In this column, we explore singers to watch, celebrate new albums, note new resources for singers, and recognize other industry changes.
Verismo in the 21st Century: Teatro Grattacielo
Two months before COVID-19, Teatro Grattacielo, the NYC-based company that specializes in rarely heard verismo opera, nominated Stefanos Koroneos to be the company’s new general and artistic director. With a revitalized board and an eye toward refocusing Teatro Grattacielo’s mission, the former opera singer—whose credits include the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, New York City Opera, and the Greek National Opera—has been steadily guiding the company from presenting one concert a season to two fully staged operas.
In 2021, Koroneos directed and designed a site-specific production of Zandonai’s Giulietta e Romeo, partnering with Battery Park and receiving critical acclaim. Since then, the company has launched an extensive education program called Creative Tableaux that engages students, adult communities, and young performers with professionals in the field of opera to allow participants to gain an immersive understanding of the art form through a variety of participatory formats.
In celebration of Maria Callas in 2023, Teatro Grattacielo presented Spontini’s La vestale in a co-production that was performed in New York and Greece. As part of its 30th anniversary and the company’s desire to move beyond Italian repertoire, Teatro Grattacielo presented the world premiere of Nicolas Flagello’s Beyond the Horizon. The company recently announced their upcoming 31st season, which will feature the world premiere of Daniel Asia’s The Tin Angel, Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz, and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.
Gheorghiu’s Impassioned Stands
Picture it: Seoul, 2024. It’s Act III of Puccini’s Tosca, and the South Korean tenor Alfred Kim has just sung a rousing “E lucevan le stelle,” igniting a frenzy in the crowd that demands an encore. As he launches into the rarely-done-these-days encore of the aria, the diva singing the title role, Angela Gheorghiu, rushes onstage demanding the encore be stopped. She cites respect for the audience and for her. Unfortunately, the audience is the very one that had asked for the encore, and many feel that it was she who was being disrespectful.
When being interviewed about the incident, Gheorghiu, citing she is an artist who believes that opera is a sung play, says encores interrupt the flow of the work. She also notes that many of the great conductors of her time did not believe in performing encores, in order to keep the narrative of the opera moving forward.
This is not the first time the legendary soprano has strongly expressed her opinions. While singing the role of Micaëla in Carmen for the Met on its tour to Japan, she was extremely adverse to being required to wear a blonde wig. It’s rumored that Joseph Volpe, then head of the Met told her, “The wig is going on, with or without you.”
So, in today’s world of opera, where we want to immerse the audience in the story as much as the music, should blonde Carmens and mid-opera encores be allowed—or does Ms. Gheorghiu have a point?
Singers to Watch in 2025
Briana Elyse Hunter
Mezzo-soprano Briana Elyse Hunter, fresh from singing Ines (Il trovatore) at the Met, can be heard as a soloist in Julia Parry’s Stabat Mater, a work for contralto and strings, with the New World Symphony; joins the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for Carmen in concert (as Mercedes); sings Beethoven’s 9th with the Phoenix Symphony; and takes on the leading role of Zoe this summer in the world premiere of This House with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and libretto by Lynne Nottage at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Reginald Smith, Jr.
After spending the latter half of 2024 as Scarpia (Tosca) at New Orleans Opera and as soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra¸ Grammy and Emmy Award-winning baritone Reginald Smith, Jr., brings in 2025 singing Alfio (Cavalleria Rusticana) with the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, joining the New Jersey Symphony in Beethoven’s 9th, performing Amonasro (Aïda) with the Baltimore Symphony, and making his Washington National Opera debut as Porgy in Porgy and Bess. He also returns to the roster of the Metropolitan Opera, where he made his debut as Jim (Porgy and Bess) in 2019.
Rocky Duval
Mezzo-soprano, producer, and sound artist Rocky Duval recently joined Seattle Opera for the workshop of Stomping Ground by composer Victor Simonson and writer Paige Hernandez. Upcoming, the Baroque specialist appears in “Journey of Love” with her Toronto-based band, Lazzuli Baroque, as well as singing as alto soloist with Toronto’s Capela Intima. As a creator, her new jukebox opera, Love Is a Bird, Rebellious, will have its first workshop with NYC’s City Lyric Opera. Also an adept choral artist, Duval will join Fourth Wall Ensemble in their Carnegie Hall debut.
