Renée Fleming Honored By Daughter's Alma Mater Harvard

Talented Offspring: Amelia Ross, daughter of Renée Fleming,
is a Harvard University alumni and singer as well.

"One of the most acclaimed opera singers and sopranos of all time, Renée Fleming sang 'America the Beautiful' at Harvard's 364th Commencement on May 28, 2015 at Tercentenary Theatre." The star also received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the prestigious University. It also happens to be where her eldest daughter Amelia Ross attended college. As a graduate of the 2014 class, Ms. Ross has experience as Treasurer of the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert & Sullivan Performers as well as a Tanglewood Office Associate for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She also speaks German and French. Watch videos of the young singer performing during her time at Harvard, in the title role of Massenet's Cendrillon and in Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore, after the jump. [Source]

Back row from left: Robert Axelrod, Wallace S. Broecker, Denis Mukwege, Patricia A. Graham, Linda B. Buck, Bryan Stevenson, and Peter Salovey. Front row from left: Alan Garber, Renée Fleming, President Drew Faust, Deval L. Patrick, and Svetlana L. Alpers (Photo: Harvard Magazine/JC)

View image | gettyimages.com

Dagmar Pecková Breaks Out A Battery Of Sinful Women On New Disc

Mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková as Klytaemnestra for the new recording on Supraphon.

"Recorded at the Studio of Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Bratislava, September 2–4 and 8–10, 2014. The provocative title of the new album by the feted mezzo-soprano Dagmar Pecková reflects a remarkable dramaturgic idea: that which connects the life of modern humans with the heroines of Antique mythology is the principle of sin – and forgiveness. This is perhaps why all

The singer as Cherubini's demented Medea

the featured characters are smart and strong women, some of them even endowed with supernatural abilities. Women determined to apply the boldest means so as to gain that which they long for – or to take revenge. Women betrayed by a ruse or wounded by their own love. The very first aria featured, that of Massenet’s Marie-Magdeleine, opens the scope for the message – that the only way out of sin is forgiveness. 'When you look at mezzo-soprano characters, virtually all of them can be branded sinners. Perhaps it is owing to the darker voice colour...' says Dagmar Pecková. As rendered by her on the present album, each of the 'sinful women' is profoundly treated in psychological and emotional terms. This profundity and inspiration is based on the soloist’s own professional experience and is also the fruit of the collaboration with the accompanying Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, under the uncompromising and masterful baton of Aleksandar Markovic. Love, sin and forgiveness. An insight into the mysterious female soul." [Source] Read more about the album here. Watch a video from the recording session, see more photos, and the full track list, after the jump.

MET Brochure Photographer Kristian Schuller Attends "Manon"

Kristian Schuller, the star photographer of the 2015-16 Metropolitan Opera season brochure, was spotted at a performance of Massenet's Manon. This time he was on the other side of the lens as he was captured by Rose Callahan for the website "Last Night At the MET." For more images from the current season of fashion of the eclectic crowd that attends performances, click here. A favorite accessory seen this winter at the Metropolitan Opera performances was fur! Click here and here to see a variety, ranging from full-length to scarves, of the fur that was seen at the opera house. Visit Kristian Schuller's official website to see some stunning fashion photography by clicking here.

Cast Finalized For Angela Gheorghiu "Werther" Debut In Vienna

Gheorghiu in Vienna rehearsal for Werther
(Phtoto: Facebook)

As Angela Gheorghiu prepares to take on the mezzo-soprano repertoire role of Charlotte at Wiener Staatsoper, the company has been busy scrambling to change tenors for the production. It can be announced the cast will appear as follows:

Charlotte: Angela Gheorghiu

Werther: Jean-Francois Borras

Albert: Ludovic Tézier

Le Bailli: Alfred Šramek

Sophie: Daniela Fally

Schmidt: Benedikt Kobel

Johann: Hans Peter Kammerer

The performances featuring Ms. Gheorghiu begin tomorrow, March 5, with further engagements on March 9 and 13. Tickets are available here. See more images from music rehearsals and stagings in Vienna by clicking here.

New Orleans Snags Mezzo-Soprano Luretta Bybee For Loyola Position

Ms. Bybee recently sang Fricka/Flosshilde
in the Ring Cycle with Minnesota Concert
Opera and Mary in The Flying Dutchman
at Opera Carolina.

"Loyola University has recruited opera star Luretta Bybee to help train a new generation of singers at the New Orleans school. The mezzo-soprano brings extra luster to Loyola's voice program, which has produced many top singers in recent decades, among them, her husband, Greer Grimsley. Bybee will join the music faculty in August. She is relocating from Boston where she served as part of the leadership team for the New England Conservatory's Opera Studies program. Loyola spokesman Mikel Pak said Bybee and Grimsley were drawn to New Orleans because of family connections and the Crescent City's rich opera heritage. Both singers tour internationally and have performed in New Orleans. This February, Bybee appeared in the New Orleans Opera production of Massenet's Cendrillon. As an associate professor of music at Loyola, Bybee will teach studio voice classes—which are one-on-one private lessons with students. She joins a program that helped form many contemporary singers, including international stars such as Alfred Walker, Bryan Hymel and Melody Moore, and respected American singers such as Sarah Jane McMahon, Suzanne DuPlantis and Brandy Lynn Hawkins. [Source]

Eglise Gutiérrez And Angela Mortellaro Share Thaïs Role At FGO

Susan Janis: FGO General Director & CEO (Photo: Nick Garcia)

"The 2013-2014 season marks the start of a new vision for Florida Grand Opera (FGO) with provocative repertoire curated by Susan T. Danis, the company’s General Director and CEO. With an unyielding commitment to bringing the highest artistic product to South Florida and limited availability of such productions, FGO has decided to postpone Tristan & Isolde for one season and present Jules Massenet’s Thaïs in its place during the 2013-2014 season. 'Since I accepted the position of General Director of Florida Grand Opera I have stated repeatedly and unequivocally that my goal is to present great opera, including exciting productions with world-class singers and thought-provoking repertoire. This community deserves nothing less,' said Danis. 'We have had to postpone Tristan & Isolde for one season due to the challenge of finding a production that fits the stages both in Miami and in Ft. Lauderdale. With the production team making it a priority to find a great production, we will be able to present Tristan & Isolde in all its glory in 2014-2015.'" [Source] The entire cast list and performance dates are after the jump.

First Glimpse of Anna Netrebko at MET "Manon" After-Party

More gorgeous photos of Ms. Netrebko by photographer Julie Skarratt can be found here. See more pictures of guests (including Paulo Szot, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Barbara Walters and Peter Gelb) click here.

Young Hollywood Starlets attend Netrebko's MET "Manon"

"Emma Roberts, niece of Julia Roberts, dined with Chloë Moretz and Sky Ferreira. The sauteed sole was accompanied by asparagus and a puree of cauliflower and Yukon potatoes." (Photo: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg News)

Rolando Villazón Re-emerges With New DG "Werther"

Click on image to order the new Werther recording

Suicidal French Poet Pursues Married Woman in 1892

Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Although Massenet wrote and completed his opera in 1887, it did not receive any performance until it premiered at the Imperial Theatre Hofoper in Vienna on February 16, 1892, in a