Richard Tucker News

On November 17th, Opera San Jose's 35th season continues with Leoncavallo's tragedy Pagliacci.

Lyric Opera of Chicago is pleased to announce the participation of several outstanding singers in the Renee Fleming 25th Anniversary Concert & Gala*, to honor and celebrate American soprano Renee Fleming's extraordinary commitment to Chicago and her unparalleled contributions to our art form.

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.

The Verdi Chorus 35th anniversary season culminates with its Fall 2018 concert Passione! Opera! for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 10 and 11 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum. As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, this program, which marks the end of a landmark year for the company, will feature selections from three Verdi operas - Aida, Don Carlo, and the famed chorus "Va, pensiero," from Nabucco, as well as operatic sequences from Boito's Mefistofele, Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, Catalani's La Wally and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage's 2018-19 Celebrity Opera Series continues -Placido Domingo with soprano Ailyn Perez on Tuesday, May 14 at 7:30pm.  Eugene Kohn conducts the orchestra.

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.

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts announced today that Kim Pensinger Witman, Vice President of Opera and Classical Programming, has announced her intention to retire in February 2019  after 22 years of leading Wolf Trap's nationally renowned opera and classical music programs. Witman will be succeeded in the role by Lee Anne Myslewski, who has served Wolf Trap since 2006 as Director, Artistic Administration.

Tony Lo Bianco, Lee Roy Reams and Steven Maglio headline a special Veterans Day concert celebrating members of the armed forces and their families at The Triad, 158 West 72nd Street, on Saturday November 10 at 3pm. Hosted by co-producer Randie Levine-Miller, "Galaxy of Stars" will donate 100% of its proceeds to the Vetwell Project of Operation Warrior Shield, whose primary mission is to provide support programs for veterans and first responders focusing on "healing the hidden wounds of war." For tickets call 212-279-4200 or visit www.triadnyc.com

Monday evening, November 12, 2018, 8 p.m., The New York Choral Society and Orchestra (NYCHORAL) will present its first program of the season, MY SHADOW AND MY LIGHT, under the baton of Music Director David Hayes at the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall. In honor of Veterans Day and in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, Maestro Hayes has chosen a program that explores how three early 20th-century composers, two British and one American, created works expressing their deeply personal reactions to these profound moments in human history.

Whether from disease, 19th century #MeToo-style abuse, or unrequited love, Opera Philadelphia's (OP) Festival O18 opening weekend showed us three ways that central female characters lost their grip on reality. While I considered only one of them a total success, audience openness to sometimes-demanding material made it clear that the company has found a formula that strikes at the hearts of opera-goers, new and old.

The Verdi Chorus 35th anniversary season culminates with its Fall 2018 concert Passione! Opera! for two performances only at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica on November 10 and 11 led by Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum.   As the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus, this program, which marks the end of a landmark year for the company, will feature selections from three Verdi operas - Aida, Don Carlo, and the famed chorus 'Va, pensiero,' from Nabucco, as well as operatic sequences from Boito's Mefistofele, Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, Catalani's La Wally and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann.

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.

"The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death." So said Oscar Wilde's Salome, anticipating the theme running through all six of the works that make up The Atlanta Opera's 2018-19 season. The six are linked also by their novelty, for under the leadership of Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun, Atlanta's new season consists entirely of stagings conceived over the past few years. Created in collaboration with leading opera companies from around the world, four are ambitious mainstage productions: the blockbuster musical West Side Story, 19th-century classics Eugene Onegin and La traviata, and the Southeast premiere of Dead Man Walking, a major 21st-century addition to the canon. Rounding out the season, Charlie Parker's Yardbird and Maria de Buenos Aires will be presented in the Discoveries series, which breaks down barriers between artists and their audience by providing authentic, intimate and immersive experiences in nontraditional spaces. The winner of a "Best of Atlanta" award from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and an International Opera Award nomination, the series represents one of the many innovations behind the company's current wave of extraordinary creative and economic resurgence.

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.

The Lincoln Square Business Improvement District (BID) is excited to announce its continued partnership with the MTA Arts & Design's Music Under New York (MTA MUSIC). Free lunchtime entertainment to the Lincoln Square area- a neighborhood filled with a dominant cultural and musical scene. The annual concert series, held in Richard Tucker Park at Broadway and 66th Street, attracts all different age groups: toddlers to senior citizens and encourages all attendees to get up and dance. The musical performances are as diverse as New York City itself. No matter what your taste in music is - Funk, Classic Rock or Opera - you can hear it free this summer during the wildly popular Lunchtime Concert Series every Wednesday beginning July 11 through August 29, from noon until 2:00 p.m.

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.

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.

Featured Performers Include Sopranos Sarah Shafer and Abigail Fischer, Tenor James Reese, and Baritone Lee Poulis