Corinne Winters Returns to Tucson for Latin-Themed Concerts
“Holtan is ecstatic about having this world-class soprano back in our midst. ‘She was such a huge hit when she was here last time, and when we reached out to her, she didn’t hesitate,’ he says.” Corinne Winters joins the Tucson Desert Song Festival for concerts, a recital, and a masterclass.
January 14, 2019
Photos by Fay Fox
American soprano Corinne Winters returns to the Old Pueblo this month for a series of appearances with the Tucson Desert Song Festival. In addition to leading a masterclass for students at the University of Arizona, Winters will perform with guitarist Adam del Monte and True Concord Voices & Orchestra in repertoire including Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5, before debuting her new Shades of Night recital, featuring opera arias and songs that explore literal and metaphorical interpretations of night.
Ahead of her arrival in Tucson, Corinne spoke with Tucson Lifestyle Magazine and the Arizona Daily Star.
“The recital will be a virtual album of moments to remember. Winters explains, ‘It’s called Shades of Night because it examines all the facets of night: celebration, romance, excitement, loss, and the metaphorical ‘dark night of the soul.’ Each piece, in one way or another, is about exploring what’s hidden. The pieces are beautiful and accessible, including a mix of standard works and lesser-known gems. I suggest that the audience really take in the variance in color and mood. This program is not esoteric; it’s meant to be experienced viscerally. I suspect the impact will be different for each person!’”
Read full feature in Tucson Lifestyle Magazine >
“Corinne Winters is making up for lost time this week. After a four-year absence from Tucson stages, the soprano, who has fast-become a rising star on international opera stages, is returning to the Tucson Desert Song Festival, where she is doing triple-duty.”
Snakes on A Stage: Lidiya Yankovskaya in Washington Post
“What makes an American opera? Many of the support programs designed to promote new work create the somewhat amusing spectacle of American artists such as Kamala Sankaram, whose father is from South India, or the opera’s conductor, Lidiya Yankovskaya, whose family emigrated from Russia when she was 9, compressing themselves into someone else’s ‘American’ template.” Ahead of her house debut at Washington National Opera, the conductor spoke with Anne Midgette about the world premiere of Taking Up Serpents.
January 6, 2019
Ahead of her Washington National Opera debut conducting the world premiere of Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents, conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya spoke with the Washington Post about new music, speaking in tongues, and reconciling personal experience with an opera’s subject matter.
Performances will be at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. on January 11 and 13; tickets can be purchased via WNO.
What makes an American opera? Companies across the country seem to be perpetually asking this question. The Metropolitan Opera is said to have turned down Rufus Wainwright’s opera “Prima Donna” on the grounds that it was in French and therefore not an American opera. Other companies turn to Hollywood — the Minnesota Opera has presented operatic versions of “The Shining” and “The Manchurian Candidate” — or book adaptations — the San Francisco Opera has offered “Dolores Claiborne” (based on the Stephen King novel) and “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” (based on the Amy Tan novel). Many of the support programs designed to promote new work create the somewhat amusing spectacle of American artists such as Sankaram, whose father is from South India, or the opera’s conductor, Lidiya Yankovskaya, whose family emigrated from Russia when she was 9, compressing themselves into someone else’s “American” template.
“Going into this opera, that worried me,” Yankovskaya says. “It’s much more difficult to express something you’re not intimately familiar with yourself. But then, of course, I’m not intimately familiar with what it’s like to be a courtesan in Europe,” which hasn’t stopped her from conducting “La traviata.”
'Gutsy, Political, and Hypnotising' Ayre Launches Against the Grain Records
“Miriam Khalil’s performance on this album shows her to be more than a singer: she is an elemental force.” Against the Grain Records releases a stunning new recording of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre by a soprano native to many of the cultural threads.
December 7, 2018
Against The Grain Theatre, Toronto's visionary chamber opera company, is known for electric performances that act as "a bracing wake-up call to the spirit" (The Globe and Mail). That daring candor is now being channeled via its new in-house recording label, which launches today with a live recording of Osvaldo Golijov's "ecstatically beautiful...radical and disorienting" song cycle Ayre (The New Yorker).
Ayre blends traditional and electronic instruments with elements of Byzantine chant, Sephardic lullabies, Sardinian protest songs, and Arabic, Hebrew, and Christian texts. Praised by Gramophone as "an intoxicating, endlessly haunting mixture of styles and musical cultures," the technically exacting song cycle has become a signature piece for AtG Founding Member Miriam Khalil.
According to Against the Grain Founder and Artistic Director Joel Ivany, the preservation of such transformative works was a major motivator in the establishment of the theatre's in-house label. "At AtG, we have made it our mandate to create fresh and daring experiences for our audiences – and with this new facet of our work, we're now able to capture and share moments of our acclaimed limited production runs."
"Against the Grain is thrilled to be able to share the immediacy and emotion of this live performance, recorded at the breathtaking Ismaili Center in Toronto, with a broader audience," he said. "Ayre is an extraordinary and unforgettable adventure."
Hear the album >
Praise for Miriam Khalil’s performance:
“The fluidity on display in Khalil’s smallest ornaments is also apparent on the largest scale in her approach to the entire work. Ayre’s eclectic sources can feel blocky in their juxtapositions, like buildings from different eras of a city thrown up with no compromise or eye to overall aesthetic cohesion. In Khalil’s rendition, the impression is more of a lived-in landscape, one where tree and grass and hill and oasis have melded together into an intricate network, no one part fully extricable from any of the others. In this way, she makes Ayre feel like a piece for our time…”
–National Sawdust Log
“Khalil's 2016 performances in Toronto - which make up Ayre Live - offer an energy and understanding that make hers a new definitive interpretation of the work.”
–Schmopera
“Titled after the Old Spanish word for “song,” Ayre is so relentless in its storytelling that it’s almost exhausting – another emotional wave we can surely ride alongside Khalil, who sings the challenging work with her whole body. Few singers have the stamina or the stylistic palette that Khalil employs throughout Ayre, and it’s even more impressive when one remembers this is a live recording.”
–The Globe and Mail
“Miriam Khalil’s performance on this album shows her to be more than a singer: she is an elemental force. There are no missteps here as each song is performed with dramatic depth, a nuanced understanding of the range of emotions and tones required by poetry and music.”
–Opera Wire
“Khalil, who speaks fluent Arabic and even grew up singing some of the songs Golijov chose, performs this cycle with a personal understanding that makes this recording a mature iteration of the work. As an opera singer, Khalil spends her voice generously in Golijov’s stretchy, hovering soprano lines. And unlike an opera singer, she sets few limits on how she uses her instrument. She begins the cycle with a sound that’s close to a Western classical voice, one that could translate into a recital of songs by Debussy or Schubert; but over Golijov’s expansive arc, she moves her voice into the technically risky sound worlds of chest voice and nasal production. As the styles intertwine, it’s astonishingly organic to hear her womanly, spinning vibrato hover over an electronic beat that is totally danceable.”
