Opera Now August 2023

Welcome to August’s issue of Opera Now, celebrating the remarkable talent, creativity and history of opera in the USA. The issue began by sitting down with cover star mezzo Jamie Barton to explore more of her inner world. 10 years have elapsed since I remember watching Jamie win the 2013 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition – and the last month has seen another Cardiff Singer competition full of excitement, deservedly won by Italian bass Adolfo Corrado. But competitions are something that bring up complex emotions, especially for those trained in performing. They can lead to feelings of inadequacy, comparison and failure as artists find it difficult to accept others’ opinions of their musicianship. But for others, it can offer a platform and profile that they might never have achieved.…

How did you discover conducting as a career option? I grew up singing in youth choirs and I eventually took up the organ. During my undergraduate degree organ scholarship, I was always itching for the services where I could come down from the loft and work with the singers! It was at university that I was given my first opportunities to conduct orchestras and, eventually, opera singers. I quickly realised that, in conducting, I’d found where I felt happiest and most inspired. No two singers ever look at a score in the same way, and that’s what I find fascinating. What’s one thing you want audiences to know about being a conductor? I’m often asked whether it would actually make any difference to a performance if I wasn’t there! People…

Roger Wright CBE will step down as Chief Executive of Britten Pears Arts after the 75th Aldeburgh Festival next summer, 2024. After 10 years with the organisation, the former Director of the BBC Proms said the decision ‘feels like the right time to move on and enjoy a more flexible life for the first time in almost fifty years’. The English National Opera has received the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Opera for its production of Wagner’s The Rhinegold, directed by Richard Jones. The annual South Bank Sky Arts Awards recognises British achievements in the arts, and was hosted on 2 July at London’s Savoy Hotel. The Royal Opera House has announced a free exhibition in celebration of Maria Callas’s centenary. Featuring exclusive images of Callas ROH performances from…

Major figures in the opera world are among those recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours, announced on 16 June 2023. Tenor Nicky Spence has been named OBE in the List, in recognition of his contribution to classical music life. Soprano Lucy Crowe also received an OBE. Commenting on the honour, Spence said: ‘To be recognised in this way for doing a job I adore is the cherry on an already pretty juicy cake. Opera is such a team sport and while I'm lucky to collaborate with remarkable artists everyday, I'd love to dedicate this to the village of people who have stewarded my adventure to the opera stage. I’m encouraged to use this honour to further improve routes into the profession for singers from every background and hopefully inspire the…

Italian bass, Adolfo Corrado has been announced as 2023 Cardiff Singer of the World. In the final on 18 June, celebrating 40 years of the competition at St David’s Hall in Cardiff, Corrado was one of four finalists for the main prize. His programme of arias included those from Le Nozze di Figaro, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and I Lombardi alla prima crociata, accompanied by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Ryan Bancroft. Finalists for the main prize alongside Corrado were Scottish mezzo Beth Taylor, South African soprano Nombulelo Yende, Welsh soprano Jessica Robinson, and South African mezzo Siphokazi Molteno, the jury comprising industry professionals Aidan Lang, Bernarda Fink, Errollyn Wallen, Rosemary Joshua, and Sir Brian McMaster. Following the presentation of the award, Corrado said: ‘I’m full of…

When Jessye Norman died in 2019, the New York Times called her a ‘diva in the best way’. And the various ways to be a diva, good or otherwise, feed into a new exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum that surveys what the word has meant through history – though at the same time it’s an excuse for the display of some extraordinary frocks worn by the likes of Adelina Patti through to Shirley Bassey. Looking beyond opera for material, it takes in theatre, cinema, contemporary pop … but opera is the starting point. You’re given headphones and immediately hear Callas singing (what else?) Casta Diva. And the exhibition opens with the legendary female singers of the later 19th Century who were the first to be called ‘divas’ –…