Fire Shut Up in My Bones became the first work by a Black composer in the 138-year history of the Metropolitan Opera as the company presented its first staged performance since March 2020 following a gap caused by the coronavirus.
The Met says X will open on Nov. 3, 2023, in a staging by Robert O’Hara that will be conducted by Kazem Abdullah. Will Liverman will star in the title role.
Ali was among the most important, most charismatic, most unique figures in American (not just sports) history. So how do you adapt the monumental life of the People’s Champion into an opera?
A Verdi and bel canto expert, Lyric’s new music director Enrique Mazzola will open the season with Verdi’s Macbeth and Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, while also conducting contemporary opera Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli later in the season.
The Metropolitan Opera will skip an entire season for the first time in its nearly 140-year history and intends to return from the pandemic layoff next September.
The virtual sphere won’t replace the live stage, but it can add a second, more accessible one, with great room for creative growth and the viral potential of easily shareable, iconic images.
Star tenor Lawrence Brownlee’s new Facebook Live series aims to change the face of the industry through interviews with other Black opera singers and advice for aspiring Black opera singers, Brownlee explains.
Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, in-person performances will be among the last to return, making “operating on anything close to a normal basis until that phase” impossible.
General director Ashley Magnus maintains that even in troubled times, the company is “moving forward with the belief that opera truly is a living, resilient art form.”
A marathon 6-hour performance will be held in an unexpected (but increasingly familiar) place: Zoom! The video conferencing platform will provide the proscenium for a performance of Pauline Oliveros’ postmodern masterpiece ‘The Lunar Opera.’
We’re glad to see that in recent decades, more and more works by women writers have been given their due in the opera house. Here’s a look back at some of them, and a short list of works by women that we’re waiting to see operatically staged.
With a story that highlights how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go, Chicago Opera Theater presents the world premiere of Dan Shore’s Freedom Ride, which centers on a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle.
A North American premiere, a Midwest premiere, and a special opening night concert with Renée Fleming are among the highlights. The 2020-2021 season will also be Sir Andrew’s last as music director.
“It has been said that a society can be judged by the way it treats its animals,” composer David T. Little says in the program notes for his chamber opera, Dog Days. Based on a short story by Judy Budnitz, the opera is set in a war-torn future that’s not too far away from our own time.
Terence Andrus has been on death row since 2012. Through a penpal program, celebrated bass-baritone Ryan McKinny has become a friend and artistic collaborator.
“There are very few places… where people go to reflect as a community… The opera house, or the concert hall, is one of those sacred spaces…” observes composer Jake Heggie.
Classical and jazz composer-pianist Anthony Davis’ latest opera, The Central Park Five, with a libretto by Richard Wesley, premiered in June 2019. We spoke with the composer and members of the creative team about bringing the opera to life.
This is the third major presentation of City Opera’s LGBTQ series following Peter Eotvos’ Angels in America in 2017 and Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain last year.
General director Ashley Magnus exclaims that “to ensure that opera stays relevant as a living art form, we must bring contemporary voices, as well as works of international prominence never before seen in Chicago to the stage.”
