opera

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A Moby Dick Opera? Thar She Blows!
A Moby Dick Opera?
Thar She Blows!
Mar 1, 2025 10:30 AM CST

A Moby Dick Opera? Thar She Blows!

NYC's Metropolitan Opera will host show based on Herman Melville's sperm whale starting Monday

(Newser) - When Leonard Foglia was invited to direct an opera based on Herman Melville's masterpiece about a white whale, his first reaction was: "Moby-Dick. That's great!" "Then," he recalled, "I ran to a used bookstore and got the book. ... I thought: 'Oh my...

Soprano Says She'll Boycott Theater Over Blackface

Producers in Italy say Angel Blue knew about the staging before signing up

(Newser) - Angel Blue says she won't perform in an opera in Italy this month because blackface was used in the staging of a different work this summer on the same stage. The US soprano posted a note on her angeljoyblue Instagram page saying she will be bowing out of La ...

How Opera Singers Are Helping COVID-19 Survivors

Program focusing on breath exercises to benefit up to 1K patients in England

(Newser) - Wayne Cameron was skeptical when his doctor suggested the 56-year-old warehouse logistics manager take vocal lessons from opera singers as a way to cope with the respiratory issues that plagued him after he contracted COVID-19 in March. "I thought, 'Am I going to be the next Pavarotti?'"...

Placido Domingo: 'I Never Promised a Part to a Singer'

The disgraced opera giant says he hopes to clear his name

(Newser) - Opera legend Plácido Domingo denied ever abusing his power during his management tenure at two US opera houses in an interview with the AP on Sunday, as he embarks on a full-throttle campaign to clear his name after two investigations found credible accusations he had engaged in "inappropriate...

No Way the Met Pulled This Off. No Way.

The Metropolitan Opera makes beautiful music as it battles a $60M shortfall

(Newser) - Javier Camarena was at his home in Zurich singing an aria from Bellini's Il Pirata when the screen for the video feed split, and he was joined by Metropolitan Opera music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Montreal and general manager Peter Gelb in New York, the AP reports....

Placido Domingo Hospitalized in Mexico

Opera singer's coronavirus worsens, but he's said to be responding to treatment

(Newser) - Just over a week ago, Placido Domingo felt it his "moral duty" to inform the world he'd tested positive for the coronavirus, though he said he was in relatively "good health" despite a fever and coughing. Since then, his condition has worsened enough that he was forced...

More Bad News for Plácido Domingo
More Bad News
for Placido Domingo
Mar 11, 2020 9:10 AM CDT

More Bad News for Placido Domingo

Los Angeles Opera finds 10 credible accusations of 'inappropriate conduct'

(Newser) - The second of two investigations into allegations of sexual harassment by Placido Domingo has concluded with the Los Angeles Opera finding 10 credible accusations that the former general director engaged in "inappropriate conduct" over three decades. A summary report released Tuesday by the law firm of Gibson, Dunn &...

After Apology, Domingo Cancels Performances

He's facing a backlash in his home country

(Newser) - Global opera star Placido Domingo has canceled his upcoming performances at one of Spain's main opera houses as officials and music venues in the tenor's home country reassess their ties after he apologized for sexually harassing women over the course of two decades. A statement from the Teatro...

Placido Domingo: 'I Accept Full Responsibility for My Actions'

He issues apology after union concludes investigation of harassment allegations

(Newser) - An investigation into legendary singer Plácido Domingo by the US union representing opera performers found more than two dozen people who said they were sexually harassed or witnessed inappropriate behavior by the superstar when he held senior management positions at Washington National Opera and Los Angeles Opera, according to...

Want to Live Longer? Go to a Concert or Art Gallery
New Proof of 'How
Powerful the Arts Are'
NEW STUDY
Dec 24, 2019 10:25 AM CST

New Proof of 'How Powerful the Arts Are'

Researchers say engaging in art, music, theater can lower risk of dying early

(Newser) - It doesn't seem like a stretch to say most people feel pretty good after a stimulating afternoon at the museum or rousing Broadway production. Now, research out of University College London suggests that exposing oneself to the arts—be it going to museums, art galleries, concerts, the opera, or...

