Teresa Stratas News

The line between Broadway-type musical theatre and opera becomes finer by the year--though I dare say that TOOTSIE is unlikely to be showing up at the Met any time soon. But the Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin-Moss Hart LADY IN THE DARK might have morphed in a slightly different, better piece of music theatre if it arrived in the 21st century rather than World War II.

I interviewed Diana Damrau when she had just done her first Violetta, her role debut in the Met's old Willy Decker production. It was a part she lusted over from the time she saw the 1982 Zeffirelli film, but was careful about taking on--waiting for the right time in her vocal development. That was nearly six years ago and the good news is that she has developed into a first-rate Violetta, sounding better than she has in some time, and looking every inch the glamorous (yet consumptive) courtesan.

Young opera singers from across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and for the first time, Mexico, will compete for $15,000 cash prizes and the opportunity to launch major operatic careers, when the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions launches its 65th annual auditions program this fall. Over 1,000 singers between the ages of 20 and 30 will participate in the program, the longest-running singing competition in the country. Finalists will perform on the stage of the Met at the Grand Finals Concert on Sunday, March 31, 2019.

While Robert Sher's career has been most significant for producing the Grammy nominated cast recordings of such Broadway musicals as Nice Work If You Can Get It, Sugar Babies, and the most recent revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, today we are celebrating Robert's passionate work to preserve many of the musical theatre's most obscure gems and for those scores to be elevated in the minds, and iTunes, of those who love musicals. 

The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music awarded a record $99,000 at the 2018 Lotte Lenya Competition, which took place at Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY on April 14, 2018. This year's competition brought the total distributed to young singers to more than $1 million in awards, prizes, and grants in the twenty-year history of the contest.

The Metropolitan Opera National Council, Eastern Region host committee will hold its regional finals auditions Sunday, March 4th at Merkin Concert Hall (129 West 67th Street) beginning at 3 pm. For this first time, the auditions will be presented as a ticketed concert open to the public.

Due to popular demand, The Left Wing, in association with John Turturro, extends the world premiere production of Brandon Cole's Imperfect Love to February 25. Directed by Michael Di Jiacomo, Imperfect Love is inspired by the tumultuous life of the great Italian actress Eleonora Duse (1858-1924) and her nine-year love affair with the poet and playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863-1938). The production, which is set to open on February 4, runs at The Connelly Theater and features set and costume design by the Academy Award-winning Italian designer Gianni Quaranta (Merchant-Ivory's A Room with a View). Turturro's 1998 film, Illuminata, which was co-written by Cole and Turturro, was based on Cole's Imperfect Love.

Over 600 opera aficionados - including Honored Guests Martina Arroyo, Candice Bergen, Kristin Chenoweth, Marilyn Horne, James Morris, Diane Sawyer and Teresa Stratas - attended the 83rd Annual Metropolitan Opera Guild Luncheon at Cipriani 42nd Street on Thursday, December 7th. This year's honoree, Ren e Fleming, was acknowledged for her immense contribution to opera and music. BroadwayWorld has photos from the event below!

Over 600 opera aficionados including Honored Guests Martina Arroyo, Candice Bergen, Kristin Chenoweth, Marilyn Horne, James Morris, Diane Sawyer and Teresa Stratas attended the 83rd Annual Metropolitan Opera Guild Luncheon at Cipriani 42nd Street on Thursday, December 7th. This year's honoree, Ren e Fleming, was acknowledged for her immense contribution to opera and music. Spoken and musical tributes were delivered by Peter Gelb, Ann Patchett and Luca Pisaroni, along with a performance by The Metropolitan Opera Guild's Urban Voices, a choral music initiative that involves nearly 4,000 students and teachers every year.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! Welcome to the start of Memorial Day Weekend: It's Friday, May 26, 2017 and time to live life dramatically! It really sounds like we should be cutting a ribbon somewhere to herald the start of the long weekend that kicks off summer, but instead we sit here in front of a computer screen, remembering and reminiscing, in hopes of providing you with something to read while you sit by the pool, waiting for the SPF37 to kick in!

