by Jeff Gebeau Faculty and students of the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, whose headquarters are at Trinity-on-Main, and the New London-based Connecticut Lyric Opera returned this week from the inaugural Greve Opera Festival in Italy. The three-week festival was a joint endeavor of the orchestra, the opera and Greve-In-Chianti, the Itali...

By Cheryl North The San Francisco Opera opens its 2015-16 season Saturday night with "Luisa Miller," Giuseppe Verdi's 1849 "breakthrough" opera. Singing the title role will be soprano Leah Crocetto, who has developed her talent during general director David Gockley's decade of leadership.   Joining her is an outstanding international cast:...

by Ruth McKee An operatic collaboration between an American film-maker, an Italian haute couture king, and a British set designer will make its debut this weekend. Sofia Coppola's La Traviata will open at the Opera of Rome on Sunday in a production featuring costumes made and designed by Valentino with backdrops created by Nathan Crowley, the...

The new era of the Philly POPS begins this weekend under the baton of new maestro Michael Krajewski as Italian musical treasures will be saluted during the Columbus Day weekend.   The Philly POPS opens its 2013-14 season with the theme "Viva Philadelphia!" – a celebration of the City and of Philadelphia's Italian spirit as well as a demonstr...

By Deborah Vankin   Who knew the sound of insanity could be so beautiful? We had the opportunity to sit in on a rehearsal of Los Angeles Opera's production of Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," which opens Saturday. The afternoon was the very first time cast or crew would be rehearsing with the rare, treasured instrument -- the...

The great Italian composer, musician and director performs for the first time in Los Angeles, at the Nokia Theatre, for an exceptional event called "The Music, the Movies, the Legend". Mostly known for his over 500 film soundtracks, he has also written orchestral, vocal, piano and chamber works.   Info and tickets at http://www.nokiatheatrel...

June 16 and 17 7:30 pm. Puccini: The Man and His Music, Including Suor Angelica. Chelsea Opera concludes its 12th season with an evening of Puccini's chamber music and a fully-staged presentation of his most beloved one-act opera, Suor Angelica. The evening begins with two Puccini string quartets. Also on the program is the beautiful Salv...

"Turandot" is one of Utah Opera's most highly anticipated productions in recent memory. The opening performance Saturday lived up to the show's buzz — and then some. Possibly the only way to improve this production would be to shorten the intermissions, because after the thrilling conclusions of the first two acts, 20 minutes seems too long to wait...

by Em Skow   I've always known that the mix of pop music and classical singing is one of the most popular music styles in Italy. What I didn't know until last night's Il Volo concert was that it is "Fan Girl" (Fan Woman, Fan Grown Man...) levels of popular.   Numerous standing ovations, countless screaming fans, and more than one mid-...

Elia Andrea Corazza, Kluge Fellow. Scholar Elia Andrea Corazza arrived at the Library of Congress in fall 2014 to conduct research on legendary Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. In particular, Corazza wished to know more about Respighi's collaboration with Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes, after World War I,...