Opera Box Score

[@ 3 min] Alright, this week...we go Inside the Huddle with Laurence Kilsby! The rising British tenor just performed in the BBC Proms with the Jupiter Ensemble and is currently starring as The Novice in Michael Grandage’s production of Billy Budd at Glyndebourne Festival. That’s two venues on Oliver Camacho’s bucket list! 

[@ 32 min] Plus, in Listener Mailbag...it's a Field Report on Eugene Onegin at W...

[@ 5 min] Alright, this week...ahead of the premiere of Santa Fe Opera’s 'Rodelinda,' we go Inside the Huddle with director R.B. Schlather! Will our baroque purist creative consultant find common ground with Schlather’s “noir melodrama gangster” concept? Stay tuned to find out…

[@ 36 min] Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’… Congress is investigating the mismanagement of the Kenn...

[@ 4 min] Alright, this week...we get the full field report on the 2026 Des Moines Metro Opera Festival! First up, a Monday Evening Quarterback on Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men; then, ten, count 'em, TEN Free Throws from the Stars of Tomorrow apprentice program showcase. 

[@ 36 min] Then, we go Inside the Huddle with the star of Des Moines’s Tosca, soprano Laura Wilde. Finally, a recap on Oliver’s f...

[@ 5 min] Alright, this week...we go Inside the Huddle with Suzanne Nance, the new Executive Director of Wexford Festival Opera! Find out how the career of this “Woman of Influence” went from onstage, to behind a mic, to the C-Suite...

[@ 39 min] Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’… Friend of the Show Zachary James is Abraham Lincoln, and Friend of the Show Clay Hilley claps back at the critics!&nb...

[@ 3 min] Alright, as America prepares to celebrate its semiquincentennial, this week in Chalk Talk…we’re breaking down the history of American vocal music by playing 250 of our favorite clips! Or maybe like 12 or so to keep the episode length reasonable. From American folk song, operetta, Music theater, opera and art song, we'll hear tons of music, performed by favorite American artists…and no, Milli Vanilli wa...

[@ 4 min] Alright, this week…John Holiday goes Inside the Huddle! The American countertenor and 'The Voice' finalist is wrapping up a banner 25-26 season at the Munich Opera Festival. Next month, his solo album, 'Over My Head,' with pianist Kevin Miller, drops on the Pentatone label! John joins us from Munich where he co-stars with Jeanine De Bique and Julian Pregardien in Handel’s 'Alcina. '

[@ 43 min] Creatine...

[@ 3 min] Alright, this week…Early music specialist Jory Vinikour goes Inside the Huddle! The conductor and harpsichordist returns to his native Chicago to lead a production of a pretty gay tragedy…no, not Oliver’s mid-life bachelorhood, but Charpentier’s "David and Jonathan" for Haymarket Opera!

[@ 35 min] Then, in the Two Minute Drill…Audiences at La Scala are protesting ticket prices, an o...

[@ 3 min] Alright, this week…Maestro James Conlon takes a Free Throw on his tenure as Music Director of LA Opera, a post he held for 20 years…and we’re rewarding him by letting him talk to Oliver? Poor guy!

[@ 23 min] Then, in Monday Evening Quarterback…The Tony Awards were last Sunday, but as many longtime listeners will attest, Weston doesn’t know anything about Broadway. Luckily, Ashlee Ha...

[@ 2 min] Alright, this week…tenor and author Ben Bliss goes Inside the Huddle to share his financial survival guide for singers and other freelancers in the performing arts. It’s all in his new book, 'Making it Work,' coming to a TedTalk near you!

[@ 35 min] Then, in Listener Mailbag...it’s a Field Report on Orfeo from Ars Lyrica Houston, starring friend of the show Karim Sulayman!

[@ 42 min] Plus,...

Alright, this week…it’s a holiday week! Soooo we’re skipping the Two Minute Drill and dipping into the Inside the Huddle archives to replay a pair of recent interviews.

[@ 1 min] First up, conductor James Gaffigan tells us why the Komische Oper is a total party! He went Inside the Huddle shortly after being named Music Director of Houston Grand Opera last fall. 

[@ 38 min] And then...Grammy Awa...

[@ 2 min] Alright, this week…how DO you solve a problem like Jeff Bezos? How do you catch a donation and pin it down, in an era when the hills are NOT alive with the sound of donors? Is this bit working? We answer these questions, and more, in Chalk Talk…

[@ 18 min] And then...Santa Fe Opera General Director Robert K. Meya takes a Free Throw on the recently announced 2027 festival season, and picks where HE wan...

[@ 1 min] Alright, this week…we continue  with the OBS playbook for the upcoming Summer Opera Season. This time the team picks the most anticipated performances in the Western European League!

[@ 17 min] And then...soprano, stage director, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis artistic director Patricia Racette returns to take a  Free Throw on performing MT at OTSL!

[@ 28 min] Lakmé gets cancelled, and the M...

[@ 2 min] Alright, this week…Conductor David Neely goes Inside the Huddle to share highlights from Des Moines Metro Opera’s upcoming festival season! 

[@ 22 min] And since we're  already on the topic of the Summer opera season, in Chalk Talk, the team handicaps the opera festivals here in the US of A…

[@ 38 min] Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’…Bard College’s Leo B...

[@ 4 min] Alright, this week…we go Inside the Huddle with Dane Lam! Just in time for AAPI Heritage Month, the Australian-Chinese-Singaporean conductor shares his perspective on the state of opera in the Asia-Pacific, as well as collaborating with thee Sir Thomas Allen, the stage director of the Marriage of Figaro for Scottish Opera. 

[@ 38 min] And then...the Listener Mailbag is full of Field Reports from the Giu...

[@ 3 min] Alright, this week…Anthony Gregory goes Inside the Huddle. The British tenor is currently starring in the title role of 'Glaucus and Scylla' at Opernhaus Zürich, under the baton of Emmanuelle Haïm. This summer, he makes his US debut at Santa Fe Opera, but you can and SHOULD follow him on Instagram right now!

[@ 32 min] And then... a Field Report from American Symphony Orchestra’s Der Freischütz, reimag...

[@ 12 min] Alright, this week…Lyric Opera of Chicago has announced their 26/27 season, and we break down the stats, report who’s active on the roster, and ask the all-important question…will Luck Be a Lady at the Lyric next year?

[@ 30 min] And then...Friend of the Show Randall Scotting returns to the OBS to take a free throw on Nicolò Grimaldi, the castrato who conquered the opera world under the stage n...

[@ 6 min] Alright, this week…we go Inside the Huddle with Adam Smith! The British tenor made his Met debut in Madame Butterfly last month and continues his breakout season, starring in the Spring run of the Zeffirelli Boheme production beginning this weekend. We’ve been tipped off that he compares the pressures of being a leading tenor to playing tennis, so brace yourselves for Oliver’s gloating...

[@ 2 mi...

[@ 6 min] Alright, this week…we go Inside the Huddle with Marshall Pynkowski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, co-artistic directors of Opera Atelier, the company that built its reputation of lavish productions of operas from the French Baroque, and is now set to present…Pelléas and Melisande!?! 

[@ 42 min] Plus, in the ‘Two Minute Drill’… Violinist Lara St. John settles a lawsuit, and pre...

[@ 2 min] Alright, this week…it’s a very important Hall of Fame induction for the late, great Jose Van Dam! The legendary Belgian bass-baritone finally breaks our streak of inductees that are either sopranos, tenors, or Georg Solti…

[@ 44 min] And then…Oliver Camacho’s in the Big Apple to give us a field report from the Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition! Who won, who lost, and who’...