–The Globe and Mail
Praise for Against the Grain Records:
“The album is a bold way for Against the Grain to inaugurate its status as a record label. Ayre is not opera, and it's perhaps not even representative of what AtG has become most widely known for - namely, its 21st-century-spun "transladaptations" of traditional operas by Mozart and Puccini. Yet for the launching of Against the Grain Records, to lead with Ayre is to lead with a strong message of putting art and diversity first – without compromising on quality.”
–Schmopera
“With Ayre Live, Against the Grain Theatre has christened its new record label with a piece that evades definition, a game in which artistic director Joel Ivany excels. The recording is a nod to the opera collective’s roots, with its spotlight on founding member Khalil, but more importantly, it’s something that will make it into my daily playlist. It’s too bold for background music, too tough to forget after even just one listen.”
–The Globe and Mail
“Toronto-based chamber opera company Against the Grain Theater has launched a new record label. I can’t think of better start to such a venture than this recording of Osvaldo Golijov’s song cycle, “Ayre.” The work captures some of the company’s central ideals: beauty, relevance, and innovation.”
–Opera Wire
Yankovskaya and Winters Are December Artists of The Month
Musical America describes Yankovskaya as “friendly and fearsomely articulate" while the New York Festival of Song interviews Winters on self-care, favorite rep, and mentoring with Turn The Spotlight.
December 3, 2018
Photos by Kate Lemmon and Fay Fox
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya and soprano Corinne Winters are each “Artist of the Month” honorees for December.
Musical America describes Yankovskaya as “friendly and fearsomely articulate" while the New York Festival of Song interviews Winters on self-care, favorite rep, and mentoring with Turn The Spotlight.
A 'Perfect Storm of Vocalism' by The 'Greatest Verdi Voices of Our Age'
“Lyric provided the finest, best matched group of lead singers that I can imagine singing today." Il trovatore at Lyric Opera of Chicago stars critically acclaimed mezzo Jamie Barton as Azucena and tenor Russell Thomas as Manrico.
November 22, 2018
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
““Jamie Barton as Azucena achieved the finest and most convincing blend of great Verdi singing and compelling acting. For once the final act was not an absurd anticlimax and the mezzo-soprano was riveting here – Barton’s high notes soared like a bel canto soprano and her growling chest voice had a disturbing, almost feral quality. She charted the imprisoned Azucena’s psychological disintegration with an almost clinical degree of vocal and dramatic acuity. All four principals were at their best in the final scene, delivering unbridled, truly great Verdi singing that defines opera at its most thrilling and visceral.””
Lyric Opera of Chicago is receiving critical acclaim for the stellar cast of Il trovatore, featuring mezzo Jamie Barton as Azucena and tenor Russell Thomas as her adopted son, Manrico. Conducted by Marco Armiliato, the production by Sir David McVicar plays through December 9 at the Civic Opera House; tickets can be purchased via the Lyric.
Read reviews:
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Barton brought both musical and dramatic depth to her reading of Azucena. Most striking here was Barton’s low register, a throaty, guttural timbre reflecting the darkness of her deeds. In Barton’s nuanced performance, Azucena emerged a cursed but somewhat sympathetic villain. This “Trovatore” hinged on Wilson’s and Barton’s imposing vocals, which will be remembered long after the rest is forgotten.”
–Chicago Tribune
“Pride of place must go to the sensational mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton in the role of Azucena. In her opening number "Stride la vampa," Barton was remarkable in how she captured her character's emotional volatility. From stridency, to trauma, to guilt, to fury, Barton's performance was a masterclass in affective singing-acting. You could have closed your eyes and known exactly what this character was going through.”
–Schmopera
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Barton delivers powerful, show-stopping singing as Azucena, capturing the variously crazed, forlorn facets of this conflicted character…”
–Chicago Sun-Times
“American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton is a stunning Azucena. She has a coffee-rich darkness to her voice, and her storytelling ability is tremendous. Azucena in the wrong hands can appear to be a silly or demented old woman, but Barton imbues the character with ominous power.”
–Hyde Park Herald
“Jamie Barton is one of the world’s great mezzo-sopranos and her Azucena was masterful. Her powerful voice complemented perhaps the best dramatic skills among the principals. Her Azucena was less fanatical and more a woman who has been severely damaged... Her fiery showpiece “Stride la vampa” was one of the highlights of the matinee.“
–Opera Wire
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Barton is pitch perfect as the gypsy Azucena…providing inspiring vocal thrills throughout.”
–Chicago Now
“Barton’s performances as Azucena holds back nothing. The height of her voice is matched by the anguish on her face and in her body.“
–Around The Town Chicago
“Speaking of sublime, how can we start to describe the perfect storm of vocalism which was created by an ensemble of some of the greatest Verdi voices of our age? Every singer was ideally cast in these difficult roles. Azucena…is often played with hair-raising intensity, bordering on the grotesque. Jamie Barton was a more sympathetic character and sang the role more beautifully, not in small part due to the pathos inherent in her warm full mezzo soprano. Still chilling, yes, but believable.”
–Buzz Center Stage
“At the center of the Trovatore story is Azucena, sung here by Jamie Barton, an impressive 37-year-old with a voice of steadfast strength and only a few Azucenas under her belt, although there are doubtless many more in the offing. Azucena’s early scene at the gypsy camp is a tour de force; Manrico listens as she relives her horror at the crowd’s delight in her mother’s immolation, then dissolves into viscerally thrilling madness... There is realism in Barton’s insightful reading of this self-made human horror.”
–Chicago on the Aisle
“Lyric provided the finest, best matched group of lead singers that I can imagine singing today. Jamie Barton certainly laid claim to being the Azucena of her generation. The voice has bloomed and become more powerful, and last night she deployed a lower register that I hadn’t heard from her before. She sang and acted with beauty and skill, and the contrast between her lust for vengeance for her mother’s death and her maternal protectiveness toward Manrico has never been clearer. Her “Stride la vampa” in Act Two was a model of dramatic vocalism, yet she was able to sing softly and ravishingly in Act Four’s “Ai nostri monti” when the imprisoned Azucena longs for her previous life in the mountains. And her rendition of the opera’s final line “Sei vendicata, o Madre!” was chilling and raise goose bumps on this reviewer.”
–Parterre Box
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“The fervency and emotional commitment of Thomas’s interpretation proved fiercely effective… The ardor he expressed for Leonora in “Ah si, ben mio, coll’essere” and the heat he generated in the vocally daunting “Di quella pira” underscored the stature of his work. Here was a tenor who didn’t so much act the role of the doomed lover Manrico as inhabit it.”
