Opera Magazine | The World's Leading Opera Magazine

September 2020

This month we feature the great Grace Bumbry, seen on the cover as Amneris, one of her classic roles. We launch a new series — or rather build on one that ran several decades ago — of Great Singers in Great Roles with Bumbry talking about one of Verdi’s most celebrated mezzo-soprano parts.

A profile of the bel canto soprano Jessica Pratt
The musicologist Roger Parker on working with Opera Rara
A tribute to the conductor Richard Bonynge on his 90th birthday
The great Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz’s place in music
A forgotten interview with the composer Pietro Mascagni is reconsidered

Our ‘For the record’ guest this month is the tenor Piotr Beczała, and our ‘Disc of the month’ is Dallapiccola’s Il prigioniero.

Find Out More

Welcome

Welcome to OPERA, the world’s leading magazine about the art form. Founded by opera-lovers back in 1950, and proudly independent ever since, OPERA has an unrivalled, trusted network of writers in every corner of the globe.

In our current issue you will find all the features, interviews, reviews, news, gossip, recommendations and listings you need to keep you up to date with the ever-changing opera world; our online archive, available free to every subscriber, is a treasure trove of reporting and opinion spanning more than seven decades.

Whether you are a seasoned industry professional, a dedicated opera-goer or an armchair opera fan, you will find something in our pages that’s for you.

The International Opera Awards

In 2012 Opera was the co-founder of the International Opera Awards, and we have continued as a partner ever since. Each year the magazine assembles an impressive international jury spanning several continents, chaired by the Editor, to select the shortlists and vote on the winners, who are announced at a ceremony in London.

Winners of the Readers’ Award, voted for by you, have included Sonya Yoncheva, Pretty Yende, Juan Diego Flórez, Ermonela Jaho, Jonas Kaufmann and Joseph Calleja. As well as fulfilling the initial aims of raising the art form’s profile worldwide and recognizing achievement in all opera’s many disciplines, the Awards have also supported hundreds of singers and opera creators through the Opera Awards Foundation bursaries.

The Opera Awards Foundation

The Opera Awards Foundation was created in 2012 by Harry Hyman, who recognized that there were many artistically talented individuals whose potential was not being nurtured to development.

The Foundation awards annual bursaries to aspiring operatic talent. There are no restrictions on age or nationality, nor is support limited to singers: applications are encouraged from any artist working toward a career in opera, who needs financial support to achieve their career goals.

The Foundation invites applications annually. Find out more here.

Covid-19

OPERA is continuing to publish on schedule every month during the coronavirus crisis, bringing you the latest news and ideas from those who are continuing to keep the art form alive even while opera houses have had to shut their doors.

The range of topics in our expanded features section each month will offer both engagement with the crisis and a means of escape; meanwhile, our CD, DVD and book reviews carry on as normal.

“The magazine has ceased to be a luxury and is now a lifeline.”
SB, subscriber

A truly international magazine

Opera is the leading magazine in the operatic world. We are based in London, but around half of our readership is outside the UK, and we aim to provide the most widespread coverage of the opera world that we can. At our last count we had readers in at least 65 countries. Our team of correspondents reflects this, being located across six continents. In 2019 we carried reviews from well over 200 different cities and towns, in 46 countries. We don’t believe any other magazine comes close.