Kristīne Opolais has established herself as one of the most sought after international opera singers. She will be back again for the 2016-17 MetOpera season on November 16 in La Boheme. The Met presents its spectacular Zeffirelli production,with multiple excellent casts: Ailyn Pérez and Kristīne Opolais are paired with Dmytro Popov, Piotr Beczała, and Michael Fabiano, as the young Parisian lovers at the center of the story. Susanna Phillips, David Bizic, and Massimo Cavalletti also star. Carlo Rizzi and Marco Armiliato conduct.
For more information regarding dates and ticketing, please visit the MetOpera website here. To read more about Kristīne Opolais, please visit her website here. |
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Anna Netrebko and Kristīne Opolais share the title role of Mimi, a heroine as alluring and irresistible as her adored city of Paris. Marcelo Álvarez is her obsessed lover in the opera that made Puccini famous, showcased in Richard Eyre’s heated,1940s film noir–inspired production, with Marco Armiliato on the podium. Kristīne Opolais performs on November 21, December 7 and 10.
For more information re dates and ticketing, please visit the MetOpera website here. |
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On January 27 and 28, 2017, The Chelsea Symphony’s January's concert series opens with a world premiere by TCS composer Tim Kiah. Friday's concert features Daniel Dunford performing J.S. Bach's Violin Concerto on bass trombone and Saturday's concert features Jason Smoller on English horn for the NYC premiere of Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks' Concerto for English Horn. TCS welcomes three guest conductors on Strauss's Overture to Die Fledermaus, Kodály's Dances of Marosszek, and Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances.
Tickets will be available on Eventbrite
Concerts will be held at St. Paul's Church, 315 West 22nd Street. For more information please visit theChelsea Symphony’s website here.
To read more about Peteris Vasks, please click here. |
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Kristīne Opolais returns on February 2, 2017 and stars in the role that helped launch her international career, the mythical Rusalka, who sings the haunting “Song to the Moon.” Mary Zimmerman brings her wondrous theatrical imagination to Dvořák’s fairytale of love and longing, rejection and redemption. Brandon Jovanovich, Jamie Barton, Katarina Dalayman, and Eric Owens complete the all-star cast, and Mark Elder conducts.
For more information re dates and ticketing, please visit the MetOpera website here. |
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Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons is Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and is the designated Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, with the appointment commencing in the 2017/18 season. With these positions, and in leading a pioneering alliance between these two esteemed institutions, Grammy Award winning Nelsons is firmly underlined as one of the most renowned and innovative conductors on the international scene today.
He returns with the BSO to Carnegie Hall on February 28, March 1 and 2, 2017 with the following performances:
February 28: Shostakovich’s colossal “Leningrad” Symphony honors the composer’s native city and its heroism during the 900-day siege it suffered during World War II. While the work does not have a program, visions of war, mechanized invaders, and ultimate victory are conjured with striking power. There’s also the premiere of a new work from legendary Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina that’s part of Carnegie Hall’s ongoing 125 Commissions Project.
Also performing this evening with the BSO will be acclaimed Latvian violinist Baiba Skride together with Harriet Krijgh, Cello; and Elsbeth Moser, Bayan.
March 1: The BSO displays its versatility and virtuosity in a jazz-inspired work by the late Gunther Schuller, a richly scored Mozart piano concerto, and one of Beethoven’s most stirring symphonies. His mighty “Eroica” thrills with its grand scale and muscular power—a magnificent depiction of the heroic that boldly heralds the Romantic era. Emanuel Ax on piano performs with the orchestra this evening.
March 2: A heartfelt memorial, a New York premiere inspired by Arabic poetry, and a phantasmagorical tale of vivid instrumental detail spotlights the virtuosity of one of America’s finest orchestras. Ravel honored friends lost in the First World War with Le tombeau de Couperin, a gentle 20th-century version of the Baroque dance suite. Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique has its calm passages, but also includes musical depictions of hallucinations, murder, execution, and a chilling finale that depicts a witches' sabbath. George Benjamin’s colorful Dream of the Song sets verse inspired by the Arabic poetry that flowered in Andalusia from the ninth century onwards. Also on stage this evening: Bejun Mehta, Countertenor and the Lorelai Ensemble.
