VerismoComm Welcomes Lidiya Yankovskaya to Roster
“One of the hottest young conductors forging a path in the world of opera today… Lidiya Yankovskaya is the future of opera.” As Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Lidiya is the only woman to hold that title in a multimillion-dollar opera company in the United States.
November 5, 2018
Verismo Communications is proud to welcome Russian-American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya to the roster. As Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Yankovskaya is the only woman to hold that title in a multimillion-dollar opera company in the United States.
Under her leadership, COT has established the Vanguard Initiative, a three-pronged investment in new opera that includes a two-year residency for emerging opera composers. Committed to developing the next generation of artistic leaders, she also serves on the Advisory Board of Turn The Spotlight, a foundation dedicated to illuminating the path to a more equitable future in the arts.
Yankovskaya is Founder and Artistic Director of the Refugee Orchestra Project, which proclaims the cultural and societal relevance of refugees through music, and has brought that message to the United Nations and hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world.
In the 2018/19 season, Ms. Yankovskaya leads the Chicago premieres of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Heggie’s Moby-Dick at COT, the world premiere of Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents at Washington National Opera, and the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Ellen West at Opera Saratoga. She conducts Grétry’s Belgian rarity Zémire et Azor at Carnegie Mellon University, workshops Justin Chen’s The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing at COT and Paola Prestini’s Edward Tulane at Minnesota Opera, and makes her Mobile Symphony debut in Carmina Burana. She also debuts at Trinity Wall Street, leading the New York premiere of Laura Schwendinger’s Artemisia, and returns to New York’s National Sawdust to close her season with the Hildegard Competition Concert, which features the work of emerging female, trans, and nonbinary composers.
Jamie Barton's Princess Eboli Is 'The Star of The Evening' in WNO Don Carlo
"Even in a cast as extraordinarily strong as this one, Barton rises above. Her "O don fatale" elicited one of those magical operatic moments where time stops..." Jamie Barton makes her American role debut as Princess Eboli in a new Tim Albery production in Washington, D.C.
March 7, 2018
Photo by Scott Suchman
““Even in a cast as extraordinarily strong as this one, Barton rises above. She radiates such boisterous joy in singing that it’s impossible not to be taken under her spell. She alternates lines of exquisite bel canto lyricism and then shoots declamatory passages like laser beams into the upper tiers of the opera house. Her “O don fatale” elicited one of those magical operatic moments where time stops, and at the end of her final phrase you realize you forgot to breathe.””
Mezzo Jamie Barton makes her American role debut as the scheming Princess Eboli in a new Tim Albery production of Verdi's Don Carlo at Washington National Opera.
Led by conductor Philippe Auguin, the legendary cast – including Russell Thomas in the title role, Leah Crocetto as Elisabetta, Quinn Kelsey as Rodrigo, Eric Owens as King Philip, and Andrea Silvestrelli as the Grand Inquisitor – performs at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through March 17, 2018, with tickets available via WNO.
Read reviews:
“The star of the evening, elevating the mezzo role of Princess Eboli from vengeful femme fatale to a wounded but sympathetic courtier, both perpetrator and victim of the palace’s sexual intrigue. Her Veil Song was coy and sultry, and the showstopping “O don fatale” was a magnificent study…”
Washington Post
"Jamie Barton seized on every opportunity, vocal and theatrical, offered by the role of Eboli. She unleashed her ripe mezzo with enough power to push you back in your seat, but she also drew you in with the communicative animation and depth of her phrasing."
Opera News
“Barton dominated the stage on her every appearance. You quickly realized how immensely powerful her instrument could be, but her vocal agility and dynamic range amazed the most.”
Bachtrack
“Wows in power and agility. Most impressive was the deft control she possessed over such a force that was wielded as a conduit of artistry rather than brutality. A joy from start to finish."
MD Theatre Guide
"Barton used her brazen chest voice, elemental in power, to dominate the stage with arrogant spite, as steady and beautiful in ensembles as in solos."
Washington Classical Review
“A tour de force of musicality and emotionality [that] rightly deserved the thunderous applause it received.”
DC Theatre Scene
“Perhaps the biggest ovation of the evening came for Jamie Barton as Eboli after her aria “O Don Fatale.” In this passage, this incredible artist let her voice blast through the hall with unsurpassed vibrancy and control. Every moment was gloriously sculpted.”
Operawire
Rolando Sanz Brings Andrew Lippa Concept Opera to Strathmore
Executive Producer Rolando Sanz brought Lippa's latest work, a concept opera starring Kristin Chenoweth, to Washington, D.C. this weekend.
April 24, 2016
Composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa, Jacquie Sanz, Executive Producer Rolando Sanz, and star Kristin Chenoweth
Executive Producer Rolando Sanz brought the world premiere of Andrew Lippa's latest work, a concept opera called I Am Anne Hutchinson / I Am Harvey Milk, to the Music Center at Strathmore near Washington, D.C. this weekend.
Starring Kristin Chenoweth and composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa, the work deals with two reluctant prophets speaking up for women's rights and gay rights.
The production was met with critical acclaim, with the Washington Post raving, "This is music as activism, celebratory and inspirational. Strathmore gets very high marks for pulling together this premiere; surely – hopefully – this won’t be the last time Lippa and Chenoweth perform Anne/Harvey with the full battalion of musical support marshaled here."
Featuring forces of 175 musicians, the production was directed by Noah Himmelstein. Before the premiere, Rolando spoke with Classicalite and Broadway World Opera about the experience of mounting the project and the middle-of-the-night stroke of inspiration that led to coining the new "concept opera" genre.
Creative team and cast of I Am Anne Hutchinson / I Am Harvey Milk
Amanda Majeski to Debut at Washington National Opera on 2016/17 Opening Night
"Dignified and moving...a great showcase for her rich, resonant soprano." Amanda Majeski will bring her acclaimed Countess to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
March 8, 2016
Amanda Majeski will make her Washington National Opera debut as the Countess in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro on opening night of the 2016/17 season.
The Kennedy Center production will complete a trilogy of opening night Figaro performances for Majeski, a run that began at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014 and continued at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2015.
Majeski will be joined by Lisette Oropesa as Susanna, Joshua Hopkins as Count Almaviva, Ryan McKinny as Figaro, and Aleksandra Romano as Cherubino, under the baton of James Gaffigan in a Peter Kazaras production.
Performances will run September 22 – October 2, 2016, with the September 24 performance simulcast to Nationals Stadium for the popular M&M’S Opera in the Outfield event.
Photo by Todd Rosenberg