Isabel Leonard To Give Recital In Florida At Frost School Of Music

The mezzo-soprano relaxing for the camera. (Photo: Dario Acosta)

"Isabel Leonard is a glamorous young opera star, svelte and vivacious, whose career has rocketed into the stratosphere. But sometimes an opera star is just a mom. 'I’m trying to get the nanny and my son out of the house,' she said with a rueful laugh, apologizing for starting an interview a few minutes late. Based in Manhattan, Leonard and husband Teddy Tahu Rhodes well know the formidable challenge of corralling a toddler, namely their 3-year-old son, Teo. But in terms of her career trajectory, running late is not Leonard’s style. In September 2007, barely one year after earning her master’s degree from the Juilliard School, the mezzo-soprano made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Stephano, Romeo’s page in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette. 'It’s hard to make a splash in a pants role in a long opera on a night when Anna Netrebko is singing,' wrote Washington Post critic Anne Midgette, 'but Ms. Leonard did.' Born in 1982, Leonard already has a jam-packed resume. In 2013 she won the Richard Tucker Award, a prestigious honor for promising young singers that carries a $30,000 prize and a concert appearance. In 2012, she starred as Miranda in the Met’s highly praised premiere of Thomas Ades’ 2004 opera based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest directed by Robert Lepage. She has appeared in opera houses stretching from Vienna to Santa Fe. Her mezzo is a powerful instrument with an astonishing range, dusky and worldly wise in its lowest register yet silvery and agile in high-flying coloratura passages. South Florida audiences will get to see what all the excitement is about when Leonard makes her local debut Sunday as part of the Sunday Afternoons of Music series in Coral Gables. Her recital with pianist Vlad Iftinca will be the final concert in Doreen Marx’s series, which is closing down after a 33-year run." [Source] Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard will perform with pianist Vlad Iftinca at 4 p.m. Sunday at Gusman Concert Hall, Frost School of Music, University of Miami, 1314 Miller Dr., Coral Gables. For more information visit http://sundaymusicals.org/sam.html. A copy of the recital is after the jump.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes Runs On Coffee, Wine, And Beer

(Photo: Cal Crary)

"His grand baritone and tall, brawny bearing have made Teddy Tahu Rhodes a pop star of the opera circuit and beyond. The cooly reserved New Zealander and one-time accountant is returning to the role of French expatriate Emile de Becque in Opera Australia's terrific production of South Pacific, a love story set during World War II. Reprising her part alongside Rhodes in last year's hit season of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical is screen favourite Lisa McCune as Nellie Forbush, the nurse who falls for the wealthy plantation owner with a chequered past. Their apparent chemistry off-stage as well as on drew considerable attention last year, but Rhodes neatly sidestepped a question here about the two of them. Reports suggest they are also set to pair up on stage next year as leads in another musical classic, The King and I." Read all about his daily routine, from what gets him going in the morning to post-performance activities, by clicking here. [Source]

Susanna Phillips Brings All the Boys to the Yard in Streetcar

(Photo: Todd Rosenberg/Lyric Opera of Chicago)

The reviews are in for Streetcar Named Desire at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Find out more about the production here and see more photos here.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes Reprises "Don Giovanni" Despite Costume

Click to enlarge Teddy Tahu Rhodes.
(Photo: Jeff Busby/Opera Australia)

"As far as grand entrances go, it was unforgettable. When opera's bass-baritone pin-up, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, bounded on to the Opera House stage six years ago wearing, ahem, not all that much as Mozart's infamous rogue, Don Giovanni, the audience audibly gasped. The 195-centimetre-tall Tahu Rhodes, who likes to keep in shape, was dressed in leather boxers, boots and a cape. Rarely has so much rippling flesh been seen on an operatic stage. 'Actually the original [costume] was a little less than that,' says Tahu Rhodes, 45, who's reprising the role for eight performances of Don Giovanni at Sydney Opera House from September 24 until October 15, when Jose Carbo takes over for the rest of the season. 'It was like Speedo leathers and I asked them to go to the boxer-type thing...

Trainer Steve Curran

because I wasn't so keen on that.' In fact, Tahu Rhodes isn't that keen to discuss his physique (but he is hoping his trainer, the hardcore Steve Curran from City Gym, will come to see him on stage). 'So much of it can be made about the body and I want to make it about the character, if I can,' he says. Tahu Rhodes says that although reprising the role is 'like putting on an old glove,' audiences will find 'he'll be a different don this time - he's a slightly older don.' [Source] Two more photos of Teddy Tahu Rhodes in the Opera Australia production of Don Giovanni after the jump.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes Takes Part in Sydney Opera House Celebration

"In 1990, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released a song that within 11 years was voted one of the Top 30 Best Australian Songs of the previous 75 years. That song was 'The Ship Song.' Now, Sydney Opera House has married this iconic song with the world’s most famous building to celebrate the artists, architecture and interiors that together make the House a part of Australia’s cultural fabric. Sydney Opera House CEO Richard Evans said, 'We set out to create a tribute to the House’s role in the global creative community – a love song to creativity if you wish. We wanted to give people everywhere the opportunity to experience the creative genius that makes this place tick, to get a taste of the artists, venues and other spaces that power the heart that beats beneath our soaring white sails.' Over 12 months, artists and companies performing at Sydney Opera House were asked to join in The Ship Song journey under the lead of award-winning music video director Paul Goldman and music director and arranger Elliott Wheeler. The stature of the artists and companies who agreed to voluntarily perform in 'The Ship Song' is a tribute to the House’s role in Australian performing arts. 'The Ship Song' features vocals by Neil Finn, Kev Carmody, Sarah Blasko, Angus and Julia Stone, Paul Kelly, Temper Trap, Martha Wainwright, Katie Noonan, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Daniel Johns. The

Crooning for iconic architecture

singers are joined by the Sydney Symphony, Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Bell Shakespeare Company and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Along with the music video, 'The Ship Song' also includes a fly-on-the-wall documentary by leading filmmaker Greg Appel about the making of the video including conversations with the artists about the passions that fire their creativity. The Ship Song was released globally on 26 July 2011 and shared across traditional and social media channels. The documentary, narrated by Guy Pearce, will screen on Foxtel." [Source]

For more information about the The Ship Song Project, including photos, history and interviews, click here.

Teddy Tahu Rhodes Sings Naughty Nursery Rhymes For Valentine's Day

(Photo: Courier-Mail)

"With the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Rhodes will bring to life a selection of wonderful music, including some exciting interpretations of well-loved nursery rhymes. 'The nursery rhymes in particular are an odd mix,' he says. 'It's the poetry of the 18th century coupled with the jazzy type music of our generation.' While this juxtaposition may seem unusual, the history of nursery rhymes reveals the two might actually be great friends. 'The whole idea, when I read up on the nursery rhymes themselves, is they were taken from old drinking