Cop Found Her Singing in the Subway. Now She's a Viral Hit

People want to help Emily Zamourka, a homeless immigrant—but it's complicated

(Newser) - It's "like the American Idol story, but on social media." That's how a rep for a Los Angeles councilman describes the plight of Emily Zamourka, a homeless woman discovered singing in an empty subway station by an LAPD officer. Zamourka may now have a new lease...

The Placido Domingo Story Takes a Turn

Debra Wong Yang is brought in to investigate

(Newser) - Los Angeles Opera said Tuesday it will immediately open a "thorough and independent investigation" into allegations of sexual harassment against the opera star Placido Domingo, the company's general director, the AP reports. In a brief statement Tuesday, the opera company said it has hired Debra Wong Yang from...

Placido Domingo Concerts Canceled Amid Accusations

LA Opera is investigating sexual harassment allegations

(Newser) - Two music companies canceled appearances by Placido Domingo and the Los Angeles Opera said Tuesday it would launch an investigation in response to a report in which numerous women accused the opera legend of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior spanning decades, the AP reports. Domingo has been general director of...

Obama Named in Hubbub Over Hungary's Super-White Opera

Director defends move to ask actors to identify as African American

(Newser) - When the Hungarian State Opera took heat last year for casting only white performers in a production originally about racism and violence in an African American community, the general director, Szilveszter Okovacs, appeared to brush off the wishes of Porgy and Bess creator George Gershwin, whose will demands the show...

'Intolerable' Verdi Situation About to Be Righted

5K pages of composer's drafts and sketches will go public

(Newser) - A 19th-century trunk filled with 5,000 pages of Giuseppe Verdi's "musical musings, stage directions, afterthoughts, and reconsiderations" has long been considered a "holy grail" of sorts, inaccessible to all but the most elite scholars. Per the New York Times , however, that trunk is now about to...

Opera's 'Best Soprano' Dead at 85
Opera's 'Best
Soprano' Dead
at 85
OBITUARY
Oct 6, 2018 5:30 AM CDT

Opera's 'Best Soprano' Dead at 85

Spain's Montserrat Caballe dies in Barcelona

(Newser) - Montserrat Caballe, a Spanish opera singer renowned for her bel canto technique and her interpretations of the roles of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti, has died, the AP reports. She was 85. Hospital Sant Pau spokesman Abraham del Moral confirmed her death early Saturday. Del Moral says that Caballe's family...

Met Investigating Sex Abuse Claim Against Famed Conductor

Man says James Levine abused him for years beginning when he was a teenager

(Newser) - New York's Metropolitan Opera said Saturday it will open an investigation into allegations that its longtime conductor, James Levine, sexually abused a man three decades ago beginning when the man was a teenager. Levine's accuser, now middle-aged, contacted the police in Lake Forest, Ill., in October 2016 to...

The Metropolitan Opera Hears a Note It's Never Heard Before

Audrey Luna hits the A above high C—twice

(Newser) - "When I hear the conventional high C of a soprano, I want to say, 'Show us what else you've got,'" says a British composer whose new opera is currently being performed at the Metropolitan Opera. Soprano Audrey Luna did just that. The New York Times ...

Broadway Star Barbara Cook Dies at 89
Broadway Star
Barbara Cook
Gone at Age 89
OBITUARY
Aug 9, 2017 6:43 AM CDT

Broadway Star Barbara Cook Gone at Age 89

'I don't remember when I didn't sing. I just always sang': Barbara Cook

(Newser) - Barbara Cook, whose shimmering soprano made her one of Broadway's leading ingenues and later a major cabaret and concert interpreter of popular American song, has died, the AP reports. She was 89. Cook died early Tuesday of respiratory failure at her home in Manhattan, surrounded by family and friends,...

Notorious RBG Makes Opera Debut
Notorious RBG
Makes Opera Debut
Nov 13, 2016 9:33 AM CST

Notorious RBG Makes Opera Debut

Bader Ginsburg gets her first speaking role at Washington National Opera

(Newser) - The curtain rose on Act 2 of "The Daughter of the Regiment," revealing a tiny woman barely visible in a large dome chair with her back to the audience. Suddenly, she swiveled around—and there was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, reports the AP . Cheers and prolonged applause rang...

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