Rapper Drake Installs MET Chandelier in $100 Million Mansion

Canadian rapper Drake has finally has revealed his $100 million mansion in Toronto and it is a showstopper. Coming in at just 5,000 square feet less than the White House, this home is filled the finest craftsmanship. So why just get any light fixture when you can get a replica of one that is in the Metropolitan Opera? His interior designer, Ferris Rafauli, turned to the Viennese family company J.&L. Lobmeyr that created the original starburst chandeliers that hang in the MET back in 1963. "Founded in 1823 with its head office on Kärntner Strasse in Vienna city center, manufactures chandeliers in all shapes and styles as well as high-quality crystal glass, according to designs ranging from Josef Hoffmann to Helmut Lang. The company used to supply the Imperial Palace, Schönbrunn Palace, the Bavarian royal palaces, and numerous European dynasties." You can see pictures of the interiors by clicking here. Watch a video of the chandelier installation and more of the home's interiors after the jump. 

 [Source]

Opera Singing Countertenor John Holiday Rocks "The Voice"

High-soaring vocals ripped through the air of NBC's The Voice competition when countertenor John Holiday performed the Ella Fitzgerald hit "Misty." Pop star John Legend was the first to turn his chair within a few measures of the tune. Before COVID-19 cancellations, the young singer was to make his Metropolitan Opera debut this season and perform with Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Utah Opera, and the San Francisco Symphony. To learn more about this Texas native, click here.

MET Opera Home Audiences Finally Get The Big Picture With Demo

Easy as 1-2-3: The new tutorial to stream opera onto your television posted on Instagram has over 12K views

Twelve years ago when the Metropolitan Opera was getting ready to launch its MET on Demand streaming service, the company likely wasn't prepared that one day the world would have a pandemic forcing it to rely on its videography cache of the Live in HD catalog to sustain some cash flow from audience members and engagement with donors through the announcement of Nightly Met Opera Streams this spring. This blog discussed the option of the MET to go with Roku as a streaming service for their operas and now for the first time if you don't have the service, you can still watch on the big screen with the new tutorial posted on Instagram.

Home Theater: Enjoying the opera greats in the comfort of your living room

"Experience every stunning performance in our Met Stars Live in Concert series on a bigger screen using Google Chromecast or Apple AirPlay. Follow these easy step-by-step instructions to learn how to cast the high-definition stream onto your television. Tickets for the entire series on available now at metopera.org/metstars." This is extremely important considering that the MET has been forced to not only lean on the huge back catalog but also employing a pay-per-view model creating new content for online users worldwide. "After having to cancel their upcoming

Free Trial: How many operas could you watch in seven days?

 performances due to coronavirus concerns, the Metropolitan Opera announced it would stream encore presentations from the award-winning Live in HD series of cinema transmissions on the company website for the duration of the closure. This new offering will begin Mar. 16 [2020] with the 2010 HD performance of Bizet’s Carmen Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and starring

Mezzo-Soprano J'Nai Bridges Gives Her Great Big Story To CNN

"J’Nai Bridges knows that most people perceive opera as being an artform for the elite. Because opera was traditionally catered towards nobility, many today still don’t feel welcome. Bridges wants to change that. The mezzo-soprano is a rising star in the opera world, with starring roles on stages around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera House and the San Francisco Opera. When she’s not belting out arias, she’s going to local schools to give students a chance to experience an opera, or teaching masterclasses at colleges. As a Black, female artist, Bridges knows the importance of showing children—especially BIPOC children—that classical music is possible. As Bridges says, when she walks into a room or onto a stage, her goal is to 'change minds, heal hearts, and make music.'" Watch the video after the jump. 

Leontyne Price Live MET Performances Get 2-CD Release

"Celebrate one of opera's greatest artists with Leontyne Price at the Met. This new release features excerpts from the beloved American soprano's Met performances of Aida, Tosca, Il Trovatore, Antony and Cleopatra, and much more." Pirate recordings of the American soprano have previously been available to the public, but now the Metropolitan Opera attempts to get the highlights of the most famous moments that Leontyne Price sang at the house in this new compilation. Pre-order your copy here.

Watch a video of Leontyne Price's farewell performance at the Metropolitan Opera in the title of Verdi's Aida.

Celebrating Kathleen Battle's 72nd Birthday With MET Streams

Kathleen Battle (center) is featured in the 1982 Metropolitan Opera production of Mozart's Così fan tutte with Maria Ewing (left) as Dorabella and Kiri Te Kanawa (right) as Fiordiligi (Photo: Winnie Klotz).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Metropolitan Opera has been deep-diving into its video broadcast troves to stream the content out to users in hopes of fundraising and continued engagement. In honor of Kathleen Battle's birthday today (see our previous tribute here), we highlight the recently aired performance of L'Elisir d'Amore featuring her performance alongside Luciano Pavarotti (view here) and on August 22 they will present Il Barbiere di Siviglia with fellow artists Rockwell Blake and Leo Nucci (view here). Read the company's feature "Practically Perfect," written by photo editor Jonathan Tichler, on Ms. Battle here. More of the soprano's MET production photos after the jump.

