Maria Agresta News

Roberto Aronica will sing the role of Don Jose in the February 18 performance of Bizet's Carmen, replacing the originally scheduled Marcelo Álvarez, who is ill.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2017-18 season will feature 220 performances of 26 works, including two Met premieres, one co-commissioned by the company and one an older masterpiece having its first Met performances; a variety of repertory favorites, three in new productions; and performances of Verdi's towering concert work for soloists, orchestra, and chorus, the Requiem. Of note, Broadway star Kelli O'Hara is set to return to the Met in Così fan tutte this season.

Roberto Aronica will sing the role of Don Jose in the February 15 performance of Bizet's Carmen, replacing the originally scheduled Marcelo Álvarez, who is ill.

 A season of superb music and spectacle is now on sale to Lyric subscribers - including three new mainstage opera productions, three new-to-Chicago opera productions, one new musical production, and one new-to-Chicago chamber opera production.

Rafael Davila will sing the role of Don Jose in the January 31 and February 3 performances of Bizet's Carmen, replacing the originally scheduled Marcelo Álvarez, who is ill.

It's that time of the year again, when the flu season gives artistic administrators big headaches, trying to fill in the blanks when a headliner calls in sick. CARMEN's been a particular headache, with mezzo Sophie Koch out of action in the title role after rehearsals had started. Luckily, Clementine Margaine--scheduled for the second cast--was able to step into her flamenco shoes for the first night--and all to follow--doing a bang-up job.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced plans for the 2017-18 repertory season. The Company's 95th season will open Friday, September 8 with a gala performance of Giacomo Puccini'sTurandot led by Maestro Luisotti and an international cast starring Martina Serafin, Maria Agresta and Brian Jagde.

41 days ago Haydn's Die Schöpfung was performed at the Großes Festspielhaus, opening the Ouverture spirituelle and thus the 2016 Salzburg Festival.

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.  

Sometimes, the Metropolitan Opera seems like an endless Puccini festival. It's particularly apparent this season, when top dogs LA BOHEME, TOSCA and MADAMA BUTTERFLY are joined by TURANDOT and MANON LESCAUT, which are not second drawer, though certainly less popular than the first three. (Let's see how that descriptor applies to the latter when Jonas Kaufmann steps on stage for the new production of LESCAUT.)

New York, NY (November 11, 2015) – Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history, returns to the Met stage on Monday, November 23 for the first of seventeen performances throughout the season. The November and December performances, conducted by Paolo Carignani,will star Barbara Frittoli and Ramón Vargas as the lovers Mimì and Rodolfo, opposite American soprano Ana María Martínez as the spitfire Musetta in her first Met performances since 2005. Romanian baritone Levente Molnár makes his Met debut as the painter Marcello, with Alexey Lavrov as Schaunard, Christian Van Horn as Colline, and John Del Carlo as Benoit and Alcindoro. 

The New Year finds Grammy and ECHO Klassik Award-winner Fabio Luisi back at the helm of the Zurich Opera.

The Dallas Opera, in the latest installment of The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series, will present the phenomenal American tenor,Matthew Polenzani, in an exclusive, one-time-only recital on the afternoon of Sunday, January 11, 2015 at Southern Methodist University's popular Caruth Auditorium (an intimate 490-seat venue located in the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop, Dallas, TX 75205). The two o'clock recital will also feature the exciting and accomplished playing of Mr. Polenzani's frequent recording partner, pianistJulius Drake.

The third week of the 2013 Mostly Mozart Festival continues with opera performances, both classic and contemporary. Following their acclaimed 2011 Festival production of Don Giovanni, the Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO) returns to Mostly Mozart with a new production of Mozart's masterwork comic opera Le nozze di Figaro. The final two Festival performances of this great work take place at the Rose Theater in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall at the Time Warner Center tonight, August 13 and August 15, each at 7pm.

The third week of the 2013 Mostly Mozart Festival continues with opera performances, both classic and contemporary. Following their acclaimed 2011 Festival production of Don Giovanni, the Budapest Festival Orchestra (BFO) returns to Mostly Mozart with a new production of Mozart's masterwork comic opera Le nozze di Figaro. The final two Festival performances of this great work take place at the Rose Theater in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall at the Time Warner Center on August 13 and 15, each at 7pm.