Stephanie Blythe News

The Metropolitan Opera will present a free outdoor Summer HD Festival featuring ten of its award winning productions from the popular The Met: Live in HD series. The HD performances will be shown on a giant screen in front of the opera house in Lincoln Center Plaza for ten consecutive nights Saturday, August 29 through Monday, September 7.

The Metropolitan Opera announced plans for its free outdoor events this summer, which will take place in the Lincoln Center Plaza and in parks throughout New York City. In a brand new initiative, the Met's Summer HD Festival will feature screenings of ten productions from the Met's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series in Lincoln Center Plaza on consecutive nights, beginning Saturday, August 29.

The Metropolitan Opera has reason to celebrate; $2.5 million worth of tickets were sold on Sunday, the first day of sales, through its box office, telephone call center and Web site, up from $2 million on the first day of sales last year, according to the Associated press.

Seattle Opera's signature production of Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen returns to McCaw Hall in August. The four operas that comprise the Ring-Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung-will be presented in three full cycles: August 9 to 14, August 17 to 22, and August 25 to 30.

Seattle Opera's signature production of Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen returns to McCaw Hall in August. The four operas that comprise the Ring-Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung-will be presented in three full cycles: August 9 to 14, August 17 to 22, and August 25 to 30.

The Metropolitan Opera will present a free outdoor Summer HD Festival featuring ten of its award winning productions from the popular The Met: Live in HD series. The HD performances will be shown on a giant screen in front of the opera house in Lincoln Center Plaza for ten consecutive nights Saturday, August 29 through Monday, September 7.

On Tuesday, July 14, during Seattle Opera's Annual Meeting at McCaw Hall, General Director Speight Jenkins announced that the company's 2008/09 Artists of the Year awards went to mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe for performing the role of Amneris in Verdi's Aida in August 2008, and to François Racine for his stage direction of Seattle Opera's double bill of Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle with Schoenberg's Erwartung in February and March, 2009.

The Metropolitan Opera announced plans for its free outdoor events this summer, which will take place in the Lincoln Center Plaza and in parks throughout New York City. In a brand new initiative, the Met's Summer HD Festival will feature screenings of ten productions from the Met's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series in Lincoln Center Plaza on consecutive nights, beginning Saturday, August 29.

Single tickets for the individual Ring des Nibelungen operas will go on sale to the general public in a web pre-sale starting June 6

The Metropolitan Opera announced plans for its free outdoor events this summer, which will take place in the Lincoln Center Plaza and in parks throughout New York City. In a brand new initiative, the Met's Summer HD Festival will feature screenings of ten productions from the Met's Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series in Lincoln Center Plaza on consecutive nights, beginning Saturday, August 29.

The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 125th anniversary year with a unique gala performance on March 15, 2009 at 6:00 p.m., featuring Met stars in recreations of historic classic productions and high points in the company's past. Music Director James Levine conducts the evening of 26 staged scenes that, with the use of projections, and scenic and costume recreations, will evoke the Met's illustrious history.

Ren?e Fleming reprises one of her most renowned portrayals when she sings the title role of Dvoř?k's fairy-tale opera Rusalka, which opens March 9. Stephanie Blythe sings the role of the witch Je?ibaba for the first time at the Met. Rusalka's beloved Prince will be played by tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko, in his Met debut. Christine Goerke returns to the company for the first time in four years, adding the role of the Foreign Princess to her Met repertory. Kristinn Sigmundsson sings Rusalka's father, the Water Gnome, also a Met role debut. Noted Czech conductor Jiř? Belohl?vek leads Dvoř?k's best-known opera for the first time at the Met. The production is by Otto Schenk; G?nther Schneider-Siemssen designed the sets; Sylvia Strahammer created the costumes; the lighting design is by Gil Wechsler, and the choreographer is Carmen de Lavallade. Laurie Feldman directs this revival, which runs through March 21.

