By Francisco Salazar
The Teatro San Carlo di Napoli has canceled its opening night of “Don Carlo” in solidarity with the victims of Ischia.
The company released a statement noting, “The San Carlo Theatre Foundation, in agreement with the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano and the Mayor Gaetano Manfredi, also in his capacity as President of the Foundation, announces the cancellation of the inaugural opera “Don Carlo” scheduled for today at 5.00 p.m. as a sign of mourning for the tragedy that struck the island of Ischia.”
The company added, “The theatre will be closed this evening to leave space for silence and respect for those who have suffered a great loss, as a sign of closeness and comfort. We will communicate as soon as possible the modalities of recovery on another scheduled date.”
The announcement comes after heavy rain caused a landslide on the Italian holiday island of Ischia. At least 13 people are missing. Ischia mayor Enzo Ferrandino is urging people not to leave their homes as weather conditions continue to be difficult.
Several artists have written messages of solidarity including Ailyn Pérez who was scheduled to perform in “Don Carlo.” The soprano said, “Our hearts and prayers are with the people of Ischia.”
By David Salazar
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is set to present Händel’s “Messiah” on Dec. 16 and 18, 2022.
Xian Zhang will conduct a cast featuring Ellie Dehn, Maya Lahyani, Miles Mykkanen, and Nicholas Newton. They will be joined by the Montclair State University Singers.
The performance on the 16th will take place at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton while the latter show on the 18 is scheduled to take the stage of the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.
Next up for the organization is a series of performances of music by Strauss and Brahms featuring pianist Daniil Trifonov. The company will else perform a “Lunar New Year Celebration” in late January.
By David Salazar
The Theater St. Gallen will present Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” in a production by Guta Rau starting this December.
The opera, which will be conducted by Katharina Müllner, will star Maria Kublashvili as the Queen of the Night, Libby Sokolowski as Pamina, Yorck Felix Speer as Sarastro, Pavel Kolgatin and Christopher Sokolowski as Tamino, and Äneas Humm as Papageno. Other cast members include Riccardo Botta, Candy Grace Ho, Iskander Turiare, Kristján Jóhannesson, Tatjana Schneider, Sara Jo Benoot, Jennifer Panara, Sarah Alexandrea Hudarew, Liv-Maleen Nagel, Nicolas Künzi, Elena Haag, Lorin Rütsche, Antonia Kugler, and Tessa Güssow.
The opening performance is scheduled for Dec. 1, 2022 and will be followed by six other performances through Feb. 5, 2023.
The new production by Rau premiered during the 2021-22 season.
By Afton Wooten
(Roger Mastroianni)
The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO) has received a $5 million gift from the Geoffrey and Sarah Gund Endowment.
The funding will ensure COYO’s musical training continues for generations of young people and provide a portion of annual operating expenses. The rest of COYO’s costs are covered by membership fees, ticket sales, and those giving to the Orchestra’s Annual Fund.
Geoffrey Gund said in an official press release, “Sarah and I are both teachers and have watched the development of young minds throughout our professional lives. There is nothing more important than supporting students who are working hard and show potential for special achievement. The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra combines our love of music and our admiration of professional musicians who teach the discipline required to achieve excellence. We are delighted to support the Youth Orchestra that gives so much to Cleveland and beyond.
André Gremillet Cleveland Orchestra’s President and CEO added, “This extraordinary gift to the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra speaks to the incredible talent and dedication of these remarkable young musicians. Thanks to the generosity of Geoffrey and Sarah Gund, The Cleveland Orchestra’s vision of offering world-class instruction to middle and high school-aged musicians across Northeast Ohio will be preserved for years to come.”
Daniel Reith COYO’s musical director and the assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra will lead the 37th season which beings on Nov. 20.
By Logan Martell
Deutsche Grammophon has announced the launch of STAGE+, a classical music subscription service which offers livestreamed performances, archived videos, and new audio releases on a single platform.
