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Maria Nockin

Maria Nockin worked at the Metropolitan Opera in New York while attending  Fordham University across the street from Lincoln Center. At the same time, she studied voice, piano, and violin privately. For many years she taught English as a Second Language as well as courses in Art and Theater at New York City and Hauppauge Long Island schools. She has also served as soprano soloist at Long Island's Cathedral of St. Agnes. She spent summers working at the Salzburg Festival where some iof her reviews were translated and read on Austrian Radio. Upon retirement from teaching, she moved to the warmer climate of the Southwest United States where, in winter, she writes about opera and classical music in the major cities of Arizona and California. In summer she covers operas and concerts in Santa Fe New Mexico. In summer 2014, Maria taught Music Theory at the Institute for Large Dramatic Voices. One of her students was Jonah Hoskins, a 2020 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions. 






BWW Review: PASIÓN LATINA at Home Computer Screens
BWW Review: PASIÓN LATINA at Home Computer Screens
December 14, 2020

On Sunday afternoon, December 12, 2020, well known operatic soprano Ana Maria Martinez hosted a concert of song from many parts of the world where Spanish is spoken. The singers, from Spanish speaking backgrounds, were at one time or are currently members of the young artist program at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

BWW Review: THREE DECEMBERS at Home Computer Screens
BWW Review: THREE DECEMBERS at Home Computer Screens
December 13, 2020

Faced with the inability to perform live opera because of COVID, Opera San Jose opted to film an opera that could be made to fit California health regulations in its new Fred Heiman Digital Media Studio. General director Khori Dastoor chose Jake Heggie’s three-person chamber opera, Three Decembers. Since it’s an opera that needs a big star to play famous actress Madeline Mitchell, Dastoor engaged Susan Graham.

BWW Review: THE FIVE MOONS OF LORCA at Home Computer Screens
BWW Review: THE FIVE MOONS OF LORCA at Home Computer Screens
December 13, 2020

The Five Moons of Lorca is a combination ballet and choral work that tells of the life and death of early twentieth century Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. He called for a return to the origins of European Theatre and he questioned the social mores of contemporary theatrical practice regarding homosexuality and women's roles.

BWW Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR at Home Computer Screens
BWW Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR at Home Computer Screens
December 12, 2020

Los Angeles Opera opens its Digital Shorts Series with Gabriela Lena Frank’s  commissioned revision of The Five Moons of Lorca, (Las Cinco Lunas de Lorca). This collaborative piece involves the work of librettist Nilo Cruz, choreographer Irene Rodríguez, and filmmaker Matthew Diamond. Musicians include countertenor Jacob Ingbar, pianist Nicholas Roehler, and members of the LA Opera Chorus. The Five Moons of Lorca, will be streamed through December 25, 2020.

BWW Review: COVID FAN TUTTE at Methodist Church In Camarillo
BWW Review: COVID FAN TUTTE at Methodist Church In Camarillo
November 23, 2020

On Sunday afternoon November 22, 2020, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented COVID Fan Tutte, an updated version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte’s Cosi Fan Tutte. The perfomance was presented drive-in style in the parking lot of the United Methodist Church on Anacapa Drive in Camarillo, CA. The lot accommodates 90 carefully positioned cars from which patrons see the a live opera performance on a raised stage and hear it on their cars’ FM sets.

BWW Review: LA CORONA AND IL PARNASO CONFUSO at Methodist Church In Camarillo
BWW Review: LA CORONA AND IL PARNASO CONFUSO at Methodist Church In Camarillo
November 22, 2020

On Saturday evening November 21, 2020, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented two rare, one-act operas by Christof Willibald Gluck, La Corona and Il Parnaso Confuso to a drive-in audience of 90 cars in the parking lot of the United Methodist Church on Anacapa Drive in Camarillo, CA.

BWW Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR at Home Computer Screens
BWW Feature: ONLINE VIRTUAL OPERA TOUR at Home Computer Screens
November 20, 2020

From now to November 29, 2020, Los Angeles Opera is featuring The Anonymous Lover Composed by a Black man, Joseph Bologne, also known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The cast, made up of members of LAO's Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program, is conducted by Music Director James Conlon. https://www.laopera.org/performances/updated-2021-season/the-anonymous-lover/

BWW Review: LONG BEACH OPERA'S SONGBOOK at Home Computer Screens
BWW Review: LONG BEACH OPERA'S SONGBOOK at Home Computer Screens
November 16, 2020

On Sunday November 15, Long Beach Opera (LBO) presented Songbook, an online  program of 20 new songs by relatively unknown composers. It was LBO board member, Raulee Marcus, who had the idea to commission songs rather than have a gala fundraiser. LBO created a list of established opera composers who had some link to the company and asked them to be mentors. An illustrious quintet of successful composers: Anthony Davis, David Lang, George Lewis, Annie Gosfield, and Du Yun all accepted.

