted by the company in recent years will continue.  

CHICAGO - Subscriptions go on sale February 1 at 10:00am for Lyric Opera of Chicago's 62nd season. Next season offers world-renowned artists, nine tremendous new-to-Chicago productions, and the start of Wagner's famed Ring cycle, Das Rheingold.

Lyric Opera of Chicago continues its 61st season with Romeo and Juliet in a new-to-Chicago production created by Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher, Monday, February 22 through Saturday, March 19(nine performances). This is the eighth and final mainstage opera production of the widely acclaimed 2015/16 season.

The Corinthia Hotel London has today released more tickets for the premiere of Emily Hall's site-specific opera, Found & Lost. Hall's brand new piece was conceived in collaboration with the internationally renowned sound designer David Sheppard during her stay at the distinguished five-star hotel as its Artist in Residence. It will be performed for audiences of 12 at a time in the beautiful rooms, intimate spaces, and restricted areas of the hotel from bedrooms through to boiler rooms. The piece invites audiences to embark on a sonic journey of discovery in a promenade performance where they will be led by a live choir and find musicians where least expected accompanied by specially recorded music. Rooms will spontaneously break into song and drama will unfold along the corridors. An opera unlike any other, Found & Lost will have its official opening night at the hotel on 27 January.

The Corinthia Hotel London has today released more tickets for the premiere of Emily Hall's site-specific opera, Found & Lost. Hall's brand new piece was conceived in collaboration with the internationally renowned sound designer David Sheppard during her stay at the distinguished five-star hotel as its Artist in Residence. It will be performed for audiences of 12 at a time in the beautiful rooms, intimate spaces, and restricted areas of the hotel from bedrooms through to boiler rooms. The piece invites audiences to embark on a sonic journey of discovery in a promenade performance where they will be led by a live choir and find musicians where least expected accompanied by   specially recorded music. Rooms will spontaneously break into song and drama will unfold along the corridors. An opera unlike any other, Found & Lost will have its official opening night at the hotel on 27 January. 

Lyric Opera of Chicago's general director Anthony Freud and music director Sir Andrew Davis confirmed today the repertoire and casting for the company's 2016/17 season - the second season that they have fully planned together.  

St. Ann's Warehouse will continue the inaugural season in its new waterfront theater with the American Premiere of Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy and writer-director Enda Walsh's thrilling new opera The Last Hotel, in a Landmark Productions / Wide Open Opera production. Singers Claudia Boyle, Robin Adams and Katherine Manley, actor Mikel Murfi, and an ensemble of New York's finest contemporary players, conducted alternately by André de Ridder and Alan Pierson, will deliver this “searingly powerful new chamber work” (The Guardian). Presented by St. Ann's Warehouse and co-presented withPROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now andIrish Arts Center, The Last Hotel comes to New York after tremendously acclaimed engagements at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Dublin Theatre Festival and the Royal Opera House in London.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents a new-to-Chicago production of Romeo and Juliet, Feb. 22-March 19, 2016, helmed by Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher-who makes his Lyric debut fresh off directing the four-time Tony Award-winning revival of The King and I at Lincoln Center Theater. Lyric's Romeo and Juliet is presented in conjunction with the Shakespeare 400 Chicago international arts festival, for which Lyric is a partner organization.

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. 

St. Ann's Warehouse will continue the inaugural season in its new waterfront theater with the American Premiere of Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy and writer-director Enda Walsh's thrilling new opera The Last Hotel, in a Landmark Productions / Wide Open Opera production. Singers Claudia Boyle, Robin Adams and Katherine Manley, actor Mikel Murfi, and an ensemble of New York's finest contemporary players, conducted alternately by André de Ridder and Alan Pierson, will deliver this “searingly powerful new chamber work” (The Guardian). Presented by St. Ann's Warehouse and co-presented withPROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now andIrish Arts Center, The Last Hotel comes to New York after tremendously acclaimed engagements at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Dublin Theatre Festival and the Royal Opera House in London.

The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales (BBC NOW) today announced that internationally renowned Chinese-American conductor Xian Zhang-the NJSO's next music director-has been appointed BBC NOW's Principal Guest Conductor, effective September 1, 2016

Lianna Haroutounian will sing the role of Amelia Grimaldi in all performances of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at the Met this season: April 1, 5, 9 matinee, 13, and 16.

Emily Hall, the 2015 Artist in Residence at Corinthia Hotel London, is to present the premiere of her site-specific opera, Found & Lost, in January 2016. Hall's brand new piece, conceived in collaboration with the internationally renowned sound designer David Sheppard, will be performed for audiences of 12 at a time in the beautiful rooms, intimate spaces, and restricted areas of the hotel. The piece, developed during a month's residency at the distinguished five-star hotel, invites audiences to embark on a sonic journey of discovery in a promenade performance, where rooms will spontaneously break into song and drama will unfold along the corridors. 

Single tickets go on sale July 8 at 10:00am for Lyric Opera of Chicago's 61st season.