Susanna Phillips News

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters, will reach its widest-ever global audience in its eighth season, which begins on October 5 with a new production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Met Music Director James Levine makes his highly-anticipated return to the screen with Verdi's Falstaff on December 14 and the first Live in HD performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte on April 26. The Live in HD series, the world's largest provider of alternative content, reaches more than 1,900 theaters in 64 countries, and offers subtitles in nine languages, including Swedish for the first time this season. To accommodate audience demand in Europe, more than 85 cinemas have been added to the HD network in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Please note the following updates to Carnegie Hall's 2013-2014 schedule, reflecting major updates made since the hall announced the concert season last January.

The grand incomparable spectacle of opera returns to The Ridgefield Playhouse this fall with an impressive lineup broadcast from the Met Live in HD. Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin stars diva Anna Netrebko with Mariusz Kwiecien on Saturday, October 5, at 12:55 p.m. On Monday, October 28, at 6:30 p.m., William Kentridge storms the Met in Shostakovich's The Nose.

For her final festival appearances of the summer, Beverly Sills Prize Winner Susanna Phillips returns to her hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, for the fourth season of Twickenham Fest, the chamber music festival that she herself co-founded. This year's festival will showcase the world premiere of Fragments from an Explanation, a new commission from 2013 composer-in-residence Christopher Weiss (Aug 31), bookended by programs of Schubert (Aug 30) and Messiaen (Sep 1). The soprano and her fellow co-founder, bassoonist Matthew McDonald, will be joined by a first-rate roster of guest artists, including violinist Itamar Zorman, cellist Matthew Zalkind, and pianist Roman Rabinovich, respective winners of the Tchaikovsky, Washington, and Rubinstein International Competitions. As the Birmingham News recognized in a five-star review last season, "Twickenham Fest is well on its way to becoming a driving force in classical music in Alabama."

Broadway actor Danny Burstein will make his Metropolitan Opera debut in the non-singing role of Frosch in this season's performances of Die Fledermaus. The new production of Johann Strauss II's operetta, conducted by Adam Fischer and directed by Jeremy Sams in his Met directorial debut, features new English-language lyrics by Sams and dialogue by acclaimed Broadway playwright Douglas Carter Beane.

Carnegie Hall has announced its November 2013 calendar. Details below!

Several alumni and current ensemble members of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago are featured artists at music festivals and opera companies at home and around the globe this summer.

The Philadelphia Orchestra launches an exciting 2013 summer season tonight, July 2 with a free Neighborhood Concert under the stars on the RiverStage at the Great Plaza at Penn's Landing. This quintessential summer concert, presented by Wells Fargo and conducted by Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Conductor Cristian M?celaru, is followed by a spectacular fireworks display on the Delaware River. Philadelphia audiences will enjoy an array of other performances in the tri-state area this summer, with a July concert in Princeton, New Jersey's Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall-the Orchestra's first concert in Princeton in nearly 50 years; two performances at the lush Meadow at LongwoodGardens; and two weeks of concerts at the Mann in beautiful and expansive Fairmount Park.

A season of timeless beauty and fun begins today, June 28th, at the Santa Fe Opera. Discover this summer's new, rarely performed and longtime favorites in stylish productions presented by an unforgettable group of artists and musicians. It's world-class opera in an incredible setting.

The Philadelphia Orchestra launches an exciting 2013 summer season on July 2 with a free Neighborhood Concert under the stars on the RiverStage at the Great Plaza at Penn's Landing. This quintessential summer concert, presented by Wells Fargo and conducted by Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Conductor Cristian M?celaru, is followed by a spectacular fireworks display on the Delaware River. Philadelphia audiences will enjoy an array of other performances in the tri-state area this summer, with a July concert in Princeton, New Jersey's Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall-the Orchestra's first concert in Princeton in nearly 50 years; two performances at the lush Meadow at LongwoodGardens; and two weeks of concerts at the Mann in beautiful and expansive Fairmount Park.

