It’s not often that Alaskans get to see Wagnerian opera, much less the full Ring cycle in one sweep, but this week and next, the Metropolitan Opera is beaming all four Wagner Ring operas to cinemas around the world, including to the Century 16 Cinema in Anchorage. Ring-nuts rejoice! ...more...
Arts America Blog
A Field Day for Virtuosi
April 16, 2012 by
Michele Angelini, Susannah Biller, Marie-Eve Munger
Il sogno di Scipione is seldom performed – for the simple reason that the author, a 16-year-old Mozart, was feeling his adolescent oats and loaded it with intricate, high-flying arias that would challenge the most skilled of singers, then or now. In fact, the piece was never even produced in this country until 2002, when the then brand-new (and apparently fearless) Gotham Chamber Opera …more…
The Halls Are Alive
April 7, 2012 by
Is it something in the air? There’s so much opera going on as spring sets in, you’d swear we were genetically programmed to burst into song in sync with the croci and daffodils.
I’m super-psyched to hear Anna Caterina Antonacci making her New York recital debut as part of Lincoln Center’s “Art of the Song” series at Allice Tully Hall on April 8. Antonacci – celebrated on the Continent — can …more…
Tomorrow’s Stars Get Their Start
March 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Just as baseball fanatics – especially self-styled scouts — look forward to spring season, opera-lovers savor open contests such as the Marcello Giordani Foundation Vocal Competition, which took place March 3 at the Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center in New York City. Conceived as a boost for early-career singers, the sing-off could well prove life-changing. ...more...
Opera on a Roll
February 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It has been a bit of a tumultuous season so far for East Coast opera. On the minus side, Opera Boston — the city’s innovative, second-tier company, a boon to the local scene since 2003 — abruptly shut down just before Christmas: a sad case of the piper (i.e., principal donor) calling the tune. Happily, as if to compensate, the union standoff that had been holding up New York City …more…
Hansel for the Holidays at the Metropolitan Opera
December 16, 2011 by
Angelika Kirschschlager as Hansel and Miah Persson as Gretel; photo by Marty Sohl, culled from the Metropolitan Opera website.
If there is one definitive, reigning holiday tradition at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, it’s Engelbert Humperdinck’s fairy tale opera Hansel and Gretel. Since its Metropolitan Opera premiere on November 25 in 1905 with the composer in attendance, the work has been frequently performed by the company …more…
