Verismo News

San Francisco Opera releases Eun Sun Kim: A Journey into Lohengrin, a documentary on the company’s music director and what it takes to produce an opera, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast, crew, and orchestra.

OPERA America announces the induction of composer and mentor Jake Heggie into the Opera Hall of Fame, which recognizes the achievements of outstanding living American artists, administrators, and advocates who have strengthened the art form and the field.

San Francisco Opera announces that music director Eun Sun Kim will extend her contract through the 2030-31 season, including plans to lead new productions of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen and Verdi’s Parsifal.

Seattle Opera presents the world premiere of Jubilee, a new opera by visionary writer and director Tazewell Thompson about the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Wolf Trap Opera presents a cinematic new production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night, the first opera by composer Kevin Puts, directed by Ryan and Tonya McKinny.

Des Moines Metro Opera presents the world premiere of American Apollo, a new opera by Damien Geter and Lila Palmer that explores the relationship of society painter John Singer Sargent and Black model Thomas Eugene McKeller.

Lidiya Yankovskaya leads Puccini’s Il Trittico in her debut at Opera Australia. Under her baton, three Australian directors come together to present the premiere of this bold new production.

Conductor Eun Sun Kim is featured on the cover of Arte Magazine following her recent performances with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

Music of Remembrance celebrates its 25th Anniversary with a three-city world premiere tour of Before It All Goes Dark, a new opera by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer based on reporting by legendary Chicago journalist Howard Reich in the Chicago Tribune.

Librettist Lila Palmer, newly appointed General and Artistic Director of New Orleans Opera, has been named one of New Orleans Magazine’s Top Female Achievers making change for good. She speaks with the magazine about her broad creative background, her family’s move to NOLA, and her plans for the company.

Eun Sun Kim makes her highly anticipated Berlin Philharmonic debut following an epic string of orchestral engagements including debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra.

Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya is featured on the cover of Opera Now magazine following her highly acclaimed leadership of English National Opera’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle and ahead of her departure as Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater.

Music of Remembrance premieres Phoenix, a new musical work about the women’s rights crisis in Iran, written by the Iranian American creative team of composer Sahba Aminikia and librettist Zara Houshmand. BBC Persian flew out to cover the performance.

Lidiya Yankovskaya spoke with The Sunday Times about prejudice, parenting, and the potential future of English National Opera, ahead of her acclaimed return to ENO for Bluebeard’s Castle.

Out of more than 250 applicants, 21 exceptionally promising pre-collegiate musicians with demonstrated need were chosen by From the Top to receive up to $10,000 each. Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award funds are made available for instrument purchases, summer camp tuition, college audition expenses, private lessons, and other music-related needs.

Lila Palmer has been appointed General and Artistic Director of New Orleans Opera.

Tenor Russell Thomas is featured on the cover of Opera Now magazine ahead of his role debut as Parsifal with Houston Grand Opera and the world premiere of Fire and Blue Sky, written for Russell by Emmy Award-winning composer Joel Thompson, at LA Opera.

Conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya’s seven-year run at Chicago Opera Theater is featured in The Reklama and Chicago Tribune.

Eun Sun Kim is profiled in Le Figaro Magazine ahead of her Parisian performances conducting at the Palais Garnier and Opéra de la Bastille.

Conductor Eun Sun Kim is featured on the cover of Opera Now magazine ahead of her Opéra national de Paris debut and the Callas Centenary Gala.

Created in collaboration with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Gene Scheer, Intelligence is Jake Heggie’s 10th full-length opera. The work is believed to be the first grand opera in which words, music, and dance are equally vital to the storytelling. Houston Grand Opera commissioned and premiered Intelligence, which was previewed in Opera Now, The New York Times, Houston Matters, Houstonia, San Francisco Chronicle, and BBC Music Magazine.

Jamie Barton realized a long-held dream this fall, creating a role in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s newest opera, Intelligence, at Houston Grand Opera. She spoke with Opera Now, Opera News, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Matters, Houstonia, and Houston Life about this unusual work, which has three female leads.

Music Director Eun Sun Kim has officially launched the Wagnerian portion of her multi-year Verdi-Wagner initiative at San Francisco Opera with Lohengrin. The four-and-a-half-hour epic starred Simon O'Neill, Julie Adams, Brian Mulligan, Kristinn Sigmundsson, and Judit Kutasi.

Superstar violinist Joshua Bell is touring a new commission by Jake Heggie. His “Fire,” part of The Elements concerto, is opening orchestra seasons around the world, including at the New York Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.

Dead Man Walking made its long-awaited Metropolitan Opera premiere, opening the 23/24 season in a star-studded new production gala. Since its world premiere in 2000, Dead Man Walking has become the most-performed opera of the 21st century, with particular praise for Jake Heggie’s music and the libretto of late Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally. Jake spoke with press outlets around the world – including Nightline, The New York Times, Associated Press, Financial Times, Air Mail Magazine, Opera News, Opera Magazine, BBC Music Magazine, and San Francisco Chronicle – about this career-defining moment.

Ryan McKinny wowed in a star turn opposite Joyce DiDonato in the Metropolitan Opera’s Dead Man Walking. Ryan spoke with top-tier print and television journalists – including The Times, Nightline, Agence France-Presse, and The New York Times – about the work, his collaboration with Equal Justice USA, and an opening-night look inspired by his personal connection to the subject matter.

Ahead of a jam-packed fall slate, composer Jake Heggie appeared on the covers of Opera Magazine and Opera News, with additional profiles in BBC Music Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times, Barron’s, and Classical Voice North America.

American mezzo Jamie Barton graces the cover of two classical music magazines this fall: Opera Now in the UK and Opera News in the States.

Following a kickoff performance at Carnegie Hall, tenor Russell Thomas joined the MET Orchestra in their first international tour in more than two decades, bringing his Otello to audiences in London, Paris, and Baden-Baden.

Eun Sun Kim and the National Brass Ensemble have released Deified, a new album showcasing brass music's exceptional coloristic and expressive range. The Pentatone release features world premiere recordings by Jonathan Bingham and Arturo Sandoval and Timothy Higgins’s The Ring, a virtuosic recomposition of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen scored for brass ensemble.