Michele Angelini News

Rossini's madcap comedy is guaranteed to send you out laughing and humming a tune.

The International Opera Awards are pleased to announce the shortlist for this year's Awards. These were selected by the jury chaired by John Allison, editor of Opera magazine and classical music critic with The Daily Telegraph.

MasterVoices, formerly The Collegiate Chorale, was honored at the Martina Arroyo Foundation's11th Annual Gala.MasterVoices was recognized along with American couture designer Joanna Mastroianni and The Michel Maurel award-winner Ernst Rieser. Brian Kellow and Terrance McKnight hosted the gala, with performances by the young artists of Prelude to Performance, Jennifer Rowley, Michele Angelini and Cecilia Violetta Lopez (both featured in the October issue of Opera News), as well as other special guests.

The Glimmerglass Festival, Central New York's opera and musical theater company, has announced its 2016 season.

The Glimmerglass Festival, Central New York's opera and musical theater company, has announced its 2016 season.

Angela Meade – fresh from Metropolitan Opera triumphs as Bellini's Norma and as Alice Ford in Falstaff (the latter seen worldwide in the Met's Live in HD series) – has a busy summer ahead. The soprano, whose honors include the Richard Tucker and Beverly Sills Artist Awards, will perform at festivals across the U.S. from June through August. She launches her summer season as soprano soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Baltimore Symphony under Marin Alsop (June 5-8) before taking on the title role of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia in her return to the Caramoor International Music Festival (July 12, 18). The Washington State native also headlines two festivals in Oregon: she sings Violetta in Verdi's La traviata for the gala opening concert of the Astoria Music Festival (June 14), and the title role of Bellini's Norma for Portland's SummerFest (Aug 8).

Angela Meade – fresh from Metropolitan Opera triumphs as Bellini's Norma and as Alice Ford in Falstaff (the latter seen worldwide in the Met's Live in HD series) – has a busy summer ahead. The soprano, whose honors include the Richard Tucker and Beverly Sills Artist Awards, will perform at festivals across the U.S. from June through August. She launches her summer season as soprano soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Baltimore Symphony under Marin Alsop (June 5-8) before taking on the title role of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia in her return to the Caramoor International Music Festival (July 12, 18). The Washington State native also headlines two festivals in Oregon: she sings Violetta in Verdi's La traviata for the gala opening concert of the Astoria Music Festival (June 14), and the title role of Bellini's Norma for Portland's SummerFest (Aug 8).

In recognition of her outstanding lifetime contribution to American culture, Martina Arroyo was saluted as one of five recipients of this year's Kennedy Center Honors in a star-studded gala celebration held on December 8 that will be broadcast nationwide as a two-hour prime time special on CBS-TV this Sunday, December 29 at 9pm, ET/PT. Seated with President and Mrs. Obama at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as with her fellow honorees (actress Shirley MacLaine and musicians Herbie Hancock, Billy Joel and Carlos Santana), the pre-eminent American soprano was introduced in a speech by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who also narrated a short video about Arroyo. She was then saluted by a musical tribute celebrating her legendary portrayal of the title role in Verdi's Aida. First, Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja performed Radames's aria 'Celeste Aida,' and soprano Sondra Radvanovsky sang Aida's aria 'O patria mia.' Then the two star singers were joined by graduates of the Martina Arroyo Foundation's programs-Ryan Speedo Green, Chantelle Grant, Robert Kerr, and Yuriy Yurchuk-as well as the Army Herald Trumpets and the U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club, to perform the opera's Act II finale.

On Sunday, January 12, 2014, Opera Index will presents its 35th Distinguished Achievement Award to mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias, described as one of the finest singing actresses of our time, at its Winter Gala in the Grand Salon of the JW Marriott Essex House, 160 Central Park South, beginning at 6 p.m. with a reception in the Petit Salon. The three-time Grammy and two-time Emmy Award-winning artist made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1954 and over her half-century-long career, has sung more than 50 roles. Ken Benson, renowned artists manager and longtime Opera Index supporter, will present the award to Ms. Elias.

In recognition of her outstanding lifetime contribution to American culture, Martina Arroyo will be one of five recipients of this year's Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday, December 8 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Seated with President and Mrs. Obama, as well as with her fellow Honorees (actress Shirley MacLaine and musicians Herbie Hancock, Billy Joel, and Carlos Santana), the pre-eminent American soprano will be saluted with performances and tributes during the star-studded gala celebration that will be broadcast nationwide as a two-hour prime time special on CBS-TV (Dec 29 at 9pm, EST). The honor is a fitting one, for Arroyo has devoted herself to opera over the course of a decades-long career. Since retiring from the stage, where her voice was heralded by the New York Times as "among the most glorious in the world," the Harlem-born soprano has continued to serve the art form through the Martina Arroyo Foundation, the non-profit cultural organization she established ten years ago to provide new generations of talented young singers with the tools to pursue careers in opera and prepare them for the stage.

The Atlanta Opera, one of the nation's finest regional opera companies enriching lives through the power of opera, concludes its 2012-2013 season with a production of Gioachino Rossini's The Italian Girl in Algiers. This will be the first time The Atlanta Opera has produced this opera, and it will be presented tonight, April 27, and April 30, May 3 and 5 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

The Atlanta Opera, one of the nation's finest regional opera companies enriching lives through the power of opera, concludes its 2012-2013 season with a production of Gioachino Rossini's The Italian Girl in Algiers. This will be the first time The Atlanta Opera has produced this opera, and it will be presented on April 27 and 30 and May 3 and 5 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

Florida Grand Opera (FGO) continues its season of operatic must-sees in 2013 with two displays of extreme coloratura artistry, showcasing Jeanette Vecchione in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), opening tonight, January 26, and Rachele Gilmore in Bellini's La sonnambula, opening February 9. Each production boasts a remarkable cast of returning fan-favorites and rising stars debuting with the company this season.

Florida Grand Opera (FGO) continues its season of operatic must-sees in 2013 with two displays of extreme coloratura artistry, showcasing Jeanette Vecchione in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), opening January 26, and Rachele Gilmore in Bellini's La sonnambula, opening February 9. Each production boasts a remarkable cast of returning fan-favorites and rising stars debuting with the company this season.

To enrich its immersion in the music of Belle Époque France, Bard SummerScape 2012 presents the first staged revival in the United States of The King in Spite of Himself (Le roi malgré lui) by Emmanuel Chabrier in its original 1887 version.