As the star of Nashville Opera's Stuck Elevator , tenor Julius Ahn helped propel the production to win "Best Opera" in the Best of Nashville 2023 Awards, as voted by the writers and readers of Nashville Scene . Read the review here and check out the production photos below. Bravo Julius! Photo credit: Will Shutes for Nashville Opera

With soprano Laquita Mitchell singing Countess, bass-baritone Ashref Sewailam as Bartolo, and conductor Elizabeth Askren at the helm, it's no wonder New Orleans Opera's production of Le nozze di Figaro was such a success. Read the review here and check out the production photos below!

In Des Moines Metro Opera's production of Prokofiev's comedically absurd opera, soprano Flora Hawk was a stand out. "Flora Hawk, as the Princess Ninette, escapes her sisters’ fate, even as she shared the same glam Vegas showgirl look. Ms. Hawk sang like royalty, her assured technique wedded to a freely produced, luxuriant soprano instrument. Moreover, she proved a deft comedienne with great timing." Read the full reviews here and here !

The Lyric Opera of Chicago opened its 2024-25 season with a "soaring" production of Der fliegende Holländer. According to the Chicago Sun Times , as Erik, Robert Watson stood out even in an outstanding cast: "The Dutchman’s rival for love is Erik, sung by Robert Watson, an exciting tenor of remarkable heft, who shows us a hapless and vengeful odd man out when it comes to his dream for a life with Senta." Read the whole review here! Bravo Rob!

Directed by: Lawrence Edelson Music and Libretto by: Gian Carlo Menotti Original Production July 2018 - Opera Saratoga DESIGNERS Cameron Anderson - Scenic Designer Glenn Avery Breed - Costume Designer Brandon Stirling Baker - Lighting Designer Sondra Nottingham - Wig and Makeup Designer ORIGINAL CAST Andrew Bisantz - Conductor Meghan Kasanders - Magda Sorel Jennifer Panara - Secretary Deborah Nansteel - The Mother Robert Wesley Mason - John Sorel Tyler Nelson - Nika Magadoff Nate Mattingly - Secret Police Agent Kelly Glyptis - Foreign Woman Ellen Leslie - Anna Gomez Paulina Villarreal - Vera Boronel Garrett Obrycki - Mr. Kofner Nicholas G. Yaquinto - Assan Zachary Barba, Zackery Morris - Plainclothes Policemen Reviews "Opera Saratoga’s Artistic and General Director Lawrence Edelson has tackled vital political issues in his programming before, but even he can’t have realized how timely Gian Carlo Menotti’s Cold War “Broadway opera” The Consul (1950) would be this summer. Seen on July 9, Edelson’s production proved tight and riveting.” - Opera News "Now in its fourth season under the leadership of Lawrence Edelson, Opera Saratoga has redoubled its commitment to producing modern operas, and is doing so at a very high level... Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul (1950) is an American classic, and although its story—about a persecuted family applying hopelessly for asylum in a neighboring, unidentified country—has particular resonance today, Opera Saratoga’s polished staging, directed by Mr. Edelson, mostly eschewed up-to-the-minute references and let the piece speak for itself... The staging embraced the full-throated Puccini-esque melodrama of Mr. Menotti’s score and dramaturgy.” - The Wall Street Journal MEDIA

Directed by: Brian Staufenbiel Music and Libretto by: Richard Wagner Original Production 2016 - Minnesota Opera Additional Production dates 2018 - Arizona Opera, L'Opéra de Montréal 2023 - Seattle Opera 2024 - Calgary Opera DESIGNERS Matthew LeFebvre - Costume Designer David Murakami - Projection Designer David Zimmerman - Hair & Makeup Designer Nicole Pearce - Lighting Designer ORIGINAL CAST Michael Christie - Conductor Greer Grimsley - Wotan Nathan Berg - Alberich Denyce Graves - Erda Katharine Goeldner - Fricka Richard Cox - Loge Dennis Petersen - Mime Karin Wolverton - Freia Kyle Albverson - Donner Julian Close - Fafner Jeremy Galyon -Fasholt Christopher Colmenero - Froh Mary Evelyn Hangley - Woglinde Alexandra Razskazoff - Wellgunde Nadia Benavidez - Flosshilde Director's Note Wagner’s world of flawed gods, aspiring demi-gods, and power-mad dwarves presents a formidable challenge for modern sensibilities. So in mounting this production of Das Rheingold, I sought to connect Wagner’s mythical realm with the mysterious complexities of our technological era. The action takes place in a future where science and technology have caught up with nature, where the organic, the mechanical, and the digital have started to fuse. Indeed, the distinction between biological processes and industrial artifice has almost ceased to exist. Gods are part man, part machine, and dwarves aspire to reign supreme by mining the technology of the past — semiconductors and computers. Technology permeates all aspects of existence and identity, and status is measured by one’s degree of technological assimilation. In putting Rheingold on the stage, I was inspired by Wagner’s philosophy of Gesamtkunstwerk — complete work of art — and that accumulative notion informed the concept for this new production. The Jubilee Auditorium gave us the opportunity to integrate the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra into the scenic textures onstage, with the orchestra’s physical presence creating a musical-visual fabric. This freed us to use the split- level pit to represent the Rhine River and the underworld of Nibelheim. As you’ll see, the singers and orchestra will be immersed in luminous projections, images that create a framework of backstories and enhance Wagner’s expansive compositional technique — leitmotifs — to support and develop the storytelling. Wagner considered Das Rheingold a prelude (vorspiel) to the three operas that followed, making the complete Ring Cycle. In Rheingold we see the creation of the magic ring and are introduced to the salient elements that propel the entire cycle. It’s an epic story that very much has the power to speak to our time. MEDIA

In the latest issue of Opera America Magazine , bass-baritone and drag superstar Monét X Change writes about her burgeoning operatic career following her appearance on Rupaul's Drag Race All-Stars singing “Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni” from Bellini's La sonnambula . Check out the article here!

