Robert Spano News

With Carnegie Hall's Opening Night less than two months away, we are eagerly anticipating the 2019a?"2020 season.

Croatian pianist Dejan Lazić will reunite with his 'musical soulmates' in the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) this September in a celebration of Mozart's concertos and symphonies, directed by ACO Artistic Director Richard Tognetti.

Distinguished pianist Misha Dichter will appear in recital alongside pianist Cipa Dichter, as part of Bargemusic's Masterworks Series, Sunday afternoon, May 19, 2019, at 4 pm. The pair will perform Brahms' Five Hungarian Dances and Dvorák's Complete Slavonic Dances.

Pianist Misha Dichter will appear in chamber music program with violinist Mark Peskanov and cellist Julian Schwarz as part of the Bargemusic Masterworks Series, Saturday evening, April 20, 2019, at 6 pm and Sunday afternoon, April 21, 2019, at 4 pm. The program will include Brahms' Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 18 No. 1 and Handel-Halvorsen's Passacaglia for Violin and Cello.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association announces that violinist Gabriela Pe a-Kim has been selected for the LA Phil Resident Fellows program. The program was launched during the 2018/19 season as a centerpiece initiative of the LA Phil's Centennial, with the purpose of creating a pathway towards a more diverse and inclusive orchestra of tomorrow. The fellowship is an excellence-based training program for superb early-career symphonic musicians representing or serving historically underrepresented populations. Its goal is to prepare these musicians to compete for, and win, positions in major professional orchestras.

Kerem Hasan will conduct the Beethoven Eroica Symphony performances on April 10-13, 2019, presented by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). The 27-year-old British conductor will replace Louis Langree who is indisposed and has needed to withdraw from these concerts. The repertoire and soloist will remain as scheduled: Debussy's Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune; Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1, featuring Christian Tetzlaff; and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 "Eroica". This will mark Mr. Hasan's Canadian debut.

After an international search, Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is proud to announce the three new singers and one new pianists for the 2019 20 HGO Studio. One of the most respected and highly competitive young artist programs in the world, the HGO Studio provides comprehensive career development to young singers, pianist/coaches, and conductors who have demonstrated potential to make major contributions to the field of opera. Seven up-and-coming opera stars remain active in the HGO Studio as well for the 2019 20 season.

The American Youth Symphony (AYS) returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Sounds About Town concert series, partnering with the National Children's Chorus (NCC). Both prestigious musical institutions, the American Youth Symphony is an elite professional training orchestra made up of college and graduate students from the most prominent music programs in the country, while NCC is one of the nation's leading treble choruses, with ensembles in Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

Two American opera singers noted for their theatricality – one on the rise, the other an international star – headline the second George London Foundation recital of the season. Anthony Dean Griffey, the renowned tenor whose searing interpretation of the title role of Britten's Peter Grimes, among others, has brought him worldwide acclaim, and Amy Owens, a “scene-stealing” (Broadway World) “radiant soprano” (Opera News) who won an award at the 2018 George London Awards competition, perform the second George London Foundation Recital of the season at The Morgan Library and Museum on Sunday, March 24, 2019, at 4:00 pm. They are joined by Warren Jones at the piano, and guest artists David Heiss, cello, and Cindy Wu, violin.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announces the appointment of baritone Matthew Worth to its voice faculty. Worth will lead a full studio at SFCM beginning in Fall 2019, joining the voice department led by chair Cesar Ulloa. Worth's appointment comes just after the announcement of Rhoslyn Jones joining SFCM's faculty.

Anthony Dean Griffey, Tenor, and Amy Owens, Soprano, with Warren Jones, Piano, join for a George London Foundation Recital at The Morgan an Sunday, March 24, 2019, at 4:00 PM.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) announced today the winners of the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, which took place in the Cullen Theater of the Wortham Theater Center. This is the third year the Concert of Arias was streamed live on Facebook, and the second for livestreaming on YouTube. The livestream was hosted by HGO Studio alumna Andrea Carroll. She is currently performing in The Pearl Fishers as Le la and placed first in the 2012 Concert of Arias. The winners were announced during the second portion of the program.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) has selected the finalists for the 31st annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers Concert of Arias, to be presented in the Wortham Theater Center on February 1, 2019, at 7 p.m. A limited number of general admission tickets for the performance are available for purchase here. The program will also be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube for all to enjoy, inviting viewers to cast their votes for the Online Viewers' Choice Award.

Soprano Johanna Rusanen, in her Carnegie Hall debut, and baritone Takaoki Onishi are the soloists in Kullervo, for which the OSNY will be joined by tenors and basses of the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus.

The Minnesota Orchestra performs new orchestral works by seven of today's top emerging composers in its annual Future Classics concert, played under the baton of Music Director Osmo Vanska. For the first time, the concert will feature two soloists: the Orchestra's Assistant Concertmaster Rui Du and pianist Tengku Irfan. The performance, held on Friday, January 18, at 8 p.m., is the capstone of the 16th annual Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, presented in collaboration with the American Composers Forum. Returning for his fifth year as the director of the Composer Institute is Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts.

Bard College announces the appointment of celebrated opera singer and recitalist Stephanie Blythe as artistic director of the Bard College Conservatory of Music Graduate Vocal Arts Program (VAP) beginning in July 2019. One of the most highly respected and critically acclaimed artists of her generation, mezzo-soprano Blythe possesses a repertoire ranging from Handel to Wagner and from German lieder to contemporary and classic American song. Blythe has performed on many of the world's great stages, such as Carnegie Hall; the Metropolitan Opera; Covent Garden; Paris National Opera; and San Francisco, Chicago Lyric, and Seattle Operas. She was named Musical America's Vocalist of the Year, received an Opera News Award, and won the Richard Tucker Award. Blythe recently released her first crossover recording on the Innova label with pianist Craig Terry.

The New York Choral Society (NYCHORAL) will join forces with the Angel Band Project's One Voice Virtual Choir on Monday, November 19, 2018, to perform Ruth Moody's One Voice as part of the opening for the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. NYCHORAL members led by Associate Conductor Michael Ciavaglia will sing alongside sexual violence survivors as well as the Angel Band Project's virtual choir. The opening will take place in the United Nations Trusteeship Council Chambers (on 1st Avenue between E. 42nd and E. 43rd Streets) from 10 am to 12:30 pm, with the performance slotted for 11:05 am. 

Following its sold-out debut performance at Carnegie Hall earlier this year, Apollo's Fire - The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra returns to New York bringing its new and acclaimed Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain: An Irish-Appalachian Celebration program to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on December 16, 2018. This program, created by Apollo's fire Founder and Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell, explores the Celtic roots of Appalachian Christmas traditions and premiered in Cleveland in December 2017 with six sold-out concerts.  The program is now available in a new recording from AVIE Records, released in October 2018. 

On Saturday, November 10 at 1:00pm the Peterborough Players present, Live from the Metropolitan Opera, a screening of Muhly's Marnie.

In the video below, composer Nico Muhly and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard discuss Marnie during intermission of the La Fanciulla del West Live in HD broadcast, with host Susanna Phillips..