The Houston Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2024-25 Season. Here are the vocal performances for the season. Juraj Valčuha conducts Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” with Gábor Bretz and Ekaterina Gubanova. The program also includes Britten and Prokofiev. Performance Dates: Feb. 15 & 16, 2025 Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducts a program of music by Strauss and Brahms. The soloists are Hilary Hahn and the Houston Symphony Chorus. {…}
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2024-25 season. Here are the vocal performances. Nicholas Kraemer conducts a program that includes the music of Händel, Beethoven, and Mozart. Soloists include Amanda Forsythe, Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, Josh Lovell, and Michael Sumuel. Performance Dates: Oct. 17-19, 2024 Fabien Gabel and Konstantin Krimmel team up for a program of music by Britten, Mahler, {…}
(Credit; Evan Zimmerman) “No Opera on a Dead Planet.” In the middle of Act two of the opening night of “Tannhäuser” as Wolfram delivered his “Blick ich umher in diesem edlen Kreise,” specifically as he sang that “love is a spring to be drunk from,” an audience member started shouting from the rafters of the Met Opera auditorium. The first {…}
Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” returns to the Metropolitan Opera for eight performances. The opera will open on Nov. 30 and will be performed through Dec. 23, 2023 with a cast that includes Austrian tenor Andreas Schager, South African soprano Elza van den Heever as Elisabeth, and Russian mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Venus. The cast will be rounded out by German baritone Christian Gerhaher {…}
(Photo credit: © Enrico Nawrath) Nathalie Stutzman debuted at Bayreuth this season with the festival’s production of “Tannhäuser.” She emerged triumphantly from the mystical abyss of the Bayreuth orchestra pit, where the conductor and the orchestra are hidden from the public. This unique orchestra space was designed as per Wagner’s specifications, who had been striving to create an immersive experience {…}
Credit: Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera has announced the schedule for its Summer HD Festival. Ten free opera screenings will be projected on the façade of the opera house in Lincoln Center Plaza on Aug. 26-Sept. 4. First up is a special presentation of the film “Moonstruck,” (1987) starring Academy Award-winner Cher, with costars Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello, {…}
The Bayreuth Festival has announced a cast change for its new production of “Parsifal.” The company said that Ekaterina Semenchuk has canceled her participation in the Bayreuth Festival for private reasons. As a result, Elīna Garanča will take on the role of Kundry at the opening of this year’s Festival, as well as on the two performance dates of July {…}
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2023-24 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances of the season. Nathalie Stutzmann conducts the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Orchestra in a program of music by Brahms, Dvořák, Rachmaninov, and Brahms. Performance Dates: Nov. 2-4, 2023 Norman Mackenzie conducts a Christmas concert with the Morehouse College Glee Club, Atlanta Symphony {…}
Photo Credit: Marty Sohl On February 28, 2023, the Metropolitan Opera raised the curtain on this season’s run of Bellini’s “Norma,” starring Sonya Yoncheva in the title role. Revenge is a Forest David McVicar’s 2017 production is faithful to its source material and effective in its simplicity. The many slender trees either filled the space between the numerous warriors for choral {…}
The Metropolitan Opera is set to revive Bellini’s “Norma” with Sonya Yoncheva. Yoncheva will make her Met role debut after performing the role at the Royal Opera House, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, and the Bayerische Staatsoper. The cast will also include mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova as Adalgisa, tenor Michael Spyres as Pollione, and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as Oroveso. Maurizio {…}
(Ph. Fabrizio Sansoni / TOR) The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma’s opening night production of “Dialogues des Carmélites” is now available on Raiplay. The opera, which opened the 2022-23 season on Nov. 27, saw the theater observe a moment of silence for the victims of the tragedy in Ischia. The evening saw a number of celebrated figures attend including Roberto Gualtieri, {…}