BWW Review: THE ANONYMOUS LOVER at Home Computer Screens
BWW Review: THE ANONYMOUS LOVER at Home Computer Screens
November 15, 2020

Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a Black man born in 1745 to a slave and a slaveholder on the island of Guadeloupe. Few know Bologne wrote operas and most of them have been lost. Only L’Amant Anonyme remains in its  entirety. You can hear some of the stylistic traits of both Mozart and Gluck in L’Amant. Some sonorities found in L’Amant are similar to those found in the works of the above-mentioned composers but there are also marked differences and Bologne’s music certainly deserves to have its own place in the sun.

BWW Feature: Online Virtual Opera Tour November 14-21 at Home Computer Screens
BWW Feature: Online Virtual Opera Tour November 14-21 at Home Computer Screens
November 14, 2020

Los Angeles Opera presents The Anonymous Lover (L'Amant Anonyme), an unjustly neglected 1780 chamber opera by Joseph Bologne, known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. James Conlon will conduct the orchestra. LAO will stream the performance online on Saturday, November 14, 2020, at 5:00 PM. Tickets are free at: https://bit.ly/3eiBtSF

BWW Review: ARIZONA OPERA M R PULLIN STUDIO CONCERT at Home Computer Screens
BWW Review: ARIZONA OPERA M R PULLIN STUDIO CONCERT at Home Computer Screens
November 7, 2020

Cheyanne Coss opened with “Qui la voce,”  Elvira’s mad scene from Bellini’s bel canto opera, I Puritani. Elvira lived in a time when women had no rights, so in opera madness allowed her to proclaim her true feelings. Coss expressed them most eloquently. Terrence Chin-Loy as Des Grieux sang “Ah! Fuyez, douce image” from Massenet’s opera Manon.

BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR NOV 6-14 at Home Computer Screens
BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR NOV 6-14 at Home Computer Screens
November 6, 2020

Free digital tickets are now available for The Anonymous Lover which premieres online Saturday, November 14, at 5 PM Pacific Time. The Anonymous Lover is a 1780 comic romance by pioneering Black composer Joseph Bologne, known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Conducted by Music Director James Conlon and directed by Bruce Lemon, Jr. 

BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR OCT. 31-NOV 7 at Home Computer Screens
BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR OCT. 31-NOV 7 at Home Computer Screens
October 31, 2020

This weekend, tenor Frederick Ballentine returns to the L A Opera virtual stage for a spooky Halloween-themed “Living Room Recital.” He partners with mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and pianist Kunal Lahiry to perform some of opera's most mysterious and scary songs—including the murder scene from Carmen.

BWW Review: IS THIS AMERICA? at Home Computer Screens
BWW Review: IS THIS AMERICA? at Home Computer Screens
October 24, 2020

On Oct. 23, the Santa Fe Opera and Center for Contemporary Arts presented 'Is This America?' This online workshop featuring scenes from the one-act opera, 'This Little Light of Mine,' took place on October10, 2020, aboard the retired tanker Mary A. Whalen which is-docked in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR  OCT. 24-31 at Home Computer Screens
BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR OCT. 24-31 at Home Computer Screens
October 23, 2020

We start at the L A Opera website with a ”Living Room Recital.” Michael J. Hawk, baritone, sings a program entitled “Shakespeare in France and on Broadway.” He performs “Mab! la reine des mensonges” (“Mab, Queen of Lies”) from Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod and three arias from Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet.

BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR  OCT. 17-24 at Home Computer Screens
BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR OCT. 17-24 at Home Computer Screens
October 16, 2020

In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, mezzo-soprano Gabriela Flores, a member of the Los Angeles Opera Young Artist Program, partners with guitarist Gilberto Amara for a “Living Room Recital” of Mexican songs on the Los Angeles Opera website. San Francisco Opera’s online streaming of of Verdi’s Attila features Ferruccio Furlanetto.

BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR SEPT. OCT. 10-17 at Home Computer Screens
BWW Feature: ONLINE OPERA VIRTUAL TOUR SEPT. OCT. 10-17 at Home Computer Screens
October 9, 2020

On Los Angeles Operaa??s website, Ashley Faatoalia, tenor, and Louise Thomas, piano, collaborate for a a?oeLiving Room Recital.a?? They perform songs by Schubert, Williams, Fauré, Bonds and Gordon as well as Spirituals and arias by Mozart, Gershwin and Puccini.

BWW Review: ARIZONA OPERA STUDIO CONCERT at Home Computer Screens
BWW Review: ARIZONA OPERA STUDIO CONCERT at Home Computer Screens
October 6, 2020

On October 5, 2020, I listened to Arizona Operaa??s Studio Spotlight Series online concert held in the newly named the Shoshana B. and Robert S. Tancer Plaza adjoining the companya??s building on Central Avenue in Phoenix. General Director Joseph Spector greeted the tiny audience of donors and the much larger online assemblage with remembrances of the companya??s former general director, Joel Revzen, and a video about the late chair of the Arizona Opera Board of Directors, Robert Tancer.



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