Maria Agresta News

The closing of the Monte-Carlo Opera season of 2018-2019 could not have ended better than with the new production of Verdi's Otello. And Monaco knew it: under the keen direction of Daniele Callegari and based on the play by Shakespeare, the opera was completely sold-out.

Lyric Opera of Chicago kicks off 2019 with two acclaimed productions: the return of the new production of Puccini's captivating and tragic love story La boheme, and the Midwest premiere of a beloved production of Massenet's Cendrillon, based on the Cinderella story. La boheme is a quintessentially Italian opera and the plot is forever youthful and eternally fresh. Cendrillon features an enchanting blend of wit, sensitivity, and elegance against the backdrop of a familiar storybook kingdom.

Lyric Opera of Chicago's new coproduction of Puccini's La boheme opens the company's 64th season tomorrow -- Saturday, October 6, at 6:30pm. There are five performances through October 20 and six additional performance Jan. 10-25 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago. Tickets start at $49 and are available now at  lyricopera.org/Boheme or at 312-827-5600.

On a sweltering night in June 2017, this was unquestionably the hottest ticket in town. Opera lovers thronged to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to hear tenor Jonas Kaufmann, recently acclaimed by The Daily Telegraph as “the world's greatest tenor,” make his eagerly anticipated role debut as Otello – Verdi's greatest and most demanding role for tenor voice.

Throughout his great career, Giuseppe Verdi has drunk with the greatest playwrights. But he is an author whom he placed above all others: William Shakespeare, of whom he made from an early age a sort of absolute reference. After Macbeth in 1847 and King Lear, a ghost opera in which he worked in vain for 25 years, Verdi devoted his last years to what will constitute the synthesis of his genius: Otello and Falstaff. These two works are closely related, if only because Verdi collaborates with the same poet, Arrigo Boito, the librettist he had throughout his career called his vows. After years of interminable exchanges between the two men, Otello finally becomes reality. In the aftermath of the creation, Ferruccio Busoni is ecstatic: 'Otello is the highest peak ever achieved by Italian operatic music, both in terms of invention and content, as well as in terms of form and quality. message. When the curtain slowly falls upon the corpses entwined with the Moor and Desdemona, all is said: the vanity of all feeling except love, which alone survives death.

Italian baritone Alessio Arduini and Ukrainian baritone Andrei Bondarenko have both withdrawn from the role of Marcello in The Royal Opera's forthcoming revival of La boheme.

BraoadwayWorld has a first look at Turnadot at The Met. See the video below!

A season filled with unforgettable music, thrilling singers from around the world, and stirring new productions goes on sale via subscription Wednesday, February 7 at 10am.  Seven new and new-to-Chicago productions, including four Lyric premieres, will engage and entertain audiences from October 2018 through June 2019. 

Jennifer Rowley will sing the role of Leonora in all performances of the Met's production of Verdi's Il Trovatore opening January 22, replacing the originally scheduled Maria Agresta, who is ill.

The New York Times recently revealed that the Metropolitan Opera had opened an investigation into claims against conductor James Levine, alleging sexual abuse.

An icy princess is terrified of love. A mysterious prince solves three riddles and melts her heart while breaking another's. Love triumphs, but it's complicated. Starring Amber Wagner, Stefano La Colla, Maria Agresta/Janai Brugger

Franco Zeffirelli's staging of Puccini's final opera Turandot returns to the Met from October 12 for an initial ten performances through to November 16 starring soprano Oksana Dyka in the title role and tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko as Cal f. Led by Carlo Rizzi, performances also feature soprano Maria Agresta as Li with bass-baritone James Morris as Timur.

Aleksandrs Antonenko will sing Cal f in Puccini's Turandot from October 12 to November 16 replacing Marcelo lvarez, who is ill. Mr. lvarez is still scheduled to sing Cal f during the spring performances of Turandot.

San Francisco Opera announced today a casting update for its season-opening production of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, running from September 8 through 30 at the War Memorial Opera House. American soprano Toni Marie Palmertree will sing Liu, replacing Maria Agresta who has withdrawn due to illness. Originally scheduled to portray Puccini's tragic heroine on September 24 and 30, Palmertree will now perform in all six September performances.

Have you ever dreamed of being on the War Memorial Opera House stage? San Francisco Opera is looking for adult supernumeraries (extras) to appear in the Company's upcoming Fall 2017 Season. An open audition will be held on Monday, July 31 beginning at 6 p.m. at the War Memorial Opera House. No previous experience is required and there is no fee to audition.

San Francisco Opera Guild in collaboration with San Francisco Opera Association today announced details for Opera Ball 2017 at The Imperial Palace, a gala benefit celebrating the opening of the Company's 95th Season on Friday, September 8.

An exciting winter lineup is on the bill at the Fugard Bioscope this July and August. The programme includes screenings of the best of world theatre, opera and ballet productions from companies such as the National Theatre, Royal Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and Royal Opera House, to be enjoyed from the comfort of a Fugard Theatre seat.

Single (non-subscription) tickets for San Francisco Opera's 2017 Fall Season at the War Memorial Opera House go on sale Monday, June 26, 2017, at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online at sfopera.com; in-person at the San Francisco Opera Box Office, located at 301 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco and open Mondays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and by phone at (415) 864-3330 during Box Office hours. Full and Half Series subscription packages are also available. Tickets for the three cycles of Wagner's Ring during the summer of 2018 are available as complete, four-opera cycles only.

Ranking among today's leading conductors, Carlo Rizzi's vast repertoire ranges from the foundation works of the operatic and symphonic canon to rarities by Bellini, Cimarosa and Donizetti. He is in high demand as a guest artist at the world's most prestigious venues and festivals, not least for the insight and integrity of his musicianship and the visceral energy and psychological depths of his interpretations.

Roberto Aronica will sing the role of Don Jose in the February 18 performance of Bizet's Carmen, replacing the originally scheduled Marcelo Álvarez, who is ill.