"Show Boat" is Francesca Zambello's directing debut in her role as artistic director of the WNO, succeeding Placido Domingo.
They're changing the guard at the Kennedy Center. Two key shapers of Washington's cultural life have stepped in, soon to be followed by a third. The full impact of these changes at the nation's busiest performing arts institution won't be felt for some time, as program schedules are sometimes set years in advance. Still, the purpose of the new appointments was certainly not to maintain the status quo.
Never mind the "fiscal cliff," here's what's at the top of the mountainous schedule of music and arts events in store for Washingtonians and visitors this spring.
Marcello Giordani struggled mightily, his top notes effortful and thin. It turned out the tenor's third performance of Aeneas in the Metropolitan Opera's revival of Berlioz's "Les Troyens" would be his last.
The Washington National Opera is naming Francesca Zambello as its permanent artistic director beginning in 2013, as the company continues to shift to new leadership following 15 years under famed tenor Placido Domingo.
When the financially strapped Washington National Opera became affiliated with the Kennedy Center a year ago, some skeptical WNO members likened it to putting one's head into the open mouth of a lion that hadn't had its lunch. What a difference a year can make.
There's opera, and there are musicals, but whatever happened to "never the twain shall meet"? These days they do meet — in the Washington National Opera's forthcoming season and elsewhere — and world-class opera singers are happy to appear in them.
Washington National Opera, which recently merged with the Kennedy Center after struggling financially for years, announced an ambitious long-term agenda Tuesday, including plans to stage Wagner's complete "Ring" cycle in 2016.
Washington National Opera, which recently merged with the Kennedy Center after struggling financially for years, announced an ambitious long-term agenda Tuesday, including plans to stage Wagner's complete "Ring" cycle in 2016.
The Gothic novel "Rebecca" that became a classic film by Alfred Hitchcock is coming to Broadway as a musical.
With his final performance Saturday night as artistic director of the Washington National Opera, tenor Placido Domingo ends a 15-year collaboration that transformed what was once a respectable provincial company into what he recently described as "one of the really important ones in the United States and the world."
The Washington National Opera has appointed Francesca Zambello as the company's artistic adviser as famed tenor Placido Domingo steps down after 15 years with the opera.
The Washington National Opera announced Wednesday that it has appointed Francesca Zambello as the company's artistic adviser as famed tenor Placido Domingo steps down after 15 years with the opera.
Her Wagner "Ring" will be revived and performed in full in 2016, but for the moment, Ms. Zambello said, "Wagner is in the parking lot of my mind" while she works on the 2013-14 season.
New artistic director Francesca Zambello pilots Washington National Opera's 'Show Boat' →
"It's a wonderful piece, so sophisticated and so passion-filled all at once," Ms. Zambello said. "It's much closer to an opera than a musical."
New artistic director Francesca Zambello pilots Washington National Opera's 'Show Boat' →