Kathleen Battle with Luciano Pavarotti in L'Elisir d'Amore (Photo: Robert Cahen).

Jeopardy! Goes To The Metropolitan Opera For Costumes Category

Playing Henry VIII in the costume department for a behind-the-scenes video of Alex Trebek for Jeopardy!.

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek dressed as Méphistophélès in the MET costume department.

Contestants looked stunned trying to answer opera costume questions on Jeopardy!

Plácido Domingo Surrounded By Yoncheva, Peretyatko, Yende At MET

Tenor Plácido Domingo backstage at the Metropolitan Opera following a performance of Verdi's Otello, a role he has sung over 225 times, with sopranos (left to right) Sonya Yoncheva, Olga Peretyatko and Pretty Yende.

Stephen Costello Leans On Family Member During Tough Times

Familial Lifeline: Stephen Costello (left) with his cousin
Brian Costello (Photo: Facebook)

"'Not trusting people, not believing you have anyone there to support you. I did have people, but I just didn’t know they were there.' One of the few people who knew the full story was Costello’s cousin Brian Costello. They grew up together in the working class suburb of Northeast Philadelphia. Brian’s dad Pat co-founded a boxing club for underprivileged teens from the neighborhood with their uncle, Tim, named the Jack Costello Boxing Club after their father, Costello and Brian’s grandfather. At the opening of the boxing club in 1996, Stephen sang the national anthem for the inaugural exhibition fight, in which Brian fought. They were 15. Born less than a month apart, Costello and Brian grew up together having sleepovers every weekend, watching horror movies, and eating pizza. Costello’s interest in music started in sixth grade; Brian played the saxophone and Costello “wanted to be like Brian,” so he took up the trumpet. Brian, sober since 2010, lives in their grandmother’s old house in the Tacony section of Philadelphia right down the street from the boxing club with his wife Nicole and two children. When Costello first decided to divorce he called Brian, who flew immediately to be with him in Chicago. In the midst of his Traviata cancellation crisis, Costello called Brian again, just after he had pulled out of the first performance, and the second one approaching. Brian told The Daily Beast, 'He called me and I could barely hear him. He had such a depressed tone. He felt like he let people down.' Brian told Costello he had to let go of everything that happened prior, and the stress of worrying about what people thought and how things looked. He came to join him in New York, and attended Costello’s second night of Traviata, Brian’s first opera at the Met, and the first opera he had seen Costello in. Brian gave Costello the 24-hour AA coin they had given him the day he left rehab. 'I told him what happened yesterday or last week

Luther College Produces Two Opera News Magazine Rising Stars

Cornfields To The Concrete Jungle: Andrew Stenson (far left) and Emily
Fons (second from right) both attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa,
and will be performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. 
(Photo: James Salzano - Click image to enlarge)

"Talking about their experiences at Luther College and their path into professional singing careers, Luther alumni Andrew Stenson and Emily Fons will be presenting career talks at Luther in October. Stenson, class of 2008, will speak at 9:40 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, and Fons, class of 2006, will speak at 9:40 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 15. Both career talks will be held in the Noble Recital Hall of the Jenson-Noble Hall of Music on the Luther campus. Both events are open to the public with no charge for admission. Stenson is quickly becoming recognized as one of the United States' most exciting young tenors. A 2011 recipient of the Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, he will make his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut, as well as debuts with Arizona Opera, Fort Worth Opera, the Cincinnati Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic in the upcoming 2015-16 season. Stenson earned a master's degree in music at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Fons, a mezzo-soprano, recently made her German debut at the International Händel Festspiele in Göttingen. A former member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Fons has also appeared with the Michigan Opera Theatre, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Santa Fe Opera, and the Atlanta Opera. Fons earned a master's degree in music from Southern Illinois University. Both Stenson and Fons both have contracts this year with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, which is considered to be the best opera house in the world. Luther is home to one of the largest collegiate music programs in the nation, with six choirs, three orchestras, three bands, two jazz bands and nearly 1,000 student musicians. Luther students participate in large ensembles, faculty-coached chamber groups, private lessons and master classes. More than 300 music majors study music theory, ear training, history, education, composition, jazz, church music and performance." [Source] Watch a behind-the-scenes video of these young artists getting photographed for the most recent issue of Opera News, after the jump.

Opera Through Excited Young Eyes: Iain Reviews Turandot

First Listen: Christine Goerke As Turandot At The Metropolitan Opera

Christine Goerke as Turandot with Marcelo Álvarez as Calaf in the Franco Zeffirelli production of Turandot.

Puccini's Turandot opens this evening with soprano Christine Goerke making her role debut at the Metropolitan Opera. Watch a video of her singing an excerpt from "In questa reggia," after the jump.

Behind The Scenes Of The Metropolitan Opera Costume Department

Stars Arrive For Metropolitan Opera Season Opening Night

See more photos of celebrities arriving at last night's opening of The Metropolitan Opera season, after the jump.

Anna Netrebko And Yusif Eyvazov Cover OK! Magazine Russia

Anna Netrebko, in New York City for the debut of a new production of Verdi's Il Trovatore opening on September 25 at the Metropolitan Opera, graces the new Russian edition of OK!