–Chicago Tribune
“Tenor Russell Thomas delivers an impassioned, technically secure turn in the title role of Manrico. He really comes on in the second half, especially in his Act 3 vow of devotion to Leonora, ‘Ah! si, ben mio.’” –Chicago Sun-Times
“Lyric gives us the powerhouse Russell Thomas… His soaring, full-throated tenor is outstanding…”
–Stage and Cinema
“Russel Thomas gets his well-deserved first starring role at the Lyric as Manrico, and his tenor is warm and sweet. During his battle cry to save Azucena, “Di quella pira,” his presiding emotion is love, and the one time we hear him performing as the titular troubadour, his voice is mysterious and alluring.”
–Around The Town Chicago
“The title role of Manrico (the troubadour) is in solid hands with American tenor Russell Thomas [who] has the bearing of both a lover and a fighter…”
–Hyde Park Herald
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Thomas delivered an incredible performance as Manrico, imbibing every tone with courage and heroism to instill a deep sense of empathy in audiences.”
–Loyola Phoenix
“Thomas was an imposing Manrico. He conveyed the depths of his emotions with a tender “Ah si! Ben mio” while his fiery “Di quella pira” was in stark contrast with determined intensity.”
–Opera Wire
“There’s no denying that Russell is a brilliant tenor with star power and a stage presence to match. Especially gripping was his Act III aria-cabaletta ‘Ah, si ben mio…di quella pira.’”
–Schmopera
“Speaking of sublime, how can we start to describe the perfect storm of vocalism which was created by an ensemble of some of the greatest Verdi voices of our age? Every singer was ideally cast in these difficult roles. Tenor Russell Thomas was well up to the daunting task of the Troubador, Manrico. His clarion tenor, so powerful at full voice, was tenderly sympathetic in the softer moments, when his color became more burnished. Manricos’ aria, “Ah, si, ben mio”, was lyrical, idiomatic and meltingly lovely.”
–Buzz Center Stage
“As star-crossed lovers, tenor Russell Thomas and soprano Tamara Wilson become sadder and wiser quickly, but not without singing gloriously about it. Thomas’ “Di quella pira” was the stratospheric show-stopper one always hopes for.”
–Chicago on the Aisle
Photo by Todd Rosenberg
“Lyric provided the finest, best matched group of lead singers that I can imagine singing today. Tenor Russell Thomas was a heroic Manrico, bringing stentorian power throughout. He had all the tools for a successful Manrico in his pocket, singing with a stunning intensity. He provided a stirring “Di quella pira”… a thrilling musical moment.”
–Parterre Box
“As Manrico, Russell Thomas clearly possesses the Verdian bona fides for this heroic protagonist. The tenor was able to sustain a strenuous vocal intensity to handle the demands of this voice-shredding role. “Di quella pira” was the rousing showstopper it was meant to be for once, Thomas singing every note and nailing the top C. Yet he also showed a graceful lyricism in “Ah, si, ben mio” and the duetted scenes with Leonora…”
–Chicago Classical Review
Lidiya Yankovskaya Leads 'A Flexible And Richly Idiomatic' Iolanta
“Yankovskaya’s supple command of musical shape and dramatic continuity was never in doubt.” Chicago Opera Theater Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya leads the Chicago premiere of Tchaikovsky’s final opera.
November 18, 2018
Photo by Michael Brosilow
Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya recently led the Chicago premiere of Iolanta, Tchaikovsky’s final opera, at Chicago Opera Theater.
Though Yankovskaya was appointed Music Director of COT in 2017, the 18/19 season opener marked her debut in the orchestra pit. Critics praised her leadership, citing it as a new beginning for Chicago Opera Theater.
Read reviews:
“Yankovskaya…led a flexible and richly idiomatic account of this score. She showed clear sympathy with her compatriot’s music—keeping the music flowing through the unbroken 90 minutes, balancing deftly to bring out Tchaikovsky’s woodwind accents, and building lyric climaxes to resplendent payoffs.”
–Chicago Classical Review
“All follow Maestra Yankovskaya with ease, and she brings the piece to full flower…For anyone who has had recent doubts about the vitality of opera, it’s a pure tonic.”
–Chicagoland Musical Theatre
“Maestra Yankovskaya’s debut in the pit was promising and gratifying. She brought out all the pathos and grandness in the lush score, without ever overpowering the singers, quite an accomplishment in an intimate theater with such an exposed orchestra pit.”
–Buzz Center Stage
“Conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya in her company debut, [this is] a production that is as dazzling as it is emotionally and musically complex. Led by Yankovskaya, the orchestra’s music buoys each character’s journey.”
–Picture this Post
“Under the baton of Lidiya Yankovskaya, Tchaikovsky’s score became transcendent. With the thorough preparation of the score and empathy with the composer (both having Russian roots and then Western influences), she lovingly guided the singers and orchestra through every ebb and flow of the music, shifting from tenderness to passion, while keeping the pace of the opera moving ahead.”
–Opera Wire
“COT is going in the right direction. This show marks a new beginning for COT, especially with Lidiya Yankovskaya. The music-making was at such a high level, and the singing was so committed and engaged. I felt like I was hearing this opera for the first time – that this is fresh, this is new, and this is something I need to pay attention to.”
–Opera Box Score
“Lidiya Yankovskaya’s rapid rise among U.S.-based conductors of her generation seems to be driven as much by her exceptional talent as her eagerness to take on ambitious, out-of-the-way artistic projects. On Saturday, the 32-year-old Russian-American maestro made her official debut…conducting a fringe-repertory piece that’s close to her heart and place of origin: Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. Yankovskaya’s supple command of musical shape and dramatic continuity was never in doubt. One can only hope COT’s new music director – a staunch champion of Russian opera in the 22 years since she arrived on these shores – will favor Chicago with more Russian rarities in the not-too-distant future.”
–Musical America
A Mighty Voice in Opera Champions The Need for More Diversity
“I believe the way you diversify an audience is by diversifying the stage. But if there are not people backstage that are thinking diversity, you don’t have it.” Tenor Russell Thomas talks to the Chicago Sun-Times ahead of his appearance in Il trovatore.
November 15, 2018
Photo by James Foster
Tenor Russell Thomas believes in the power of music. After all, music — specifically opera — changed the course of his life.
Corinne Winters is 'Spellbindingly Regal' in Verdi Requiem
“Winters, a slight but striking figure, excelled. She is an exquisitely expressive singer.” The Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras’ European tour of the Verdi Requiem wraps tonight at Amsterdam’s famed Concertgebouw.
