Vocal - my/maSCENA

photo: Sahiba Kaur Chawla

Kiran Ahluwalia: Looking for the Love

By Gregory Finney on 4 April 2018 Canadian Music, Vocal, World Music

“I wasn’t expecting a career,” Kiran Ahluwalia says from New York via telephone. “I just wanted to take one year out of my life and follow my passion.” “I was scared of the future that came with climbing the corporate ladder,” she says. A trip to her native India to study music proved to her that she wanted to pursue this passion even further. One year wasn’t enough. This Indian-Canadian singer-songwriter-composer moved to Canada with her family when she was 10. Having started her formal musical training at 5, she continued her studies. They have been a driving force in…

Sondra Radvanovsky photo: Andrew Eccles

Sondra Radvanovsky: Queen of Opera

By Adrian Rodriguez on 4 April 2018 Classical Music, Opera, Vocal

The first time I heard Sondra Radvanovsky was in 2010 in Montreal’s Salle Wilfrid Pelletier. She was a guest artist alongside the headliner of the concert, the late baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, one of my opera idols, whose performance fulfilled all my expectations. To say that she stole the show would be an understatement. Frankly, I didn’t know much about this American soprano, who has since acquired Canadian citizenship. At first, I was in awe, but at the same time confused. Her voice seemed inconceivable: a large instrument that easily filled the hall and at the same time possessed a penetrating…

Royal Opera House announces 11 titles for the 2018/19 Live Cinema Season

By Newswire on 20 March 2018 Newswire, Opera, Vocal

With 11 titles set to be broadcast to more than 500 UK cinemas and to another 1,000 in 40 countries across the globe, the Royal Opera House’s Live Cinema Season 2018/19 will showcase a wide variety of ballet and opera, including three new works, all relayed live from Covent Garden. The 2018/19 Season will feature the great classic of The Royal Ballet’s repertory The Nutcracker and world-renowned opera stars including Michael Fabiano, Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko and Eva-Maria Westbroek among other treats. Tickets for 2018/19 go on sale on Tuesday 4 April 2018 in the UK and on Tuesday 12 June 2018 for international territories. These…

The Overcoat: Tailored for Opera

By Gregory Finney on 19 March 2018 Contemporary, Opera

Tapestry Opera continues its tradition of bringing new work to the stage this spring with a full production of The Overcoat: A Musical Tailoring. Based on The Overcoat, a successful play of 1998 which in turn was based on the classic tale by Nikolai Gogol, this opera features a score by James Rolfe and a libretto by Morris Panych. The opera is a product of Tapestry’s LibLab, a program that pairs leading up-and-coming composers with the most exciting librettists working in Canada today. Panych and Rolfe were paired up in 2014; the playwright came up with the idea of reworking…

The Evolution of Frontiers: Six Composer-Librettist Teams Selected for Fort Worth Opera’s Diverse 2018 Showcase

By Newswire on 15 March 2018 Newswire, Opera, Vocal

A gripping portrait of American Industrialist Henry Ford and his son, an ambitious baker with an obsessive quest to bake the perfect baguette, a riveting Biblical tale taken from the Book of Genesis, an international icon of the avant-garde chasing utopia and romance in the American Southwest, and more to be presented during the final week of the 2018 FWOpera Festival. Fort Worth, Texas – Fort Worth Opera (FWOpera) announced today the names of the six composer and librettist teams whose unpublished works have been selected for the company’s sixth annual, critically-acclaimed new works series, Frontiers – funded in part by the…

Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Songs Mature

By Norman Lebrecht on 23 February 2018 Art Song, Lebrecht Weekly, Romantic

Fanny Hensel, ‘the other Mendelssohn’: Complete Songs (Champs Hill) I’m uncomfortable with the album title. Rather than being ‘the other Mendelssohn’, Fanny was the heart of the Mendelssohn family and a fine composer in her own right – despite patriarchal suppression by her father and angry resentment from her brother, Felix. Fanny, married to a Berlin artist, kept her works in a drawer until her late 30s, when she went out and got them published, to Felix’s amazement and grudging admiration. Sadly, there was little time for her to enjoy the reviews. Fanny died of a stroke at 41 and…

The Opéra de Montréal’s 2018-2019 season: Opera, an exceedingly relevant art form

By Newswire on 21 February 2018 Classical Music, Newswire, Opera, Vocal

Montreal, Tuesday, February 20, 2018 – In addition to its four operas at Place des Arts this season, the Opéra de Montréal will present a chamber opera at the Centaur Theatre, and a unique recital by an opera star at the Festival du Monde Arabe. On the program, great artists of today—including many Canadians making a name for themselves on the world’s major stages—bringing us stories both gripping and deeply moving. Two well-known creative artists will also take their first steps in the world of opera: Quebec filmmaker Charles Binamé will present his vision of Carmen, while renowned jazz trumpeter…

38 Classical singers from 22 nations to compete in Montréal

By Newswire on 21 February 2018 Art Song, Education, Music Competition, Opera, Uncategorized

38 CLASSICAL SINGERS FROM 22 NATIONS TO COMPETE IN MONTRÉAL Canada leads the selection with eight singers Montréal, Wednesday, February 21, 2018 – 38 promising young singers—20 women and 18 men between the ages of 24 and 35, from a record 22 nations—have been selected to participate in the CMIM (Concours musical international de Montréal) between May 29 and June 7. Canada leads the selection with eight singers, followed by South Korea with six singers. ARMENIA Anush HOVHANNISYAN (soprano, Aria) AUSTRALIA Kang WANG (tenor, Aria) BULGARIA Mihail MIHAYLOV (tenor, Aria) CANADA Andrew HAJI (tenor, Aria) Lauren MARGISON (soprano, Aria) Marie-Andrée MATHIEU (mezzo-soprano,…

The Met Announces It’s 2018 – 19 Season; Yannick Nézet-Séguin Become Music Director in September 2018

By Newswire on 15 February 2018 Arts Industry, Opera

Yannick Nézet-Séguin to become met music director in september 2018, two seasons earlier than originally planned Neubauer Family Foundation Names Met Music Director position with $15 Million Gift 2018–19 Season to Feature Three Operas Conducted by Nézet-Séguin, Including New Production of La Traviata, Directed by Michael Mayer Other New Productions Include Season-Opening Samson et Dalila, Starring Elīna Garanča and Roberto Alagna; North American Premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie; and Adriana Lecouvreur, Starring Anna Netrebko Robert Lepage’s Ring cycle, Starring Christine Goerke as Brünnhilde, to Return for First Time Since 2013 Live in HDSeason to Feature 10 Transmissions, Beginning October 6 with Anna Netrebko in Aida New York, NY (February 15,…

Canadian Opera Company general director Alexander Neef appointed artistic director of Santa Fe Opera

By Newswire on 9 February 2018 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Opera

Newly created seasonal role in Santa Fe to complement Neef’s COC portfolio Toronto – Today, Canadian Opera Company General Director Alexander Neef was named Artistic Director of Santa Fe Opera by incoming SFO General Director Robert K. Meya, effective October 1, 2018. The announcement followed Meya’s own appointment this morning by the SFO Board of Directors, along with English conductor Harry Bicket as Music Director. Neef will continue in his position as COC General Director, in addition to this new seasonal role. Reporting to SFO’s General Director, and in collaboration with the Music Director, the Artistic Director will ensure the…

Browsing: Vocal