Bradley Smoak, 32 of Cary, NC, won First Prize in the 2017 Lotte Lenya Competition, sponsored by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. Smoak took home $20,000, the largest single prize amount given in the competition's nineteen year history.

More than 400 opera aficionados and performers - including opera stars Harolyn Blackwell, Lauren Flanigan, Ailyn Perez, Diana Soviero, Teresa Stratas and surprise presenter Renee Fleming, were among those who attended the 12th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards at The Plaza Hotel last night.

More than 400 opera aficionados and performers - including opera stars Harolyn Blackwell, Lauren Flanigan, Ailyn Perez, Diana Soviero, Teresa Stratas and surprise presenter Renee Fleming, were among those who attended the 12th Annual OPERA NEWS Awards at The Plaza Hotel last night.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 2016/2017 season with a musical saga of immigrant America, Rags. From the creators of Fiddler on the Roof and Wicked, this exhilarating musical follows the journey of Jewish immigrants Rebecca and her son David, who find themselves navigating the teeming, turn-of-the-century tenements of New York. A soaring, tuneful score (music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz) illuminates this sweeping saga (book by Joseph Stein) of dreams and disillusions, love lost and inspiration found, and the heart and soul of the American character. It was declared "A winner, warm and witty. You are tempted to rise cheering," by The Mercury News. Rags will be directed by TheatreWorks Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, who notes "this production could not be timelier. As America debates immigration policies, what better time to present this deeper look at the newcomer's experience." Performances are April 5-30 (press opening: April 8) at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View. For tickets ($35-$86) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.orgor call (650) 463-1960.

In our time, IDOMENEO is the earliest of Mozart's operas regularly done, its full title being IDOMENEO, RE DI CRETA OSSIA ILIA E IDAMANTE--or IDOMENEO, KING OF CRETE, OR ILIA AND IDAMANTE. “Ilia” of the extended title is the daughter of Priam, the king of Troy. (“Idamante” is Idomeneo's son.) At the Met starting this week, Ilia is being sung by the skyrocketing young American soprano, Nadine Sierra.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley continues its 2016/2017 season with a musical saga of immigrant America, Rags. From the creators of Fiddler on the Roof and Wicked, this exhilarating musical follows the journey of Jewish immigrants Rebecca and her son David, who find themselves navigating the teeming, turn-of-the-century tenements of New York.

The Metropolitan Opera National Council, Eastern Region host committee will hold its regional finals auditions Wednesday, January 18th at Merkin Concert Hall (129 West 67th Street) beginning at 1 pm. Twelve singers from the New York City area will compete for cash prizes totaling over $15,000 and a chance to perform on the Met stage at the next level of auditions.  Members of the Met's artistic staff and other professionals from the opera world will judge the auditions and give feedback to each participant - a unique and invaluable feature of the National Council program. Each singer will perform two arias. Following the singing, audience members will hear an educational program during the judges' deliberations, after which the winners will be announced. The event concludes with a reception for singers, patrons and special guests. The event is open to the public; tax-deductible donations are solicited to defray administrative expenses and to fund the awards.

Despite some fine singing from soprano Patricia Racette (who also went the Full Monty in the title role), the Met's revival of Richard Strauss's SALOME was a little tame--something that it should never be.

Jim Schubin of Plainsboro, NJ, and Brian Vu of Los Angeles, both earned top prizes in the 2016 Lotte Lenya Competition, sponsored by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music and held on April 16, 2016 in Kilbourn Hall of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

Fifteen young singer/actors have been named as finalists for the 2016 Lotte Lenya Competition. Selected from thirty-one semifinalists, this year's finalists represent a diverse range of performers, ages 21 to 31, from across the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel. All will sing repertoire from the operatic, golden age and contemporary musical stages, and of course, the music of Kurt Weill.