October 7, 2018
Soprano Corinne Winters wraps a 9-city European tour of the iconic Verdi Requiem with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras tonight, in a final performance at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
The tour has enjoyed critical acclaim throughout its run, with Winters earning praise for her interpretation of the soprano solo in this operatic mass for the dead.
Read reviews:
“Winters was spell-bindingly regal… Winters’ soaring soprano was persistent but beautiful, rising to her second high C without a flicker.”
Bachtrack
“The soprano had a very flexible voice, flawless, with an interesting timbre, well placed piano and forte singing that carried over the wave of the orchestra. Winters is currently one of the most famous Traviatas on the operatic stage and it was easy to hear why.”
Racjonalista.TV
“A stunning performance.”
Daily Express
“Winters has the graceful timbre of silk, and she moved as one with the Swedish mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg. The quartet is therefore optimal for synergy, as you hear in the Agnus Dei: warm, vocally united, faithful to the score.”
Città Nuova
“An exquisite line-up of soloists… The radiant passages for soprano and alto soloists, stunningly sung by Winters and Hallenberg, formed a highlight for the Agnus Dei…”
Adventures in Music
“Winters ascends the heights with gold-colored tones that resonate softly in the piano. How she structures the end of “Libera me” is breathtaking.”
Luzerner Zeitung
“Winters, a slight but striking figure, excelled. She is an exquisitely expressive singer.”
Quarterly Review
VerismoComm Welcomes Lidiya Yankovskaya to Roster
“One of the hottest young conductors forging a path in the world of opera today… Lidiya Yankovskaya is the future of opera.” As Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Lidiya is the only woman to hold that title in a multimillion-dollar opera company in the United States.
November 5, 2018
Verismo Communications is proud to welcome Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya to the roster. As Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Yankovskaya is the only woman to hold that title in a multimillion-dollar opera company in the United States.
Under her leadership, COT has established the Vanguard Initiative, a three-pronged investment in new opera that includes a two-year residency for emerging opera composers. Committed to developing the next generation of artistic leaders, she also serves on the Advisory Board of Turn The Spotlight, a foundation dedicated to illuminating the path to a more equitable future in the arts.
Yankovskaya is Founder and Artistic Director of the Refugee Orchestra Project, which proclaims the cultural and societal relevance of refugees through music, and has brought that message to the United Nations and hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world.
In the 2018/19 season, Ms. Yankovskaya leads the Chicago premieres of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Heggie’s Moby-Dick at COT, the world premiere of Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents at Washington National Opera, and the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Ellen West at Opera Saratoga. She conducts Grétry’s Belgian rarity Zémire et Azor at Carnegie Mellon University, workshops Justin Chen’s The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing at COT and Paola Prestini’s Edward Tulane at Minnesota Opera, and makes her Mobile Symphony debut in Carmina Burana. She also debuts at Trinity Wall Street, leading the New York premiere of Laura Schwendinger’s Artemisia, and returns to New York’s National Sawdust to close her season with the Hildegard Competition Concert, which features the work of emerging female, trans, and nonbinary composers.
Lidiya Yankovskaya Leads Refugee Orchestra at UN
Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya led a concert that mixed Western and Indian classical music traditions at the United Nations in New York.
October 24, 2018
Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya led her Refugee Orchestra Project and prominent Indian musicians in a Unity Concert at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York. The concert celebrated the 73rd anniversary of the UN’s founding and its eponymous United Nations Day, honoring peace and the common humanity of citizens around the globe.
The Refugee Orchestra Project, conceived to demonstrate the vitally important role that refugees from across the globe have played in our country's culture and society, accompanied sarod virtuoso Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash.
Hear Lidiya speak alongside UN Secretary-General António Guterres in audio interview with UN News >
Corinne Winters Will Return to Santa Fe Opera to Sing Her First Leïla
Soprano Corinne Winters will join the summer 2019 production of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers.
October 5, 2018
American soprano Corinne Winters will return to Santa Fe Opera in the summer of 2019, to sing her first performances as Leïla in a Lee Blakeley production of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers.
Conducted by Timothy Myers, Winters will be joined by Ilker Arcayürek as Nadir and Anthony Clark Evans as Zurga.
Performances run June 29 to August 23, 2019; tickets are available via Santa Fe Opera.
Photo by Fay Fox
Christopher Allen Offers 'Artistic Salvation' in Ne Quittez Pas
“Pianist Christopher Allen proved a thrilling collaborator, finding orchestral colors in his virtuosic playing.” Conductor Christopher Allen returned to his first love, the piano, to partner Patricia Racette in his Opera Philadelphia debut.
September 30, 2018
Photos by Dominic M. Mercier
““At equal partnership with Racette is Music Director and Pianist, Christopher Allen. His playing of Poulenc’s writing is superb. From the first tones of Poulenc’s Intermezzo No. 3 to the final sounds of the opera, each and every note was played with such clarity, command, and tenderness, that the audience is left unaware of the immense difficulty of the music.””
Christopher Allen has made a critically acclaimed Opera Philadelphia debut, in an unusually multi-faceted role as music director, pianist, and actor for Ne Quittez Pas. The program, a re-imagining of Poulenc’s La voix humaine for Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O18, starred Patricia Racette in a production by James Darrah.
Read reviews:
“Voix Humaine is heard here accompanied by an excellent solo pianist, Christopher Allen… To their credit, though, the performers (including pianist Allen, who deserves some kind of MVP award) commit fully to Darrah’s vision.”
Parterre Box
“Pianist Christopher Allen had a wonderful feel for Poulenc's alternating sweetness and acid, and I often wished Darrah had granted both him and Nelson the simple visual quiet of a small white spotlight.”
Philadelphia Inquirer
“Yet in the hands of Racette and her gifted accompanist, Christopher Allen, I never came close to cringing. The production uses a piano reduction in place of full orchestra, which Allen dispatches with real feeling for Poulenc’s melodious writing…”
Broad Street Review
“[Racette’s] partner in music-making, pianist Christopher Allen proved a thrilling collaborator, finding orchestral colors in his virtuosic playing.”
Opera Today
“I'd say that more is less, except for the elegant piano performances by Music Director Christopher Allen, which I found quite pleasing.”
Broadway World
“…Poulenc songs with the impeccable collaboration of pianist/music director Christopher Allen, creating a hauntingly penetrating sound in the cavernous cabaret. This romp through music, poetry, and devilish insanity…made the first act of Ne Quittez Pas into a revelatory vehicle for the musical talents of Christopher Allen and Edward Nelson. The second half is the actual Jean Cocteau play, La voix humaine… Christopher Allen did a masterful job with the score.”
