New companies to discover: Gramercy Opera

Interview

"There are so many amazingly talented artists in New York City, our goal is to embrace them, creating beautiful art and entertaining performances. We are extremely inspired by what LoftOpera is doing in Brooklyn. We hope to follow in their footsteps on a smaller scale in Manhattan: producing exciting performances at affordable prices and encouraging younger people to make opera part of their lives."

The Italian Girl in Algiers: Rossini's "feminist celebration"

Interview

"I think when The Italian Girl in Algiers was written it was really ahead of its time. Composed in 1813 and based on a libretto by Angelo Anelli written in 1808, the opera has really progressive views on women at a time when they had very little rights or independence. It's a feminist celebration written by two 19th-century men that easily translates into the 21st-century. The heroine Isabella is a brave and adventurous woman who cannot be outwitted."

Thousands of Miles: "It's raw."

Interview

Listening to Thousands of Miles is a complete treat. Lindsey's clear, warm mezzo is certainly versatile, but she has also chosen her repertoire wisely. It's the sound of the Weill songs that seems to inform the rest of the music on this album; though the songs by Zemlinsky, Korngold, and Alma Mahler can easily fall in the world of late-Romantic German Lieder, there's a delicious flavour in the way Lindsey and Trotignon perform them.

Album review: Nights Not Spent Alone

Review

For two English artists performing music by an English composer, Whately and Lepper seem to create something almost North American in style; those sounds are in Dove's scores, but the two performers keep an immediacy that feels like an American revue show or even a cabaret. Whately is polished and real, and Lepper is flexible and soloistic.

Don't miss: Century Song

News

"Once I became comfortable with my ability as an opera singer, once I got to the point where I felt immersed in the form, then I began to question the form itself," says Bickersteth. "I started to wonder how I, as a black person singing white European roles from another era, connect personally to this art form. It became problematic to connect with what I was trained to sing. I love the music, but I began to feel constricted in my expression of it. I began to look for other ways to fuse my training and love of classical music, with my dawning awareness of other modes of expression."

Moving on & up: 3 ways my old career prepared me for my new one

Editorial

In my own experience, coaching singers is kind of like journalism. There's a foundation of knowledge that continues to grow, but with every new singer - and every new story - there's the possibility of having your mind changed.

Spotlight on: Caitlin Wood

Interview

"Being a good colleague will get you much further and faster than being just a 'good singer'. People want to work with talented singers but they also want to make the experience as pleasant as possible. Be on time, know your music, be respectful in rehearsals, and be generous with your colleagues."

Talking with singers: Sasha Cooke

Interview

Hers is a career that proves the value of working well with one's contemporaries, be they professional or academic. "You don't realize when you're young that everyone around you will continue to be around you. Treat people well, be grateful." Cooke knows well that no musician is an island, and "in a way, being a musician is a perfect heightened example of being human. We are all dependent on one another."

Talking with singers: John Chest

Interview

American baritone John Chest is having a pretty stellar season. He was just announced as a Richard Tucker Career Grant winner, and this June, he'll be heading to Wales to sing as a finalist in the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Taking the leap from freelance to full-time

Op-ed

Throughout my freelance life, more often than not, the workload-to-compensation ratio was astronomically out of balance, but it soon became apparent that this was more of the rule than the exception. And of course, most of us accept these conditions because this is how we get work and experience, in the hopes that it will lead to bigger and better gigs where that ratio will hopefully seem a little more civilized.