A deal with the devil is struck with powerful results in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele, with performances November 8 to December 1, 2018. Starring in the diabolical title role is 2018 Richard Tucker Award winner Christian Van Horn, who joins recent Tucker Award winners Angela Meade as the love interest Margherita and Michael Fabiano as the bargain-making Faust. Rounding out the cast is Jennifer Check as Helen of Troy. Not seen on the Met stage in nearly 20 years, Robert Carsen's production is conducted by Carlo Rizzi and Joseph Colaneri.
Sometimes, it's nice to remember a time when opera was all about wonderful singing, singing and more singing. Sunday's annual concert of the Richard Tucker Foundation--celebrating the current winner of its top prize, bass-baritone Christian Van Horn--was a great salute to this artist in particular but to the form in general. And the presence of opera-loving Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—still doing her best to keep the flame at 85--was the cherry on the sundae.
On Sunday, October 21, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert - one of the most highly anticipated operatic events of the season - will bring a galaxy of opera stars to the stage of Carnegie Hall. And opera-lovers around the world unable to make it in person will still have the opportunity to watch the performance live. Thanks to the foundation's partnership with medici.tv, the gala concert will be webcast live (6pm ET/3pm PT), free of charge, both on medici.tv and on medici.tv's Facebook page; the stream will subsequently be available for on-demand viewing for a limited period. In addition, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation continues its collaboration with WQXR 105.9 FM, New York's sole dedicated classical radio station, which will broadcast the performance to listeners in the New York metropolitan region and online at www.wqxr.org on November 10 at 1pm ET/10am PT.
Lyric Opera of Chicago's new coproduction of Puccini's La boheme opens the company's 64th season tomorrow -- Saturday, October 6, at 6:30pm. There are five performances through October 20 and six additional performance Jan. 10-25 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. Tickets start at $49 and are available now at lyricopera.org/Boheme or at 312-827-5600.
Young opera singers from across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and for the first time, Mexico, will compete for $15,000 cash prizes and the opportunity to launch major operatic careers, when the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions launches its 65th annual auditions program this fall. Over 1,000 singers between the ages of 20 and 30 will participate in the program, the longest-running singing competition in the country. Finalists will perform on the stage of the Met at the Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 31, 2019.
The Harris Theater for Music and Dance announces the return of Beyond the Aria for five performances in the 2018-19 season. Produced by the Harris Theater in association with Lyric Opera of Chicago, this unparalleled series brings opera luminaries to the Pritzker Pavilion stage in intimate, cabaret-style performances with repertoire hand-picked by the artists and spectacular evening views of Millennium Park.
Back home at Carnegie Hall for the third year running, the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert, one of the most highly anticipated operatic events of the season, will take place on Sunday, October 21.
Puccini's La Bohème, the most-performed opera in Met history, returns to the repertory in the opening week of the 2018-19 season, with 11 performances of Franco Zeffirelli's beloved production from September 25. Initial performances feature three much anticipated Met debuts
Metropolitan Maestro
Carlo Rizzi's 2018-19 season includes Tosca and Mefistofele at the Met, Falstaff in Tokyo, a new production of Un ballo in maschera at Welsh National Opera and symphonic concerts in Japan, Italy and Spain
Tickets go on sale today for the Met's Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning Live in HD series' 2017-18 season, which begins on October 7 with the company's new production of Bellini's Norma.
Advance tickets go on sale today for the Richard Tucker Music Foundation's annual gala concert, one of the most highly anticipated operatic events of the season. Coming to Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage on Sunday, October 21 at 6pm, the concert features bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, winner of the 2018 Richard Tucker Award, with a host of opera luminaries from around the world: soprano Anna Netrebko, tenors Javier Camarena and Yusif Eyvazov, and five past Tucker Award-winners: sopranos Christine Goerke, Angela Meade, and Nadine Sierra; mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe; and tenor Michael Fabiano. This starry lineup will join forces for an evening of favorite arias and ensembles under the baton of Marco Armiliato, with the support of the New York Choral Society and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The gala concert is presented by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation.
Season 12 of Great Performances at the Met continues Sunday, May 20 on PBS (check local listings) with one of the world's most popular operas, Puccini's La Bohème, starring Sonya Yoncheva as the fragile Mimì and Michael Fabiano as the poet Rodolfo.
Donizetti's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR--the story of a fragile young woman, Lucia, who's caught in a feud involving her family, the Ashtons, and the Ravenswoods--is one of the mainstays of the repertoire at major opera houses around the world, famed particularly for its mad scene. It's long been a favorite at the Met, with the current performances the third cast of the season, starring soprano Pretty Yende, tenor Michael Fabiano and baritone Quinn Kelsey.
BroadwayWorld has an inside look at Lucia di Lammermoor at The Met! Check out the video below where soprano Pretty Yende and glass harmonica player Friedrich Heinrich Kern rehearse the mad scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
Placido Domingo, LA Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad General Director, has announced final details about the company's spring presentation of Rigoletto, the classic tragedy by Giuseppe Verdi.
Soprano Nadine Sierra has been named the winner of the 13th annual Beverly Sills Artist Award for young singers at the Metropolitan Opera. The $50,000 award, the largest of its kind in the United States, is given to extraordinarily gifted singers between the ages of 25 and 40 who have already appeared in featured solo roles at the Met. The award, given in honor of Beverly Sills, was established in 2006 by an endowment gift from the late Agnes Varis, a managing director on the Met board. In 2009 Sierra became the youngest ever winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and has gone on to make her mark at the Met with memorable performances in Verdi's Rigoletto, and Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Idomeneo and Don Giovanni. In the Met's 2018-19 season, Sierra will reprise the role of Gilda in Rigoletto.
The role of the fragile title heroine who teeters between love and madness is shared by sopranos Olga Peretyatko-Mariotti and Pretty Yende, who have each impressed audiences with dazzling bel canto portrayals at the Met. Vittorio Grigolo and Michael Fabiano share the role of her lover in this chilling production by Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman. Roberto Abbado conducts.
With 11 titles set to be broadcast to more than 500 UK cinemas and to another 1,000 in 40 countries across the globe, the Royal Opera House's Live Cinema Season 2018/19 will showcase a wide variety of ballet and opera, including three new works, all relayed live from Covent Garden. The 2018/19 Season will feature the great classic of The Royal Ballet's repertory The Nutcracker and world-renowned opera stars including Michael Fabiano, Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko and Eva-Maria Westbroek among other treats.
