Richard Tucker News

Joy In Singing presents the debut recital of soprano Tami Petty, winner of its 2014 Artist Award, tonight, October 29th at 8 at Merkin Concert Hall.

Richard Tucker and Plácido Domingo Award-winner Ailyn Pérez makes her hotly anticipated Houston Grand Opera debut this Friday (Oct 24), in what also marks her role debut as Desdemona in Otello. Under the baton of Patrick Summers, Houston's artistic and music director, she stars opposite Simon O'Neill as Otello and Marco Vratogna as Iago in the company's staging of John Cox's hit production of the Shakespearean tragedy, which runs through November 7.

Pretty Yende--a name that in itself brings certain expectations as well as smiles--burst on the New York opera scene at the start of 2013, in a baptism by fire. At just 27, the South African soprano from Piet Retief, Mpumalanga memorably stepped into one of the lead roles in the revival of Rossini's LE COMTE ORY (opposite, no less, star tenor Juan Diego Florez) on short notice.

Joy In Singing proudly presents the debut recital of soprano Tami Petty, winner of its 2014 Artist Award, on Wednesday, October 29th at 8 at Merkin Concert Hall.

Soprano Anna Netrebko was AWOL. Tenor Marcello Giordani wasn't there. Mezzo Isabel Leonard didn't make it either. At least tenor Richard Tucker (1913-1975) had the best excuse for not being at Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday evening. But, as they say “the show must go on”--and the annual gala of The Richard Tucker Foundation certainly did, despite all the cancellations. Celebrating the famed singer, as well as showcasing the newly anointed winner of its top award, tenor Michael Fabiano, the evening was filled with many pleasures.

The PKF – Prague Philharmonia is pleased to announce the appointment of internationally renowned conductor Emmanuel Villaume to the position of Music Director and Chief Conductor of the PKF – Prague Philharmonia for a three-year term, effective September 1, 2015.

PRAGUE (Czech Republic), OCTOBER 15, 2014 —The PKF – Prague Philharmonia is pleased to announce the appointment of internationally renowned conductor Emmanuel Villaume to the position of Music Director and Chief Conductor of the PKF – Prague Philharmonia for a three-year term, effective September 1, 2015.

Prague Philharmonia has announced the appointment of internationally renowned conductor Emmanuel Villaume to the position of Music Director and Chief Conductor of the PKF - Prague Philharmonia for a three-year term, effective September 1, 2015.

Soprano Amanda Majeski is a 2009 George London Award winner who just made her Metropolitan Opera debut in the Met's season-opening presentation of Le nozze di Figaro, and bass-baritone Ryan McKinny is a 2011 George London Award winner who this past summer sang the roles of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire with the Los Angeles Opera and Billy Bigelow in Carousel at Glimmerglass Opera. Together, they will open the 2014-15 season of the George London Foundation for Singers with a joint recital at Gilder Lehrman Hall at The Morgan Library and Museum on Sunday, November 9, 2014, at 4:30 PM, with pianist Ken Noda. The event is Mr. McKinny's New York recital debut.

Opera Saratoga announces its 2015 Summer Festival season, which will run from July 2 - July 26, 2015 at multiple venues throughout Saratoga Springs, New York.

New York, NY - On Sunday, October 12th at 6:30 pm, the New York Choral Society (NYCS) returns to Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for its twenty-first performance as guest artist at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala, one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season. Tenor Michael Fabiano, 2014 winner of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award and widely considered one of the greatest young tenors in the world today, will join such luminaries as Anna Netrebko, Joseph Calleja, Marcello Giordani, Ildar Abdrazakov, and previous Tucker Award laureates Angela Meade, Isabel Leonard, and Stephen Costello in a star-studded program of favorite arias and ensembles led by Emmanuel Villaume, Music Director of the Dallas Opera. Like last year's gala, which celebrated the centennial of legendary tenor Richard Tucker, the concert offers a unique opportunity to hear what the New York Times styled 'a dream team of opera singers,' and will be recorded for later broadcast on Live from Lincoln Center on PBS.

'Cherubino is crazy in some ways, in good ways,' says Isabel Leonard, who is singing the role of the young male page in the Almaviva household in the Metropolitan Opera's new Richard Eyre production of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. 'He sees everything in Technicolor, eyes wide open, taking everything in, not missing a second that he could possibly enjoy in his life.”'

Already the undisputed 'reigning new diva of the 21st century' (Associated Press), Anna Netrebko scored a fresh triumph this past month, winning ECHO Klassik's 'Female Singer of the Year' award for a record-breaking third time. Never content to rest on her laurels, however, the ever-evolving Russian-born soprano continues expanding her horizons in 2014-15. She makes two American role debuts at the Metropolitan Opera, as Verdi's Lady Macbeth in an all-star Macbeth that will be beamed live around the world to launch the company's Live in HD season, and headlining a new staging of Tchaikovsky's Iolanta that will be broadcast Live in HD on Valentine's Day. In Europe, she makes house role debuts in the title roles of a new Manon Lescaut at the Bavarian State Opera and Anna Bolena at the Zurich Opera, besides reprising her portrayal of Anna Bolena at the Vienna State Opera and completing her season's quartet of leading roles as Mimì in La bohème at Covent Garden, where her final performance will again be broadcast live to cinemas worldwide. In concert this season, Netrebko remains the soprano of choice for gala appearances, in the Richard Tucker Gala at New York's Lincoln Center and in Munich and Salzburg, as well as singing a recital in Colorado, 'Verdi and Verismo' arias in Barcelona, selections from Macbeth in Rome, Strauss's Four Last Songs in Paris, and revisiting her acclaimed Iolanta on a European concert tour that culminates at London's Royal Albert Hall.

Angela Meade - the face of Opera News's forthcoming annual "Diva" issue - dominates the New York cultural scene this season. In concert, the American soprano makes her New York Philharmonic debutunder Alan Gilbert's direction in Verdi's Requiem (Jan 15-17), and gives two performances at Carnegie Hall, first joining the Philadelphia Orchestra for Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony (Oct 31), and then starring in Rossini's William Tell with Italy's Teatro Regio di Torino led by Gianandrea Noseda (Dec 7), in the penultimate stop on their North American tour.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Joseph Kaiser will no longer be participating in the Sunday, September 21st performance of Voce: Rising Opera Stars in Recital. Paul Appleby (tenor) and Andrew Garland (baritone) will be joining Julia Bullock (soprano) and pianist, Steven Blier for the afternoon featuring French and American repertories.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation holds its annual gala, one of the most highly anticipated events of the opera season, on Sunday, October 12 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York's Lincoln Center.

Pink House Productions previously announced the New York City premier of YOU, ME AND THAT GUY, a hilarious 80 minute comedy about a recent college grad who uses the magic of a mystical open mic to heal her relationships with her technology saturated family and friends. Written by Stephen Sanow*, YOU, ME AND THAT GUY will open the 2014 Araca Project.

Washington National Opera (WNO) presents An Evening with Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pe?rez, featuring the celebrated husband-and-wife stars of last season's production of The Elixir of Love, tonight, September 10, 2014 in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Accompanied on piano by Danielle Orlando, Costello and Pe?rez will perform songs, arias, and duets from popular works by Verdi, Puccini, Hahn, Tosti, Falla, Heggie, and more.

The Metropolitan Opera will open its 130th season on Monday, September 22 with a new production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Met Music Director James Levine and directed by Richard Eyre.

The 'red hot' Ailyn Perez-Stephen Costello duo, having been likened to rock star couples, rarely perform together.