Philly Life & Culture
“There’s nobility, too, in the soprano Patricia Racette’s…masterly performance, and Christopher Allen’s responsive piano collaboration…”
The New York Times
“The piano accompaniment, performed by Christopher Allen…made its pain especially intimate.”
Wall Street Journal
“Music Director and pianist Christopher Allen offered artistic salvation from beginning to end, including his rendition of Poulenc’s Intermezzo no. 3 during the opening scene…”
Bachtrack
“…Christopher Allen’s ability to hold it all together despite whatever was transpiring on stage, all the while playing magnificently.”
Seen and Heard International
Jorge Mejia and An Open Book Nominated for Latin Grammy
Mejia’s “Prelude in F Major for Piano and Orchestra,” from his album An Open Book, was nominated for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
September 20, 2018
Photo by Laura Coppelman
Jorge Mejia’s memoir in music, An Open Book, has been nominated for a Latin Grammy Award. The album comprises 25 preludes for piano and orchestra, with the composer appearing as pianist alongside the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra.
A Steinway Artist, Jorge is a masterful storyteller dedicated to bringing new audiences to classical music. He was recently profiled in Billboard Magazine, graced the cover of Músico Pro Magazine, and was interviewed on WLRN Radio. Immediately following its Miami launch concert, An Open Book was hailed as "an instant classic...a rigorous and eclectic work" by El Nuevo Herald.
Mejia’s “Prelude in F Major for Piano and Orchestra” was nominated for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. The winner will be announced at the 2018 Latin Grammy Awards Show on November 15.
Barton and Thomas Give 'Extraordinary Performances' in Roberto Devereux
“Barton set the tone with liquid phrasing and her signature burnished sound. With a pure, focused tenor sound, remarkably even from top to bottom, Thomas managed to convey both the nobility and anguish of the title character.” Mezzo Jamie Barton and tenor Russell Thomas make acclaimed role debuts as Sara and Roberto in San Francisco Opera’s production of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux.
September 14, 2018
Photo by Cory Weaver for San Francisco Opera
““Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and tenor Russell Thomas…both gave extraordinary performances. Fresh from winning performances as Fricka and Waltraute during last summer’s Ring, Barton proved herself one of opera’s great chameleons. Is there anything she can’t sing? With her velvety voice, she sailed through the arias and duets… Thomas made the difficult title role sound like a child’s play and he imbued his performance with swagger and confidence.””
Mezzo Jamie Barton and tenor Russell Thomas are receiving critical acclaim for their respective role debuts as Sara and Roberto in San Francisco Opera’s production of Roberto Devereux alongside acclaimed Elisabetta interpreter Sondra Radvanovsky.
Conducted by Riccardo Frizza, the Stephen Lawless production plays through September 27 at the War Memorial Opera House; tickets can be purchased via San Francisco Opera.
Read reviews:
Photo by Cory Weaver for San Francisco Opera
“As in every other appearance in San Francisco, Barton impressed greatly with beauty of tone and effortless projection in the huge, 3,200-seat War Memorial. The role of Sara is almost pure bel canto, and Barton’s floating of melodic lines was nonpareil. Vocal beauty was a hallmark of Thomas’ performance. Thomas’ vocal performance in duets and a splendid ‘Come uno spirto angelico’ were to be treasured.”
Classical Voice North America
“Splendid mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, as Sara, the Duchess of Nottingham, meltingly and sweetly expresses her guilt-ridden love for dashing Roberto Devereux, Earl of Essex. As the object of both women’s desire, tenor Russell Thomas made an endearingly strong first appearance in the title role. He unfurled lyric charm and verve in his arias and duets, and was particularly moving seeking to defend Sara’s honor in the touching Act 3 aria ‘Como uno spirto angelico.’”
San Francisco Examiner
“Radvanovsky had valiant, expressive colleagues by her side — mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and tenor Russell Thomas, the same ensemble that had contributed to the splendor of that ‘Norma’… Barton, as Sara, gave a performance rich in pathos and cloaked in the thickly upholstered vocal colors that make her singing so irresistible. Thomas brought tonal clarity and rhythmic vigor to the title role…”
San Francisco Chronicle
“As Sarah, Jamie Barton deployed her velvety, richly colored mezzo with beauty and urgency to limn the character’s desire and anguish. In the title role, tenor Russell Thomas made an indelible impression. His sturdy physique and clear, unforced tenor yielded an ardent Act I duet with Sarah, and he sang with elegant line in his Tower of London aria, ‘Come uno spirito angelico’.”
Opera News
Photo by Cory Weaver for San Francisco Opera
“As Elisabetta’s friend and innocent rival Sara, Jamie Barton deploys a richly layered, tightly controlled voice that she makes delicate or harsh to suit the drama. In a den of nasty personalities, Barton’s Sara is touchingly sincere. Russell Thomas’s Roberto Devereux [is] a smirking, conceiting poppycock, speaking noble-sounding words while flaunting the ring he knows will save him. He is at his most sympathetic in the third act, when he realizes he may not escape his fate. There, Thomas’s hefty, mobile voice gains a buttery softness and breaks off achingly at the end of phrases.”
San Francisco Classical Voice
“Barton set the tone with liquid phrasing and her signature burnished sound. With a pure, focused tenor sound, remarkably even from top to bottom, Thomas managed to convey both the nobility and anguish of the title character…He created a time-stopping moment as he awaited his execution with his Act III aria, ‘Bagnato il sen di lagrime.’”
Seen and Heard International
“The whole ensemble delivers near flawless singing and acting. Jamie Barton, as Sara…provides a warm, round, mellow mezzo voice with great resonance. Russell Thomas shows his versatility as the proud yet anguished Roberto. He extends his expertise with a clear voice that bridges styles and ranges, with highlights including his duet ‘Nascondi freni i palpiti’ with Radvanovsky and his prison lament ‘Come uno spirto angelico.’”
Berkshire Fine Arts
Kicking off The 2018/19 Season
This season will take Verismo artists to stages and orchestra pits around the world, including those of the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Philadelphia, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
September 5, 2018
The 2018/19 season will take Verismo artists – including the opera singers, conductor, and string quartet highlighted below – from Istanbul and Amsterdam to New York and London, as they make important role and house debuts and renew connections with favorite collaborators.
