By David Salazar
Madrid’s Reina Sofia School of Music has named Julia Banse as its new head professor of the Alfredo Kraus” Fundación Ramón Areces Voice Chair for the 2023-24 academic year.
Banse will take over the position, which was previously held by such artists as Alfredo Kraus, Teresa Berganza, Tom Krause, Ryland Davies, Francisco Araiza, and her predecessor Susan Bullock CBE. The Chair was established in 1994-95.
Banse had a solid career as a soprano that saw her perform with such conductors as Lorin Maazel, Kent Nagano, Riccardo Chailly, Bernard Haitink, Franz Welser-Möst, Claudio Abbado, and Manfred Honeck. She also performed at such venues as the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus in Vienna, Kölner Philharmonie, and Boulez Hall, among others.
She previously held professor positions at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf from 2016 to 2021 as well as the University Mozarteum Salzburg from 2020-21.
By Chris Ruel
The Seattle Symphony has announced five local artists will receive grants from the Community Stages Fund (CSF). The CSF helps artists from a wide range of backgrounds and gives the Symphony a chance to highlight those who shape and grow Seattle’s rich artistic and cultural scene.
The Rhapsody Project, Movimiento Afrolatino Seattle, Puckduction, Sharon Nyree Williams, and Key to Change are this year’s award recipients selected by a panel of community leaders and Seattle Symphony staff.
The grantees represent many facets of Seattle’s distinctive creative community, including underserved youth of South King County, Afro-Latino performers, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ creators, and Black artists working to establish racial and cultural equity.
Since its inception in 2021, the CSF’s reputation has steadily grown, and last fall, more than twice as many people applied for the second round of funding. This year, CSF grants will bring to Benaroya Hall a wide range of music, dance, poetry, culture, and storytelling.
Key to Change gives underserved youth world-class music lessons and enables them to become self-aware leaders.
Movimiento Afrolatino Seattle (MS) brings attention to the cultural and historical contributions of Latino and African artists.
Puckduction helps BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ creators, emphasizing neo-burlesque, cabaret, and film.
Sharon Nyree Williams is an Emmy-winning voice-over artist, storyteller, producer, presenter, and teacher.
The Rhapsody Project builds a community that examines and celebrates music and heritage through an antiracist
By Francisco Salazar
The Makeup and Hairstylists Guild has announced its 2023 nominations and the LA Opera and San Francisco Opera are both nominated in the Live Stage categories.
LA Opera’s productions of “Lucia di Lammermoor” and “Tosca” were nominated in the Best Make-Up, Theatrical Productions category alongside
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “Kinky Boots,” and “Sleeping Beauty.”
Meanwhile LA Opera’s “Omar and San Francisco Opera’s “La Traviata” were nominated for Best Hair Styling, Theatrical Productions category alongside “Kinky Boots,” “Sense and Sensibility,” and “West Side Story.”
Other nominees in the film categories included “The Batman,” “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” “The Menu,” “Nope,” “Babylon,” and “Elvis.”
The 10th annual awards will be held at the Awards Gala on Feb. 11, 2023.
By Afton Wooten
The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, New York Public Radio’s performance space and production studio has released its lineup for the winter 2023 season.
Where there are multiple performances taking place, for the purposes of this article we will solely focus on classical voice related events.
First up is “Queen of the Night with Thorgy Thor.” WQXR’s inaugural event of the season features drag performance artist and violinist Thorgy Thor along with mezzo-soprano Lucy Dhegrae and cellist Zlatomir Fung.
The evening will include laughter, campy fun, and a variety of musical performances starting at 8 p.m.
Performance Date: Jan. 27, 2023
Next up is the live podcast recording of “Every Voice with Terrance McKnight.” The new podcast will cover topics such as race in opera, “Black heroic figures found in modern American operas while examining the characterization of Africans found in four popular operas written in Western Europe.”
Guests and musical artists are to be announced. This one-hour, in-person event begins at 7 p.m.
Performance Date: Feb. 23, 2023
By David Salazar
(Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera)
The Metropolitan Opera will present Giordano’s “Fedora” Live in HD this weekend on Jan. 14, 2023.
The broadcast, which kicks off at 12:55 p.m. Eastern time and marks the company’s 150th HD showcase, will be conducted by Marco Armiliato and stars Sonya Yoncheva in the title role and Piotr Beczala as her lover Loris. Rounding out the cast will be Lucas Meachem as De Siriex and Rosa Feola as Countess Olga. David McVicar directs and Ailyn Pérez hosts the transmission.
Of the performance, OperaWire’s review stated that Yoncheva “sang with delicacy and a gorgeous pianissimo sound… she was simply heartbreaking as she emoted a breathier sound toward her final lines, ‘Le tue labbra adorate…’” Of Beczala, the review remarked that his interpretation of the famed “Amor ti Vieta” featured a “gorgeous and passionate legato line.”
In concluding the review, “ultimately, the singers made a case for ‘Fedora,’ regardless of everything else. There are seven performances remaining and audiences should do what they can to catch it while it’s there. Because it might be another 25 years (or more) before it comes back.”
Find out which theaters in your local area are transmitting the simulcast by clicking here.
By David Salazar
Portland Opera has announced that it will receive a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in support of “Thumbprint.”
The opera by Kamala Sankaram and Susan Yankowitz tells the story of Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani activist who fought for freedom after surviving government-sanctioned sexual violence.
