By Francisco Salazar
Germany’s Theater Bonn has announced its 2022-23 season. Here are the operatic productions this season.
Kurt Weill’s “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” will star Susanne Blattert, Martin Koch, Giorgos Kanaris, Natalie Karl, Matthias Klink, Mark Morouse, and Tobias Schabel. Dirk Kaftan conducts the production by Volker Lösch.
Performance Dates: Sept. 11, 2022-Jan. 7, 2023
Martin Mühle, Svetlana Kasyan, Khatuna Mikaberidze, Tamara Gura, and Pavel Kudinov star in Franchetti’s “Asrael.” Hermes Helfricht conducts Christopher Alden’s production.
Performance Dates: Oct. 16, 2022-Jan. 14, 2023
Daniel Johannes Mayr conducts Dorman’s “Die Kinder des Sultans” in a production by Anna Drescher. Ava Gesell, Santiago Sánchez, Susanne Blattert, Carl Rumstadt, and Pavel Kudinov star.
Performance Dates: Nov. 13, 2022-April 25, 2023
Arthur Espiritu, Giorgos Kanaris, Yannick-Muriel Noah, Nana Dzidziguri, Lada BoČková, and Marie Heeschen star in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera” with Will Humburg and Hermes Helfricht conducting. David Pountney directs.
Performance Dates: Dec. 11, 2022-April 16, 2023
Händel’s “Agrippina” will be performed by Pavel Kudinov, Louise Kemény, Lada BoČková, Marie Heeschen, Ava Gesell, Benno Schachtner, and Terry Wey. Rubén Dubrovsky conducts the production by Leo Muscato.
Performance Dates: Jan. 29-April 22, 2023
Yannick-Muriel Noah, Susanne Blattert, Clarry Bartha, and George Oniani star in Giordano’s “Siberia” with Daniel Johannes Mayr conducting and Vasily Barkhatov directing.
Performance Dates: March 12-June 9, 2023
Martin Tzonev, Marie Heeschen, Ava Gesell, Johannes Mertes, Barbara Senator, Santiago Sánchez, Michael Krinner, and Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz lead Lehár’s “The Merry Widow.” Hermes Helfricht conducts Aron Stiehl’s production.
Performance Dates: April 23-June 15, 2023
Schreker’s “Der singende Teufel” will star Mirko Roschkowski, Anna Princeva, Martin Tzonev, Dshamilja Kaiser, Tobias Schabel, Carl Rumstadt, and Pavel Kudinov. Dirk Kaftan conducts the production by Julia Burbach.
Performance Dates: May 21-June 16, 2023
Giorgos Kanaris, Anna Princeva, Lada BoČková, Marie Heeschen, Tobias Schabel, and Charlotte Quadt star in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.” Daniel Johannes Mayr conducts the production by Aron Stiehl.
Performance Dates: Sept. 25-Nov. 5, 2022
Aile Asszonyi, Johannes Mertes, Tobias Schabel, George Oniani, and Anna Sohn perform Puccini’s “Turandot.” Will Humburg and Marco Medved conduct Silviu Purcarete’s production.
Performance Dates: Jan. 1-Feb. 5, 2023
By Francisco Salazar
Opera San José has announced the judges for the upcoming Irene Dalis Vocal Competition.
The competition, which was named for acclaimed mezzo-soprano Irene Dalis who founded Opera San José, see two-time Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, Houston Grand Opera General Director Khori Dastoor, Opera San José Music Director Joseph Marcheso, and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s newly appointed Chief Artistic Administration Officer Matthew Ozawa judging the May 18 semi-finals.
The semi-finals will be livestreamed FREE and audiences will have the chance to vote on an “Audience Favorite” who will automatically proceed to the finals.
The finals, which will be held on May 21, will be judged by mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, San Francisco Opera’s Head of Music and Metropolitan Opera Assistant Conductor John Churchwell, celebrated opera star Solomon Howard, and Opera San José General Director Shawna Lucey.
In a statement Opera San José General Director Shawna Lucey said, “In keeping with Irene Dalis’s vision to incubate opera’s stars of tomorrow, I am proud to share that Opera San José has eliminated financial barriers for our participating contestants. We have removed the entry fee, supported the travel expenses for the competitors, and provided housing during the competition week. The future is bright for opera, and we are thrilled to support these emerging artists as they continue their journeys to leading roles on mainstages around the world. We are also mindful of the future of digital performance for opera, and are happy to provide these singers with an opportunity to adapt to working in this new medium, in addition to the chance to display their talent to leaders from opera companies around the world.”
