Opera News

The great Supreme Court justice, feminist icon and avid opera fan Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died. In memoriam, our 2017 interview about her rich lifetime of musical experiences.

In Review: The Metropolitan Opera's new media initiative, Met Stars Live in Concert, began auspiciously on July 18 with Jonas Kaufmann and Helmet Detusch's exhilarating, marvelously sung recital, streamed live from Polling Abbey in Bavaria and featuring a sequence of eleven Italian and French opera arias.

Watch today's Instagram Live session with Sondra Radvanovsky, who shares career highlights, technique, tips and words of immense wisdom.

This week: The #MostlyMozartFestival Orchestra, conducted by music director Louis Langree, performs Arvo Pärt's "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten" as part of Lincoln Center's #MemorialForUsAll broadcast, an online community remembrance honoring who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Tune in on Sunday, June 28, at 6 PM EST. http://lincolncenter.org//memorial-for-us-all-mostly-mozar

#Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, is a time for reflection and education.As we continue to recognize systemic racism in our industry and our country, and discuss the challenging work that must be done to effect change, we also celebrate Black artists who have made enduring contributions to the music community and to American culture. Here we honor trailblazers #LeontynePrice, #DukeEllington, #MartinaArroyo... and #ArethaFranklin, all of whom appear in our Amplify Black Voices playlist this month. LEONTYNE PRICE, one of opera’s authentic legends, sang more than 200 performances with the @metopera, her artistic home for twenty-four years. Among Price’s many career milestones was creating the role of Cleopatra in the world premiere of Antony and Cleopatra, which opened the Met’s new home at @lincolncenter in 1966. DUKE ELLINGTON, a composer, conductor and pianist of peerless elegance, brought a singularly sophisticated sound to American jazz.The winner of fourteen Grammy Awards, Ellington received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a special Pulitzer Prize and honorary degrees from five colleges and universities. Photograph by Serge Jacques MARTINA ARROYO sang at all of the great opera houses in North America and Europe, winning special acclaim for her performances in the works of Giuseppe Verdi. Arroyo received a 2010 Opera Honors Award from the National Endowment for the Arts and was a 2013 @kennedycenter honoree. ARETHA FRANKLIN invested everything she sang, from Amazing Grace to Nessun dorma, with passion, power and imagination, winning eighteen Grammy Awards in a career that endured for more than fifty years. Franklin was one of her era’s most admired singers, cherished by audiences throughout the world. President @barackobama said that Franklin’s artistry helped define the American experience. Photograph by Raymond Depardon . #BlackLivesMatter #AmplifyMelanatedVoices