Karita Mattila News

The Metropolitan Opera will celebrate its longtime Music Director James Levine's 70th birthday with two full days of special programming on Met Opera Radio (Sirius XM Channel 74). The weekend-long marathon will feature 14 classic Levine performances, hand-picked by the maestro himself, beginning on Saturday, June 22 and continuing through midnight on Levine's birthday, Sunday, June 23. The first broadcast, at 6 a.m. Saturday, will be a 1991 performance of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera starring Luciano Pavarotti; the celebration will conclude at 12 a.m. on Monday, June 24 with a 1994 performance of Verdi's rarely heard Stiffelio, starring Placido Domingo in the title role. Complete details, including complete casting and original broadcast dates for all 14 performances, are below.

The regular season just ended for the Metropolitan Opera--all that's left is a series of HD rebroadcasts on Lincoln Center Plaza and a couple of low profile concerts in New York City parks--and it's time for a look back at what kind of season it was. With seven new productions and 21 other operas in rep during a season that ran from the end of September to mid-May, the Met was nothing if not far-reaching in its repertoire. And that's the way it should be. But how did its ambitions work out?

Today, the St. Louis Symphony announced its 2013-2014 season, the orchestra's 134th since its founding in 1880 and the ninth led by Music Director David Robertson. The 2013-2014 classical subscription series is sponsored by Wells Fargo Advisors and runs from September 20, 2013 through May 11, 2014.

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) welcomes alumnus Jesse Blumberg, baritone (MM, '03), and renowned collaborative pianist Martin Katz for free performances of Franz Schubert's two great Lieder cycles this February.

I missed the debut and broadcast of Andre Previn's operatic setting of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" from the San Francisco Opera back in 1998. But I can't say that anything I've read would compel me choose it over a couple of hours with Brando and Leigh on TCM or even a less than stellar [Stella?] production of the play. The fact is, how can Previn's score compare with the music of Williams?

The Met's popular Summer HD Festival returns for its fourth year on August 25, with ten free outdoor screenings of acclaimed performances from the Met's award-winning Live in HD series. The festival, which more than 40,000 people attended last year, kicks off with a screening of the Met's recent world premiere hit The Enchanted Island, a Baroque pastiche which stars David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato, and Placido Domingo.

The editors of Opera News have announced the honorees for the 2012 Opera News Awards, paying tribute to five superb artists who have made an invaluable contribution to the art form: sopranos Mirella Freni and Dawn Upshaw, countertenor David Daniels, baritone Simon Keenlyside, and bass-baritone Eric Owens. The eighth annual Opera News Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, April 21 at The Plaza in New York City. All the winners - and a host of the city's cultural, civic, and social luminaries - will be present at the gala awards dinner, which will feature celebrity presenters speaking about the awardees and introducing video performance clips.

The following casting changes and additions have been made to the Met's 2012-13 season.

Christopher Feigum will sing the role of Jaroslav Prus in tomorrow's (May 5) matinee performance of Jananek's The Makropulos Case, replacing Johan Reuter, who is ill.

Roger Pines, dramaturg of Lyric Opera of Chicago, makes a return appearance as a panelist on the Metropolitan Opera broadcast's celebrated Opera Quiz today, May 5 - the final live radio broadcast of the Met's 2011-12 season. The radio broadcast of Jananek's The Makropulos Case begins at 11:30 a.m. CDT and is carried locally on 98.7WMFT and www.wfmt.com

Roger Pines, dramaturg of Lyric Opera of Chicago, will make a return appearance as a panelist on the Metropolitan Opera broadcast's celebratedOpera Quiz on Saturday, May 5 - the final live radio broadcast of the Met's 2011-12 season. The radio broadcast of Jana?ek's The Makropulos Case begins at 11:30 a.m. CDT and is carried locally on 98.7WMFT and www.wfmt.com

Christopher Feigum will make his Met debut as Jaroslav Prus in this evening's performance of Janacek's The Makropulos Case, replacing Johan Reuter, who is ill.

Today, April 29, the seventh annual Opera News Awards will be presented at a gala celebration in the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza in New York City, paying tribute to five extraordinary artists who have made an invaluable contribution to the art form: sopranos Karita Mattila and Anja Silja, baritones Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Peter Mattei, and director Peter Sellars. Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, who sings Fricka in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Wagner's Ring, will host the awards. Among the special guests for this year's festivities are conductor James Conlon (a 2005 Opera News Award-winner), who will present the award to Ms. Silja; legendary baritone (and 2008 Opera News Award-winner) Sherrill Milnes, who will present the award to Mr. Hvorostovsky; bass-baritone Eric Owens, another star of the Met's Ring, who will present to Mr. Sellars; Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, who will present to Ms. Mattila; and soprano Deborah Voigt, a 2007 Opera News Award-winner and the Met's current Brunnhilde, who will present the award to Mr. Mattei. The guest list will also include Her Royal Highness Princess Madeleine of Sweden, who will attend to watch her countryman, Peter Mattei, be honored. Her Excellency, Ambassador Ritva Jolkkonen, Consul General of Finland in New York, will also be a guest at the festivities, honoring Ms. Mattila.

Richard Leech will make his Met role debut as Albert Gregor in this season's performances of Janaek's The Makropulos Case, replacing Kurt Streit, who has withdrawn due to illness. The Makropulos Case opens tonight April 27 and will also be performed on May 1, 5 matinee, 8, and 11.

Karita Mattila will make her Met role debut as the enigmatic Emilia Marty in Janacek's supernatural thriller The Makropulos Case, opening tonight, April 27 for its first Met revival in more than a decade.

Richard Leech will make his Met role debut as Albert Gregor in this season's performances of Jana?ek's The Makropulos Case, replacing Kurt Streit, who has withdrawn due to illness. The Makropulos Case opens April 27 and will also be performed on May 1, 5 matinee, 8, and 11.

Karita Mattila will make her Met role debut as the enigmatic Emilia Marty in Janacek's supernatural thriller The Makropulos Case, opening April 27 for its first Met revival in more than a decade.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic devotes a week to celebrating Franz Schubert's contributions to symphonic, chamber and vocal music with Sublime Schubert, presenting performances beginning Monday, April 16 and ending Sunday, April 22, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.