Sarah Shafer News

The Bryn Mawr College Performing Arts Series announces an exciting season of dance, music and theater.

21C MEDIA GROUP just released its season preview of opera, vocal and choral music for 2016-17. Scroll down for details!

The New York Choral Society will present Handel's biblical oratorio Israel in Egypt under the baton of Music Director David Hayes, today evening, May 10th, 2016, 8pm at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. Composed entirely from selected passages from the Bible's Old Testament, Israel in Egypt relates the harshness of the Israelites' captivity in Egypt and their subsequent triumphant escape from the Pharaoh's oppressive regime. Israel in Egypt is atypical in Handel's choral output, as it contains little solo material and is dominated by large-scale virtuosic choruses that exhibit Handel's mastery as a musical storyteller.

Tulsa Opera announces a thrilling lineup of four productions for the 2016-2017 Season.

The New York Choral Society will present Handel's biblical oratorio Israel in Egypt under the baton of Music Director David Hayes, on Tuesday evening, May 10th, 2016, 8pm at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. Composed entirely from selected passages from the Bible's Old Testament, Israel in Egypt relates the harshness of the Israelites' captivity in Egypt and their subsequent triumphant escape from the Pharaoh's oppressive regime. Israel in Egypt is atypical in Handel's choral output, as it contains little solo material and is dominated by large-scale virtuosic choruses that exhibit Handel's mastery as a musical storyteller.

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced the Company's 2016–17 Season repertory and roster of international guest artists, conductors and creative teams scheduled to appear at the War Memorial Opera House, as well as initial programming for SF Opera Lab 2017 presentations at the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera's Taube Atrium Theater. The Company's 94th Season will also mark Matthew Shilvock's inaugural year as San Francisco Opera's new general director, succeeding his mentor and internationally respected impresario, David Gockley, who will step down on July 31, 2016.

San Francisco Opera brings back to the War Memorial Opera House Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute in Jun Kaneko's colorful multimedia production directed by Harry Silverstein. Featuring an accomplished cast of young operatic talent, these performances are presented using General Director David Gockley's English singing translation, with additional material by Ruth and Thomas Martin, and are led by prominent American conductor Lawrence Foster in his San Francisco Opera debut. 

San Francisco Opera today announced cast changes for the Company's new production of Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, presented October 8–28, 2015, and for Mozart's The Magic Flute, presented October 20–November 20, at the War Memorial Opera House. German soprano Diana Damrau has withdrawn from the Lucia production, in order to remain on vocal rest for the next six weeks. American soprano Nadine Sierra—who performed Lucia last spring at the Zurich Opera House to critical acclaim and, more recently, as the Countess in San Francisco Opera's The Marriage of Figaro—will now sing the title role for all seven performances.

SAN FRANCISCO (October 1, 2015) –– San Francisco Opera brings back to the War Memorial Opera House Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute in Jun Kaneko's colorful multimedia production directed by Harry Silverstein. Featuring an accomplished cast of young operatic talent, these performances are presented using General Director David Gockley's English singing translation, with additional material by Ruth and Thomas Martin, and are led by prominent American conductor Lawrence Foster in his San Francisco Opera debut. 

San Francisco Opera today announced cast changes for the Company's new production of Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, presented October 8-28, 2015, and for Mozart's The Magic Flute, presented October 20-November 20, at the War Memorial Opera House.

San Francisco Opera today announced cast changes for the Company's new production of Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, presented October 8–28, 2015, and for Mozart's The Magic Flute, presented October 20–November 20, at the War Memorial Opera House.

The New York Youth Symphony (NYYS), composed of orchestra, chamber, jazz, conducting, and composition programs-heads into the 2015/16 season having provided over 5,000 music students between ages 12 and 22 unparalleled opportunities to perform at world-class venues including Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center and to study with world-renowned artists, all tuition-free. Beyond the instruction from accomplished musicians, students gain valuable life skills-commitment, discipline, focus, collaboration-and friendships that last a lifetime. 

This moving drama follows a strong-willed widow and her teenage daughter in World War II as they flee from Rome to provincial Ciociaria in a vain attempt to find safety. Starring as Cesira is Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci, who has garnered outstanding reviews throughout Europe and for her rare North American performances. Of a recent recital at Lincoln Center, The New York Times wrote, “The extraordinary Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci has concentrated her career in Europe. Each appearance she makes in America. . . is coveted by opera fans familiar with her intelligent and charismatic artistry.” Antonacci has previously appeared with San Francisco Opera in the title role of Ermione (1992) and as Adalgisa in Norma (1998).  Completing the cast are soprano Sarah Shafer, who created the role of Mary in the Company's 2013 world premiere of The Secret Garden, as Cesira's daughter Rosetta; tenor Dimitri Pittas as Michele, a young intellectual who becomes close to both mother and daughter, making his Company debut in the role; and baritone Mark Delavan as the devious Giovanni.

Opera Philadelphia's 41st Season serves as a reminder that the company is, as The Washington Post reports, “taking chances, offering unusual and new work along with repertory staples, and carving out a place for themselves as proponents of American opera.” As General Director & President David B. Devan and Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovarisannounced today, the carefully curated 2015-2016 lineup offers two new American operas: the East Coast Premiere of Cold Mountain, by composer Jennifer Higdon and librettist Gene Scheer and starring the dream team of Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard, and Jay Hunter Morris (February 2016); and the World Premiere of ANDY: A Popera, a Warhol-inspired opera-cabaret featuring a score by Dan Visconti and original songs by Heath Allen (September 2015).

Carnegie Hall presents the esteemed pianist Richard Goode in four concerts this winter and spring, beginning with two programs of chamber music in Zankel Hall, featuring performances with young musicians mentored by Mr. Goode at the Marlboro Music Festival. On Sunday, February 22 at 3:00 p.m., Mr. Goode is joined by soprano Sarah Shafer, violinist Itamar Zorman, violist Kyle Armbrust, and cellist Brook Speltz for a program to include Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26 and Schumann's Piano Trio No. 2 in F Major, Op. 80. Pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute joins Mr. Goode, Mr. Zorman, Mr. Armbrust, and Ms. Speltz on Thursday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. for an all-French program with works by Debussy, Faure, and Ravel.

The New York Choral Society (NYCHORAL) and Orchestra and Music Director David Hayes, on Sunday, January 25, 2015 at 3:00 pm at Carnegie Hall, will present the rarely heard St. Paul by Felix Mendelssohn. Soloists will include soprano Sarah Shafer, mezzo-soprano Haejung Shin, tenor Vale Rideout, baritone Mark Delavan and the Princeton Girlchoir. David Hayes will conduct. This performance will be sung in the original German with English supertitles.

The American Symphony Orchestra has announced the latest collection of online-only live recordings to join its catalogue, which quite recently passed the milestone of more than a quarter of a million streams and downloads sold. The latest batch, now on general release, consists of recordings from the 2014 Bard Music Festival with its focus on “Schubert and his World”.

Below are all the events at Carnegie Hall in February 2015.

Poulenc's work about martyred nuns shows its modern relevance on stage at the Perelman Theatre in Philadelphia

Opera Philadelphia continues its 39th Season in February with the only U.S. appearance of a vivid new Spanish production ofAinadamar, the Grammy Award-winning first opera from Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. On the heels of a three-year, three-city tour of Spain conducted by Corrado Rovaris, Opera Philadelphia's Jack Mulroney Music Director, the production will be presented in five performances at the Academy of Music, tonight, February 7-16, 2014.