Subscribers will receive access to content from a wide range of Universal Music Group artists, such as exclusive premieres, concert and opera programs, documentaries, albums, and more. The platform has also partnered with leading opera companies worldwide to offer new performances on a weekly basis. Other featured presentations for streaming include DG’s Yellow Lounge classical club nights, a Rising Stars series, and performances at World Heritage Sites.
Classical music fans will be able to search for individual works, movements, or opera scenes via metadata, as well as save and download content to mobile devices for offline enjoyment. The platform will be available as an app for TV, mobile, and web, for subscribers, with many videos offered in 4K resolution and Dolby Atmos Music, with audio content offered in Ho-Res Lossless format.
“STAGE+ uniquely immerses the fan in a dedicated multi-dimensional classical experience of the highest quality, complementing the breadth of our repertoire presented on our partners’ services,” says Dickon Stainer, President and CEO and Global Classics & Jazz and Verve Label. “It offers artists the place for their live and filmed performances to sit directly alongside their studio recordings, enabling an integrated experience for classical artist discovery by devoted fans of the genre.”
By Francisco Salazar
Kristine Opolais is set to perform the title role of “Carmen” in Vienna’s Oper im Steinbruch.
The festival announced in a press conference that it will present Bizet’s opera in a production by Arnaud Bernard and will be conducted by Valerio Galli.
The cast will be headlined by Opolais who will share the role with Lily Jorstad as well as Matthew White, Migran Agadzhanyan, and Brian Michael Moore as Don José. The cast will be rounded out by Carolina López Moreno, Yulia Suleimanova, and Ana Garotic as Micaëla.
Regarding taking on the title role Opolais said, “I am very happy to share that I will debut the role of #Carmen next summer @oper_im_steinbruch, in a new production with such a wonderful creative team. I look forward to this new artistic adventure with stage director @arnaudbernatd, set designer Alessandro Camera, costume designer Carla Ricotti, and Maestro Valerio Galli. ‘Carmen’ opens at Steinbruch St. Margarethen on July 12, 2023. So many sopranos have performed this role throughout the decades, and for me this is a way to think outside of the box, without limits. Carmen’s passion and strength inspire me, and I cannot wait to take this artistic journey under the stars, surrounded by incredible Roman ruins.”
“Carmen” is set to open on July 12, 2023 and runs through August 20, 2023.
American Soprano Makes Role Debut in ‘Don Carlo’
By Francisco Salazar
On Nov. 26, the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli is set to open its 2022-23 season with a new production of “Don Carlo” featuring an all-star cast. In that cast, Ailyn Pérez will make her role debut as Elisabetta adding another pivotal Verdi role to her repertoire.
Over the years Pérez has slowly added Verdi works to her repertoire starting with Gilda, her first role, and following with her acclaimed Violetta in “La Traviata,” which she has performed at the Royal Opera House, The Teatro alla Scala, and the Bayerische Staatsoper, among other houses. She has since added Desdemona in “Otello,” Verdi’s Requiem, and Alice Ford in “Falstaff,” which OperaWire praised noting she “put on one of her more nuanced performances at the Met. Her lush soprano was a perfect fit for Verdi’s soaring lines.” With Elisabetta, the soprano continues to build on the dramatic repertoire.
For audiences not in Napoli, the opera will be broadcast on Rai 5 at a later date.
Elisabetta is not the only role the soprano is adding this season. Pérez will also add the role of Blanche in “Dialogues des Carmélites” and the title role of “Rusalka.” Audiences will also get to relive her Alice Ford at the Metropolitan Opera which will also be her HD debut. She will also reprise her Mimì at the Opéra de Paris and Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Recordings
For audiences wanting to experience Pérez’s artistry, you can watch DVD of “Falstaff” from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, “Great Scott” from the Dallas Opera, and Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” from the Dutch National Opera.