Jamie Barton, Mezzo
Sara in Roberto Devereux
San Francisco Opera
September 8-27, 2018
*role debut
Azucena in Il trovatore
Bayerische Staatsoper
October 7-17, 2018
Mezzo Soloist in Verdi Requiem
Royal Opera House Covent Garden
October 23, 2018
Azucena in Il trovatore
Lyric Opera of Chicago
November 17-December 9, 2018
Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking
Atlanta Opera
February 2-10, 2019
*role debut
Fricka in Das Rheingold
Metropolitan Opera
March 9-May 6, 2019
Recital with Kathleen Kelly
Renée Fleming VOICES
Kennedy Center
March 23, 2019
Fricka in Die Walküre
Metropolitan Opera
March 25-May 7, 2019
*March 30 simulcast in cinemas via Met Live in HD
Jezibaba in Rusalka
San Francisco Opera
June 16-28, 2019
Photo by Stacey Bode
Photo by Gabriel Gastelum
Christopher Allen, Conductor
Ne Quittez Pas
Opera Philadelphia
September 22-30, 2018
Candide
New England Conservatory
October 23-24, 2018
The Barber of Seville
Michigan Opera Theatre
November 10-18, 2018
Bel Canto Trio
70th Anniversary Tour
November-December 2018
Recital with Joshua Guerrero
December 2018
An American Original
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
January 10-12, 2019
Rising Stars Concert
Lyric Opera of Chicago
April 2019
The Marriage of Figaro
Opera Theatre of St. Louis
May 25-June 29, 2019
Corinne Winters, Soprano
Soprano Soloist in Verdi Requiem
Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra
2018 European Tour
September 16 – Wroclaw, Poland
September 18 – London, UK
September 20 – Pisa, Italy
October 30 – Lucerne, Switzerland
November 1 – Vienna, Austria
November 2 – Budapest, Hungary
November 4 – Munich, Germany
November 5 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg
November 7 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tatiana in Eugene Onegin
Michigan Opera Theatre
October 13-21, 2018
Soloist in Bachianas Brasileiras
True Concord | TDSF
January 18-20, 2019
Rachel in La Juive
Opera Vlaanderen
March 10-April 6, 2019
*role debut
Soloist in Les nuits d'été
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra
April 11, 2019
Soloist in García Lorca: Muse and Magician
New York Festival of Song
April 24, 2019
Photo by Fay Fox
Photo by Fay Fox
Russell Thomas, Tenor
Roberto in Roberto Devereux
San Francisco Opera
September 8-27, 2018
*role debut
Manrico in Il trovatore
Bayerische Staatsoper
October 7-17, 2018
Manrico in Il trovatore
Lyric Opera of Chicago
November 17-December 9, 2018
Tenor Soloist in Das Lied von der Erde
Dallas Symphony
January 10-13, 2019
Tito in La clemenza di Tito
Los Angeles Opera
March 2-24, 2019
Otello in Otello
Canadian Opera Company
April 27-May 26, 2019
*staged role debut
Otello in Otello
Deutsche Oper Berlin
June 8-20, 2019
Fry Street Quartet
As One
Album Recording
September 10-13, 2018
The Crossroads Project: Rising Tide
Indiana University Cinema
October 4, 2018
Bartok String Quartets: Complete Cycle
Utah State University
November 6-8, 2018
Earthbound
NOVA Chamber Music Series
January 20, 2019
FSQ @ USU Series
February 5, 2019
FSQ @ USU Series
March 5, 2019
The Crossroads Project: Rising Tide
Shepherd University
April 17, 2019
The Crossroads Project: Rising Tide
Longwood Gardens
April 18, 2019
Photo by Andrew McAllister
Turn The Spotlight Foundation to Mentor Arts Leaders
Turn The Spotlight’s mission is to identify, nurture, and empower leaders, and in turn, illuminate the path to a more equitable future in the arts. The foundation was created to pair top-tier mentors with exceptional women, people of color, and other equity-seeking groups in the arts.
July 31, 2018
Lumos Fellows Elena Uriote and Melissa White. Photo by Daniel Cavazos
Today, twenty-one arts leaders and activists announce the launch of Turn The Spotlight, a foundation created to pair top-tier mentors with exceptional women, people of color, and other equity-seeking groups in the arts. Beth Stewart, a New York City-based arts entrepreneur and classical music publicist, will lead the foundation, which is supported by an Advisory Board of arts world luminaries, including soprano Julia Bullock, journalists Anne Midgette and Celeste Headlee, conductors Lidiya Yankovskaya and Nicole Paiement, stage director Francesca Zambello, classical music publicist Mary Lou Falcone, arts advocates Monica Yunus and Camille Zamora, and women’s rights advocate Amanda Mejia.
“We believe that systemic change is crucial,” said Turn The Spotlight Founder Beth Stewart. “We also believe that one-on-one mentoring can have real impact, particularly in an industry in which so many professionals are freelancers working outside an established institutional framework. Our mission is to identify, nurture, and empower leaders, and in turn, illuminate the path to a more equitable future in the arts.”
Stewart has recruited ten industry-leading mentors from a wide range of artistic specialties, including Emmy Award-winning documentarian Kristin Atwell Ford, producer/director Avery Willis Hoffman, Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, and composer Kamala Sankaram. They will join arts activists Alysia Lee, Rebecca McFaul and Anne Francis Bayless, sopranos Heidi Melton and Corinne Winters, and designer Jessica Jahn in mentoring the foundation’s fellows during the 2018/19 season.
“Nearly all of our first cohort of Lumos Fellows have founded organizations, produced or commissioned new work. Each has a distinctive voice and clear personal mission, and they are committed to using their art to strengthen their communities. We believe these versatile and inventive arts leaders and activists are the way forward,” said Stewart.
The 2018/19 Lumos Fellows will collaborate on a striking breadth of projects, ranging from building community investment in arts entrepreneurship to developing a line of gender non-binary swimwear, and confronting personal violence through performance. The Fellows include vocalist Lucy Dhegrae, founder of the Resonant Bodies Festival, director/producer Jamil Jude, founder of The New Griots Festival, violinist and Fulbright Scholar Teagan Faran, who studies how music can strengthen community togetherness, and composer Frances Pollock, whose music examines social issues through collaboration outside traditional academic circles.
Emerging classical singers Rehanna Thelwell, Felicia Moore, and Anush Avetisyan, costume designer Sueann Leung, and DC Strings Artistic Director Andrew Lee will round out the first cohort, along with violinists Elena Urioste and Melissa White, whose company Intermission was founded to teach musicians yoga techniques to support the demanding physicality and emotional undertaking of performance.
At the conclusion of the mentorship season in May, one Lumos Fellow will be chosen by the Spotlight Advisory Board to receive the Hedwig Holbrook Prize, to include $5,000 and a website designed by Stewart’s PR firm, Verismo Communications.
“It’s my hope that this prize, named in honor of the late soprano Jennifer Holbrook, will represent a galvanizing force in one fellow’s life each season,” said Stewart. “I expect each of our Lumos Fellows to emerge from this experience with a clearer vision of the path of his or her personal mission, and a deeper well of fuel to get there.”
