The 2013-14 season of the New York Philharmonic's Insights Series will continue Monday, April 7, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. with "Leonard Bernstein Emerges: Defying Boundaries and Challenging Racial Politics During World War II," when Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in- Residence Carol J. Oja speaks about the Philharmonic Laureate Conductor's emergence as a conductor, composer, and activist for racial justice during his 20s.
Was baritone Thomas Hampson looking for some last-minute pointers at last night's concert performance of Alban Berg's WOZZECK with the Vienna State Opera/Vienna Philharmonic under music director Franz Welser-Most at Carnegie Hall? If he did--his role debut at the Met is Thursday--then he came to the right place, for Matthias Goerne was spellbinding as the title character descending into madness in this challenging, yet rewarding, piece. From his first scene, shaving the Captain, to his drowning as an accidental by-product of the murder of his mistress, Goerne was haunted and haunting.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra welcomes back revered conductor, and former CSO Creative Director, Rafael Fru?hbeck de Burgos for his second engagement of the 2013- 14 season. Tonight, February 28 and March 1 at historic Music Hall, Maestro Fru?hbeck de Burgos will conduct one of the most epic works in orchestral and choral repertoire-Verdi's Requiem. The piece pulls together massive forces of orchestra, chorus and soloists for an impassioned and dramatic blockbuster of human emotion. Perhaps best known for the famous 'Dies irae' movement, prevalent in pop culture in movies, advertisements and television, Verdi's masterpiece depicts a journey from terror and darkness to joy and light.
Met Music Director James Levine will conduct a revival of Berg's Wozzeck, opening March 6 and starring Thomas Hampson and Deborah Voigt in their first-ever performances of the leading roles, Wozzeck and Marie. Levine has led 43 performances of Berg's dark study of a man crushed by society—more than any other conductor in Met history. This season's revival will also star Simon O'Neill as the Drum-Major, Peter Hoare as the Captain, and English bass Clive Bayley as the Doctor.
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 65 countries around the world, will feature ten operas in the 2014-15 season, including all six new productions in the Met season. All ten performances, transmitted live from the Met stage, will feature the world's finest singers, conductors, and theatrical artists.
The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartok's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.
With James Levine on the podium, and Thomas Hampson in the title role, Deborah Voigt will make her role debut as Marie in Alban Berg's harrowing opera Wozzeck at New York's Metropolitan Opera (March 6 - 22). The revival of this 'arrestingly abstract ' (New York Times) staging of Berg's landmark opera is highly anticipated, pairing two beloved American singers with a conductor - the Met's music director - who is widely regarded as one of the work's most passionate advocates. The fifth and final performance of Wozzeck this season will be broadcast live on Saturday, March 22 in the Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast series on WQXR 105.9 FM and online at www.wqxr.org. In April, Voigt heads out for a four-city recital tour, taking her to three venues in California and a return engagement in the 75th anniversary season of Boston's popular Celebrity Series. On May 14, she returns to the Met to host the 'Live in HD' broadcast of Rossini's La Cenerentola.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra welcomes back revered conductor, and former CSO Creative Director, Rafael Fru?hbeck de Burgos for his second engagement of the 2013- 14 season. On February 28 and March 1 at historic Music Hall, Maestro Fru?hbeck de Burgos will conduct one of the most epic works in orchestral and choral repertoire-Verdi's Requiem. The piece pulls together massive forces of orchestra, chorus and soloists for an impassioned and dramatic blockbuster of human emotion. Perhaps best known for the famous 'Dies irae' movement, prevalent in pop culture in movies, advertisements and television, Verdi's masterpiece depicts a journey from terror and darkness to joy and light.
Tonight, January 28, 2014 at 7:30pm at Opera America's National Opera Center, New York Festival of Song opens the 2013-14 edition of its forward-looking NYFOS Next series with MARK ADAMO & FRIENDS.
Rising young soprano Nadine Sierra, will take the stage at the Michael Schimmel Center For the Arts on Sunday, February 9 at 3pm as part of Pace's concert series VOCE AT PACE: RISING OPERA STARS. Rising Opera Stars in Recital is supported by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation in honor of Dr. Agnes Varis. It is curated by Matthew Epstein.
