Joseph Mechavich
American conductor Joseph Mechavich has established a leading position on the modern music podium with breakthrough productions of contemporary opera such as Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Moby-Dick, Great Scott, Out of Darkness: Two Remain and Three Decembers, and Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Cold Sassy Tree, Of Mice and Men and Wuthering Heights to name a few. Season 2020-21 sees the eminent conductor returning to standard repertoire with Die Zauberflote at North Carolina Opera, and this summer at Brevard Music Festival he leads productions of Carmen and Man of La Mancha.
M. Mechavich can also be found conducting much of the standard operatic canon in leading US opera houses; recent highlights include Il Barbiere di Siviglia at The Washington National Opera and at Minnesota Opera, Werther at Florida Grand Opera, Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci at Madison Opera, Eugene Onegin at Curtis Institute of Music, Ariadne auf Naxos, Macbeth and Madama Butterfly at Kentucky Opera where he serves as Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor.
For La Boheme at North Carolina Opera:
“Mechavich achieved much with limited time with the singers and orchestra, his expansive reading of the score accentuating intricacies of Puccini’s orchestrations that are often inaudible…Mechavich supported the singers ably, enabling them to immerse themselves in their characters’ struggles without struggling to be heard.” Joseph Newsome, Voix des Arts, January 2022
“…the orchestra sounded rich and full under the direction of Maestro Joseph Mechavich, who sat in plain view of the audience, conducting without baton, yet evoking all the magic of a wand.” Peter Perret, CVNC.org, January 2022
“Joseph Mechavich drew outstanding playing from the orchestra, and his pacing was masterful, alive to the score’s shifting moods. He did not pause at the conclusion of Werther’s famous aria and, while this deprived Pittas of an ovation, Mechavich kept the tension at fever pitch during the final confrontation between the protagonists. He also skillfully kept the brass from dominating the orchestral fabric, minimizing the orchestration’s Wagnerian overtones.” South Florida Classical Review
“…it brought the capable Joseph Mechavich, who had considerable success with the San Diego Opera conducting productions of Jake Heggie’s “Moby-Dick” and “Great Scott” and John Adams’ “Nixon in China.” With the San Diego Symphony in the pit, Mechavich offered an equally convincing reading of Catan’s lush, atmospheric score [Florencia en el Amazonas].” Opera News
Joseph Mechavich, conductor: Operatic Repertoire
ADAMS
Nixon in China
ANTHEIL
Transatlantic
BEETHOVEN
Fidelio
BELLINI
La sonnambula
BERNSTEIN
Candide
BIZET
Carmen
Les pêcheurs de perles
BOHLMER
Riders of the Purple Sage
BRITTEN
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Turn of the Screw
CATAN
Florencia en el amazonas
CIMAROSA
Il matrimonio segretto
DEBUSSY
Pelléas et Mélisande
DONIZETTI
Don Pasquale
L’elisir d’amore
La fille du regiment
Lucia di Lammermoor
GOUNOD
Faust
Roméo et Juliette
FLOYD
Cold Sassy Tree
Markheim
Of Mice and Men
Susannah
Wuthering Heights
GERSHWIN
Porgy and Bess
GILBERT AND SULLIVAN
HMS Pinafore
The Mikado
The Pirates of Penzance
GLUCK
Orfeo ed Euridice
HANDEL
Gulio Cesare
HEGGIE
Dead Man Walking
Great Scott
Moby Dick
Out of Darkness: Two Remain
Three Decembers
HIGDON
Cold Mountain
HUMPERDINK
Hansel and Gretel
LEHAR
The Merry Widow
LEONCAVALLO
Pagliacci
Mascagni
Cavalleria rusticana
MASSENET
Cendrillon
Werther
MENOTTI
Amahl and the Night Visitors
The Medium
The Telephone
MIZZOLI
Breaking the Waves
MONTEVERDI
L’incoronazione di Poppea
MOZART
Così fan tutte
Don Giovanni
Die Entführung as dem Serail
Lucio Silla
Le nozze di Figaro
Il re pastore
Die Zauberflöte
OFFENBACH
Les contes d’Hoffmann
PUCCINI
La bohème
Gianni Schicchi
Madama Butterly
Sour Angelica
Tosca
Turandot
PREVIN
A Streetcar Named Desire
PUTS
Silent Night
RAVEL
L’enfant et les sortilèges
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN
Showboat
ROSSINI
Il barbiere di Siviglia
La Cenerentola
SANT-SAENS
Samson et Dalila
J. STRAUSS
Die Fledermaus
R. STRAUSS
Ariadne auf Naxos
Daphne
STRAVINSKY
The Rake’s Progress
TALBOT
Everest
VERDI
Aida
Falstaff
Macbeth
Otello
Rigoletto
Simon Boccanegra
La traviata
Il trovatore
WARD
Crucible
WAGNER
Der fliegende Holländer
Contact
Deborah Sanders
Founder and Director
deborah@arbourartists.com