Though the organization’s day-to-day operations will be focused on individual mentorship, Turn The Spotlight leaders hope that their cumulative efforts will contribute to addressing inequity across sectors of the arts industry.
“The classical music industry continues to lag woefully behind when it comes to diversity, especially in leadership positions within larger-budget organizations,” said conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya, founder of the Refugee Orchestra Project and the only female Music Director in the top 50 opera companies in the United States. “Turn the Spotlight is providing the essential mentorship and support those from marginalized groups require in order to reach high-level career goals. I am thrilled to be part of this vital resource for deserving artists across the field.”
“The arts provide the prism through which we can first envision, and then build, a better and more just world,” added Camille Zamora, co-founder of Sing for Hope and a leading voice in the artist-as-citizen movement. “Turn The Spotlight is poised to do exactly what the name suggests: refocus the illuminating power of the arts.”
Barton on The Big Screen
“It’s hard to find adjectives superlative enough to describe her voice: huge and sumptuous, but with such broad possibilities of color that the singer can chill the blood with just a glint of steel in the tone. Lurching, heaving and writhing nonstop, she looked as if she might any moment explode out of sheer malevolence.” New York City audiences have another chance to experience Jamie Barton’s Jezibaba at the Met’s Summer HD Festival, and audiences around the world can see her Fricka in cinemas in 2018/19.
July 23, 2018
Photo by Ken Howard
Mezzo Jamie Barton's "magnificent," "malevolent," "mezzo force-of-nature" Jezibaba will writhe across the big screen at the Metropolitan Opera's Summer HD Festival at Lincoln Center, where 3,000 lucky audience members can see "one of the sexiest performances of the season" in Dvorak's Rusalka. Details via the Metropolitan Opera.
In the 2018/19 season, Barton will appear as Fricka in the Met's production of Die Walküre, to be simulcast in cinemas in more than 70 countries worldwide via the Met's Live in HD. Tickets now on sale; details available via the Metropolitan Opera.
Read more Rusalka reviews:
“What makes this show bearable, if not indeed indispensable, is the presence of the magnificent mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as Jezibaba. It’s hard to find adjectives superlative enough to describe her voice: huge and sumptuous, but with such broad possibilities of color that the singer can chill the blood with just a glint of steel in the tone. Though I didn’t care for the jokey take on the character Zimmerman imposed on her, I was flabbergasted at how passionately Barton threw herself into the performance. Lurching, heaving and writhing nonstop, she looked as if she might any moment explode out of sheer malevolence. If everyone involved in this Rusalka were operating at Barton’s level, the Met would have its biggest hit of the decade. As it is, the company might be better off condensing the opera to a single hour-long act called Hello, Jezibaba!”
New York Observer
“The real marvel of the cast was Jamie Barton, who was absolutely sensational as the sorceress Jezibaba. Her voice was a wonder in itself, a full, shady mezzo with harrowing power, and fierce fire in her chest. Of everyone in the cast, she had the most success in navigating the cartoonish aesthetic of the production, hamming it up just enough to embrace the comic elements of the role, but never forgetting its essential darkness. Barton brings tremendous presence to the stage, coupled here with a specific and deliciously wicked vocal characterization.”
New York Classical Review
"The production had a windfall in American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton as the witch Jezibaba; Barton’s charisma and vocal power produced one of the sexiest performances of the season. As the surprise erotic center of the production, Barton’s dominance of the stage (and obvious pleasure in that dominance) was absolute. Barton’s massive mezzo erupts like a foghorn at unexpected moments; at other times it slides sinuously around Dvořák’s curvaceous folk melodies. In the potion scene, “Čury mury fuk” (abracadabra), Barton punctuates her movements like a dancer, putting meaning into each self-satisfied flick of a finger... At the conclusion of this ingeniously choreographed scene, Barton coquettishly pulls a pair of goggles down over her eyes, her lips curling in sensuous satisfaction. The change from Zajick’s performances as Jezibaba in the Schenk Rusalka was enormous."
City Journal
"Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton was mesmerizing as Jezibaba, throwing herself physically into the role and singing with matchless power and control. Costumed as a Victorian granny, she was required to perform the role with a toothy sneering grin, exaggerated by her goth-like dark lipstick, but nothing deterred her. She has become one of the great treasures of our era."
Classical Voice North America
"Barton can steal the show just by opening those velvet tonsils of her and letting the sumptuous sounds and array of colors burst forth. And she did. I'd listen to Barton anytime--oh, that velour!"
Broadway World Opera
"As Jezibaba, Jamie Barton, in a wonderful spiderweb dress, blended comedy and cruelty, her pungent mezzo taking on a fierce brightness."
Wall Street Journal
“Barton is a lot of fun here. Her low mezzo is irresistibly rich and colorful, epic in size and effortless. (I’ve seen a lot of Rusalkas and hence a lot of Jezibabas and she is the best by a large margin.) She also shows real comic flair in a villain mode.”
Likely Impossibilities
"As a gruesomely witty Jezibaba, Jamie Barton’s sensational dark mezzo showed much Wagnerian promise."
Gay City News
"Jamie Barton devoured the lusty-nasty-witchy flailings of Jezibaba."
Financial Times
"Jamie Barton was an excellent fit for the role of the witch Jezibaba. Her big scenes in Act I and III were powerfully sung, drowning out the little mermaid with her rich pliant instrument. She had enough gas for the big finish in Act III, leaving the audience stunned."
Paper Blog
“Jamie Barton, a recent winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, is a delightfully campy villain as the witch Jezibaba. Her meaty mezzo is wonderfully deployed, especially during the transformation set piece, in which Zimmerman likens Rusalka’s metamorphosis to a surgical intervention. The only drawback is the role’s brevity in a rather long evening, leaving the audience craving more of Barton’s superlative work.”
Parterre Box
“Barton, a mezzo from Georgia who is becoming a Met mainstay, is wickedly devious as Jezibaba.”
Huffington Post
“Jamie Barton gobbled the lusty-nasty-witchy flailings of Ježibaba.”
Financial Times
"Barton was electric as Jezibaba. Her take on the character was a “Satan-lite,” if you will, the character a fun-loving yet conniving villain. Her main interactions in the opera are with the tragic heroine, the witch getting to control the dynamics of the scenes throughout. Barton relished these moments, letting her gigantic instrument run wild throughout the massive halls of the Met. Her diction was delicious as she twisted every consonant or set of mixed consonants to fill out the portrait of a seemingly evil character that was simply having a ton of fun. Her phrasing had an aggressive quality, especially as she preyed on Rusalka to sign the contract, a literally selling of the soul to the devil. Her demeanor was darker in the final act, the sound more lethal in its accented brutality (though no less beautiful to listen to) and her glare dangerous."
