Tonight, the Metropolitan Opera Guild continues its series of tributes to legendary singers with a celebration of two unforgettable opera icons who passed away last summer. 'INCOMPARABLE: A Celebration of Licia Albanese and Carlo Bergonzi' will take place at New York City's Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College tonight, March 13 at 7:30pm, and will be hosted by Opera News Award-winning soprano Patricia Racette.
Heartbeat Opera is a new company intent upon re-imagining opera in intimate spaces for a new generation. Employing a minimalism that allows the emotional integrity of the music to shine through, the company's work focuses on the body of the singer and the visceral power of the music. Co-Artistic Directors Louisa Proske and Ethan Heard, who trained together in the Directing program at the Yale School of Drama, are committed to nurturing the actor in every singer they work with. The company creates productions of classics and new pieces that are daring and visceral—productions that manifest the emotional grandeur and theatrical power of opera with minimal means. Heartbeat's one-act festival presentation of György Kurtág's Kafka-Fragments, directed by Heard, and the New York premiere of Jacques Offenbach's Daphnis & Chloé, in a new English translation directed by Proske, marks this young company's debut. Heartbeat Opera's resident music ensemble Cantata Profana, described by The New York Times as “a stylish early music ensemble,” will provide musical accompaniment.
This Friday, the Metropolitan Opera Guild continues its series of tributes to legendary singers with a celebration of two unforgettable opera icons who passed away last summer. “INCOMPARABLE: A Celebration of Licia Albanese and Carlo Bergonzi” will take place at New York City's Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College on March 13 at 7:30pm, and will be hosted by Opera News Award-winning soprano Patricia Racette.
The voice of the people sang and spoke out last night in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, Appel Room and Ertegun Atrium. Many of the world's finest musicians, and many of the finest citizens of NYC assembled to celebrate an effort to return 'The People's Opera' to New York. They did so in a Gala Concert and Dinner to honor the life of the late Maestro Julius Rudel, who was the Opera's General Director and Principal Conductor from 1957 to 1979.
New York City Opera was one of the great artistic treasures of New York. It was famously dubbed 'The People's Opera' by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia at its founding in 1943 and throughout its nearly 70 year history, the NYCO helped launch the careers of many of the world's greatest opera stars including Beverly Sills, Sherrill Milnes, Placido Domingo, Maralin Niska, Carol Vaness, Jose Carreras, Shirley Verrett, Tatiana Troyanos, Jerry Hadley, Catherine Malfitano, Samuel Ramey. Sills later famously served as the company's director and chief ambassador for the art form from 1979-1989. It also sought to produce an innovative choice of repertory, and provide a home for American singers and composers.
Heartbeat Opera is a new company intent upon re-imagining opera in intimate spaces for a new generation. Employing a minimalism that allows the emotional integrity of the music to shine through, the company's work focuses on the body of the singer and the visceral power of the music.
Heartbeat Opera is a new company intent upon re-imagining opera in intimate spaces for a new generation. Employing a minimalism that allows the emotional integrity of the music to shine through, the company's work focuses on the body of the singer and the visceral power of the music. Co-Artistic Directors Louisa Proske andEthan Heard, who trained together in the Directing program at the Yale School of Drama, are committed to nurturing the actor in every singer they work with. The company creates productions of classics and new pieces that are daring and visceral—productions that manifest the emotional grandeur and theatrical power of opera with minimal means. Heartbeat's one-act festival presentation of György Kurtág's Kafka-Fragments, directed by Heard, and the New York premiere of Jacques Offenbach's Daphnis & Chloé, in a new English translation directed by Proske, marks this young company's debut. Heartbeat Opera's resident music ensemble Cantata Profana, described by The New York Times as “a stylish early music ensemble,” will provide musical accompaniment.
