Dmitri Hvorostovsky Shown Love From Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

"Three months after announcing he had a brain tumor, and still in the midst of treatment, the cherished Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Friday evening as the Count di Luna in Verdi’s Il Trovatore. An ovation greeted his first entrance, loud and long enough that he broke character to smile and pat his heart in appreciation. Three hours later, the curtain calls ended with the orchestra pelting Mr. Hvorostovsky with white roses, as his co-star, the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, appeared visibly moved." [Source] Watch a video of the curtain call, after the jump.

Evelyn Lear Legacy Continued By Dolora Zajick Through Students

Queen Lear: During the zenith of her career

"Since 2013, Washington’s Wagner Society and Zajick’s institute have been linked in a partnership that picks up where the Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Program left off with Lear’s death in 2012. Lear and Stewart were two leading American singers of their generation who, with the help of the Wagner Society, worked with more than 75 singers over 12 years. Their program lives on. Reborn as the American Wagner Project and funded by the Wagner Society, it now represents one of six distinct training arms of the institute. 'It’s under the umbrella of our program,' Zajick said, 'but it runs on its own engine.' It’s headed by Luana de Vol, the American Wagnerian who has sung extensively in San Francisco and Europe. 'I gave her carte blanche,' Zajick said, 'to do whatever she wants.'....Lear recognized the importance of Zajick’s program. John Edward Niles, the conductor who oversaw the Emerging Singers Program in Washington for 12 years and is now on the faculty of the American Wagner Project, recalled in an e-mail a conversation he had

Force of Nature: Dolora Zajick leads the next
 generation of large voices in opera 
(Photo: David Sauer)

with the soprano shortly before she died. 'You have got to PROMISE me,' he said she told him, 'that you will keep the ESP going and merge the program with Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. I know now that this is the ONLY place for the ESP.' Niles added, 'If Evelyn Lear asks you something in that tone, YOU DO IT!'"[Source]  Watch videos of big voices of the future Issachah Savage and Rachel Willis-Sørensen, as well as the possible mystery tenor mentioned in the Washington Post article, after the jump. Learn more about the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, including the multitude of programs offered for various levels of experience, by clicking here. Also visit the official website of Dolora Zajick for her upcoming opera engagements by clicking here.

You've Got To Know When To Hold 'Em: MET Playing Cards

Purchase the playing cards here.

"Kevin Rawlings has been a professional make-up artist and photographer for nearly three decades. Combining these skills with his knowledge and love of opera, Mr. Rawlings has created a collection of operatic images like no other in 'Stars of the Opera.' The product is composed of a double-deck of 'face-cards' featuring 108 famous opera singers from around the world. This one of a kind, High Quality set of cards was printed by USPlaying Card Co. on bicycle card stock and air cushion platic coating. Surprise your opera loving friends with these Special Edition playing cards! Included in the Deck: Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, James Morris, Dolora Zajick, Ben Heppner, Rene Pape and many, many more!!!" [Source] Find out more information by clicking here.

At 61, Dolora Zajick Proves Still Explosive As Verdi's Amneris

(Photo: Lynn Lane)

"....volcanic-voiced American mezzo Dolora Zajick, the reigning international interpreter of Amneris, who could sing this role in her sleep. Her voice is one of the wonders of the world, sailing through, and over, Verdi's thick orchestral color to give real life to the Egyptian princess racked by jealousy. For this revival, thankfully, her costumes have been lightened by more of Rhodes's gauzy fabrics, so she no longer looks like a walking sarcophagus as she did at this production's premiere. Rich and plummy, her instrument is beautiful through all ranges, and she can float a pianissimo with seductive softness like no other. But it's her phenomenal agility and power-in-agility that have made her the leading Verdian mezzo. She is divine, if not out-of-this-world, rock solid and commanding. In the cluttered stage pictures, you always know where she is." [Source] More photos of Dolora Zajick in the Zandra Rhodes production of Aida at the Houston Grand Opera after the jump.

