La Traviata will return to the Met stage December 11 with two rotating casts of stars, all of whom are singing their first company performances of the principal roles. Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka, who made a notable debut as Donna Anna in the 2011 new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, brings her acclaimed Violetta to the Met for the first time in the opening performances, with American tenor Stephen Costello as her impetuous lover Alfredo. Later performances will feature Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva—currently starring in her first-ever staged performances of Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème—as Violetta, opposite Italian tenor Francesco Demuro as Alfredo. The role of Giorgio Germont, Alfredo's father, will be shared by American baritone Quinn Kelsey and French baritone Ludovic Tézier. Marco Armiliato will lead all performances of Verdi's romantic tragedy this season. Willy Decker's acclaimed production had its Met premiere in 2010.
The Riverside Opera Company opens the holiday season tonight, November 29, 8 p.m. at the Music Hall at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden with poPera from Nessun Dorma to 'Let it Go' from Disney's Frozen is a Home for the Holidays musical feast.
American baritone Quinn Kelsey will sing the role of Giorgio Germont in the first three performances of La Traviata on December 11, 16, and 19, replacing Ludovic Tézier who is ill. Tézier is expected to return to the role for the remaining performances.
General Director Plácido Domingo has announced final details for LA Opera's first revival of Florencia en el Amazonas, an enchanting and romantic opera by composer Daniel Catán. Co-commissioned by LA Opera in 1995, the opera returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for six performances from tonight, November 22 through December 20, 2014. In the exquisitely beautiful opera, inspired by the fiction of Gabriel García Márquez, a steamboat passage along the fabled Amazon becomes a poignant voyage of discovery for all seven travelers on board.
NEW YORK –– The Juilliard Opera season opens with a production of Gioachino Rossini's Il Turco in Italia (The Turk in Italy), a drama buffo in two acts with a libretto by Felice Romani. Juilliard alumnaSperanza Scappucci conducts the Juilliard singers and the Juilliard Orchestra in her conducting debut at Juilliard in the production directed by John Giampietro. Performances take place tonight, November 19, 2014 and Friday, November 21, 2014 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, November 23, 2014 at 2 p.m., in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Tickets for Juilliard Opera's production of Il Turco in Italia are $30 and available at events.juilliard.edu or at the Juilliard Box Office. Juilliard students may attend for free; non-Juilliard students with valid ID may purchase tickets at $15 at the Juilliard Box Office.
In a last-minute substitution, American tenor Bryan Hymel will sing the role of Rodolfo in this evening's performance of La Bohème, replacing Ramón Vargas, who is ill. Hymel, who made a successful Met role debut as Rodolfo earlier this season, agreed yesterday evening to fly to New York from Chicago, where he is in rehearsal for a different opera.
The Riverside Opera Company opens the holiday season on Saturday, November 29, 8 p.m. at the Music Hall at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden with poPera from Nessun Dorma to 'Let it Go' from Disney's Frozen is a Home for the Holidays musical feast.
On Monday, November 17, 2014 at 10:00 p.m., New York Festival of Song presents a special NYFOS After Hours celebrating the record release of CANCIÓN AMOROSA: SONGS OF SPAIN with Corinne Winters and Steven Blier. The album is released the same day on GPR Records, distributed by Naxos.
NEW YORK –– The Juilliard Opera season opens with a production of Gioachino Rossini's Il Turco in Italia (The Turk in Italy), a drama buffo in two acts with a libretto by Felice Romani. Juilliard alumnaSperanza Scappucci conducts the Juilliard singers and the Juilliard Orchestra in her conducting debut at Juilliard in the production directed by John Giampietro. Performances take place on Wednesday, November 19, 2014 and Friday, November 21, 2014 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, November 23, 2014 at 2 p.m., in Juilliard's Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Tickets for Juilliard Opera's production of Il Turco in Italia are $30 and available at events.juilliard.edu or at the Juilliard Box Office. Juilliard students may attend for free; non-Juilliard students with valid ID may purchase tickets at $15 at the Juilliard Box Office.
