Nadine Sierra News

Festival Napa Valley, recognized for transforming California Wine Country into a cultural destination, announces its 2020 summer season, July 17a?" 26. The Festival's 15th anniversary will be commemorated with more than 40 concerts and events in an inspiring season of reflection, celebration and enthusiasm for the years to come. 

After a months-long series of competitions at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of expert judges named five singers as the winners of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $20,000 cash prizea?"up from $15,000, the first increase since 1998a?"and the prestige and exposure that come with winning the competition that launched the careers of many of opera's biggest stars.

Following yesterday's semi-final competition, nine young singers have advanced to the final round of the Metropolitan Opera's 2020 National Council Auditions. In the public concert, finalists perform on the Met stage Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m., for an audience of judges, agents, industry leaders, and the general public (in the auditorium and live on the radio). The finalists, chosen by a panel of opera administrators from the Met and other companies, each perform two arias with the Met Orchestra conducted by Bertrand de Billy. Prize money will increase for the first time in 20 years, with the winners receiving individual cash prizes of $20,000 (previously $15,000), and the prestigious and potentially career-launching title of National Council Auditions Winner. The remaining finalists receive $10,000 (previously $7,500).

The 23 young opera singers who have won regional auditions around the United States will compete in the semifinal round of the country's leading vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, on Monday, February 24. The closed semifinal competition, held on the Met stage before a panel of judges, will determine the select group of finalists who will advance to the final round of the competition-the Grand Finals, which is open to the public and will be held on the Met stage on Sunday, March 1.

Today, the Metropolitan Opera announced its 2020-21 season, the first in which Yannick Nézet-Séguin assumes his full breadth of musical duties as the company's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, conducting six productions. His schedule includes the Met premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, the first contemporary opera conducted by the maestro on the Met stage, as part of his ongoing commitment to opera of our time at the Met, which will expand in the seasons to come.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, will present Lincoln Center Theater: Intimate Apparel by Ricky Ian Gordon and Lynn Nottage with Bartlett Sher on Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 7:30pm.

The National Society of Arts and Letters Florida East Coast Chapter recently unveiled their new website (www.nsalfloridaeast.org) featuring the 2020 competition and scholarship applications. This year's key National competition is in musical theatre and local applicants can apply now for a chance to win $2,000 plus an all-expense paid trip to Chicago to compete for a $15,000 first prize. Additionally, applications are now open for a Piano and Strings Duo competition along with the Naomi Rabb Winston 2-D Art Scholarship and the Shirley Rabb Winston Classical Voice scholarship. All criteria, rules and application deadlines are on the website.

I admit this is an absolutely personal, totally one-sided view of what gave one man opera thrills last year and what I will look back on with delight. Some are old works, some are new, some are individual performers, some are ensembles, some are complete productions, some are merely the highlight of an evening, most are domestic, a few are foreign. In any case, as the new decade begins, I recall that these are the vocal highlights that made my heart beat a little faster and made me look forward to the year ahead.

As a reviewer you hear lots of advance hype about a particular show or performer before having your own experience. Much of the time the hype doesn't live up to the end product. Selling over 90 million recordings opera singer Andrea Bocelli was definitely one of those performers who I had heard a lot about before seeing him perform live at Capital One Arena. I of course was familiar with some of his recordings but nothing prepared me for what I was about to witness. Here is a case where the hype not only lived up to the end product it exceeded it at least twenty fold. Bocelli stepped out onstage and flat out held around 20,000 concertgoers spellbound with his ringing tenor in a concert that included some of the most beautiful arias ever written.

What: Houston Grand Opera and world-renowned tenor Lawrence Brownlee bring together international stars J'Nai Bridges, Nicole Heaston, Reginald Smith Jr., Russell Thomas, Nicholas Newton and Kevin Miller (piano) for a one-night only concert event. 'Giving Voice: Lawrence Brownlee and Friends Sing Opera, Gospel, and Standards' was created to celebrate Houston's diverse community and showcases the power of voice and song. The intimate evening was the brainchild of Brownlee and Houston Grand Opera is proud to support this initiative. During the concert, audiences will be treated to a program that ranges from opera classics, to spirituals, gospel, and standards. All concert guests will be invited to mix and mingle with the artists following the performance.