“We are so grateful for the support from the National Endowment for the Arts,” said Sue Dixon, General Director of Portland Opera, in an official press statement. “This grant, and the NEA’s continued support over the years, allows us to share groundbreaking works, like this piece by Kamala Sankaram and Susan Yankowitz, with the Portland community.”
“Thumbprint” is set to open at the Newmark Theatre on March 18, 2023. The opera will run for four performances through March 26, 2023.
By Francisco Salazar
The Teatro alla Scala is set to present a new production of Verdi’s Risorgimento work, “I Vespri Siciliani.”
The work, which has not been performed at the famed theater since 1989-90 season season, will star Luca Micheletti, Roman Burdenko, Adriano Gramigni, Piero Pretti, Dmitry Beloselskiy, Marina Rebeka, and Angela Meade.
In a statement Pretti said, “This is a stirring, complex, challenging role, calling for dramatic force as well as lyricism and bel canto that is as demanding as it is irresistible. Arrigo is an impassioned young man in love, convinced that he is immune to certain constrictions, such as blood ties, and that he has made his own choices, following just his heart, his love for Elena and his political ideals. But soon he will realise that this is not the case. His instincts will drive him to make hasty decisions that affect his loved one and his friends, trusting in his rediscovered father who, on the wave of affection, tries to use him in his power games.”
He added, “I’ve been studying this opera since 2010, and I love both the French and the Italian version for different reasons. I’ve had the privilege of singing both versions (the Italian one in Turin and Madrid and the French one in Naples and Berlin). Now I’m full of excitement and pride to be singing as Arrigo at Teatro alla Scala and I can’t wait to be immersed in this drama imbued with honour, love, remorse and hope: pure Verdi.”
Fabio Luisi is set to conduct the production by Hugo de Ana which will be perform Jan. 28 to Feb. 21, 2023.
By Francisco Salazar
U.K’s Opera North has announced that Joséphine Korda will take up its annual 9-week Female Conductor Traineeship, while studying for her master’s at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
The company said that as it addresses the gender imbalance in classical music – and on the podium in particular, the intensive program offers emerging conductors wide-ranging experience and support within the UK’s national opera company in the north.
Korda will take part in masterclasses with the Orchestra of Opera North and participate in our education work, as well as sitting in on preparations for our three winter season operas and orchestral concert program.
In a statement Korda said, “I am so excited to be the Female Conductor Trainee at Opera North this season. It is going to be invaluable to be a part of the development of three such different and impressive operas; to see how they come together in a professional environment and through the collaboration of an extremely experienced team. The bespoke nature of this traineeship will allow me to develop enormously as an operatic conductor, and to gain knowledge from the mentorship and guidance of Opera North’s in-house and guest conductors. I’d like to thank Opera North sincerely for this wonderful opportunity.”
Korda studied composition and conducting at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris with maestri Dominique Rouits and Julien Masmondet and composer Regis Campo. She was a guest conductor at Marin Alsop’s Women’s Conducting Masterclass with the Philharmonia at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. She has also participated in numerous international competitions, notably as a finalist in the 2021 International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors.
Garry Walker, Music Director, Opera North added, “Once again we had a high level of interest in the Traineeship, and we’re delighted to welcome Joséphine to the Opera North family. She will enjoy the benefits of observing three operatic productions over the coming weeks, masterclasses with myself, Antony Hermus and other members of our staff, and will gain from a wide range of experience across the Company’s hugely varied work.”
By Francisco Salazar
The Opéra de Toulon has announced a cast change for its production of “Così fan tutte.”
The company said that Laurent Alvaro will not be able to sing the role of Don Alfon due to illness. As a result, he will be replaced by David Bižić.
Bižić is a baritone who has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Tel-Aviv, and Macerata Opera Festival. This season he is set to perform in Japan and Liege.
The baritone joins a cast that includes Barbara Kits, Marion Lebègue, Pauline Courtin, Vincenzo Nizzardo, and Dave Monaco. Christophe Gayral directs while Karel Deseure conducts.
“Così fan tutte” is set to open run from Jan. 27 to 31, 2022.
By Francisco Salazar
Eleonora Buratto has received the Pesaro Music Award for Renata Tebaldi.
The soprano took to social media to note that she received the award during a performance of “Don Carlo” at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
The soprano said, “Yesterday, at the Teatro del Maggio, during the first interval of Don Carlo, I received this Award for which I am deeply honored. Since I was unable to accept it in person in December, Saul Salucci (president of the Orchestra Sinfonica G. Rossini, which since 2019 has been honoring artists who have achieved international success yet maintained strong ties with Pesaro) has come here to present it to me.”
She added, “It is an award of immense significance, as in this edition it was given to those who have a special link with Renata Tebaldi. I would like to thank all my friends in Pesaro who chose to honor me with this award and the Comitato Tebaldi, which selected me to be Ambassador for the worldwide celebrations of the legendary “angel voice”. I would like to thank the Teatro del Maggio for hosting the ceremony, and Giovanna Colombo from the Renata Tebaldi Museum and Alexander Pereira for their presence.”
The award comes on the heels of Buratto’s breakout year in which she made three important role debuts and sang at the Palau de les Arts, Metropolitan Opera, and Rossini Opera Festival, among others. The soprano is set to return to the Teatro alla Scala in March for a production of “Les Contes d’Hoffmann.”
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