Opera Wire
"Jamie Barton was a vocal standout as Jezibaba, her rich and deep chest voice a special and memorable treat."
Bachtrack
“The real find in this cast is American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton who, in both voice and temperament, creates an over-the-top witch, complete with cobalt-blue contact lenses and spider-web dress.”
TheaterByte
“American mezzo-soprano force-of-nature Jamie Barton (Jezibaba), launches her magnificently voluptuous voice and blasts a wicked, maniacal cackle to blood-curdling effect.”
Blasting News
“Jamie Barton, the lavish, demonically-dressed Jezibaba, played the joy of wickedness with almost glittering eyes.”
Der Neue Merker
“Jamie Barton’s Jezibaba was a clever and very entertaining witch. The young mezzo-soprano from Rome – Georgia! – is moving to stardom most rapidly.”
Riverstown Patch
“The witch Jezibaba is mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, who exudes charm and wit as the sorceress who combines all kinds of ingredients in her steaming well.”
Bitácora
“Jamie Barton sang opulently as the witch Jezibaba.”
Opera Magazine
“Jamie Barton, who created a truly original witch Jezibaba, deserves a special mention. Barton’s Jezibaba was cruel, amusing, perverse, and – above all – charismatic. The caricatured gestures which accompanied her impeccable vocal performance earned her a well-deserved place among the great witches of opera and – why not? – of cartoon.”
Música en México
“Jamie Barton as Jezibaba was gloriously demented as the wily witch. She gets to play some delicious comedy and sings with such skill, you feel like she is really capable of casting spells with sound.”
NY Theatre Guide
"The most adventurous touch was...the witch Jezibaba, brought to vivid, scene-stealing life by the protean talents of mezzo Jamie Barton [and] Barton's wickedly funny conquests of her scenes..."
Opera News
"Jamie Barton’s devilish Jezibaba was the highlight. Surrounded by half-human/half-animal henchmen, Barton brought such electric charisma that it was hard not to find affection for the wily sorceress."
Classical Source
"The extraordinary Jamie Barton is the vocal star of this production and outshines even Eric Owens, just as she outshone Plácido Domingo in the Met’s Nabucco this winter. Barton and her critters are terrifying: Her cackle froze the auditorium’s giblets."
New Republic
“As the crusty witch Jezibaba, mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton dug into her lower range with some dramatically appropriate guttural effects, but more than her predecessor Dolora Zajick, maintained grace and musicality no matter how nasty her sentiments.”
Operavore
Russell Thomas's 'Heroically Scaled' Otello 'Galvanizes The Drama' at Hollywood Bowl
“Out of the tumult tenor Russell Thomas, with all the strength of a commanding general, strode on stage and proclaimed, ‘Esultate!’ For the next three hours there was a great deal to rejoice about…” Russell Thomas joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as the title character in Verdi’s iconic Otello.
July 20, 2018
““A compelling Otello... His tone was clarion without being imperious, more a wounded, vulnerable leader. It wasn’t Iago who poisoned him with false intimations of Desdemona’s infidelity so much as a society uncomfortable with, and condescending toward, an outsider.””
American tenor Russell Thomas gave Hollywood Bowl audiences "a great deal to rejoice about" in his Los Angeles Philharmonic appearance as the title character in Verdi's iconic Otello, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.
In the 2018/19 season, Thomas will sing his first fully staged performances of the role, first at Canadian Opera Company (April 26–May 26, 2019; tickets via COC) and immediately following at Deutsche Oper Berlin (June 8-20, 2019; tickets via DOB).
Read reviews:
“Out of the tumult tenor Russell Thomas, with all the strength of a commanding general, strode on stage and proclaimed, ‘Esultate!’ For the next three hours there was a great deal to rejoice about. Thomas began as a tower of strength then gradually shattered under the devilish manipulation of…Iago. Thomas is a formidable Otello. As an African American, he genuinely looks the part with an heroically-scaled tenor that more than once brought to mind the ringing tones of Plácido Domingo in his signature role… After the dulcet Tristan-esque duet that ends Act I, Thomas’s performance galvanized the drama. It was an all-in performance that conveyed the power and the emotionally conflicting elements that drive Otello to his doom.”
San Francisco Classical Voice
“Thomas’s entrance had ringing authority, immediately establishing Otello’s primacy. But there was no harshness; Thomas succeeded in keeping Otello a lyrical tenor role.”
Opera Wire
“Its quietly brooding, suspenseful moments get lost in the open air. Still, the cast did not let that cramp their style. In the title role Russell Thomas's tenor came across with its ear-delighting timbre intact…”
LA Observed
New Site Launched for American Tenor Russell Thomas
“A heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision…” American tenor Russell Thomas will bring his signature elegance and intensity to the title characters in Verdi’s Otello, Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, and Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito.
July 11, 2018
Verismo Communications announces the launch of a new website for American tenor Russell Thomas, who performs Verdi's iconic Otello with this Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl this month.
With a “heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision” (Opera Magazine) and “gorgeously burnished power” (The New York Times), Thomas uses his signature elegance and intensity to create vivid character portrayals on the world’s most important stages.
The upcoming 2018/19 season features Mr. Thomas’s hotly anticipated stage debut as the title character in Otello, to be seen at the Canadian Opera Company after concert performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He sings Manrico in Il trovatore at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Lyric Opera of Chicago, makes his role debut as as the title character in Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, and brings his celebrated Tito in La clemenza di Tito to Los Angeles Opera. On the concert stage, he joins the World Orchestra for Peace in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the BBC Proms, and performs Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Jorge Mejia's Musical Memoir Featured in Billboard Magazine
"Success for Mejía…has come easy, in part, because he can relate. Mejía is a musician himself, a pianist-composer who is known for connecting on a visceral and musical level with his songwriters.” Billboard Magazine talks with Jorge Mejia about bridging worlds, genres, and cultures.
June 29, 2018
Pianist and composer Jorge Mejia talked with Billboard Magazine about An Open Book: A Memoir in Music.
"Success for Mejía -- who also has deals with "Despacito" co-writers Erika Ender and Daddy Yankee, and signed Colombian superstar Maluma to a global publishing deal in 2017 -- has come easy, in part, because he can relate. Mejía is a musician himself, a pianist-composer with a performance degree from the University of Miami who is known for connecting on a visceral and musical level with his songwriters.
Now, Mejía is further exploring his own talents. In May, he released An Open Book: A Memoir in Music, a book and album of short classical piano pieces with orchestral accompaniment that tell his own story as a bicultural, bilingual artist. The Open Book Latin American Tour, which Mejía narrates and performs, has included performances in Ecuador and Uruguay. Here, Mejía speaks about his music, Fonsi's success and betting on the Latin market."