Susan Graham News

21C MEDIA GROUP just released its season preview of opera, vocal and choral music for 2016-17. Scroll down for details!

The San Francisco Symphony (SFS) and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) celebrate the 80th birthday of Steve Reich with a diverse week of concerts highlighting the seminal composer's works September 7-11, 2016 at Davies Symphony Hall.

The Dallas Opera is delighted to announce the winner of the 2016 'Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year' Award: transcendent American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.

?San Francisco Opera today announced that it has amended the list of international singers performing at the David Gockley Gala Concert on Thursday, June 16 to now include Sasha Cooke in lieu of Susan Graham, who has withdrawn due to illness. Cooke will sing in the Act III trio “Hab' mir's gelobt” from Der Rosenkavalier and Didon's aria “Ah! Je vais mourir…adieu, fière cité” from Les Troyens.

The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival (CCCMF), celebrating 37 years as Cape Cod's premiere presenter of summer chamber music, presents Brian Zeger Returns with Imani in two concerts on Monday, August 1, 7:30 pm, at Church of the Holy Spirit, 204 Monument Road, Orleans, and on August 2, 7 pm at Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Falmouth Road (Route 28), Cotuit.

San Francisco Opera celebrates David Gockley's remarkable career and ten-year tenure as San Francisco Opera General Director with a gala concert at the War Memorial Opera House on Thursday, June 16 at 7 p.m. David Gockley retires from San Francisco Opera in July 2016, culminating a 45-year career as one of today's most important opera impresarios.

The Merola Opera Program in San Francisco invites currently enrolled students to experience the exciting world of opera and classical music this summer with our free Merola Student ConneXion Program.

MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale) continues the 2015-2016 season with Henry Purcell and Nahum Tate's tempestuous Baroque opera, DIDO AND AENEAS, tonight, April 28, 2016 at 7pm and tomorrow, April 29, 2016 at 8pm at New York City Center, 131 W. 55th Street, New York City.

Carnegie Hall today announced that conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct all three scheduled concerts next season by The MET Orchestra in May and June 2017. Mr. Salonen steps in for James Levine, whose withdrawal from these programs was announced last week by the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall.

A friendly reminder! MasterVoices (formerly The Collegiate Chorale) continues the 2015-2016 season with Henry Purcell and Nahum Tate's tempestuous Baroque opera, DIDO AND AENEAS, on April 28, 2016 at 7pm and April 29, 2016 at 8pm at New York City Center, 131 W. 55th Street, New York City.

Music Director Nicholas McGegan-who celebrates 30 years of leading the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra this season-returns to Carnegie Hall to conduct the ensemble in the New York premiere of Scarlatti's La Gloria di Primavera on Friday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall. The performance of the newly re-discovered work-written 300 years ago to celebrate the birth of the heir to the Holy Roman Emperor-features soprano Suzana Ograjenšek, mezzo-soprano Diana Moore, countertenor Clint van der Linde, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Douglas Williams.

Orchestra of St. Luke's welcomes superstar mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, as soloist on its final Carnegie Hall Orchestra Series concert of the season. Lauded "America's favorite mezzo," Graham will sing Britten's Phaedra and three works by Purcell in her only Carnegie Hall appearance this season. 

Alban Berg's tragedy of a sexually irresistible woman who destroys the lives of everyone around her, Lulu, airs on THIRTEEN'S Great Performances at the Met Sunday, April 10 at 12 p.m. on PBS. (Check local listings.) (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the opera at 12:30 p.m.)

?After a months-long series of competitions at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of expert judges named five young singers as the winners of the nation's most prestigious vocal competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Each winner receives a $15,000 cash prize and the prestige and exposure that come with winning the competition that launched the careers of many of opera's biggest stars.

Carnegie Hall today announced that mezzo-soprano Susan Graham must regrettably cancel her upcoming concert Susan Graham and Friends-which was to have also featured soprano Christine Goerke, baritone Rod Gilfry, and pianist Jake Heggie-scheduled for Thursday, May 12 in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage due to personal and professional reasons. "I was meeting obstacles that prevented it from becoming the kind of evening I had originally envisioned," Graham explains. "I am deeply regretful, as I was looking forward to a collaboration with friends old and new, and greatly look forward to the opportunity to reprise the concept soon."

Following yesterday's highly competitive semi-final competition, nine young singers will advance to the final phase of the Metropolitan Opera's 2016 National Council Auditions, America's most prestigious vocal competition. The selected finalists, chosen by a panel of experts from the classical music industry, will compete on the Met stage on Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. The winners will receive individual cash prizes of $15,000 and the prestigious-and potentially career-launching-title of National Council Auditions Winner. The Grand Finals Concert will feature Antony Walker conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as each finalist performs two arias.

The Merola Opera Program and the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch present a free screening of Verdi's opera RIGOLETTO at the next Merola Goes to the Movies, on Sunday, March 20, 1:00 pm, in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch (100 Larkin Street). Admission is free.

The 33rd season of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals continues on Sunday, March 20 at the new Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater with baritone Efraín Solís and pianist Robert Mollicone.

Anna Netrebko came out on stage in a shimmering white and silver gown with matching headband, looking like an Art Deco goddess in a poster by Alfonso Mucha. It's a look that suited her--not only because the Russian soprano has Bellini's NORMA on her Met schedule in the not-too-distant future, but because she's about as close to a goddess as the Met can conjure up these days (with maybe one or two competitors). And the audience ate it up.