Following her resounding success in A Streetcar Named Desire at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Beverly Sills Artist Susanna Phillips returns to Santa Fe Opera as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro (June 29–Aug 23). In her first summer festival engagement, she celebrates the Britten centennial at the Aspen Music Festival, where she will make her role debut as Ellen Orford in a concert performance of Peter Grimes (July 27). At the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Phillips will join the Philadelphia Orchestra for Mahler's Fourth Symphony (July 12). And theworld premiere of a new commission from Christopher Weiss will crown Twickenham Fest, the festival that Phillips herself co-founded in her hometown of Huntsville, Alabama (Aug 30–Sept 1). After this full summer, the soprano looks forward to returning to New York's Metropolitan Opera, where she will star in three important productions next season.

Tenor Bryan Hymel has been named the recipient of the eighth annual Beverly Sills Artist Award for young singers at the Metropolitan Opera.

Andre Previn's operatic version of Tennesee Williams's A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, with a libretto by Andrew Littell, made its belated New York debut at Carnegie Hall on Thursday. It plays to Renee Fleming's vocal strengths, with her shimmering, lyric soprano and soaring high notes. This is not surprising since Previn wrote the role of Blanche specifically with her in mind and it shows with every note she sings. But is she Blanche? Unfortunately, she's too healthy, too sane and too much a star to be the character that Williams created, a woman clings to a false gentility--and her sanity--from the moment that she arrives on stage. It also doesn't help that she has zero chemistry with New Zealand baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes the Stanley Kowalski of the evening. Rhodes' muscular baritone carries the threat that Blanche should feel, but he might as well be playing to the Merry Widow.

After an intense semi-final round of competition, the Metropolitan Opera today announced the names of ten finalists who will sing on the Met stage in the 2013 National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 10 at 3:00 p.m., with the MET Orchestra conducted by Marco Armiliato. The auditions, which are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year, have been an important stepping stone in the career of many of the opera world's leading artists. 20 gifted young singers from around the country arrived in New York on Thursday afternoon to prepare for today's semi-final round, in which they sang on the Met stage for the first time in their careers before a panel of judges. After deliberations, the panel has narrowed the field to ten singers who will move to the final phase of the competition.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2013-14 season will feature many of the world's greatest singers, conductors, and theater artists in 26 operas, including six new productions, of a varied repertory that ranges from the Baroque era to the 21st century. Met Music Director James Levine will return to the Met podium for the first time in two years, conducting three operas with which he has long been associated: a new production of Verdi's final masterpiece Falstaff, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Berg's Wozzeck. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will be conducting two operas in the 2013-14 season, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2013-14 season will feature many of the world's greatest singers, conductors, and theater artists in 26 operas, including six new productions, of a varied repertory that ranges from the Baroque era to the 21st century. Met Music Director James Levine will return to the Met podium for the first time in two years, conducting three operas with which he has long been associated: a new production of Verdi's final masterpiece Falstaff, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Berg's Wozzeck. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will be conducting two operas in the 2013-14 season, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters, will feature 10 productions in the 2013-14 season, offering a significant portion of the Met season to opera lovers around the world.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2013-14 season will feature many of the world's greatest singers, conductors, and theater artists in 26 operas, including six new productions, of a varied repertory that ranges from the Baroque era to the 21st century. Met Music Director James Levine will return to the Met podium for the first time in two years, conducting three operas with which he has long been associated: a new production of Verdi's final masterpiece Falstaff, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, and Berg's Wozzeck. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi will be conducting two operas in the 2013-14 season, Rossini's La Cenerentola and Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin and President and CEO Allison Vulgamore today announce the 2013-14 season of The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Today, the St. Louis Symphony announced its 2013-2014 season, the orchestra's 134th since its founding in 1880 and the ninth led by Music Director David Robertson. The 2013-2014 classical subscription series is sponsored by Wells Fargo Advisors and runs from September 20, 2013 through May 11, 2014.