Lianna Haroutounian News

San Francisco Opera's 2016-17 Season continues with ten performances of Giacomo Puccini's heartbreaking drama Madama Butterfly, November 6 through December 4 at the War Memorial Opera House. The cast will feature the much-anticipated American debut of young Italian tenor Vincenzo Costanzo as Lt. B.F. Pinkerton and return of Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian as the tragic heroine, Cio-Cio-San. Jun Kaneko's colorful and compelling production, last seen in San Francisco during the 2013-14 Season, will be directed by Leslie Swackhamer and Maestro Yves Abel conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus.

San Francisco Opera today announced cast updates for the upcoming productions of Leoš Jana?ek's The Makropulos Case and Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly. The role of Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Case will now feature American tenor Charles Workman in his Company debut, replacing Scott Quinn who has withdrawn due to personal reasons. Italian tenor Vincenzo Costanzo will make his United States opera debut as Lt. B. F. Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly in lieu of Maxim Aksenov who has withdrawn for personal reasons.

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.

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced the Company's 2016–17 Season repertory and roster of international guest artists, conductors and creative teams scheduled to appear at the War Memorial Opera House, as well as initial programming for SF Opera Lab 2017 presentations at the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera's Taube Atrium Theater. The Company's 94th Season will also mark Matthew Shilvock's inaugural year as San Francisco Opera's new general director, succeeding his mentor and internationally respected impresario, David Gockley, who will step down on July 31, 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.

Yonghoon Lee will sing the title role in this evening's performance of Verdi's Don Carlo, replacing Ricardo Tamura. As previously scheduled, Lee will sing the role in all remaining Met performances of the opera this season.

Verdi's sweeping historical tragedy Don Carlo will return to the Met stage March 30for an eight-performance revival conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the dynamic maestro who led the 2010 Met premiere ofNicholas Hytner's critically acclaimed production. Yonghoon Lee will reprise his portrayal of the conflicted title hero, withFerruccio Furlanetto as his father and rival, the imposing Philip II; Barbara Frittoli as his lover, Elisabeth de Valois;Ekaterina Gubanova as Elisabeth's tormented lady-in-waiting, Princess Eboli; Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Rodrigo, Don Carlo's friend and ally; and James Morris as the menacing Grand Inquisitor.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Luca Salsi will sing the role of Rodrigo in this season's performances of Verdi's Don Carlo, replacing Simon Keenlyside, who has withdrawn from the run due to illness.

San Francisco Opera presents Puccini's Tosca in five performances October 23-November 8. Italian maestro Riccardo Frizza conducts Puccini's masterful melodrama in which a great singer, a rebellious painter and a corrupt police chief engage in a deadly test of wills.

Opera Australia announces their replacement for Tamar Iveri, the Georgian singer who was fired last week following Facebook comments she made in which she compared homosexuals with 'faecal masses'. Opera Australia, who describes Iveri's views as 'unconscionable, released her from her contract to perform the role of Desdemona in their staging of Otello.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartok's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.