Catching up with Enrique Mazzola

Interview

"Our city" – It was a phrase that came up often in our conversation. It's clear Maestro Mazzola already has one foot firmly planted in his newly adopted hometown. As he confessed, he is excited to spend his first holiday season in Chicago despite health restrictions and cancellations.

Haymarket Opera Company's 10th Anniversary Season goes cinematic

Interview

"What does 18th-century opera have to offer us now when we face such existential challenges? Haymarket's tenth season highlights the transformational power of beauty as presented through myth, storytelling, and exquisitely timeless music by one of western music's most empathetic and compassionate composers."

San Diego Opera's drive-in La bohème a step forward

Interview

“It's going to be like a torpedo of Mimì and Rodolfo's emotional trajectory. There's no pause to reflect. It's going to go straight through from the moment they meet until the end. As a director that's very exciting. It makes us shine a light on some of the emotional aspects that sometimes get glossed over," she adds.

"Sleep Chorus" & mask-making keep Minnesota Opera visible during pandemic

Interview

The company launched the "Sleep Chorus" to promote a special fund raising drive to compensate artists on and off stage during the pandemic shutdown while the protective masks went to organizations without access to traditional health care resources including assisted-living homes, veterinarians, blood services, shelters, and more

Talking with singers: Helen Charlston

Interview

"'Good singing' is getting the very best out of your voice; a partnership between a solid technique and a need to let your voice be heard. We all only have our own sound, and there is nothing more thrilling than listening to singers who let their voice flood out direct to our hearts."

Magic everywhere in SDO's Aging Magician

Interview

"After years of creating work after work, it becomes your life," he says about why he is an artist. "Initially, I was drawn to things just because I was fascinated by ideas. The traditional world was not where I belonged. I knew I wanted to be in the arts and I had an impulse to perform."

Spotlight on: Eszter Balogh

Interview

When I tell them I am a classical singer they generally know what it is. Sometimes they stare at me and say, "Wow, that’s crazy, you mean like Paul Potts?" And I'll say, “Yeah, something like that."

Talking with singers: Blythe Gaissert

Interview

"I feel like my voice has grown a lot in the last five years or so. Wagner is becoming more comfortable and I’m looking at some Verdi roles. I try to always learn and grow to just see what happens. Even if it's not something that becomes my wheelhouse, it's something that informs my other repertoire."

Talking with singers: Marnie Breckenridge

Interview

"Not only do I hope more people will know a bit more about Jacqueline and honor her memory, I hope they will take away a sense of immediacy. A reminder that we each have a finite amount of time on this planet, so why not burn our creative flames of talent, love, and kindness as brightly as possible while we inhabit the bodies we've been given!"

"Disturbingly relevant": BERLIN: The Last Cabaret

Interview

"We chose July 13, 1934 for our piece, the day Hitler made a speech claiming responsibility for the "Night of the Long Knives," where two weeks prior, he ordered the S.A. division of the Nazi Party, including Röhm who uneasily protected Queer artists, massacred due to a purported threat of mutiny."