Magazine with fiancé and tenor Yusif Eyvazov who will make his debut in Puccini's Turandot in November also at the MET. Inside the magazine, the interviewer asks questions regarding the soprano's weight; a one-time trip to the spa for a facial; her shopping habits; parenting a son with autism; wanting another child (perhaps a little sister for Tiago); the couple's meeting in Milan for the first time; details of the pre-nuptial contract; the plans for their upcoming wedding in Vienna scheduled for December 29; their first joint album together singing music of Igor Krutoy; and plans to return together for Manon Lescaut at the Bolshoi Theatre in 2016; and more. Read the full article by clicking here. See more pictures after the jump.

A Change Of Color For The Venetian Moor In MET Opera "Otello"

The Moorish Chief by Eduard Charlemont (1878)

"At a recent dress rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera, there was something missing when the Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko sang the title role of Verdi’s Otello: the stage makeup with names like Indian Red and Otello Brown that opera companies have used for more than a century to darken pale singers playing the part. 'The Met breaks tradition, and I will be white,' Mr. Antonenko shrugged as he was powdered in his dressing room. It was an offhand way of phrasing a seismic shift. That leading opera houses have continued to use blackface into the early 21st century, long after minstrel shows and similar performances have been rejected as racist, may be more surprising to many people than that the practice is now being ended by the Met, after 124 years, for the new production of Otello that will open its 2015-16 season on Monday, Sept. 21. The change comes in a year when the massacre of nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, S.C., spurred a national discussion about racism and the power of symbols, and prompted South Carolina officials to remove the Confederate battle flag from the State House grounds after years of resistance. And it comes more than a generation after leading theater companies stopped 'blacking up' white actors to play Othello in Shakespeare’s play....Plácido Domingo, the pre-eminent Otello of the 1980s and ’90s, said in an interview that

Netrebko, Gelb, And Sher Discuss MET Season With New York Times

MET On Demand Skips Popular Streaming Providers For Roku

Opera On Demand: A snapshot of the MET Roku channel

Rather than joining powerful on-demand Internet streaming media provider Netflix, which has 26 million subscribers worldwide and is available to viewers in North America, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and parts of Europe (Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland and United Kingdom), the Metropolitan Opera has decided to create their own subscription service channel on Roku. Typically Netflix partners with content providers to license streaming rights for movies or television shows. Perhaps the blockbuster company had no interest in negotiating with the MET for their content? Or maybe the opera company thought their revenue stream could potentially be higher going their own route? It's not clear what the motivation might be in choosing to go with Roku. Users must first purchase a Roku plaer. Three options of players are available: Roku 1 (Basic Player) - $49.99; Roku 2 (Lightning Fast Performance) - $69.99; and Roku 3 (Fully Loaded) - $99.99. The second step will be to pay the $14.99/month subscriber fee for the MET Opera on Demand channel. Roku recommends a minimum download speed of 3.0 Mbps for HD content from your cable service to get optimum quality when viewing streams. The Roku Streaming Player does give full access to free channels such as AthiestTV, Crackle, Jewelry Television, and YouTube. Other premium channels like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Vudu must be paid for separately. "Met Opera on Demand delivers instant streaming of more than 550 full-length Metropolitan Opera performances on

Sotto Voce: Metropolitan Opera Launches New Website With A Whisper

The Metropolitan Opera has redesigned their website with no fanfare or press release. The old splash page existed for nearly a decade with only minor cosmetic changes including the addition of flash for advertising current or upcoming shows via rotating photos, as well as news items on a ticker that scrolled horizontally. With the new site, users experience a bit of lag in loading time due to the full-screen video playing on the landing page (currently the Die Fledermaus production from the 2013-14 season) and the high resolution photos used for the next two screens scrolling down. Subsequent screens look similar to a blogspot layout with 24-point text font size. In the previous incarnation, social

media links (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) existed prominently at the top. Makes sense for a company wanting to be relevant to the younger generation. Where are the links for its social media outlets now? At the very bottom of the site. If you are adventurous enough to find them, you will see one of the coolest features on the site: a miniature Rolex keeping your computer's time. Sponsorship never looked so good. See photos of the old websites dating back to 1997, as well as more photos of the new MET site, after the jump. 

Peter Gelb Paid $2.1 Million As MET Opera Deficit Balloons

"The Metropolitan Opera disclosed on Friday that its general manager, Peter Gelb, earned a total of $2.1 million in salary and benefits in 2013 but said a pay cut he took last year remains in effect. Mr. Gelb’s 2013 compensation was detailed in a tax filing released by the Met at the close of a challenging period marked by labor strife and financial setbacks. The opera company’s operating budget for the 2013-14 season was $315 million, down about 3.5% from the previous season. Its deficit ballooned in the same period, rising to $22 million from $2.8 million. In December, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the Met’s credit rating, citing a 'marked decline in liquidity' and the company’s increased reliance on an operating line of credit. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services affirmed the company’s 'A' bond rating in April but revised its