General Director Plácido Domingo returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage in the final production of LA Opera's 2013/14 season, Jules Massenet's Thaïs,starring soprano Nino Machaidze in the title role. Mr. Domingo will perform the baritone role of Athanaël, a monk whose determination to save the soul of a beautiful courtesan transforms into an unholy obsession. With these performances of Athanaël, Mr. Domingo will have sung 25 leading roles at LA Opera.
General Director Plácido Domingo returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion stage in the final production of LA Opera's 2013/14 season, Jules Massenet's Thaïs,starring soprano Nino Machaidze in the title role. Mr. Domingo will perform the baritone role of Athanaël, a monk whose determination to save the soul of a beautiful courtesan transforms into an unholy obsession. With these performances of Athanaël, Mr. Domingo will have sung 25 leading roles at LA Opera.
Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and President and CEO Deborah Borda today announced the 2014/15 season of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This new season, the orchestra's 96th, is devoted to moving music forward by presenting an ever-evolving vision through a series of programs that demonstrate the artistry of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as a leading orchestra of the 21st century, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.
Aspiring opera singers from the Gulf Coast will once again vie for the national spotlight during the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council District and Regional Auditions today, Jan. 11 and Sunday, Jan. 12 at Loyola University New Orleans. The winner of the regional auditions will advance to the national semi-final round, held Sunday, March 23 on the Metropolitan Opera Stage in New York City. The singers who advance to the finals Sunday, March 30 will be accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Aspiring opera singers from the Gulf Coast will once again vie for the national spotlight during the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council District and Regional Auditions Saturday, Jan. 11 and Sunday, Jan. 12 at Loyola University New Orleans. The winner of the regional auditions will advance to the national semi-final round, held Sunday, March 23 on the Metropolitan Opera Stage in New York City. The singers who advance to the finals Sunday, March 30 will be accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Only the greatest opera companies in the world have the resources and orchestral forces to mount the massive and complex masterpieces of Richard Wagner. This month Lyric Opera of Chicago is doing just that with a new production of the German composer's final masterpiece, Parsifal.
Only the greatest opera companies in the world have the resources and orchestral forces to mount the massive and complex masterpieces of Richard Wagner. In November Lyric Opera of Chicago will do just that with a new production of the German composer's final masterpiece, Parsifal.
November sees Thomas Hampson - a recent inductee into the Gramophone Hall of Fame - return to Lyric Opera of Chicago to help celebrate the Wagner bicentennial, singing Amfortas in the company's new production of Parsifal (Nov 9-29). Wagner's conflicted ruler is one of the baritone's signature roles, and earlier this month he joined Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony for a concert rendition of the opera's final act. The results, according to the Washington Times, were a 'revelation.' Awarding the concert full marks, the review singled out Hampson's performance as 'genuinely electrifying, yet moving at the same time.' Similarly, while impressed by the concert as a whole, the Washington Post nonetheless felt that 'it was Thomas Hampson's Amfortas who showed everyone how it is done. ... He effectively carried the end of the evening.' The Washington Times spoke for many in concluding: 'We can confidently assure Lyric Opera patrons that their Amfortas will not disappoint.'
OPERATHON 2013, Lyric Opera of Chicago's annual live-radio marathon fundraiser on 98.7WFMT, celebrated its 34th anniversary by raising $501,036 during its 16-hour broadcast on Saturday, October 19, exceeding the $500,000 goal.
Only the greatest opera companies in the world have the resources and orchestral forces to mount the massive and complex masterpieces of Richard Wagner. In November Lyric Opera of Chicago will do just that with a new production of the German composer's final masterpiece, Parsifal.
On Monday, November 11, the Metropolitan Opera Guild's 79th Annual Luncheon presents "Welcome Home, Jimmy!" to salute music directorJames Levine on his triumphant return to the Met podium. A perennial highlight of the opera season, the luncheon will bring together a host of artists who have collaborated with the preeminent conductor over the course of his long and celebrated Met tenure, as well as opera fans and an array of New York's society, business, and civic leaders. "Welcome Home, Jimmy!" will feature musical tributes by Dolora Zajick, "a mezzo in a class by herself" (New York Times); Thomas Hampson, "America's foremost baritone" (International Herald Tribune); and Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone Eric Owens, all accompanied by the Met's Director of Music Administration, Craig Rutenberg. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Guild's education programs in New York City and throughout the country.
Great Performances presents the New York Philharmonic's concert staging of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical Company with an all-star cast including (in alphabetical order) Craig Bierko (as Peter), Stephen Colbert (as Harry), Jon Cryer (as David), Katie Finneran (as Amy), Neil Patrick Harris (as Robert), Christina Hendricks (as April), Adam Lazar (as Paul), Patti LuPone (as Joanne), Jill Paice (as Susan), Martha Plimpton (as Sarah), Anika Noni Rose (as Marta), Jennifer Laura Thompson (as Jenny), Jim Walton (as Larry), and Chryssie Whitehead (as Kathy).
The October broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week — the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin — begin with two programs featuring The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Yefim Bronfman. In the first, Lorin Maazel leads Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Mr. Bronfman as soloist, and Sibelius's Symphony No. 2. The following week Music Director Alan Gilbert conducts Ravel's Alborada del gracioso; Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story; and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, again with Mr. Bronfman as soloist.
Last heard at the Proms in 1977, The Midsummer Marriage is Tippett's answer to Mozart's The Magic Flute, an opera rich in symbolism and psychology, trials and transformations. Paul Groves and Erin Wall are Mark and Jenifer, Ailish Tynan and Allan Clayton, Bella and Jack, two couples tested by a series of supernatural interventions on the shortest night of the year.
The Hallé Orchestra and conductor Sir Mark Elder's “magnificent” (Financial Times) new recording of Elgar's oratorio The Apostles, a retelling of Christ's Passion from the viewpoint of His followers, arrives at last in North America, following a cluster of superlative reviews in the UK. The Sunday Telegraph declares it a performance of “such insight, splendour and breadth of interpretive vision that one can't imagine it being surpassed” while Gramophone insists, “a set absolutely not to be missed.” The live performance, recorded in Manchester's Bridgewater Hall in 2012, appears on the orchestra's own Hallé label on 2 CDs, available now from Allegro Classical.
Mezzo-soprano El?na Garan?a makes her New York recital debut in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with pianist Kevin Murphy on Saturday, April 6 at 7:00 p.m. The program features lieder by Robert Schumann, Alban Berg, and Richard Strauss, including Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben and Berg's 'Sieben fruhe Lieder.' Complete program details are below.
Lyric Opera of Chicago and its general director, Anthony Freud, announced the lineup for Lyric's 2013-14 season today. Joseph Calleja, Joyce DiDonato, Nathan Gunn, Thomas Hampson, Ana Maria Martinez, Matthew Polenzani, and Patricia Racette are among those headlining the new season's offerings. These comprise 67 performances of eight different operas, beginning October 5, 2013 and concluding March 23, 2014: new productions of Parsifal, La traviata, The Barber of Seville, and Rusalka (Lyric premiere); a revival of Otello; and new-to-Chicago stagings of Madama Butterfly, Die Fledermaus, and La clemenza di Tito. Lyric's music director, Sir Andrew Davis, will lead three operas, and guest conductors Marco Armiliato, Bertrand de Billy and Michele Mariotti will make their house debuts. Additionally, Lyric will present a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music in the spring of 2014, continuing the company's American Musical Theater Initiative, and Davis will conduct a special Subscriber Appreciation Concert in March featuring Lyric's creative consultant - the star soprano Renee Fleming - with tenor Jonas Kaufmann.
