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Opera Mississippi Announces Chorus Auditions for 81st Season, ‘Season of the Heart’
Opera Mississippi is inviting singers from across the region to audition for its 2026-2027 Opera Chorus, with opportunities to perform in an exciting season of opera, sacred masterworks and holiday favorites.
Auditions will be held Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m., and Sunday, October 25, 2026, from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m., at the Arts Center of Mississippi, 201 E. Pascagoula Street, next to Thalia Mara Hall in downtown Jackson.
Casting is for Opera Mississippi’s 2026-2027 season — its 81st, themed “Season of the Heart” — including Rossini’s beloved comic opera The Barber of Seville on May 22, 2027, at the SWOR Auditorium at Mississippi Christian University, with an additional performance in Natchez on May 15, 2027. The season also features two collaborative concerts with the Galloway United Methodist Church Concert Choir: “Carols and Classics” on December 18, 2026, and Rossini’s “Stabat Mater” on March 23, 2027.
There is no audition fee. Community singers of all ages, college and university music students, advanced high school music students, young and emerging artists, and professional singers who live within driving distance of Jackson are all encouraged to audition. Singers should prepare one selection in a vocal style that best reflects their level of study and musical interests — opera, art song, musical theatre, gospel, jazz, pop or country — and selections do not need to be memorized. Video auditions may also be submitted through the online application.
WQXR and Carnegie Hall have announced the lineup for the 2026–27 season of Carnegie Hall Live, the broadcast series that brings performances from the legendary New York venue to audiences nationwide and around the world. Now in its 16th season, the series airs live on WQXR-FM and streams at WQXR.org and CarnegieHall.org, with broadcasts also distributed to public radio stations across the country.
The season opened on October 9 with the Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Kirill Petrenko, joined by pianist Víkingur Ólafsson in a program of Brahms and Strauss — part of the orchestra’s four-concert Carnegie Hall residency that launched the Hall’s 2026–27 season.
Among the season’s highlights, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s performs an all-Berlioz program on November 5, 2026, led by Louis Langrée and starring tenor Benjamin Bernheim in a rare New York appearance, pairing Les nuits d’été with the Symphonie fantastique. On January 19, 2027, Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, with soloists Golda Schultz, Taylor Raven, Julian Prégardien, and Anthony Robin Schneider.
The series also carries performances by the Vienna Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra as part of Carnegie Hall’s season-long Mahler symphony cycle led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, alongside chamber music programs spotlighting Beethoven and Brahms.
Carnegie Hall Live is hosted by WNYC and WQXR’s John Schaefer, with guest hosts Elliott Forrest and Paul Cavalconte. The series is produced by WQXR in partnership with Carnegie Hall and American Public Media. For the full broadcast schedule, visit carnegiehall.org.
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