Lawrence Brownlee News

Opera Philadelphia opens its 40th Anniversary Season in grand fashion this September, with a New Production of The Barber of Seville. Rossini's comic masterpiece will be presented in five performances at the Academy of Music, Sept. 26 through Oct. 5, with a FREE HD broadcast on a giant screen at Independence National Historical Park on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Tickets go on sale today, August 13, for Opera Philadelphia's 40th Anniversary Season, featuring a stellar cast of international opera stars in five new productions at the Academy of Music and the Perelman Theater.

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, August 13, for Opera Philadelphia's 40th Anniversary Season, featuring a stellar cast of international opera stars in five new productions at the Academy of Music and the Perelman Theater. Single tickets will be available at operaphila.org or 215-893-1018.

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, August 13, for Opera Philadelphia's 40th Anniversary Season, featuring a stellar cast of international opera stars in five new productions at the Academy of Music and the Perelman Theater. Single tickets will be available at operaphila.org or 215-893-1018.

The Warner Theatre has announced its 2014-2015 MetOpera: Live in HD Season which will feature 10 operas, 9 of which will be streaming live from the Metropolitan Opera, and 1 encore performance.

The 66th annual Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, under the leadership of General Manager Bernard Foccroulle, will present four world premieres in 2014: new opera productions of Handel's Ariodante and Rossini's Il Turco in Italia, plus Katie Mitchell's staging of Bach cantatas, Trauernacht, and William Kentridge's multi-media version of Schubert's iconic song cycle, Winterreise. Also featured in the coming season is a new Festival production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, a concert version of Rameau's Les Boréades, and a selection of orchestral concerts, recitals, and chamber music performances. In addition, the 17th annual European Academy of Music will offer more than 60 events and 250 young artists. From July 2 to 24, 2014, all events unfold in eight extraordinary venues, many of them open air, in and around the picturesque city of Aix-en-Provence.

Enjoy an unforgettable night out on July 13 at Buon Gusto Ristorante, 15535 Devonshire in Mission Hills. Ana and company at Buon Gusto will provide a sumptuous Italian feast, including salad, dessert, coffee, tea, iced tea, and your choice of entree: Baked Penne al Forno, Chicken Marsala, or Stuffed Fillet of Sole. The musical feast will be served up by CSO leading soprano Shira Renee Thomas and two of the stars of our recent production of Madama Butterfly, tenor Matthew Miles and baritoneBobby Akinboboye (see below). They'll be singing favorites to delight every musical palate, from opera to Broadway to jazz standards. The entire evening is just $49, including tax and tip (wine available at additional cost), and reservations are required. Call 818-517-4102, or go to www.centerstageopera.org to reserve your table today!

Summer is just around the corner, and we are looking ahead in anticipation to the start of Carnegie Hall's 2014-2015 season! Listed below are classical music highlights at Carnegie Hall, including details on UBUNTU: Music and Arts of South Africa, a three-week festival from October 10 to November 5, featuring an exciting array of events to be presented at Carnegie Hall and partner venues throughout New York City, inviting audiences to explore the incredibly dynamic and diverse culture of South Africa.

“The party's over,” wrote Betty Comden & Adolph Green in BELLS ARE RINGING. “It's time to call it a day.” The opera season at the Metropolitan said its farewells to 2013-2014 on May 10 with a bel canto doubleheader of Rossini's LA CENERENTOLA (a shot heard round the world via radio and The Met's LIVE IN HD) and Bellini's IL PURITANI--not a bad swan song, considering the singing talent involved.

One of the thrilling things about live opera performance is that it's like watching a tightrope walker, particularly when it's one with as many high notes and such florid writing as in Bellini's I PURITANI. Only daredevils need apply. That was the atmosphere when Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko made her Met debut last week.

Maksim Aniskin will make his Met debut as Riccardo in this evening's opening performance of Bellini's I Puritani, replacing Mariusz Kwiecien, who is ill.