Patrick Carfizzi, bass-baritone, already a stalwart at the Met, has amasse
Vanessa Becerra
d over 400 performances. This season he can been as Doctor Bartolo in ll barbiere di Siviglia and the Sacristan in Tosca. This spring, he returns to Florentine Opera as Donna Agata in Donizetti’s Viva la Mamma! A favorite of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, he takes on the title role of Don Pasquale staged by Christopher Alden and conducted by Kensho Watanabe.
Peruvian and Mexican-American Soprano Vanessa Becerra recently debuted with the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and returned to the Madison Symphony Orchestra in program of holiday favorites. She also joined Chicago Opera Theatre in the North American Premiere of Leonora by Ferdinando Paër singing the title role. 2025 finds her making her Alice Tully Hall debut in a program entitled “Spanish Journey” with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as soprano soloist in Mozart’s “Requiem” in a debut with the Boise Phil, and a return to LA Opera as Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar. She then makes her house and role debut as Violetta (La traviata) with the Berkshire Opera Festival.
New Recordings
Jeremy Chan and Kristin Gornstein in duo, Vertex
Vertex, the duo of Jeremy Chan, Piano and Kristen Gornstein, Mezzo-Soprano, released their latest project, Joy, Too in 2024. I dove into the album completely unexpecting the “themes of existential joy and grief” to be so evocative, cinematic, and emotional. The examination of loss and separation permeate the entire album. Composed of songs by contemporary composers, Joy, Too is a thoughtful meditation on the duality of sitting in our dark places while also viewing ourselves from the outside. Particularly striking pieces are the atmospheric “Love Don’t/Go” by Annika Socolofksy and Kamala Sankaram’s “The Far Shore,” where Chan embraces Sankaram’s characteristic melodic underpinning, allowing Gornstein to delve into her full operatic sound as well as, existentially, her full grief. Also of note is the stunningly haunting “Astrolabe” with its lullaby-like nature. The melody and accompaniment, like so many lullabies, aim to calm, but it also has an undercurrent of dread and sadness.
Throughout, Gornstein manages an ethereal vocal quality that is at times both warm and cool. Billed as a mezzo, she easily spins straight tones in the upper register of her voice and allows it to defy classification by embracing the needs of the material, whether that be a folk-like sound or a full-throated quality. Her clever and skilled partner, Jeremy Chan, plays with shimmer, mystery, and ease as he shapes the mood for each selection through his technical and musical elegance. A wonderful example is the solo piano contribution, “Twenty Twenty” by Robert Davidson. Chan allows the musical line to flow and shift without ever overplaying, allowing the piece’s subtle harmonic shifts to shine. Joy, Too, will hit those who have been dealing with grief in a variety of ways, so allow space for a hot cup of tea, a comfortable chair, and the time to listen and be present. Joy, Too is available on the Navona Records label.
Kenneth Overton
Baritone Kenneth Overton returns with his third solo recording. The wonderous What Dreams We Have: The poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar is a 21-song disc that features contemporary compositions from stalwart African American composers Adolphus Hailstork, Florence Price, and H. Leslie Adams as well as rediscovered selections by Lena McLin and Irene Britton Smith and new recordings of the works of Jeremiah Evans, Anthony J. Patterson, and Walker Jermaine Jackson. The delights of the 2024 Lexicon Classics release are many, including the exhilarating song cycle Four Romantic Love Songs by Hailstork; the four Florence Price selections, anchored by the operatic “Sympathy”; and the world premiere recording Patterson’s fascinating song cycle, Lyrics of Love and Laughter.
Casey Robards
Overton, accompanied here by Casey Robards, has a robust voice that he manages to imbue with a variety of colors and dynamic shading. When employing his rich, deep sound, graceful legato, and innate sense of text to these pieces, they come across as fresh and contemporary, while reminding us of the lineage of African American baritones who helped pave the way for today’s generation. Robards is a pianist of the highest order, and one senses that she is living, breathing, and experiencing the musical lines and text as vividly as the singer. Their partnership is less one of singer and pianist, and more like two unique story tellers insistent upon using their ideal mode of communication to enhance each musical selection. What Dreams We Have allows the powerful, hopeful, and substantial poetry of Dunbar to shine as it dares us to reveal our own hidden dreams.
