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.
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.
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is a lifetime honor presented annually by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) to a living writer of fantasy or science fiction. It was first awarded in 1975, to Robert Heinlein. In 2002, it was renamed after Damon Knight, the founder of SFWA, who had died that year.
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by The Village Voice newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after the 2014 ceremony, the American Theatre Wing became the joint presenter and administrative manager of the Obie Awards. The Obie Awards are considered off-Broadway's highest honor, similar to the Tony Awards for Broadway productions.
The Audie Awards, or simply the Audies, are awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance, published in the United States of America. They are presented by the Audio Publishers Association (APA) annually in March.
Peter Gelb is an American arts administrator. Since August 2006, he has been General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Diane Anderson-Minshall is an American journalist and author best known for writing about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender subjects. She is the first female CEO of Pride Media. She is also the editorial director of The Advocate and Chill magazines, the editor-in-chief of HIV Plus magazine, while still contributing editor to OutTraveler. Diane co-authored the 2014 memoir Queerly Beloved about her relationship with her husband Jacob Anderson-Minshall throughout his gender transition.
Sonya Yoncheva is a Bulgarian operatic soprano, producer and founder of SY11 Productions company and Bulgarian Artist magazine.
Anthony Dean Griffey is an American opera tenor. He is a regular presence on the stages of opera houses and concert halls around the world. Griffey has also been noted for his acting talent in addition to his voice.
The Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre is a non-competitive award created by the American Theatre Wing in 1990. They are presented to institutions, individuals and/or organizations that have demonstrated extraordinary achievement in theatre, but are not eligible to compete in any of the established Tony Award categories. The Tony Honors "are announced in the autumn. They are bestowed at a separate ceremony that affords recipients a special moment in the spotlight." As explained in Playbill, "In 2003, a new tradition began for the Tony Honors, which were previously announced during the Tony Awards broadcast. Last year, however, the Honors were presented in the fall..."
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.
David Serero is a Moroccan-French baritone opera singer. He has played more than 1,500 concerts worldwide, and lead roles in opera, theater and musicals such as Cyrano (Cyrano de Bergerac), Shylock, Othello (Othello), Nabucco (Nabucco), Don Quixote, Richard III, Napoleon Bonaparte, Escamillo (Carmen), Enrico, Amonasro (Aida), the title roles of Don Giovanni and Rigoletto and starred in more than 100 films and TV series. He has toured in America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Russia. In 2017, David Serero was honored in Marquis Who's Who for outstanding achievement in the entertainment world and for his contribution for the betterment of contemporary society. He is a member of the Recording Academy (Grammys) and the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences (Emmys), for which he is both a voting member. In 2019, he is named one of the top most influential Moroccans by airline Royal Air Maroc, and received the 2019 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, he receives the Award for Diversity by the Unesco. He wins the 2020 BroadwayWorld Awards for Best Performer of the decade, Best Producer of a Musical of the decade, Best Producer of a Play of the decade. The Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, awards him with the Certificate of Recognition for his contributions to the City of New York.
The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a work of fiction on gay male themes. As the award is presented based on themes in the work, not the sexuality or gender of the writer, women and heterosexual men may also be nominated for or win the award.
The Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a work of fiction on lesbian themes. As the award is presented based on themes in the work, not the sexuality or gender of the writer, men and heterosexual women may also be nominated for or win the award.
The Lambda Literary Award for Drama is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to an LGBT-related literary or theatrical work. Most nominees are plays, or anthologies of plays; however, non-fiction works on theatre or drama have also sometimes been nominated for the award.
The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a gay-themed book of poetry by a male writer.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the performing arts, mirroring its impacts across all arts sectors. Due to physical distancing requirements and closure of the physical venues, curtailing not only public performances but also rehearsals, many performing arts institutions attempted to adapt by offering new digital services. In particular this resulted in the free online streaming of previously recorded performances of many companies – especially orchestral performances and plays – lists of which were collated by journalists as well as bespoke crowdsourcing projects.
The Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, that awards LGBT-themed nonfiction books whose intended audience is "general readers, as opposed to those targeted primarily to scholarly audiences." Anthologies and memoirs are not included as they have their own categories.
The Lambda Literary Award for Mystery is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, to a mystery novel by or about people in the LGBT community. Prior to 2021, the award was separated into separate categories for Gay and Lesbian Mystery.
The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Romance is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, to a novel, novella, or short story collection "by a single author that focus on a central love relationship between two or more characters, not including anthologies. The submission guidelines mention several sub-genres are included, " including traditional, historical, gothic, Regency, and paranormal romance".
Mickey Rowe is an American autistic and legally blind author of the award-winning book Fearlessly Different: An Autistic Actor's Journey to Broadway's Biggest Stage and the first autistic actor to play the lead role in the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He was the Founding Artistic Director of the National Disability Theatre.
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