Russell Thomas News

Below, note the following updates to Carnegie Hall's 2017-18 schedule, reflecting changes made since the season was originally announced in January 2017. 

On Saturday, August 26, at 8 p.m. soprano Kristine Opolais and bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel join BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for an evening of opera and song,including Act II of Puccini's Tosca. In addition to Ms. Opolais in the title role and Sir Bryn as Scarpia, the Tanglewood Festival performance of Tosca will feature tenor Russell Thomas as Cavaradossi, bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel as Scarpia, tenor Matthew DiBattista as Spoletta, and baritone Douglas Williams as Sciarrone (in his BSO debut). Ms. Opolais and Sir Bryn recently performed Tosca in concert together at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod on July 4, 2017, under conductor Gareth Jones.

One of Tanglewood's most popular summer traditions, John Williams' Film Night, takes place on Saturday, August 19. Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams shares the podium for this performance with BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons, who will lead the first half of the concert, including music from classic cinema scores by

???????On Saturday, August 26, Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andris Nelsons will lead the orchestra in Act II of Puccini's Tosca, featuring soprano Kristine Opolais in the title role, along with bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel as Scarpia. The performance will also feature tenor Russell Thomas as Cavaradossi; tenor Matthew DiBattista as Spoletta, and baritone Douglas Williams as Sciarrone (in his BSO debut). The Opera Gala program will also feature songs and arias from composers including Smetana, Dvo?ák, and Mozart. Ms. Opolais and Sir Bryn recently performed Tosca in concert together at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod on July 4, 2017, under conductor Gareth Jones.

Plácido Domingo returns to the big screen as the title king in Nabucco,

Who needs an excuse to leave NYC in the blistering days of summer? It's especially true if you head north to some of the bucolic opera and vocal venues within driving distance.

92Y's 17-18 season opens on October 5 with internationally renowned cellist Mischa Maisky joining the “amazing precision” (Huffington Post) of the notably conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, which returns to 92Y for the first time in 15 years, to celebrate the cellist's 70th birthday season. Together, they open 92Y's illustrious concert season with Schubert's beloved “Arpeggione” Sonata, arranged for cello and string orchestra by Dobrinka Tabakova, as well as Arensky's Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, and Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.  Acclaimed for the sheer intensity and vigor of his performances, Maisky has the distinct honor of being the only cellist in the world to have studied under both Gregor Piatigorsky and Mlatislav Rostrapovich.  The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is renowned as one of the foremost chamber orchestras in the world, with more than 70 albums in its sprawling discography since its founding in 1972.

Plácido Domingo returns to the big screen as the title king in Nabucco,

Just after hearing the wonderfully well sung, semi-staged DAS RHEINGOLD at the NY Philharmonic, under departing Music Director Alan Gilbert, I saw the current Broadway revival of THE LITTLE FOXES. It seemed Richard Wagner's gods and Lillian Hellman's Hubbards had lots in common: The small-minded, self-serving gods of this production, at least, could have been friends and neighbors of the mendacious, corrupt Southerners in Hellman's play (or even of a would-be-royal family in Washington, DC).

Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic (photo: Chris Lee) In 2009, the year Alan Gilbert took over as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, Alex Ross wrote in the New Yorker: “Simply put, the orchestra is playing better than it has in the seventeen years that I've been a critic in New York.” The intervening years have seen Gilbert go from strength to strength, with critics and audiences alike responding with generous enthusiasm to the superb quality of the performances and to the new initiatives that transformed the orchestra into “a force of permanent revolution” (New York magazine).

LA Opera presents Giacomo Puccini's thrilling masterpiece, Tosca, conducted by Music Director James Conlon. The final mainstage presentation of the company's 2016/17 season, Tosca is a revival of the production staged by the company in 2013, directed by Tony and Olivier Award winner John Caird. There will be seven performances from April 22 through May 13, taking place at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012).

In the third of Alan Gilbert's final four subscription weeks as New York Philharmonic Music Director, he will lead an enhanced concert production of Wagner's Das Rheingold. Soloists include bass-baritone Eric Owens as Wotan, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Fricka (in her New York Philharmonic debut), baritone Christopher Purves as Alberich (debut), tenor Russell Thomas as Loge, mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor as Erda, bass Morris Robinson as Fasolt (debut), bass Stephen Milling as Fafner (debut), soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen as Freia (debut), tenor Brian Jagde as Froh (debut), bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Donner (debut), tenor Peter Bronder as Mime (debut), soprano Jennifer Zetlan as Woglinde, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano as Wellgunde, and mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford as Flosshilde. The enhanced concert production will be directed by Louisa Muller with costume design - featuring character-based treatment of modern concert attire - by David C. Woolard. The performances will take place Thursday, June 1, 2017, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 3 at 8:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Liudmyla Monastyrska is Abigaille, the warrior woman determined to rule empires, and Jamie Bartonis the heroic Fenena. Russell Thomas is Ismaele, nephew to the King of Jerusalem and Dmitry Belosselskiy is the stentorian voice of the oppressed Hebrew people.

The legendary Plácido Domingo brings another new baritone role to the Met as the title king in Nabucco, under the baton of his longtime collaborator James Levine on GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET Sunday, May 7 at 12 p.m.on PBS (check local listings). (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the opera at 12:30 p.m.)

General Director Plácido Domingo has announced final casting details for LA Opera's upcoming production of Giacomo Puccini's thrilling masterpiece, Tosca, conducted by Music Director James Conlon.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2017-18 season will feature 220 performances of 26 works, including two Met premieres, one co-commissioned by the company and one an older masterpiece having its first Met performances; a variety of repertory favorites, three in new productions; and performances of Verdi's towering concert work for soloists, orchestra, and chorus, the Requiem. Of note, Broadway star Kelli O'Hara is set to return to the Met in Così fan tutte this season.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Bellini's riveting bel canto masterpiece Norma in a new-to-Chicago production. Vocal pyrotechnics and sumptuous music brilliantly tell the tale of forbidden passion, betrayal, revenge, and, ultimately, redemption.

"Power to the people" could very well be the mantra for the gorgeous opera Nabucco highlighted by the inspiring Va Pensiero chorus sung by the Hebrew slaves as they pray to G-d for their dream to return to their homeland of Jerusalem to take flight. As I sat in the Metropolitan opera house recently, witnessing the opera with several thousand others, I have to believe that there was no one in that audience who was not moved. Nabucco reminds us all that the Bible, like Shakespeare, is timeless. Its lessons span millennia and are repeated over and over again.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Bellini's riveting bel canto masterpiece Norma in a new-to-Chicago production. Vocal pyrotechnics and sumptuous music brilliantly tell the tale of forbidden passion, betrayal, revenge, and, ultimately, redemption.

Simone McIntosh of Vancouver took home First Prize (the Chair's Prize) at the Canadian Opera Company's annual Ensemble Studio Competition on November 3, 2016 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.