Following an extensive European tour with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Thomas Hampson returns to the U.S. to make his role debut as the eponymous antihero of Alban Berg's Wozzeck, opening March 6 at New York's Metropolitan Opera. Hampson is joined in the new adventure by soprano Deborah Voigt, also making her role debut as Marie in Mark Lamos's staging, and Met music director James Levine - one of the work's most passionate advocates - on the podium. The production marks Hampson's third Met role debut in as many seasons, following performances last year of Iago in Verdi's Otello and in the title role of Verdi's Macbeth the previous season. The fifth and final performance of Wozzeck this season will be broadcast live on Saturday, March 22 in the Metropolitan Opera Radio Broadcast series on WQXR 105.9 FM and online at www.wqxr.org.
The Collegiate Chorale announces the New York premiere of battle hymns on May 15, 2014 at 7:30pm at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Pier 86, 12th Ave. & 46th Street in New York, NY.
Aspiring opera singers from the Gulf Coast will once again vie for the national spotlight during the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council District and Regional Auditions today, Jan. 11 and Sunday, Jan. 12 at Loyola University New Orleans. The winner of the regional auditions will advance to the national semi-final round, held Sunday, March 23 on the Metropolitan Opera Stage in New York City. The singers who advance to the finals Sunday, March 30 will be accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 at 7:30pm at Opera America's National Opera Center, New York Festival of Song opens the 2013-14 edition of its forward-looking NYFOS Next series with MARK ADAMO & FRIENDS.
The January broadcasts of The New York Philharmonic This Week - the weekly radio series of concerts and recordings by the New York Philharmonic, hosted by Alec Baldwin - begin with an all-American New Year's Eve Concert conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert with Thomas Hampson as soloist. The program, recorded on New Year's Eve in 2009, includes Copland's Suite from Appalachian Spring and Old American Songs (selections), in addition to selections from Broadway musicals and Gershwin's An American in Paris. The following week, composer-conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the New York Concert Premiere of his Violin Concerto, featuring Leila Josefowicz as soloist, as well as Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, and Sibelius's Symphony No. 5.
Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor David Hyde Pierce will take a star turn together when they co-host the Ninth Annual Opera News Awards, set to take place on Sunday, April 13, 2014, in the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel in New York City. They will be joined by a distinguished line-up of presenters – Luca Pisaroni, Susan Graham, Renata Scotto, Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Francesca Zambello – who will pay tribute to five superb artists who have made an invaluable contribution to the art form: the late director Patrice Chéreau, tenor Juan Diego Flórez, mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig,bass-baritone James Morris, and soprano Nina Stemme. First introduced in 2005, the Opera News Awards gala dinner, which features the hosts and presenters speaking about the awardees and introducing video performance clips, has become one of the most anticipated opera events of the season: an evening of celebration, appreciation, reuniting and celebrity-spotting that is without parallel in the industry.
Aspiring opera singers from the Gulf Coast will once again vie for the national spotlight during the annual Metropolitan Opera National Council District and Regional Auditions Saturday, Jan. 11 and Sunday, Jan. 12 at Loyola University New Orleans. The winner of the regional auditions will advance to the national semi-final round, held Sunday, March 23 on the Metropolitan Opera Stage in New York City. The singers who advance to the finals Sunday, March 30 will be accompanied by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
In 2014 Tanglewood welcomes Andris Nelsonsfor his first festival appearances as BSO Music Director Designate. His first of four concerts with the BSO will be an all-Dvo?ak program, with the composer's symphonic poem The Noonday Witch, the Violin Concerto with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and the Symphony No. 8 (7/11). For his second BSO program on July 19, Maestro Nelsons will be joined by Swedish trumpeter Hakan Hardenberger performing his compatriot Rolf Martinsson's Trumpet Concerto, on a program with music by Brahms and Tchaikovsky. The following Sunday afternoon (7/20), Maestro Nelsons will open his BSO program withChristopher Rouse's Rapture, followed by Lalo'sSymphonie espagnole, with violin soloist Joshua Bell, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.
Austin Lyric Opera (ALO) has announced that internationally acclaimed American tenor James Valenti will take on the title role of its season opener, 'Don Carlo'.
