Richard Wagner News

Last night, after a week of competition that brought 40 young singers from 17 nations to Los Angeles, Placido Domingo announced that Rachel Willis-Sorensen, an American soprano, and Mario Chang, a Guatemalan tenor, took the top prizes tonight in the 22nd edition of Operalia, the World Opera Competition. Hosted by LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the weeklong contest culminated tonight in a Gala Finals Concert-featuring the LA Opera Orchestra conducted by Mr. Domingo at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion-which was streamed live on Medici TV.

The Queer New York International Arts Festival (QNYIA) -- a festival of contemporary performance that explores and broadens the concept of queer (in) art -- returns for a third year with a diverse slate of performances by international artists, many presenting their work in New York City for the first time.

With some of the greatest voices in opera gathering together for one night only in a red-carpet affair, Seattle Opera's Speight Celebration Concert and Dinner thrilled more than 2,500 fans at McCaw Hall and raised more than $1 million on Saturday, August 9.

Yale School of Music announces the 2014-15 season of YALE IN NEW YORK. The series returns to Carnegie Hall for its eighth year, while expanding to include a special season opener at Avery Fisher Hall that features John Adams conducting the Yale Philharmonia and Brentano Quartet in a performance of Adams' Beethoven-inspired Absolute Jest and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4.

The Ring Cycle Plays, a bold new theatrical adventure from The Scoop's award-winning, resident company, Gods and Monsters Theatre Limited, is a unique opportunity for opera buffs and fantasy fans alike to gain a new insight into Richard Wagner's extraordinary chronicle by encountering The Ring Cycle operas performed as plays without the usual operatic scores. Press night is this coming Friday 15 August. Scroll down for a first look at the cast in action!

London's Free Open-Air Theatre Season 2014 continues with THE RING CYCLE PLAYS, devised by Phil Willmott and Mervyn Millar, and adapted from Richard Wagner's librettos by Lisa Kuma . Season: 6 - 31 August, Wednesday - Sunday: 6.00pm - 6.45pm THE RHINE GOLD; 7.00pm - 7.45pm THE VALKYRIE; 7.45pm - 8.30pm Break; 8.30pm - 9.15pm SIEGFRIED; 9.30pm - 10.15pm TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. Press Night: Friday 15 August from 6.00pm.

After three decades, 92 productions, and more than 1,200 individual performances, Speight Jenkins is retiring from Seattle Opera in style! The company will celebrate the end of the Jenkins era, as well as its 50th anniversary, with three special events: the International Wagner Competition on Thursday, August 7, followed by Seattle Opera Day at MOHAI and the Speight Celebration Concert & Dinner featuring 15 of Seattle Opera's best loved singers on Saturday, August 9.

One of Australia's greatest international trailblazers, Maureen Wheeler AO has accepted an invitation to join the Board of the Melbourne Theatre Company announced Chairman Terry Moran AC today. Currently a member of the Council of Governors of Opera Australia's Capital Fund, this is her first appointment to a major Australian arts company Board of Management.

Review. R-E-V-I-E-W. Review. That is correct.

Wolf Trap Opera (WTO), a top residency program for emerging opera professionals, welcomes internationally renowned bass-baritone Eric Owens as its first Artist in Residence.

Wolf Trap Opera (WTO), a top residency program for emerging opera professionals, welcomes internationally renowned bass-baritone Eric Owens as its first Artist in Residence.

Vienna

Das Rheingold am Freitag, 30. Mai 2014 bildet den Auftakt zu zwei Zyklen von Richard Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen an der Wiener Staatsoper. Erstmals dirigiert Jeffrey Tate die Tetralogie (Inszenierung: Sven-Eric Bechtolf) im Haus am Ring. Jochen Schmeckenbecher gibt seine Alberich-Hausdebuts, KS Nina Stemme ist erneut in allen drei Brunnhilde-Partien (Die Walkure, Siegfried, Gotterdammerung) zu erleben, Tomasz Konieczny als Wotan bzw. Wanderer (Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried), Stephen Gould als Siegfried (Siegfried, Gotterdammerung), Elisabeth Kulman als Fricka (Das Rheingold, Die Walkure) und KS Peter Seiffert als Siegmund (Die Walkure - Rollendebut am Haus).

Das Rheingold am Freitag, 30. Mai 2014 bildet den Auftakt zu zwei Zyklen von Richard Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen an der Wiener Staatsoper. Erstmals dirigiert Jeffrey Tate die Tetralogie (Inszenierung: Sven-Eric Bechtolf) im Haus am Ring. Jochen Schmeckenbecher gibt seine Alberich-Hausdebuts, KS Nina Stemme ist erneut in allen drei Brunnhilde-Partien (Die Walkure, Siegfried, Gotterdammerung) zu erleben, Tomasz Konieczny als Wotan bzw. Wanderer (Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried), Stephen Gould als Siegfried (Siegfried, Gotterdammerung), Elisabeth Kulman als Fricka (Das Rheingold, Die Walkure) und KS Peter Seiffert als Siegmund (Die Walkure - Rollendebut am Haus).

London's Free Open-Air Theatre Season 2014 continues with THE RING CYCLE PLAYS, devised by Phil Willmott and Mervyn Millar, and adapted from Richard Wagner's librettos by Lisa Kuma . Season: 6 - 31 August, Wednesday - Sunday: 6.00pm - 6.45pm THE RHINE GOLD; 7.00pm - 7.45pm THE VALKYRIE; 7.45pm - 8.30pm Break; 8.30pm - 9.15pm SIEGFRIED; 9.30pm - 10.15pm TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. Press Night: Friday 15 August from 6.00pm.

Washington National Opera (WNO) today announced principal casting and performance dates for its first complete presentation of Richard Wagner's four-part Ring cycle. Three full cycles will be presented from April 30 to May 22, 2016 and will be directed by Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and conducted by WNO Music Director Philippe Auguin.

Seattle Opera concludes its 50th Anniversary season, as well as the 31-year tenure of General Director Speight Jenkins with The Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes d'Hoffmann). An all-star cast sings Jacques Offenbach's tuneful score, chronicling famous writer E.T.A. Hoffmann's misadventures in love. The wild stories of Hoffmann's failed romances come alive with fantastical elements: a beautiful robot, an evil optician, a stolen shadow, death by music, and a mysterious boy/girl muse. The Tales of Hoffmann was first produced jointly by Dallas, Cincinnati, Minnesota, and Arizona operas in 2005. This timeless, stylish, and imaginative production returns to Seattle Opera today, May 3, and runs through Today, May 17.

Am Grundonnerstag beginnt traditionellerweise eine Auffuhrungsserie von Richard Wagners „Bu hnenweihfestspiel' Parsifal an der Wiener Staatsoper.

Houston Grand Opera, which opened a lavish production of DAS RHEINGOLD this past weekend, is proudly kicking off their first Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner. Like any modern production of Wagner's Ring Cycle, Houston Grand Opera is sparing no expense. At Sunday's matinee, the audience leapt to their feet for curtain call and clamored excitedly about this show and what's still to come in the cycle.