The Opera Evangelist

05/22/2020

Greetings, friends. It's been way too long since I've posted, in part because I've been legitimately busy with a million other things, in part because I've gotten out of the habit, and in part because I've gotten in my head about it. The old nagging inner critic working overtime to keep the bar too high. I'm not always going to have something super insightful to say, but if I wait till I'm convinced what I have to say is super insightful, well, then it might be a while. [ 297 more words ]

Greetings, friends. It’s been way too long since I’ve posted, in part because I’ve been legitimately busy with a million other things, in part because I’ve gotten out of the…

02/17/2020

It's been hard to make time for the Opera Evangelist, but I'm hoping to put together a new post soon about some of the awesome Met in HD productions I've seen lately. Any other fans of the Met in HD broadcasts out there? I'd love to hear from you!

09/11/2019

La Bohème at Playhouse Square this Weekend
I'm excited to hear my friend, the beautiful and amazing soprano, Angela Mortellaro, in "La Bohème" at PHSquare this Friday and Sunday. See you there!

Soprano, Angela Mortellaro (who will sing the role of Musetta) shares what she loves about Puccini's masterfully-crafted scene of two people falling in love.

02/04/2019

Ever notice how when a director wants to indicate that a character is highly sophistocated, she or he is depicted as an opera fan? Lots of opera in Kevin Hart/Bryan Cranston's charming "The Upside"! I was keeping up for about the first four or five arias, annoying my wife by naming the source of each ("Oh, this is from ____" and "I saw this one with Sarah in Chicago"). Aretha Franklin's rendition of "Nessun Dorma" is perfectly emblematic of the special relationship these two seemingly very different men develop.

Directed by Neil Burger. With Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman, Aja Naomi King. A comedic look at the relationship between a wealthy man with quadriplegia and an unemployed man with a criminal record who's hired to help him.

11/06/2018

World Premiere this Month!
I'm super excited about the world premiere of "The Story of an Hour," a new opera by composer Scott Little for which I wrote the libretto, November 17 and 18 at KSU. For tickets, follow the link below and select "opera scenes" as the performance.

Buy Tickets School of Music | Path:music/buy-tickets | Tickets are available through the Performing Arts Box Office, located in the Roe Green Center Lobby in the Center for the Performing Arts at 1325 Theatre Drive. The Performing Arts Box Office will reopen Monday, September 10, 2018 at noon. IT IS...

04/23/2018

Looking forward to volunteering Thursday at Pittsburgh Opera's student matinee. I assume the kids will get a kick out of Nemorino thinking he's all the rage because he's drunk the Elixir of Love.

04/19/2018

Getting really excited for next weekend's Madama Butterfly in Cleveland. Here's how The Opera Evangelist gets ready...

Get yourself ready for Puccini’s Butterfly this month! The raison d’etre for this blog is my belief that a lot more people—music fans, theater fans—would love opera if they gave it a real try…

04/12/2018

Not one to miss: a giant of the opera stage and perhaps my favorite soprano. Catch “Luisa Miller” on Met in HD this Saturday and next Wednesday.

In Verdi’s “Luisa Miller,” the celebrated tenor-turned-baritone, after almost 60 years of singing, gives a performance not to be missed.

04/04/2018

Looking forward to Mozart’s “Cosí fan Tutte” at Cedar Lee this evening!

Sonya Yoncheva, who sings the title role in Luisa Miller, discusses Verdi’s early masterpiece with Live in HD host Joyce DiDonato during intermission of the cinema transmission of Così fan tutte.

03/08/2018

Stargazing: Rising Opera Stars Benjamin Taylor and Leah de Guryl. Resident Artists at Pittsburgh Opera, Ben and Leah were amazing as the protagonists in "The Long Walk" in January. I got a chance to hear Leah up close during an educators workshop last week, and Ben was kind enough to sit down for a lengthy interview--look for my profile of him on the blog next week!

02/19/2018

Cleveland Opera Theater put on a high quality pre-Valentine's Day show at the Bop Stop on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018. I failed to get pictures, so here's a shot of COT's musical director Domenico Boyagian at last year's Bop Stop event.