Eva-Maria Westbroek News

Faced with the demands of rehearsing and performing two large-scale operas simultaneously this fall, Met Music Director James Levine has decided to lighten his workload by removing the new production of Berg's Lulu from his schedule so that he may focus his energies completely on Wagner's epic drama Tannhäuser.

The Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2015/16 is the most ambitious to date. Six ballets and six operas, including five new productions, will be screened in over 1,000 cinemas across 45 countries allowing audiences in the US to experience more opera and ballet from the Royal Opera House than ever before.

The Capitol Center for the Arts is pleased to announce that it will present 11 productions in next season's Met: Live in HD series, beginning with Verdi's Il Trovatore on Saturday, October 3, at 12:55pm. Single tickets for this series are on sale now for $26 Adults; $22 Seniors/Met/CCA Members; and $15 Students. Season subscriptions are also available at $234 Adults; $198 Seniors/Met/CCA Members; and $135 students.

The Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2015/16 is the most ambitious to date. Six ballets and six operas, including five new productions, will be screened in over 1,000 cinemas across 45 countries allowing audiences in the US to experience more opera and ballet from the Royal Opera House than ever before.

It was 'out with the old, in with the new' for another of the Franco Zeffirelli productions that were once the Metropolitan Opera's bread and butter, designed for audiences to cheer for the scenery even when the cast might not have been top drawer. This time, the victims of changing times (and administrations) were the twin bill of Mascagni's CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA and Leoncavallo's PAGLIACCI.

The Met's first new production in 45 years of the enduringly popular verismo double bill, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, will open April 14.

The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD Series presents Mascagni's CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA & Leoncavallo's PAGLIACCI in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre at 12:30 pm on April 25, 2015.

Going to London's National Theatre, New York's Metropolitan Opera or Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet to see world-class productions is as easy as going to The Ridgefield Playhouse! Incomparable performances captured live on stage are coming to the Playhouse on the big screen in HD! On Saturday, April 4, at 4 p.m., The Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow will present Romeo and Juliet. From London's National Theatre on Saturday, April 11, at 12 noon, comes family entertainment -- Treasure Island, which is suitable for 10+ years. Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana/Leoncavallo's Pagliacci is a double bill starring Marcelo Álvarez from the Met on Saturday, April 25, at 12:30 p.m. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the productions!

Željko Lucic has withdrawn from his spring Met engagements due to illness. In his place, George Gagnidze will sing Alfio in the new production of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. Gagnidze, who will also sing Tonio in Pagliacci as originally scheduled, will join Marcelo Álvarez in performing in both halves of the evening's double bill; Álvarez sings both Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Canio in Pagliacci.

Going to London's National Theatre and New York's Metropolitan Opera to see world-class productions is as easy as going to The Ridgefield Playhouse. On Thursday, April 16, at 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. on the big screen simulcast Live in HD, the award-winning play by Tom Stoppard, The Hard Problem, will expose the troubling question of where psychology and biology meet. Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana/Leoncavallo's Pagliacci is a double bill starring Marcelo Álvarez on Saturday, April 25, at 12:30 p.m.

The New Year finds Grammy and ECHO Klassik Award-winner Fabio Luisi back at the helm of the Zurich Opera.

Compared to Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek as Katerina Ismailova in LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK at the Met, Barbara Stanwyck and Lana Turner were couple of pikers in their film noir triumphs, “Double Indemnity” and “The Postman Always Rings Twice.” Westbroek kills her father-in-law with rat poison, strangles her husband with her lover's belt and, as the piece de resistence, drowns her lover's new girlfriend, while going under herself. And she has to do it all while effortlessly singing Shostakovich's demanding score. What a dame!

The Dallas Opera, in the latest installment of The Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Art Song Recital Series, will present the phenomenal American tenor,Matthew Polenzani, in an exclusive, one-time-only recital on the afternoon of Sunday, January 11, 2015 at Southern Methodist University's popular Caruth Auditorium (an intimate 490-seat venue located in the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop, Dallas, TX 75205). The two o'clock recital will also feature the exciting and accomplished playing of Mr. Polenzani's frequent recording partner, pianistJulius Drake.

“To be blunt, Sergei is not a nice guy,” says tenor Brandon Jovanovich, talking about his current role at the Metropolitan Opera in Dmitri Shostakovich's LADY MACBETH OF MTENSEK. “He's the kind of fellow who's jovial and friendly one minute…and then you hear he's robbed a store. He uses and abuses people--we all know someone like that, don't we?” he adds, laughing.

Beginning November 10, the Met will present a rare revival of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Shostakovich's controversial 1934 opera about an adulteress whose forbidden romance leads to murder and devastation. This season's performances will be conducted by James Conlon, who also led the work's Met premiere in 1994; it has only been revived once by the company, in 2000. Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek will sing her first Met performances of the central role, Katerina Ismailova, which she has sung to acclaim at numerous leading opera houses around the world. American tenor Brandon Jovanovich sings the role of Sergei, Katerina's lover. The revival of Graham Vick's 1994 production will also star Raymond Very as Zinovy Ismailov, Katerina's ineffectual husband, and Anatoli Kotscherga as her brutal father-in-law, Boris. Dutch tenor Frank van Aken will sing Sergei in the November 21 performance.

Conductor James Conlon leads a rare revival of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Metropolitan Opera in six performances beginning Monday, November 10, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. The cast for Graham Vick's production includes soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role as Katerina Ismailova, tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Sergei, tenor Raymond Very as Zinovy Ismailov, and baritone Anatoli Kotscherga as Boris Ismailov. Tenor Frank van Aken sings the role of Sergei in the November 21 performance.

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 65 countries around the world, will feature ten operas in the 2014-15 season, including all six new productions in the Met season. All ten performances, transmitted live from the Met stage, will feature the world's finest singers, conductors, and theatrical artists.

The Capitol Center for the Arts is pleased to announce that it will present 10 productions in next season's Met: Live in HD series, beginning with Verdi's Macbeth on Saturday, October 11, at. Single tickets for this series are on sale now for $26 Adults; $22 Seniors/Met/CCA Members; and $15 Students. Season subscriptions are also available at $208 Adults; $176 Seniors/Met/CCA Members; and $120 students.

The Warner Theatre has announced its 2014-2015 MetOpera: Live in HD Season which will feature 10 operas, 9 of which will be streaming live from the Metropolitan Opera, and 1 encore performance.

The Collegiate Chorale will make its seventh appearance at the Verbier Festival from July 21-27, 2014, in concerts with Charles Dutoit, Yuri Temirkanov, Marc Minkowski, and Daniel Harding.