The eleven semi-finalists for the 2022 Irene Dalis Vocal Competition include: mezzo-soprano Veena Akama-Makia (Little Rock, Arkansas); bass-baritone Ben Brady (Denver, Colorado); soprano Susanne Burgess (Atlanta, Georgia); baritone Andres Cascante (San José, Costa Rica); mezzo-soprano Shanley Horvitz (Voorhees, New Jersey); soprano Emily Michiko Jensen (San Diego, California); soprano Anastasia Malliaras (Los Angeles, California); baritone Samson McCrady (Tucson, Arizona); soprano Nina Mutalifu (Ürümqi, China); baritone Sejin Park (Seoul, Korea); and tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven (Lockport, New York).
By Francisco Salazar
The Metropolitan Opera has announced cast changes for its production of “Hamlet.”
The company noted that due to COVID-19, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and Christopher Lowrey have canceled their performances on May 18 and 21. As a result, Daniel Moody will sing the role of Rosencrantz and Eric Jurenas will sing the role of Guildenstern.
Moody has performed at the Cincinnati Opera, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival, and Washington Early Music Festival while Jurenas has performed at the Wiener Staatsoper, Opera Philadelphia, Royal Opera House, and Glimmerglass Festival.
Both countertenors join a cast that includes Allan Clayton, Brenda Rae, David Butt Philip Rod Gilfry, Sarah Connolly, William Burden, Jacques Imbrailo, and John Relyea. Nicholas Carter conducts the new production by Neil Armfield.
By Nicolas Quiroga
The Des Moines Metro Opera has named Dr. Naomi André as its Fellow-in-Residence.
The Fellow-in-Residence will create, participate in, and lead podcasts, conversations, and events centered around her research on opera, gender, voice, and race.
André, who received her B.A. in Music from Barnard College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Musicology from Harvard University, is the author of “Black Opera: History, Power, Engagement,” a work that has become a leader in the field of opera. She is also the author of “Voicing Gender: Castrati, Travesti, and Second Woman in Early-Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera” as well as the co-editor of “Blackness in Opera.”
André is also currently a Professor of Women’s Studies, Department of African American and African Studies, and Residential College Arts and Ideas in the Humanities Program at the University of Michigan.
“The Iowa Summer Festival and Scholarship will explore different worlds and important works by universally known authors, with themes of race and family, among others, which is why I am delighted to have the opportunity to experience this type of festival as sophisticated, lyrical and carefully curated where drama, music and atmosphere provide a welcoming environment for audiences experienced and new, seeking classics and innovation,” said André in an official press statement.
By Francisco Salazar
(Credit: Dario Acosta)
The Handel and Haydn Society has announced its 2022-23 season featuring important vocal performances.
The season opens an all-Bach program at Symphony Hall. Bernard Labadie conducts The Glories of Bach with featured soloist soprano Lauren Snouffer, countertenor Cody Bowers, tenor Andrew Haji, and bass Michael Sumuel.
Performance Dates: Oct. 7 & 9, 2022
Raphaël Pichon will return to lead H+H for its first-ever complete performances of Mozart’s”The Marriage of Figaro.” The opera will star Ying Fang as Susanna and Krzysztof Baczyk as Figaro.
Performance Dates: Nov. 17 & 18, 2022
H+H will celebrate the holiday season with performances of Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Václav Luks.
Performance Dates: Nov. 25-27, 2022
Jonathan Cohen will conduct A Baroque Christmas featuring Zelenka’s Simphonie a 8 concertanti in A Minor, a trio of works by Handel including the motet Silete Venti, the heavenly Gloria for soprano and solo strings, and Concerto Grosso in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4, and cantata 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen by J.S. Bach.
Performance Dates: Dec. 15 & 18, 2022
The season will also include David Stern in Mozart and Mendelssohn program.
Performance Dates: March 17 & 19, 2023
Rinaldo Alessandrini leads the orchestra and chorus in the H+H premiere of Bach Easter Oratorio. The concert will also include Antonio Bononcini’s Stabat Mater.
Performance Dates: March 31 & April 2, 2023
By Nicolas Quiroga
Houston Grand Opera will present Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” at Miller Outdoor Theater on May 20 and 21, 2022.
The showcase will star Ricardo García and Elena Villalón in the title roles alongside Luke Sutliff, Geoffrey Hahn, Nicholas Newton, Donnie Ray Albert, Carlos Enrique Santelli, Sun-Ly Pierce, William Guambo, Emily Treigle, Blake Denson, and Eric Taylor. Benjamin Manis conducts.
The company recently presented Gounod’s classic masterpiece in a production starring soprano Adriana Gonzalez and Michael Spyres. Other cast members included Thomas Glass, Nicholas Newton, Donnie Ray Albert, Carlos Enrique Santelli, Sun-Ly Pierce, William Guambo, Emily Treigle, Blake Denson, and Eric Taylor.
Houston Grand Opera recently announced its 2022-23 season, which will feature “La Traviata,” “El Milagro del Recuerdo,” “Werther,” “Salome,” “The Wreckers,” “The Marriage of Figaro,” and “Tosca.”