From a modern dance education, Kathryn Posin has emerged as a contemporary ballet choreographer. In the program, she presented, October 17, 18, & 19th, at the 92nd St. Y, with Associate Choreographer/Associate Artistic Director Momchil Mladenov, her long time collaborator, the girls danced on pointe, in every ballet. The vocabulary is decidedly classical with a contemporary approach, meaning that the movement dictionary is enlarged to include today's culture. Emil Tabakov, acclaimed Bulgarian conductor and composer, who had a hand in this production, was in attendance at the 10/17, 8:00 PM performance, which I was fortunate to see.
Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2014-2015 season with a new production of one of the most enduring classics in all of opera: Giacomo Puccini's La boheme, tonight, November 1-15 in the Kennedy Center Opera House.
Sonya Yoncheva will make her North American role debut as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata at the Met this January. Yoncheva was originally scheduled to sing Musetta in La Bohème at the Met this season. Instead, she will sing Violetta, one of her most acclaimed roles, as a replacement for Marina Poplavskaya, who has withdrawn from the performances. Yoncheva sings the role on January 14, 17, 21, and 24.
General Director Plácido Domingo has announced final details for LA Opera's first revival of Florencia en el Amazonas, an enchanting and romantic opera by composer Daniel Catán. Co-commissioned by LA Opera in 1995, the opera returns to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for six performances from November 22 through December 20, 2014. In the exquisitely beautiful opera, inspired by the fiction of Gabriel García Márquez, a steamboat passage along the fabled Amazon becomes a poignant voyage of discovery for all seven travelers on board.
Richard Tucker and Plácido Domingo Award-winner Ailyn Pérez makes her hotly anticipated Houston Grand Opera debut this Friday (Oct 24), in what also marks her role debut as Desdemona in Otello. Under the baton of Patrick Summers, Houston's artistic and music director, she stars opposite Simon O'Neill as Otello and Marco Vratogna as Iago in the company's staging of John Cox's hit production of the Shakespearean tragedy, which runs through November 7.
Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group announced today that Chris Mann, Katie Travis, Storm Lineberger and Anne Kanengeiser will join the cast of the spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA currently on national tour.
On Monday, November 17, 2014 at 10:00 p.m., New York Festival of Songpresents a special NYFOS After Hours celebrating the record release ofCANCIÓN AMOROSA: SONGS OF SPAIN with Corinne Winters and Steven Blier. The album is released the same day on GPR Records, distributed by Naxos.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.)-Washington National Opera (WNO) continues its 2014-2015 season with a new production of one of the most enduring classics in all of opera: Giacomo Puccini's La boheme, November 1-15 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Updating the story to post-World War I Paris, this brand-new production by Jo Davies features original stage direction by Peter Kazaras, both in their WNO debuts. WNO Music Director Philippe Auguin leads the WNO Orchestra in interpreting some of opera's most famous melodies. A special November 14 performance features casting by current singers and alumni of WNO's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program.
Opera Saratoga announces its 2015 Summer Festival season, which will run from July 2 - July 26, 2015 at multiple venues throughout Saratoga Springs, New York.
Mozart's final opera, Die Zauberflöte, returns to the Met October 6 for its first full-length performances in German in five seasons. Julie Taymor's imaginative production will be conducted by Adam Fischer and star English tenor Toby Spence as the hero Tamino; South African soprano Pretty Yende as the princess Pamina in her first Met performances since her star-making 2013 company debut; Macedonian soprano Ana Durlovski in her Met debut as Pamina's mother, the terrifying Queen of the Night; Austrian baritone Markus Werba as Papageno, the hapless birdcatcher who is caught up in Tamino's quest; American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as the mysterious Speaker of the Temple; and German bass René Pape as the Queen of the Night's nemesis, Sarastro.
