Opera Birmingham
The Met: 2009–10 Live in HD Season
Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition
THE 32ND ANNUAL OPERA BIRMINGHAM VOCAL COMPETITION
The annual Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition begins its 32nd year in Birmingham on May 22 & 23, 2010. The competition was founded in 1978 by W. Cassell Stewart to reward young singers with exceptional talent and motivation with both cash awards and future performance consideration. Prizes range from $3,500 for first prize to $1,000 for fifth prize, with an additional “audience favorite” award of $1,000.
Click here to download the application for the 32nd Annual Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition
Applicants must include the following with their completed application form:
- A professional resume
- A recent photo or headshot, at least 4x6 inches
- A CD recording of two arias listed on the application (with piano only)
- Payment of $35 by check, money order, or credit card (on application)
Complete rules and information are included in the downloadable application. All application materials must be RECEIVED by April 16, 2010, at 5:00 p.m. CST at the Opera Birmingham office at:
Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition
3601 Sixth Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35222
2009 Winner and finalists:
Winner Spotlight: Betsy Uschkrat, soprano
From the Great State of Texas, Soprano Betsy Uschkrat is quickly receiving acclaim in opera circles throughout the United States. Winner of the 2009 Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition, as well as Shreveport Opera’s 2009 Singer of Year, Ms. Uschkrat looks forward to engagements this season with Shreveport Opera as Musetta in La Boheme and the New Orleans Opera Association as a Special Events Soloist. Through her work at Indiana University, Des Moines Metro Opera, the University of Houston, and Opera in the Ozarks, her experience as a "leading lady" spans many characters, including: Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, Massenet’s Manon, Floyd’s Susannah, Adina in L’elisir d’Amore, Euridice in Orpheus in the Underworld, Marian in The Music Man, and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She was exceptionally honored to perform in recital at the Kennedy Center in 2008, as well as compete in the Miss America Scholarship Pageant as Miss Indiana 2006, where she was named a top finalist for the Quality of Life Community Service Award.
Second Place:Leslie Flanagan, baritone
Third Place: Samantha Talmadge, soprano
Fourth Place: Daniel Seigel, baritone
Fifth Place: Timothy Beenken, bass-baritone
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Opera in Education
Thousands of Birmingham-area children have experienced opera in an exciting way with the help of Opera Birmingham’s Educational Touring programs. By partnering with Birmingham-based Better Basics, Opera Birmingham has visited over 30 schools in Birmingham’s underserved areas, bringing one-act productions to children that may not get a first-hand experience with opera. Opera Birmingham rotates three productions:
- Little Red Riding Hood, by Seymour Barab
- Hansel and Gretel, by Engelbert Humperdinck
- The Three Little Pigs, by John Davies (on music by W.A. Mozart)
For more information, or if you are interested in working with the Opera in these productions, please email Daniel Seigel or call the office at 205-322-6737.
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The Met: 2009–10 Live in HD Season
(Casting subject to change; all running times approximate)
All shows are at the Regal Trussville 14 Cinemas, 5895 Trussville Crossings Parkway, Birmingham, AL 35235
For more information about tickets, you can call the Opera office at 205-322-6737 or the Regal Trussville 14 Cinemas at 205-655-2875.
The Metropolitan Opera's groundbreaking series of live, high-definition performance transmissions to movie theatres around the world expands in its third season. To meet increasing global demand, The Met: Live in HD will present 11 transmissions in 2008-09, up from eight last year. The HD productions will be seen in almost 800 venues and a number of new countries in South America and Europe are joining the network this season. Don't miss the chance to experience the Met live at your local movie theatre!
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Tosca - Giacomo Puccini
October 10, 2009
"Tosca combines Puccini’s glorious musical inspiration with the melodramatic vitality of one of the great Hitchcock films," says Met Music Director James Levine, who conducts this new production. The opera tells the story of three people—a famous opera singer, a free-thinking painter, and a sadistic chief of police—caught in a net of love and politics. Soprano Karita Mattila, recently seen in this season’s Live in HD presentation of Salome, sings the title role for the first time outside her native Finland. Luc Bondy, acclaimed for his imaginative theater and opera productions, directs. The cast also includes Marcelo Álvarez as Cavaradossi and Juha Uusitalo as Scarpia.
Conductor: James Levine; Production: Luc Bondy; Karita Mattila, Marcelo Álvarez, Juha Uusitalo, Paul Plishka
Approximate running time 3 hours 30 minutes / 2 intermissions
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Aida – Giuseppe Verdi
October 24, 2009
Set in ancient Egypt, Aida is both a heartbreaking love story and an epic drama full of spectacular crowd scenes. A cast of powerful voices and a grand production bring the story to life on the Met stage (and on the HD screen). Violeta Urmana stars in the title role of the enslaved Ethiopian princess, with Dolora Zajick as her rival. Johan Botha plays Radamès, commander of the Egyptian army, and Daniele Gatti conducts. Among the score’s highlights is the celebrated Triumphal March.