By Chris Ruel
Photo: Matthew Placek
“Akhnaten” star Anthony Roth Costanzo has caught the attention of Academia through his depiction of the opera’s titular Egyptian Pharoah. According to Bloomberg, Oxford University has made the singer a visiting fellow at its Centre for the Humanities. The fellowship will begin in November 2022.
Bloomberg reported Richard Bruce Parkinson, an Oxford professor of Egyptology and former curator at the British Museum, made the singer a fellow in recognition of the opera and Costanzo’s influence in boosting Egyptology and busting biases regarding the ancient civilization.
“As an Egyptologist, I should probably be a bit shocked at the liberties it takes. But it’s done with such imaginative conviction, it’s a brilliant approach,” Parkinson said in the article.
Costanzo—who has sung the title role in the current production since 2016—acknowledged the blending of Akhnaten with himself, stating for Bloomberg, “I think it was implicit—and this sounds kind of ridiculous—that I’ve become somewhat synonymous with Akhnaten at this point.”
In the article, the Oxford professor noted Costanzo’s likeness to that of the historical Akhnaten, saying, “If you look at photographs of Anthony during performances and compare them with one of the busts of Akhnaten in the Berlin museum, it’s a very good likeness.”
“Akhnaten” won the 2022 Grammy Award in the Best Opera Recording category and will open at the Met on May 19, 2022.
By David Salazar
Soprano Dawn Upshaw is set to present “Dido Reimagined” at the Soraya in Los Angeles on April 20, 2023.
The soprano will take the stage with the Brentano String Quartet to present a program featuring music by such composers as Purcell, Locke, Dowland, Tomkins, Byrd, and Johnson. Moreover, Purcell’s famed rendition of the Dido myth will be paired by a new work by Melinda Wagner entitled “Dido Reimagined.”
Upshaw and the Brentano String Quartet presented this very program on April 3, 2022 at the 92Y in New York City.
Wagner is a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who was championed early on by Daniel Barenboim. She received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship as well as awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and ASCAP. She has also given masterclasses at such institutions as UC Davis, Yale, Harvard, Eastman, and Juilliard and has held faculty positions at Brandeis University and Smith College.
By David Salazar
The Curtis Institute has appointed four composers to its faculty.
The composers include Nick DiBerardino, Amy Beth Kirsten, Jonathan Bailey Holland, and Steven Mackey. They will begin their respective tenures during the 2022-23 school year.
The quartet will all work with Curtis students and current faculty member Richard Danielpour to develop the composition through lessons, seminars, and coachings.
“I am very proud that Jonathan, Amy Beth, and Steve, all fantastic composers and educators, are joining us at Curtis,” said DiBerardino, who was appointed Curtis’ director of composition students and Ensemble 2020-21, in an official press statement. “It is an honor to call them—and Dr. Danielpour—my colleagues. Our composition students will benefit greatly from the diversity of musical perspectives they offer, and their wealth of experience working with the world’s leading ensembles will be of tremendous value not only to our composers, but also to our performance students and conducting fellows.”
DiBerardino is also a Rhodes Scholar whose music has been performed with such organizations as Symphony Tacoma, Sandbox Percussion, the New College Choir, arx duo, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Music From Angel Fire, and saxophonist Matthew Levy. Residencies include those for the Intimacy of Creativity Festival at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and Hidden Valley. He also founded the first laptop orchestra in England.
Bailey Holland’s work has been performed with such organizations as New World Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, Awadagin Pratt, Roomful of Teeth, Odyssey Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Network for New Music, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Emmanuel Music, and Plymouth Music Series, among others.
Kirsten’s work is known for her multimedia theatrical collaborations where she has cast herself as a composer, poet, filmmaker, vocalist, and director.
Finally, Mackey has written a plethora of guitar music as well as the short chamber opera “Moon Tea.”
By Logan Martell
On May 21, 2022, Washington Irving High School will present “Tribute to Kurt Weill.”
This one-night only concert comes as part of People’s Symphony Concerts, and will feature soprano Katherine Riddle and bass Zachary James, accompanied by Laura Bergquist.
Both prior winners of the Lotte Lenya Competition through the Kurt Weill Foundation, Riddle and James will honor the composer with selections from works such as “Threepenny Opera,” “Street Scene,” “Love Life.” “One Touch of Venus,” and more.
James is currently preparing to reprise his role in the Met Opera’s award-winning production of Philip Glass’ “Akhnaten.” The opera opens on May 19, 2022 and runs through June 10, 2022.
Riddle has appeared with such companies as Glimmerglass, Signature Theater, the Kennedy Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Ticketholders for “Tribute to Kurt Weill” will be required to show proof of vaccination and ID. Concerts will be available for streaming up to six days following the performance. Students and essential workers can receive live and online subscriptions on a pay-what-you-can basis.