Palm Beach Opera Displays Financial and Artistic Success

Founded in 1961 as the "Civic Opera of the Palm Beaches," the Palm Beach Opera is a professional opera company performing at the Kravits Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. For years the jet-set have been traveling from large cities across the country to reach this haven for the rich in an area known

Daniel Biaggi: Captain of the high C's

mostly for its golfing and yachting during the winter months. West Palm Beach is technically a municipality (the oldest in South Florida) with a population that inches toward 100,000 residents and its slightly more exclusive neighbor, Palm Beach, has only 30,000 residents during peak vacation season. Opera can be a tough sell in these parts, especially since Florida Grand Opera is operating a mere 67 miles south in Miami and the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts to movie theater as part of their "Live in HD" series. In the beginning, the company performed one production annually and by the mid-1990s four fully staged operas were taking place each season. Artistically, Palm Beach Opera hit its stride during the directorship of its Principal Conductor Anton Guadagno from 1984 to 2002. The new millennium brought corporate scandals and plummeting stock portfolios for many supporters of the opera. The company had no choice but to

James Valenti: Star tenor and
West Palm Beach resident.

make bold choices for leadership in order to succeed and flourish in the coming decade. After Maestro Guadagno passed away in August 2002, the company brought Bruno Aprea in as the Artistic Director & Principal Conductor beginning in 2005 and appointed Daniel Biaggi as the new General Director in 2008. As Palm Beach Opera celebrates its 50th Anniversary this season by opening with Madama Butterfly on December 16, 2011, it is clear the artistic and financial vision of the company is beginning to pay off. Although they reduced the budget from $6.5 million to $4.7 million, trimmed full-time staff to ten positions and now present three fully staged operas with one concert performance a season (Beethoven's Symphony #9 and Verdi's Requiem were recent choices), the quality of singing has skyrocketed. In addition to meeting the expectations of audiences aurally skilled in houses like the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera, the company has to provide A-list singers alongside budding young talent that fits the budget. Recent seasons have seen veterans Ruth Ann Swenson and Dolora Zajick, as well as newcomers Angela Meade, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Nadine Sierra, James Valenti and Nicole Cabell.

Metropolitan Opera soprano Ruth Ann Swenson
at a post-performance dinner 

Now that the company has found its footing, they hope to expand beyond the typical Italian and French repertoire into 20th-century works (especially American pieces) and Baroque. For more about the cast and performance dates of Madama Butterfly at the Palm Beach Opera, click here. And if you are in the neighborhood on January 20 and 22, the company will present two Golden Jubilee concerts featuring scenes from La Traviata, Die Fledermaus, La Bohème, Carmen, Aïda, among others and will be hosted by the baritone Sherrill Milnes. The concerts will be lead by conductors Julius Rudel and Bruno Aprea with singers Angela Brown, Ruth Ann Swenson, Denyce Graves-Montgomery, Brandon Jovanovich and many more.[Source, Source, Source]

Does Competition and Foundation Prize Money Help Singers?

Angela Meade (l) with 1986 Richard
Tucker Award winner Dolora Zajick
(Photo: Ruth Fremson/NY Times)

Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times: "Since 1975 the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, named for the great American tenor, has fostered the careers of emerging singers." The annual gala concert was held on Sunday (November 7) evening. "The evening’s main business was to honor this year’s Tucker Award winner, the young soprano Angela Meade, who receives a $30,000 prize, the foundation’s largest grant. Ms. Meade recently sang three performances of the title role in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena in the Met’s new production, and she returns to the company in February for Verdi’s seldom-heard Ernani. Her first offering here was a fiery aria from Verdi’s Attila. Her sound was enormous, rich and unforced; her coloratura runs and passagework were dispatched with aplomb and precision. Vocally, Ms. Meade was even better in the Act I finale of Bellini’s Norma, for which she was joined by the mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick as Adalgisa and the sturdy tenor Frank Porretta (substituting for Mr. Giordani) as Pollione." But how much fostering does Ms. Meade's career need at this point? According to the Metropolitan Opera, a top-earner makes $16K/performance. Even a newcomer like Meade (who actually was a winner of the National Council Auditions in 2007 and made her debut at the MET in the 2008 production of Ernani) could easily pull in $9K/performance at the low-end estimate. So at this stage of the game, does a singer like Angela Meade need the help of the Richard Tucker Foundation? Looking back at past Tucker Award winners might show that most of these singers were well on their way and didn't need much "fostering." Check out examples, as well as video performances of these past winners at the Richard Tucker Gala, after the jump.