Conductor: Daniele Gatti; Production: Sonja Frisell; Violeta Urmana, Dolora Zajick, Johan Botha, Carlo Guelfi, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Stefan Kocán.
Approximate running time 4 hours / 2 intermissions
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Turandot – Giacomo Puccini
November 7, 2009
Director Franco Zeffirelli’s breathtaking production of Puccini’s last opera is a favorite of the Met repertoire. Maria Guleghina plays the ruthless Chinese princess of the title, whose hatred of men is so strong that she has all suitors who can’t solve her riddles beheaded. Marcello Giordani sings Calàf, the unknown prince who eventually wins her love and whose solos include the famous "Nessun dorma."
Conductor: Andris Nelsons; Production: Franco Zeffirelli; Maria Guleghina, Marina Poplavskaya, Marcello Giordani, Samuel Ramey
Approximate running time 3 hours 30 minutes / 2 intermissions
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Les Contes d’Hoffmann – Jacques Offenbach
December 19, 2009
Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific) directs this new production, returning after the triumph of his Met Barber of Seville (seen live in HD in the 2006–07 season). Offenbach’s fictionalized take on the life and loves of the German Romantic writer E.T.A. Hoffmann is a fascinating psychological journey. Met Music Director James Levine conducts a stellar star cast including Anna Netrebko as the tragic Antonia, Elīna Garanča as the ambiguous Nicklausse, and Alan Held as the demonic four villains.
Conductor:James Levine; Production: Bartlett Sher; Kathleen Kim, Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Elina Garanča, Joseph Calleja, Alan Held
Approximate running time 3 hours / 2 intermissions
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Der Rosenkavalier – Richard Strauss
January 9, 2010
Strauss’s comic masterpiece of love and intrigue in 18th-century Vienna stars Renée Fleming as the aristocratic Marschallin and Susan Graham in the trouser role of her young lover. Music Director James Levine conducts a cast that also includes Kristinn Sigmundsson and Thomas Allen.
Conductor: James Levine; Production: Nathaniel Merrill; Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Christine Schäfer, Eric Cutler, Thomas Allen, Kristinn Sigmundsson
Approximate running time 3 hours / 2 intermissions
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Carmen – Georges Bizet
January 16, 2010
One of the most popular operas of all time, Carmen "is about sex, violence, and racism—and its corollary: freedom," says Olivier Award-winning director Richard Eyre about his new production of Bizet’s drama. "It is one of the inalienably great works of art. It’s sexy, in every sense. And I think it should be shocking." Angela Gheorghiu plays the seductive gypsy of the title in her role debut, opposite Roberto Alagna as the obsessed Don José.
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Production: Richard Eyre; Barbara Frittoli, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Mariusz Kwiecien
Approximate running time 4 hours / 2 intermissions
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Simon Boccanegra – Giuseppe Verdi
February 6, 2010
Four decades into a legendary Met career, tenor Plácido Domingo makes history singing the title role in Verdi’s gripping political thriller, which is written for a baritone. Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, and James Morris are his co-stars in this moving and tragic story of a father and his lost daughter. James Levine conducts.
Conductor: James Levine; Production: Giancarlo del Monaco; Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcello Giordani, Plácido Domingo, James Morris
Approximate running time 3 hours 40 minutes / 2 intermissions
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Hamlet – Ambroise Thomas
March 27, 2010
The works of Shakespeare have inspired more operatic adaptations than any other writer’s. Simon Keenlyside and Natalie Dessay bring their extraordinary acting and singing skills to two of the Bard’s most unforgettable characters in this new production of Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet. For the role of Ophelia, the French composer created an extended mad scene that is among the greatest in opera.
Conductor: Louis Langrée; Production: Patrice Caurier/Moshe Leiser; Natalie Dessay, Jennifer Larmore, Toby Spence, Simon Keenlyside, James Morris
Approximate running time 3 hours 45 minutes / 1 intermission
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Armida – Gioachino Rossini
May 1, 2010
This mythical story of a sorceress who enthralls men in her island prison has inspired operatic settings by a multitude of composers, including Gluck, Haydn, and Dvorˇák. Renée Fleming stars in the title role of Rossini’s version, opposite no fewer than six tenors. Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman returns to direct this new production of a work she describes as "a buried treasure, a box of jewels." The fanciful and magical tale, Zimmerman says, "has an epic, enchanted quality and a tremendous visual element."
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza; Production: Mary Zimmerman; Renée Fleming, Lawrence Brownlee, Bruce Ford, José Manuel Zapata, Barry Banks, Kobie van Rensburg
Approximate running time 4 hours 20 minutes / 2 intermissions
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Click here for complete information about The Met: Live in HD series.