John Chest

Sublime voices overcome a troubled concept.

On October 22, 2021, Opera Philadelphia began streaming its rendition of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. This staging is a judiciously cut two-hour-and-forty-eight-minute production by Opera Philadelphia, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, San Diego Opera, and Palm Beach Opera. Each company is choosing its own conductor and cast.

September marks two years since Opera Philadelphia's orchestra, chorus, staff, and principal singers have gathered at the historic Academy of Music to produce opera. As the company works to bring live opera back to its longtime home, it continues to bring the art form into fans' homes by producing new operatic films and revisiting favorite productions streamed on the Opera Philadelphia Channel.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced the Company's 98th season, which opens on September 11, 2020 with an Opening Night Celebration featuring soprano Albina Shagimuratova and tenor Pene Pati in concert with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra conducted by Music Director Designate Eun Sun Kim. Opening Night festivities include San Francisco Opera Guild's Opera Ball, BRAVO! CLUB's annual Opening Night Gala and two new events: the Opera Supper in the Veterans Building's elegant Green Room and, for the entire audience, a celebratory, post-concert toast to the season.

Billy Budd recently opened at San Francisco Opera and the critics were in attendance! Find out what they had to say.

San Francisco Opera presents Benjamin Britten's masterpiece of law and order on the high seas, Billy Budd, in six performances at the War Memorial Opera House September 7–22. Based on the unfinished novella by Herman Melville and set to a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, Billy Budd returns to the Company's repertory after a 15-year absence in the “powerful” (New York Times) staging by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage. Lawrence Renes conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and an all-male cast of 75 artists, including 44 men from the San Francisco Opera Chorus prepared by Chorus Director Ian Robertson and 8 boys from the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. The performances coincide with the Melville bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of the posthumous discovery of the American author's unfinished manuscript ofBilly Budd.

San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Chronicle present the latest edition of the annual Opera in the Park concert at 1:30 pm on Sunday, September 8, 2019.

San Francisco Opera presents Benjamin Britten's masterpiece of law and order on the high seas, Billy Budd, in six performances at the War Memorial Opera House September 7a?"22. Based on the unfinished novella by Herman Melville and set to a libretto by E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, Billy Budd returns to the Company's repertory after a 15-year absence in the a?oepowerfula?? (New York Times) staging by Tony Award-winning director Michael Grandage. Lawrence Renes conducts the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and an all-male cast of 75 artists, including 44 men from the San Francisco Opera Chorus prepared by Chorus Director Ian Robertson and 8 boys from the Ragazzi Boys Chorus. The performances coincide with the Melville bicentennial and the 100th anniversary of the posthumous discovery of the American author's unfinished manuscript of Billy Budd.

Single (non-subscription) tickets for San Francisco Opera's 2019 Fall Season at the War Memorial Opera House are now available for purchase online at sfopera.com, in-person at the San Francisco Opera Box Office and by phone at (415) 864-3330. Tickets are also available for Full, Half and Design Your Own Flexible Series subscription packages, special events such as Opera Ball 2019, the San Francisco Opera Chorus in concert at the Dianne and Tad Taube Atrium Theater and The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Concert at Herbst Theatre.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced repertory and casting for the Company's 97th Season, opening Friday, September 6, 2019, with a gala performance of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Rom o et Juliette) starring tenor Bryan Hymel and soprano Nadine Sierra in Op ra de Monte-Carlo Director Jean-Louis Grinda's production. In keeping with the Company's time-honored tradition, the new season will be inaugurated with San Francisco Opera Guild's elegant, signature benefit and celebration, Opera Ball 2019.

Stefan Herheim, one of Europe's most exciting directors, makes his company debut with Glyndebourne's first new production of Pelleas in nearly 20 years. Check out production photos below!

Stefan Herheim, one of Europe's most exciting directors, makes his company debut with Glyndebourne's first new production of Pelléas in nearly 20 years.

Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts (CCPA) will mark 150 years of its music conservatory and the 20th anniversary of its theatre conservatory on March 14 at the University's Auditorium Theatre.

Star soprano Susanna Phillips and rising star baritone John Chest join the Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY) and its music director, Kent Tritle, for a program of two masterpieces of choral music by Brahms to launch OSNY's 2017-18 season on Monday, November 6, 2017, at Carnegie Hall.

September 14 marks the launch of O17, the first edition of Opera Philadelphia's new annual season-opening festival. Featuring seven operatic happenings, six city venues, three world premieres, many already sold-out performances, and one superstar Festival Artist, this twelve- day immersion will transform the City of Brotherly Love into an urban stage for diverse audiences to gather and connect through the shared experience of opera (Sep 14-25). O17 shines a contemporary light on the genre, tackling daring subject matter, offering cutting-edge takes on the classics, and providing extraordinary artists with the chance to create their most imaginative and inspired work.

World premieres of works by Paul Moravec and Behzad Ranjbaran that speak to humanity's quest for freedom and peace highlight the Oratorio Society of New York's 2017-18 season, led by Music Director Kent Tritle.

???????As the summer ends and the fall 2017 concert season comes into view, Kent Tritle will be found playing an organ recital at Himmerod Abbey, a Cistercian monastery in Grosslittgen, Germany. From there, it is off and running - the 2017-18 season for "New York's foremost choral conductor" (The New Yorker) is highlighted by the world premieres of two works with the Oratorio Society of New York, Sanctuary Road, an oratorio about the Underground Railroad by Paul Moravec, libretto by Mark Campbell, commissioned by the OSNY, and Behzad Ranjbaran's We Are One; concerts with the Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine including a program celebrating the immigrant history of New York in collaboration with early/world music group Rose of the Compass that includes the world premiere of a commissioned work by Robert Sirota, and a program of Kodaly, Stravinsky, and Part's Miserere; programs of repertoire ranging from Gregorian chant to Morton Lauridsen with Musica Sacra; and Bach's St. John Passion with ensembles and soloists from the Manhattan School of Music.

Richard Tucker Music Foundation named soprano Nadine Sierra as winner of 2017 Richard Tucker Award; simultanously, it announced its roster of study and career grant recipients.

Soprano Nadine Sierra - who at 28 years old is already establishing herself as a fixture at many of the world's leading opera houses, including those of Paris, Milan, Berlin, and New York - was named today by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation as the winner of the 2017 Richard Tucker Award.

Opera Philadelphia continues to combine cutting-edge new commissions with fresh takes on the classics. To conclude a 2016-17 season highlighted by the knockout success of its world premiere production of Breaking the Waves, the company turns to iconic Mozartean comedy, with a new co-production of The Marriage of Figaro (April 28–May 7). With Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris leading five performances at the historic Academy of Music, celebrated young singers Brandon Cedel, John Chest, Layla Claire, Ying Fang, and Cecelia Hall anchor a stellar cast in the new Stephen Lawless staging that has already proven “as beautiful as it is humorous, as sophisticated as it is raunchy” (Kansas City Star).