Alan Gilbert, music director of the New York Philharmonic, conducts Mozart's Don Giovanni with an internationally renowned cast led by Swedish baritone Peter Mattei, who is widely recognized as one of the world's foremost interpreters of the title role. South African soprano Elza van den Heever returns to the Met for the first time since her acclaimed debut two seasons ago as Queen Elizabeth I in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. In Don Giovanni, she takes on the demanding role of Donna Anna, who seeks to exact revenge on the infamous rake who has killed her father. British sopranoEmma Bell returns as the lovelorn Donna Elvira and young American mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey adds a new role to her Met repertory as the ingenue Zerlina. Russian tenor Dmitry Korchak makes his Met debut as Anna's patient fiance, Don Ottavio, and Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni returns as Don Giovanni's comic sidekick, Leporello, a role that won him plaudits at the 2011 premiere of this production by Michael Grandage. Czech bass-baritone Adam Plachetka makes his Met debut as Masetto, and veteran James Morris sings the role of the Commendatore, following his triumph as Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg earlier this season. Sets and costume designs are by Christopher Oram, lighting by Paule Constable, and choreography by Ben Wright. At the final performance on March 6, Jennifer Check will sing Donna Elvira, and Ievgen Orlov will sing the Commendatore.
The Atlanta Opera celebrates its 35th year of live productions with Giuseppe Verdi's tragic masterpiece, Rigoletto. This new, visually stimulating production is a co-production of Boston Lyric Opera, The Atlanta Opera, and Opera Omaha and was originally directed by The Atlanta Opera's General & Artistic Director Tomer Zvulun.
OPERA America will open its spring 2015 Onstage at the Opera Center season with a special conversation on Tuesday, January 27 at 7:00 p.m. featuring celebrated baritone Sherrill Milnes, who will discuss his illustrious career at the organization's intimate National Opera Center in New York City.
?On Sunday, January 11, Opera Index will present its 36th Distinguished Achievement Award to Susan Graham, one today's foremost opera stars, at its winter gala in the Grand Salon of the JW Marriott Essex House, 160 Central Park South, beginning at 6 p.m. with a reception at the Petit Salon. Presenting Ms. Graham with this year's award will be the revered American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, a previous Distinguished Achievement Award-winner.
The coming year brings two major milestones for peerless American baritone Sherrill Milnes, who celebrates his 80th birthday on January 10 and the 50th anniversary of his Metropolitan Opera debut on December 22, 2015.
Classical Movements will present a brand new young artist program for both instrumentalists and singers, debuting this summer in Prague. The Prague Summer Nights Young Artists Music Festival will premiere in the beautiful and historic city of Prague for concerts and opera performances, including four fully staged performances of Mozart's Don Giovanni under the stage direction of opera legend Sherrill Milnes and conductor John Nardolillo of the University of Kentucky School of Music.
OPERA NEWS Editor in Chief F. Paul Driscoll today announced the recipients of the 10th Annual Opera News Awards. This year's honorees—Piotr Beczala, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Sondra Radvanosky, Samuel Ramey and Teresa Stratas—will be feted at a black tie gala celebration on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Previous Opera News Award Winners Martina Arroyo,Gerald Finley and Susan Graham are among the presenters.
? The Yale School of Music continues its acclaimed Yale in New York series when singers of Yale Opera bring manuscripts to life in a concert on Sunday, December 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
Over 160 opera companies, schools and organizations across North America will celebrate the sixth annual NATIONAL OPERA WEEK from today, October 24 through Sunday, November 2, 2014, with opera activities and announcements in their communities. National Opera Week is coordinated by OPERA America, the national service organization for opera.
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.
Candid Concert Opera Chicago presents Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Così fan tutte. An ingenious mix of poignant drama and hilarious farce, Così fan tutte follows two young soldiers who disguise their identities to test their lover's fidelity. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Two performances only, May 9 at the Stan Mansion, 2408 N. Kedzie Avenue and May 10 at Edgebrook Lutheran Church, 5252 W. Devon Avenue. Both performances begin at 7:30 p.m. The production is suitable for all audiences of all ages and is free to the public; $20 suggested donation. For more information visit www.candidconcertopera.org.
Seventy years ago, on February 21st, 1944, New York City Opera showcased Giacomo Puccini's Tosca at the historic City Center. The beloved company went on to launch the careers of many of the opera world's most accomplished singers, including Beverly Sills, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Maralin Niska, Shirley Verrett, Tatiana Troyanos, Jerry Hadley, Catherine Malfitano and Samuel Ramey, to name just a few. New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia called it the "People's Opera" in recognition of the company's mission to make opera accessible to a wide audience at a reasonable cost.