Acclaimed Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko will make her Met debut as Elvira in a revival of Bellini's I Puritani, with Met stars Lawrence Brownlee and Mariusz Kwiecien in their respective company role debuts as Arturo and Riccardo. Michele Mariotti conducts a cast that also includes Michele Pertusi as Elvira's father, Giorgio, in a revival of the bel canto opera opening tonight, April 17.

The Richard Tucker Music Foundation has announced that Michael Fabiano - 'the tenor that we have all been waiting for' (San Francisco Classical Voice) - is the winner of the 2014 Richard Tucker Award.

In our age of 20-somethings suffering from arrested development, they say “25 is the new 15.” This certainly was not true at the Met auditions concert (formally, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert, a real mouthful!). At the opera house, Sunday afternoon, the concert showcased nine competitors, all between 24 and 29 but mature artists with poise, acting ability and, yes, voices definitely worth hearing again.

After a months-long series of competitions at the district, regional, and national levels, a panel of judges has named five young singers the winners of the 2014 National Council Auditions, the nation's most prestigious vocal competition. Each winner, who performed two arias onstage at the Metropolitan Opera this afternoon with conductor Marco Armiliatoand the Met's orchestra, will receive a $15,000 cash prize and the prestige and exposure that come with winning a competition that has launched the careers of many of opera's biggest stars.

Acclaimed Russian soprano Olga Peretyatko will make her Met debut as Elvira in a revival of Bellini's I Puritani, with Met stars Lawrence Brownlee and Mariusz Kwiecien in their respective company role debuts as Arturo and Riccardo. Michele Mariotti conducts a cast that also includes Michele Pertusi as Elvira's father, Giorgio, in a revival of the bel canto opera opening April 17. The Met performances will be the first time the husband-and-wife pairing of Mariotti and Peretyatko have performed I Puritani together. The opera will be seen in a revival of Sandro Sequi's 1976 production, which has served as a showcase for such formidable stars as Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Edita Gruberova, and Anna Netrebko.

Following this afternoon's highly competitive semi-final competition, nine young singers will advance to the final phase of the Metropolitan Opera's 2014 National Council Auditions, America's most prestigious vocal competition. The selected finalists, chosen by a panel of experts from the classical music industry, will compete on the Met stage on Sunday, March 30at the Grand Finals Concert, with winners receiving individual cash prizes of $15,000 and the prestigious-and potentially career-launching-title of National Council Auditions Winner. The Grand Finals Concert begins at 3 p.m. and will feature Marco Armiliatoconducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as each finalist performs two arias in contrasting styles. The concert will be hosted by tenorLawrence Brownlee, a former National Council winner currently at the Met rehearsing for Bellini's I Puritani. While the judges deliberate, another former winner, Susanna Phillips, who stars in three operas at the Met this season, will perform an aria from Mozart'sLe Nozze di Figaro. Tickets for the Grand Finals Concert may be purchased at the Met Box Office, by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at www.metopera.org.

General Director & President David B. Devan and Music Director Corrado Rovaris are pleased to announce Opera Philadelphia's 40th Anniversary Season, featuring a stellar cast of international opera stars in five new productions at the Academy of Music and the Perelman Theater.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartok's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.

The 66th annual Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, under the leadership of General Manager Bernard Foccroulle, will present four world premieres in 2014: new opera productions of Handel's Ariodante and Rossini's Il Turco in Italia, plus Katie Mitchell's staging of Bach cantatas, Trauernacht, and William Kentridge's multi-media version of Schubert's iconic song cycle, Winterreise. Also featured in the coming season is a new Festival production of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, a concert version of Rameau's Les Boréades, and a selection of orchestral concerts, recitals, and chamber music performances. In addition, the 17th annual European Academy of Music will offer more than 60 events and 250 young artists. From July 2 to 24, 2014, all events unfold in eight extraordinary venues, many of them open air, in and around the picturesque city of Aix-en-Provence.