(Photo © Marc Larcher) To learn from Maestro Paolo Arrivabeni about his journey before he steps on the podium to conduct an opera or a symphony is more than a treat. It is a brief excursion into some of the layers he explores before he picks up his baton. More than rehearsals with singers and orchestra, more than simply studying {…}
When Jane Marsh made her Italian and European début at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy singing the demanding part of Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Otello,” she was just past her teens. She had been recommended to Thomas Schippers by the Metropolitan Opera as he was looking for a soprano to sing the role for the opening of {…}
(Photo: Annemone Taake) Russian baritone Mikhail Timoshenko began his musical and theatrical training in Mednogorsk, then at the Franz Liszt University in Weimar and the Hans Eisler in Berlin. From 2015 to 2017, he was a member of the Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris. He sang in the world premiere of Joanna Lee’s “Vol Retour” and performed the role of {…}
(Photo: Dahyun Baek) SeokJong Baek’s rise to prominence in the opera world can only be described as meteoric, if not almost difficult to believe. Almost 15 years singing as a baritone, a chance encounter with fellow South Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee suggested to him that he might make a better tenor than a baritone. Despite joining the San Francisco Young {…}
Published in 1931, “The Waves” is recognized as Virginia Woolf’s most experimental work, featuring soliloquies from six different characters in a unique stream-of-consciousness. And now it will get an opera. The team behind the work is composer Blake Allen and director / writer Will Nunziata. Allen, an award-winning composer, violist, and producer, enjoys “merging merging the worlds of opera and {…}
(Credit: Victor Santiago) This past week, Francesco Meli made his role debut as “Otello” in Verdi’s masterpiece. It marked his 18th Verdi role and a return to the Venice house where has sung many of those Verdi works. But in the run-up to the premiere of the opera, Meli’s comments in an interview with Il Giornale became the center of {…}
Content Warning: There is some explicit language in the content of this article. On August 6, the head of the Slovak National Theatre, Matej Drlička, was informed of his dismissal by an officer from the Ministry of Culture. He was one of the many directors who were dismissed by the new Minister alleging Drlička had criticized her ministry and had {…}
(Credit: Yan-Bleney) Born in Montreal, Étienne Dupuis has established himself as one of the most distinguished baritones of his generation. Amongst his wide-ranging repertoire, he is especially in demand for Verdi roles. In the 2023-24 season, Étienne made a series of role debuts: as Don Carlo di Vargas in “La forza del destino” at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, {…}
(Photo credit: Louis Chan / David Allen) What does the future look like for female directors in opera? Opera San José, the opera company in the heart of Silicon Valley, California, now entering its 41st season, gives OperaWire a look at two young trailblazers: the current CEO and General Director, Shawna Lucey, and Michelle Ainna Cuizon, presently in residence and {…}