Richard Leech News

The New Orleans Opera Association has sadly announced the passing of its General and Artistic Director Emeritus Robert Lyall. Maestro Lyall fought his battle of cancer from his diagnosis in April 2023 until his death on Friday, January 5, 2024.

Experience the comedic satire and beautiful melodic themes of Mason Opera's 'An Evening of Gilbert & Sullivan' at the Hylton Center.

This announcement follows news of Fleming’s nomination last week for a 2023 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album, for her previous Decca release Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene, and it comes as Fleming takes the stage at the Met again tonight (November 22) in the star-studded world premiere production of Kevin Puts's opera The Hours.

San Diego Opera has announced that San Diego Opera board member for the past 28 years, and Opera Ball Chair for the past two, Sarah Brenda Marsh-Rebelo, affectionately known to her friends as Sarah B., has been named Honorary Life Director of the San Diego Opera. This marks only the seventh Life Director honor that the Company has bestowed in its 55-year history which was voted on unanimously at a board meeting on Monday, January 27, 2020.

Tenor Carl Tanner is in San Diego to sing Radames, the lead male role in Verdi's Aida, a role he's already sung 145 times before. We met to discuss his background and career just before he was due at a rehearsal. Tanner's is the most unlikely tenor in the history of opera.

The Pompano Beach Cultural Center is proud to host a dazzling evening of entertainment to benefit Insight for the Blind.  Broadway Live! directed by Shari Upbin, features an all-star cast performing beloved tunes from the Great White Way.

Michigan Opera Theatre (MOT) is adding Michael Ching's a?oeBuoso's Ghosta?? as a second opera to its a?oeGianni Schicchia?? performances Feb. 29 a?" March 1. The work is a sequel to Giacomo Puccini's a?oeGianni Schicchi,a?? often nicknamed the a?oeSchiquel.a?? Both works are one-act comedies and will be performed by the resident artists of the Michigan Opera Theatre Studio. a?oeBuoso's Ghosta?? premiered in 1996 in Pittsburgh, 78 years after its predecessor.

Michigan Opera Theatre is pleased to announce the 2018-2019 Michigan Opera Theatre Studio Artists. The roster includes the return of tenor Michael Day and baritone Harry Greenleaf. Joining them are soprano Cheyanne Coss, mezzo-soprano Katherine DeYoung and bass Allen Michael Jones.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, announces its 2017 2018 season of Onstage at the Opera Center, which begins on Thursday, October 5, 2017, and runs through May 2018.

Michigan Opera Theatre is pleased to announce the 2017-2018 Michigan Opera Theatre Studio Artists. The roster includes tenor, Michael Day; soprano, Monica Dewey; baritone, Harry Greenleaf; bass-baritone, Erik Van Heyningen; and returning Studio Artist mezzo-soprano, Briana Elyse Hunter.

The Martina Arroyo Foundation's 12th Annual Fundraising Gala, a celebration of Prelude to Performance, Role Class and Outreach Programs, will be held on Monday, November 7, 2016 beginning with a cocktail hour and silent auction at 6:30pm in the Grand Salon of the JW Marriott Essex House,160 Central Park South, NYC.

The Martina Arroyo Foundation's 12th Annual Fundraising Gala, a celebration of Prelude to Performance, Role Class and Outreach Programs, will be held on Monday, November 7, 2016 beginning with a cocktail hour and silent auction at 6:30pm in the Grand Salon of the JW Marriott Essex House, 160 Central Park South, NYC.

Bay Street Theater in collaboration with Divaria Productions and Spanish opera company Rioja Lirica will present Donizetti's classic comedic masterpiece, DON PASQUALE.   

In celebration of the Robert Shaw centenary, the GRAMMY Award-winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is issuing its historic live recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, recorded in a single concert with Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce Donizetti's Classic Comedic Masterpiece, Don Pasquale, a night of Opera on Saturday, April 16 at 8 pm. Tickets are $25 side section, $35 middle section, $50 premium and available online at www.baystreet.org or by calling the Bay Street Theater Box Office at 631-725-9500, open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 5 pm.

Alan Gilbert will conduct the New York Philharmonic in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, featuring baritone Thomas Hampson and tenor Stefan Vinke, in his Philharmonic debut, and Sibelius's Symphony No. 7, Wednesday, April 20, 2016, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, April 22 at 11:00 a.m.

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.

On Friday, November 21, the Metropolitan Opera Guild's 80th Annual Luncheon presents "Brava, Jessye!" to salute the legendary Jessye Norman, who recently wrote about her life in a memoir titled Stand Up Straight and Sing!

Richard Leech will make his Met role debut as Albert Gregor in this season's performances of Janaek's The Makropulos Case, replacing Kurt Streit, who has withdrawn due to illness. The Makropulos Case opens tonight April 27 and will also be performed on May 1, 5 matinee, 8, and 11.