The Metropolitan Opera today announced the winners of the 2009 National Council Auditions. They are: Paul Appleby of South Bend, Indiana; Anthony Roth Costanzo of Durham, North Carolina; Sung Eun Lee of Seoul, South Korea; and Nadine Sierra of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Selected from eight finalists who performed arias with the Met Orchestra, conducted by Patrick Summers, at the Grand Finals Concert on February 22, each winner takes away a cash prize of $15,000.

This spring, the Metropolitan Opera will present The Audition, a documentary film about the intense challenges and pressures young opera singers face as they try to become opera stars. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, The Audition will be shown on 400 screens across the country on April 19 at 3pm EST (and in Canada on June 6 at 1pm EST) as part of the Metropolitan Opera's series of high definition presentations in movie theaters and performing arts centers. The Audition is a suspenseful competition narrative that provides a revealing behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make it as an opera star. The feature-length film documents the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, where each year thousands of hopefuls compete for a cash prize, the chance to sing on the storied Met stage-and the opportunity to launch a major operatic career. The film focuses on the final week of the competition, as judges narrow the field down from 22 semi-finalists to11 finalists while the stakes get higher and the pressure grows more intense. The documentary crew was given unprecedented access to the singers, judges, and events backstage at the Met.

The Metropolitan Opera today announced the names of eight finalists who will sing in the 2009 National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on February 22 at 3:00 p.m., with the Met Orchestra conducted by Patrick Summers.

Eight new productions, four of which are company premieres, will highlight the Metropolitan Opera's 2009-10 season. General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine jointly announced plans that include: the Met premieres of Rossini's Armida, Verdi's Attila, Jan?ček's From the House of the Dead, and Shostakovich's The Nose; new productions of Bizet's Carmen, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Thomas's Hamlet, and Puccini's Tosca; and 18 revivals from the company's repertory. The season is the first to be entirely planned under Gelb's leadership, in collaboration with Levine (the past three seasons were planned before Gelb became General Manager in 2006-07 but included some productions, repertoire, and casting changes made by Gelb).

Opera New Jersey has announced that Broadway star Lisa Vroman will be stepping into the lead role of Rosalinde in itsupcoming performances of Johann Strauss, Jr.'s delightful operetta Die Fledermaus. Regretfully, Ruth Ann Swenson has withdrawn due to illness. 'The role of Rosalinde requires a singer with vivacious exuberance, commandingstage presence, and incredible panache along with vocal acrobatics,' said Scott Altman, General and Artistic Director, 'Lisa Vroman brings all those characteristicsand a completely fresh dimension to the role; Opera New Jersey is thrilled to bringan artist of her caliber to our audiences.'

This spring, the Metropolitan Opera will present The Audition, a documentary film about the intense challenges and pressures young opera singers face as they try to become opera stars. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Susan Froemke, The Audition will be shown on 400 screens across the country on April 19 at 3pm EST (and in Canada on June 6 at 1pm EST) as part of the Metropolitan Opera's series of high definition presentations in movie theaters and performing arts centers. The Audition is a suspenseful competition narrative that provides a revealing behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to make it as an opera star. The feature-length film documents the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, where each year thousands of hopefuls compete for a cash prize, the chance to sing on the storied Met stage-and the opportunity to launch a major operatic career. The film focuses on the final week of the competition, as judges narrow the field down from 22 semi-finalists to11 finalists while the stakes get higher and the pressure grows more intense. The documentary crew was given unprecedented access to the singers, judges, and events backstage at the Met.

Kirsten Ch?vez will sing the role of Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Met on January 14, replacing Stephanie Blythe, who is ill. Ch?vez was a winner of the 1999 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and made her company debut in 2005 as Merc?d?s in Carmen. At the Met, she has also appeared as Sondra Finchley in Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy and as Bersi in Andrea Ch?nier. She has sung with numerous companies both in the U.S. and abroad including New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, San Diego Opera, Opera Australia, the Caramoor Festival, and opera houses in Philadelphia, Graz, Hannover, and Tokyo.

Kirsten Chavez will sing the role of Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Met on January 14, replacing Stephanie Blythe, who is ill.