To book tickets for one or more of the above concerts, please visit the Carnegie Hall website here. To read more about Andris Nelsons, please visit his website here. |
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The New York Times has said of Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, “There are few voices as sheerly lovely as hers: a smooth, evenly produced instrument, rich but not heavy, with high notes that penetrate without blaring.” The soulful singer performs lushly Romantic songs by Brahms, Duparc, Rachmaninoff, and others in her return to Carnegie Hall on March 19, 2017.
To book tickets, visit the Carnegie Hall website here.
To read more about Elīna Garanča please click here. |
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Elīna Garanča returns to MetOpera on April 13, 2017in Strauss’s opera “Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier”
The dream cast of Renée Fleming as the Marschallin and Elīna Garanča as Octavian star in Strauss’s grandest opera. In his new production, Robert Carsen, the director behind the Met’s recent Falstaff, places the action at the end of the Habsburg Empire, underscoring the opera’s subtext of class and conflict against a rich backdrop of gilt and red damask, in a staging that also stars Günther Groissböck as Baron Ochs. Sebastian Weigle conducts the sparklingly perfect score.
To book tickets, please visit the MetOpera website here. |
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Marina Rebeka continues her MetOpera season performances on April 26, 2017, in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni.
Three charismatic singers, Simon Keenlyside, Ildar Abdrazakov, and Mariusz Kwiecien, share the role of the title hero, who goes to hell in a dazzling coup de théâtre. The ensemble of great Mozartean singers includes Isabel Leonard, Angela Meade, Matthew Polenzani, Marina Rebeka, Erwin Schrott, Ramón Vargas, and RolandoVillazón. Fabio Luisi and Plácido Domingo.
To book tickets, please visit the MetOpera website here. |
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MetOpera 50th Anniversary Gala - May 7, 2017 - featuring Elīna Garanča and Kristīne Opolais.
On September 16, 1966, the Metropolitan Opera opened its doors for the first time in a new home at Lincoln Center, with the world premiere of Samuel Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra, starring Leontyne Price and Justino Díaz. The New York Times declared the opening of the new opera house a “crescendo of splendor,” and a new era of theatrical possibility was born.
Fifty years later, the Met will celebrate its golden anniversary in its current home with a special gala onMay 7 featuring some of the greatest artists in opera (including Elīna Garanča and Kristīne Opolais), performing a mix of repertory that both looks back at great moments from the past five decades and ahead to future seasons. Selections will be heard from such operas as Porgy and Bess, Samson et Dalila, Les Troyens, I Lombardi, and, for the first time since the house opened, Antony and Cleopatra.
Director and set designer Julian Crouch and projection designers "59 Productions" will create an unforgettable operatic celebration of this important milestone.
A special gala dinner will follow the performance. For further information please visit the MetOpera website here. |
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Andris Teikmanis, Latvia’s Ambassador-Designate to the United States of America
During an official ceremony at the House of the Blackheads on July 22, 2016, the President of Latvia, Raimonds Vējonis, presented credentials to Andris Teikmanis, Latvia’s new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America. Ambassdor Teikmanis is scheduled to present his credentials at the White House in mid-September. We look forward to meeting the new Ambassador in New York shortly !
Andris Teikmanis began his work at the Latvian Foreign Ministry in 1994, becoming Latvia’s Ambassador-at-Large to the Council of Europe. During his career in the foreign service, Andris Teikmanis has been Latvia’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany and the Russian Federation. Since 2013, he has been Ambassador of Latvia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as non-resident Ambassador to Commonwealth of Australia and to New Zealand.
From 2002 to 2005, Andris Teikmanis was Under Secretary of State at the Foreign Ministry and from 2008 to 2013, he was State Secretary.
From 1990 to 1993, Andris Teikmanis was a member of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia and, on 4 May 1990, he signed the Declaration on Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia.
Andris Teikmanis is a Commander of the Three Star Order and has earned a number of awards and decorations for his personal contributions in promotion of diplomatic relations including the Cross of Merit of the Republic of Latvia.
Since 2012, Andris Razāns has been Latvia’s Ambassador to the United States, and he now will be taking on new duties as Ambassador-at-Large at the Latvian Foreign Ministry. We thank Ambassador Razāns and his spouse Mrs.Gunta Razāne for their work on behalf of Latvia here in New York and the U.S. over the past 4 years.
To read more about Ambassador Andris Teikmanis, please visit the Embassy's website here.http://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/usa/embassy/ambassador |
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