The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino has announced a change to its upcoming festival. The company said that it would replace Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” with Verdi’s “Falstaff.” Daniele Gatti will conduct the masterpiece in Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s 2021 production with a cast that includes Michael Volle (Falstaff), Markus Werba (Ford), and Claudia Huckle (Meg Page), who were already scheduled for “Meistersinger.” {…}
The Deutsche Oper Berlin has announced a major cast change for its production of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.” The company stated via social media that Sir Donald Runnicles was forced to withdraw from the production due to an “acute shoulder illness.” In his stead, audiences will see and hear conductor Markus Stenz at the podium. He will join a production {…}
(Credit: Devon Cass) The Vallejo Center for the Arts has announced that the Empress Theatre will reopen after two-year long hiatus due to COVID-19 pandemic with a special concert featuring Canadian American dramatic soprano Othalie Graham. The concert, which will take place on Jan. 15, 2022, will be dedicated to the great German composer Richard Wagner. Graham will perform dramatic {…}
(Credit: Opera Online) The Oper Leipzig has announced the cancellation of all performances between Nov. 22 and Dec. 12, 2021. Per the latest order of the Government of Saxony, all theaters and opera houses must remain closed until Dec. 12, 2021. The opera house did manage to complete its run of performing David Pountney’s production of Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von {…}
(Credit: Richard Termine) For this edition of the Opera Quiz we turn to one of Wagner’s greatest (and longest) operas, “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.” Past editions of the quiz focused on musical or dramatic questions about the operas in question. But we are focusing even more acutely in this edition – by literally testing your knowledge of the mastersingers themselves. {…}
(Credit: Richard Termine) The Metropolitan Opera opened its revival of Wagner’s masterpiece “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021 to a half-full hall. I don’t usually bring up audience attendance because it is beside the point in terms of artistic merit and the integrity of performances. But given that we live in a “post-pandemic” world, there is no {…}
(Credits: Bettina Stöß / Bernd Uhlig) The Deutsche Oper Berlin has announced all the premieres of its 2021-22 season. Here is a look. The “Best of Carmen” concert will spotlight Valeriia Savinskaia, Arianna Manganello, Elena Tsallagova, Matthew Newlin, Joel Allison, and Ève-Maud Hubeaux in the title role. Daniel Carter conducts a production by Silke Sense. Performance dates: Aug. 21 – {…}
(Credit: Bayerische Staatsoper official website) The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced the cancellation of the performances of Puccini‘s “Turandot” and Wagner‘s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” that were scheduled for July 12, 15, and July 29, 2021, respectively. The two operas were slated to be performed as part of the Münchner Opernfestspiele. The opera house also announced that the production of Verdi’s {…}
(Photo Credits: Artists Management Zürich official website / Sim Canetty-Clarke / Ray Burmiston / Chris Gonz) Philharmonie de Paris has announced its fall 2021 season, which will run from Sep. 8 until Dec. 23, 2021. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on vocal works only. Soprano Christine Goerke and tenor Klaus Florian Vogt perform Richard Wagner’s works {…}
(Credit: Linda Rabisch) When COVID-19 struck in March 2020, one of the final “live” performances to take the stage was a production of Dvořák’s “Rusalka” in Krefeld, Germany with dramatic soprano Dorothea Herbert in the title role. For her, the experience was surreal. “We performed on that night in a totally empty theater. There was no audience, just the darkness {…}
(Credit: Opera Australia official website) Celebrated Australian opera director Elijah Moshinsky has died at the age of 75. Moshinsky graduated from the University of Melbourne and made his operatic debut in 1975 at the Royal Opera House with a production of Britten’s opera “Peter Grimes.” The famed director went on to stage a number of highly successful productions at the {…}