Liudmyla Monastyrska News

21C Media Group has announced highlights from its 2017-18 selection of opera, vocal and choral music, featuring concerts, special events, broadcasts and recordings. Scroll down for details!

Plácido Domingo returns to the big screen as the title king in Nabucco,

Plácido Domingo returns to the big screen as the title king in Nabucco,

Beginning Today, June 21, the Met will present Summer Encores, featuring select performances from the groundbreaking Live in HD series, in more than 300 movie theaters across the United States. The 2017 Summer Encores series offers screenings of four popular Live in HD transmissions: Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (June 21), Verdi's Macbeth (June 28), Verdi's Nabucco (July 12), and Bizet's Carmen (July 19).

The summer brings encore presentations of some of the most popular Met Operas back to the big screen at The Ridgefield Playhouse as part of Craig's Fine Jewelry Live in HD and Classical Series.  On Friday, June 23 at 6pm, it's the production the New York Times hails as "the sleeper hit of the Metropolitan Opera season with a dream cast -  The Met Opera ENCORE in HD: Les Pecheurs de Perles. 

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) today announced plans for Seeking the Human Spirit (STHS), a six-year multidisciplinary initiative designed to highlight the universal spiritual themes raised in opera and to expand and deepen Houstonians' connections to opera and to art. Launching in the fall of 2017, STHS comprises three mainstage operas each season-one of which will be a new work-united by a single theme, and complementary projects by HGO and partner organizations created to enhance and enrich the community's experience of the themes. Some of these activities will be available to the public; others will offer personal access to opera and HGO artists and staff for groups such as hospital patients, women who are rebuilding their lives after homelessness, and young people pursuing interfaith projects. 

Beginning Wednesday, June 21, the Met will present Summer Encores, featuring select performances from the groundbreaking Live in HD series, in more than 300 movie theaters across the United States. The 2017 Summer Encores series offers screenings of four popular Live in HD transmissions: Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (June 21), Verdi's Macbeth (June 28), Verdi's Nabucco (July 12), and Bizet's Carmen (July 19).

Liudmyla Monastyrska is Abigaille, the warrior woman determined to rule empires, and Jamie Bartonis the heroic Fenena. Russell Thomas is Ismaele, nephew to the King of Jerusalem and Dmitry Belosselskiy is the stentorian voice of the oppressed Hebrew people.

The legendary Plácido Domingo brings another new baritone role to the Met as the title king in Nabucco, under the baton of his longtime collaborator James Levine on GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET Sunday, May 7 at 12 p.m.on PBS (check local listings). (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the opera at 12:30 p.m.)

Houston Grand Opera expands its commitment to broadening the audience for opera with a 2017-18 season that includes the first presentations of Leonard Bernstein's classic musical West Side Story by a major American opera house and the world premiere of composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Royce Vavrek's holiday opera The House without a Christmas Tree. HGO will present its first performances in a quarter century of two iconic works: Richard Strauss's revenge-filled Elektra with virtuoso sopranoChristine Goerke in the tempestuous title role and 2016 Richard Tucker Award-winner and HGO Studio alumna Tamara Wilson in her role debut as Chrysothemis, under the baton of HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers; and Bellini's grand-scale tragedy Norma showcasing the debut of stellar dramatic soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska in the notoriously difficult title role, with 2015 Tucker winner and HGO Studio alumna Jamie Barton as Adalgisa.

Houston Grand Opera expands its commitment to broadening the audience for opera with a 2017-18 season that includes the first presentations of Leonard Bernstein's classic musical West Side Story by a major American opera house and the world premiere of composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Royce Vavrek 's holiday opera The House without a Christmas Tree.

The Ridgefield Playhouse and Craig's Fine Jewelry Live in HD Series presents a live screening of The Met Opera Live in HD: Verdi's Nabucco today, January 7 at 12:55 p.m. 

"Power to the people" could very well be the mantra for the gorgeous opera Nabucco highlighted by the inspiring Va Pensiero chorus sung by the Hebrew slaves as they pray to G-d for their dream to return to their homeland of Jerusalem to take flight. As I sat in the Metropolitan opera house recently, witnessing the opera with several thousand others, I have to believe that there was no one in that audience who was not moved. Nabucco reminds us all that the Bible, like Shakespeare, is timeless. Its lessons span millennia and are repeated over and over again.

The Ridgefield Playhouse and Craig's Fine Jewelry Live in HD Series presents a live screening of The Met Opera Live in HD: Verdi's Nabucco on Saturday, January 7 at 12:55 p.m. 

The Warner Theatre's 2016-17 Met Opera: Live in HD Season continues with Verdi's NABUCCO in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre on Saturday, January 7 at 12:55 pm. A complimentary pre-opera lecture will be offered to all ticketholders in the Nancy Marine Studio Lobby for 45 minutes of pre-opera information and entertainment, 2 hours before broadcast.  Season Subscriptions are still available.  

The Warner Theatre is excited to announce its 2016-17 Met Opera: Live in HD Season, featuring 10 operas, 5 new to the series, and 2 encores, streaming live from the Met. A complimentary pre-opera lecture will be offered to all ticketholders in the Nancy Marine Studio Lobby for 45 minutes of pre-opera information and entertainment, 2 hours before broadcast. Full and Half Season Subscriptions are available.

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.  

Jonas Kaufmann has canceled his performances in this season's new production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut due to illness.

The popular verismo double bill of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci returns to the Met beginning January 21.

Houston, October  6, 2015— Houston Grand Opera (HGO) opens its 2015–16 season October 23 with Puccini's heart-wrenching tale of love and tragedy, Tosca, featuring the reprise of HGO's “gripping” 2010 production and a stellar cast of returning and debut artists. Performances run through November 14.