Opera News was an American classical music magazine. It was published from 1936 to 2023 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to promote opera and also support the Metropolitan Opera of New York City. Opera News was initially focused primarily on the Met, particularly providing information for listeners of the Saturday afternoon live Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. Over the years, the magazine broadened its scope to include the larger American and international opera scenes. Published monthly, Opera News offered opera-related feature articles; artist interviews; production profiles; musicological pieces; music-business reportage; reviews of performances in the United States and Europe; reviews of recordings, videos, books and audio equipment; and listings of opera performances in the United States.
On August 15, 2023, the Metropolitan Opera announced that the magazine would be discontinued in November and incorporated into the British magazine Opera.[1]
Opera News[note 1] was founded in 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild with Mrs. John DeWitt Peltz (Mary Ellis Peltz) serving as the publication's first editor.[4] It was initially intended to be a "useful, instructive, and factual weekly newspaper of Opera in New York".[This quote needs a citation] Its first issue was published on 7 December 1936 and consisted of only one folded broadsheet. Its second year of publication saw its transformation into a 17-page magazine with advertising, with its first magazine issue appearing on 15 November 1937. Beginning with the December 1940 issue, the magazine began to concentrate much of its content on the weekly Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. The magazine at this point offered bi-weekly issues of an expanded size during the Fall, Winter, and Spring, but was on hiatus during the summers. As time went on, the magazine began to take on a more international scope of coverage; but it still maintained a strong interest in the New York opera scene and the Met in particular.
Frank Merkling succeeded Peltz as the second chief editor of Opera News, with his first issue appearing on 14 October 1957.[5] In 1972, the magazine became a year-round publication, adding monthly issues in the summer months while maintaining its bi-weekly schedule during the opera season. In 1974, Robert Jacobson became the magazine's third chief editor.[6] Jacobson was succeeded by Patrick O'Connor (1988), who was succeeded in 1989 by Patrick J. Smith. In 1998, Smith was succeeded by Rudolph S. Rauch. Under the leadership of Rauch and executive editor Brian Kellow, the magazine switched to a monthly publication format in September 1998. F. Paul Driscoll, the final editor in chief, was appointed in July 2003.
Beginning with the June 2012 issue, the Metropolitan Opera said that Opera News would cease reviewing Met performances, following dissatisfaction among the Met leadership with the magazine's recent critiques of Robert Lepage's production of the Ring Cycle and of the company's direction under Peter Gelb.[7] However, reactions from the public led to the decision being reversed.[8][9]
Opera News Awards
From 2006 to 2023 the magazine annually bestowed five Opera News Awards for Distinguished Achievement.
Into the Woods is a 1986 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.
Julie Taymor is an American director and writer of theater, opera, and film. Her stage adaptation of The Lion King debuted in 1997 and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for her direction and costume design. Her 2002 film Frida, about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including a Best Original Song nomination for Taymor's composition "Burn It Blue." She also directed the 2007 jukebox musical film Across the Universe, based on the music of the Beatles.
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Mary Ellis Peltz was an American drama and music critic, magazine editor, poet and writer on music. Born Mary Ellis Opdycke, in New York, Peltz was educated at the Spence School and Barnard College. At the age of 24 she joined the staff of The New York Sun as assistant music critic. She left the paper in 1924 at the time of her marriage to John DeWitt Peltz. She later worked for The Junior League Magazine as a drama critic and published both poetry and articles in a variety of publications; including Harper's Magazine, Poetry, and Vogue. In 1936 she became the first chief editor of Opera News, a position she held until 1957 when she founded the Metropolitan Opera's archives. She served as director of the Met's archives from 1957 to 1981.
Ailyn Pérez is an American operatic soprano known for her interpretation of Violetta, Mimì and Thaïs. She is a 2019 Opera News Awards Honoree, and the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award. In 2016, she received the $50,000 Beverly Sills Award and the 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization.
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