Check out soprano Rachel Blaustein as Autonoe on the commercial recording of John Corigliano and Mark Adamo's The Lord of Cries , released today by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project on the Pentatone label. Weaving Bram Stoker's Dracula with Euripides' tragedy The Bacchae , Corigliano and Adamo lead the listener through a fever dream of ecstasy and ruin set in Victorian England. Read more about the project here. Find The Lord of Cries on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you listen to music!

Renowned composer Tobias Picker's latest opera centers around the Danish painter Lili Elbe, who was one of the first persons to undergo gender affirmation surgery. Lili Elbe will receive its world premiere this fall at Theater St. Gallen in Switzerland and will star powerhouse baritone Lucia Lucas in the title role. Check out the official poster below, and read more about the production on the Theater St. Gallen site . Lili Elbe by Tobias Picker and Aryeh Lev Stollman *world premiere* Theater St. Gallen, Switzerland October 22-December 3, 2023

August 14, 2023 | The Seattle Times Seattle Opera mines a novel, futuristic ‘Rheingold’ "A main draw of this “Rheingold” is the return of Seattle Opera favorite Greer Grimsley , a veteran interpreter of Wotan whose vocal heft and stage presence continue to impress. In his latest foray, he portrayed an overly self-confident ruler whose bravado far outstripped any understanding or empathy. . . Wagner himself exploited myth to reflect contemporary concerns about alienation from nature. Director Brian Staufenbiel and his design team follow suit by evoking a futuristic cosmos echoing our own fears of a world out of balance. Nature and technology have hyper-evolved and fused into uncanny hybrids in this production (originally produced by Minnesota Opera in 2016), which combines a bare-bones physical set with an ever-changing, subliminal array of front and rear projections by David Murakami as well as real-time motion capture. Mathew LeFebvre’s time-traveling costumes stitch together motifs ranging from machinery-infatuated steampunk to a sci-fi dystopia populated by replicants. . . This design scheme allowed us to be unusually close-up witnesses to Alberich’s transformation from a merely unpleasant creature into a terrifyingly focused force of malevolent energy. Michael Mayes played up the character’s brutality with deliberately harsh, rough-edged singing. Martin Bakari’s poignant Mime bore the brunt of his whip-cracking sadism. In a highlight of the evening, Mayes built inevitably to the seething, resentment-saturated climax of his parting curse after Wotan forces him to yield the ring (shown as an imposing, bracelet-sized accessory). . . Staufenbiel was at his best when it came to illuminating the emotional energies attracting or repulsing these characters. It was fascinating to see the effects on Wotan of briefly possessing the ring until the 11th-hour appearance of Erda. . ." Read full article.

August 10, 2023 | BBC Music Magazine The coloratura soprano describes her journey to become the most world’s most prolific Queen of the Night from Mozart’s Magic Flute I took a deep breath, trying to look relaxed and confident, but auditions are never easy. I felt alone in the crook of the piano of an almost entirely empty stage, save for the supplied pianist who I had only met seven minutes earlier, briefly describing my cadenzas for the aria I was about to sing, ‘Regnava nel silenzio’ from Donizetti ’s Lucia di Lammermoor . I felt good, I had sung my first aria well. But, even in the best circumstances, auditions always leave one feeling a bit like you are in that dream where you suddenly realise you are naked in public. ‘Thank you, Kathryn. Would you please sing Queen of the Night?’ a friendly, professional, German-accented male voice announced. I blinked and strained to see who was speaking from far back in the nearly empty, dark and cavernous theatre. There must be some mistake. My heart started pounding so loudly in my chest that I could hear it inside my head. ‘I’m sorry,’ I squeaked, ‘maybe you have someone else’s list? Queen isn’t on my rep list.’ ‘We know’ the mystery voice replied, casually. ‘Can you sing it anyway? The pianist knows it.’ Did someone just turn up the heat in here? I was suddenly sweating. ‘I’m sorry,’ I apologised again, ‘but, I don’t know it.’ The mystery voice was mildly incredulous: ‘You don’t know it? You are a coloratura soprano and you don’t know the Queen of the Night?’ He sounded… annoyed? Slightly charmed? A bit prodding, as if he was teasing me, or maybe I was teasing him. It was a tone I would become much more accustomed to in the years to come; the smilingly honest and blunt nature of many German colleagues that has become endearing to me, but at the time froze me in my tracks and left me shaking, and barely able to explain myself. Read full article.

DigitalSpy | Jan 21, 2022 Euphoria season 2 's Christin Byrdsong has celebrated filming a sex scene with Grey's Anatomy star Eric Dane. In the HBO drama's latest episode, Dane's character Cal Jacobs is seen in an intimate moment with a mystery man, with Byrdsong identifying himself on social media when fans began questioning who it could have been. "The dream was to work on this amazing show, with the incredible director, and multitalented actors. And I got to film fake sex scene with a childhood crush/actor inspiration! #Euphoria #Manifesting," Byrdsong tweeted earlier this week. Read full article.