MET Sirius XM Radio Tonight: "Lucia di Lammermoor"

Listen to the Metropolitan Opera perform Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor live tonight at 8:00 PM EST on Sirius XM radio. Intermission guests: Peter Mattei, Deborah Hoffman, Dolora Zajick and Gregory Buchalter.

Two Opposing Views of Dolora Zajick in MET "Spades"

Ms. Zajick in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades
Photo: Marty Sohl/The Metropolitan Opera)

"Though the countess is at the dramatic center of the opera, the role does not involve much singing. To have the powerhouse mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick in the part was luxury casting. Staying true to the character and the music Ms. Zajick reined in her voice and acted with aching vulnerability, especially in the poignant scene in which, after a ball, the countess sings herself to sleep with the strains of a romantic song from her youth." - Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

(Photo: Sara Krulwich/New York Times)

"The biggest disappointment, though, was mezzo Dolora Zajick in the spooky title role. The scene where the countess dozes off while crooning a sentimental song from her youth can evoke eerie nostalgia and loss with only a wisp of voice. Here, Zajick uncorked her sumptuous mezzo as if to launch into "God Bless America." - James Jorden, New York Post


Both agree, however, that Peter Mattei's portayal of Yeletsky wins for best performance. [Source, Source]

Dolora Zajick Talks With Marc A. Scorca About Big Voices

Opera star Dolora Zajick, a "force of nature" as described
by Marilyn Horne, being interviewed by Marc Scorca.

Last night Dolora Zajick sat down with OPERA America President & CEO Marc A. Scorca in the company's offices to discuss her career, the physiology of singing and her new Institute For Young Dramatic Voices.

Possessing one of the most galactic opera voices of the last 50 years, the mezzo-soprano began the evening's discussion by recalling her first experiences with music as she was growing up. Born in Oregon and raised in Nevada, she did not grow up in a musical household. At about age 7, she was became obsessed with the idea of becoming a concert pianist, but it would turn out that the keyboard was not her calling. By age 10, she, a brother and sister, made three-part harmony for fun and it was not until she enrolled in music school that she realized the fun game was actually called a triad.  She began singing in the Madrigal group at high school with her siblings (who she claims also had large voices, so all the sections were balanced). She attributes the poverty of her public library growing up for learning about great singers of the past because they didn't have the money to buy recordings after 1962, so the voices in her ear were Ebe Stignani and Fedora Barbieri. Her first role on stage was Kate in The Pirates of Penzance for which she sang all the low notes for the Mabel who in turn sang all the high notes for her.

LIVE Tonight! Dolora Zajick Discusses Nurturing a Dramatic Voice

The dramatic mezzo-soprano as Amneris in Verdi's Aida

At 7PM EST this evening, catch a live stream of dramatic mezzo-soprano Dolora Zajick discussing how singers who posses extraordinarily large voices for Wagner and Verdi can nurture their instruments outside of traditional training programs. The event is called "Cultivating the Dramatic Voice with Dolora Zajick" and it will be streamed on the OPERA America website at http://operaamerica.org/. Just click on the "Live Making Connections" category to slide the reveal of the streaming video.

Plácido Domingo: Birthday Gala For A Titan

Domingo with Queen Sofía and musical guests Conlon, Berganza, Terfel,  Arteta and Martínez 

A gala blowout beyond compare took place at the Teatro Real for tenor Plácido Domingo's 70th birthday. The program, performers and guest list are after the jump.