Young People's Chorus of New York City® (YPC) celebrates the holidays with a variety of performances citywide, including the annual YPC Winter Wonder concert, a New York holiday tradition beloved by families across the city. Led by YPC Founder / Artistic Director Francisco J. Núñez and Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Núñez, this year's Winter Wonder concert takes place at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall on Sunday, December 8, at 4:00 p.m. and features Metropolitan Opera star Nadine Sierra and dramatic baritone Lester Lynch.

The New School announced today that acclaimed percussionist, Ian Rosenbaum, has joined the faculty of Mannes School of Music.

The New School announced today that acclaimed bassoonist, Rebekah Heller, has joined the faculty of Mannes School of Music.

On Wednesday, December 4, at 8:00 pm, let yourself be enchanted by the mesmerizing artistry of world-renowned tenor Michael Fabiano and participate in the launch of a new initiative at Merkin Hall. Classical Vocal Arts (CVA) International inaugurates its series with 'A Passion for Song,' a Benefit Program that includes works by Duparc, Liszt, Barber, Tchaikovsky, and selections from the American Songbook. Michael will be joined by members of the ArtSmart program and will be accompanied by pianist Kamal Khan.

San Francisco Opera today announced a cast change for Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette), which opens the Company's 97th season on September 6, 2019 and runs for seven performances through October 1 at the War Memorial Opera House. Samoan-born New Zealand tenor Pene Pati, originally scheduled to sing Romeo on October 1, will perform the role in all performances, replacing Bryan Hymel who has withdrawn for personal reasons.

San Francisco Opera inaugurates its 97th season on Friday, September 6 with Charles Gounod's romantic Romeo and Juliet (Roméo et Juliette) and two season-opening benefit eventsa?"Opera Ball 2019: The Capulets' Masked Ball and BRAVO! CLUB's Opening Night Gala. The Company's opening weekend also includes Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd in director Michael Grandage's acclaimed production opening on September 7; and on September 8 San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park, the annual free concert tradition celebrating the opening of the opera season.

San Francisco's acclaimed Merola Opera Program wraps up its Summer Festival with the Merola Grand Finale, a concert at the War Memorial Opera House featuring the 29 young international artists selected from over 800 applicants in the 2019 Merola Opera Program, who will showcase a dazzling array of opera's most exciting arias and ensembles. Conducted by Maestro George Manahan, Music Director of the American Composers Orchestra and Portland Opera, and directed by 2019 Merola Apprentice Stage Director Greg Eldridge, this evening showcases the hard work and extraordinary talent of the Merola artists. The Merola Grand Finale will be performed at 7:30pm, Saturday, August 17 at the War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. For tickets or more information, visit www.merola.org or call (415) 864-3330.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation presents one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, the 2019 Richard Tucker Gala, on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at 6:00pm in Stern Auditorium Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.

Single (non-subscription) tickets for San Francisco Opera's 2019 Fall Season at the War Memorial Opera House are now available for purchase online at sfopera.com, in-person at the San Francisco Opera Box Office and by phone at (415) 864-3330. Tickets are also available for Full, Half and Design Your Own Flexible Series subscription packages, special events such as Opera Ball 2019, the San Francisco Opera Chorus in concert at the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater and The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Concert at Herbst Theatre.

San Francisco Opera Guild launched its 80th season celebrations on Thursday, May 16, with Marchesa, a fashion show featuring the Marchesa Fall 2019 collection, at Neiman Marcus Union Square in San Francisco. A prominent event of the new anniversary season will be Opera Ball, one of the premier philanthropic events on the West Coast. Presented in partnership with San Francisco Opera, Opera Ball 2019: The Capulets' Masked Ball will celebrate the opening of San Francisco Opera's 97th Season on September 6 with a festive evening featuring dinner, a masquerade ball and the opening night performance of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet. The co-chairs for Opera Ball 2019 are Elizabeth Birka-White and Jane Mudge. Honorary chairs for the event are John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn and Diane B. Wilsey.