By Francisco Salazar
The Metropolitan Opera will reprise Verdi’s “Aida” in a staging by Sonja Frisell, which will mark the last time the production will be seen on the Met stage.
The production, which premiered in 1988, has been performed over 240 times and features production designer Gianni Quaranta’s sets. The revival will be performed 15 times from Dec. 3, 2022 through April 27, 2023.
Soprano Latonia Moore, who made her Met debut in 2012 with this opera, returns to the title role. She will alternate with rising star Michelle Bradley.
The cast will also feature mezzo-sopranos Olesya Petrova and Anita Rachvelishvili, who both reprise the role of Amneris, with tenors Brian Jagde and Marcelo Álvarez sharing the role of Radamès.
Baritones George Gagnidze, Quinn Kelsey, and Luca Salsi portray Aida’s father Amonasro, with bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the high priest Ramfis. Bass Krzysztof Bączyk makes his Met debut as the King, sharing the role with Alexandros Stavrakakis. Maestro Paolo Carignani leads from the podium.
When “Aida” returns to the Met in future seasons, the company will bring a new production by Michael Mayer, whose work with the company includes the Las Vegas “Rigoletto” and the current staging of “La Traviata.”
“Aida” will be broadcast on Dec. 2 and 21, 2022, and May 13, 2023 live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM Channel 355. The May 13 performance will also be broadcast over the Toll Brothers–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.
By Francisco Salazar
The Young People’s Chorus of New York City has announced two programs for the holiday season.
The first of the concerts will be “A Very Merry New York” under the direction of Francisco J. Núñez and Creative Director Elizabeth Núñez. The performance will be held at the David Geffen Hall and will feature“Ohrot,” lights in Hebrew, composed by Francisco J. Núñez himself and “We Are the Light,” by composer Jim Papoulis, which features poignant and stirring lyrics by the choristers themselves.
The program will also feature a special arrangement of “Silent Night” performed by YPC’s talented young vocalists and 2023 Grammy nominated Time for Three’s violinist, Nicolas Kendall.
Performance Date: Dec. 11, 2022
The second concert will be “Topsy-Turvy New York,” a joyous and warm new holiday special from the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. The program will premiere on The WNET Group’s ALL ARTS TV network Dec. 21 and Dec. 24.
Under the direction of YPC Artistic Director/Founder Francisco J. Núñez, the feature-length special is set to an original story by best-selling author James Patterson and co-written by author and lyricist Susan DiLallo and author Richard DiLallo.
Francisco J. Núñez and Jim Papoulis’ first partnered on a project nearly 25 years ago, the first of many to come. About that first project, Núñez said, “I quickly realized that Jim Papoulis was a remarkable composer with a completely distinctive voice. We here at YPC have commissioned over a dozen works from him over the years. Jim is a big-hearted humanitarian who always uses his unique gifts to empower and enrich lives, especially those of children. I look forward to premiering this exciting new work.”
By David Salazar
Opera Columbus has announced that Femi Adeyanju will be its new Board president.
“I am very excited to continue working with the talented Opera Columbus staff and our wonderful board members,” said Adeyanju, who has been a board member for more than five years, in an official press statement. “Opera Columbus is focused on reimagining the opera experience to create fun, creative and entertaining performances, while also introducing the next generation of opera fans to the artform through our education outreach for K-12 students, and I am truly honored to be part of an innovative organization with an exciting future ahead.”
Currently, Adeyanju is Managing Director at Ernst & Young with over 18 years of experience in providing IT audit and business consulting services, and will hold the position through June 2025.
Adeyanju will take over for Bill Miller, who served as Board president for the last three years.
“I am proud to pass the baton to Femi as our next board president,” Miller added. “His passion for Opera Columbus’ mission and dedication to helping this great organization secure its future made him the clear choice as the board’s next leader.”
Opera Columbus will honor Miller in a gala at the close of the current season set for May 4, 2023.
