Nadine Sierra, Saioa Hernández, Piotr Beczała, Sonya Yoncheva, Xabier Anduaga & Juan Diego Flórez Lead Gran Teatre del Liceu’s 2024-25 Season

The Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona has announced its 2024-25 season. Opera Josep Pons conducts Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” with Alexei Botnarciuc, Daniel Kirch, Sara Jakubiak, Ángeles Blancas, and Pavel Černoch. Àlex Ollé conducts. Performance Date: Sept. 25-Oct. 7, 2024 Maria Agresta and Saioa Hernández star in Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” with Artur Ruciński, Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Brian {…}

Apr 4, 2024

Anna Netrebko, Joyce DiDonato, Sondra Radvanovsky, Julia Bullock, Juan Diego Flórez, & Ermonela Jaho Lead Teatro Real’s 2024-25 Season

The Teatro Real de Madrid has announced its 2024-25 season. Opera Nicola Luisotti and Andrés Salado conduct Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur” in David McVicar’s production. The production will star Ermonela Jaho, Maria Agresta, Brian Jagde, Matthew Polenzani, Elīna Garanča, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Nicola Alaimo, and Manel Esteve. Performance Dates: Sept. 23-Oct. 11, 2024 Charpentier’s “David et Jonathas” will be performed in concert with Petr Nekoranec, Gwendoline Blondeel, Jean-Christophe {…}

Mar 20, 2024

CD Review: Sony Classical’s ‘Parsifal’

The CD release of “Parsifal” under Philippe Jordan is not exactly news. The production dates from the 2021 season of the Vienna State Opera when the gritty, and no less controversial, staging of Kirill Serebrennikov received widespread attention. It was a secular “Parsifal,” highly politicized, and more akin to the oppressive climate of the Soviet Gulag than the Romantic exclusivity {…}

Mar 20, 2024

Benjamin Bernheim, Lisette Oropesa, Ludovic Tézier & Asmik Grigorian Lead Opéra de Paris’ 2024-25 Season

The Opéra de Paris has announced its 2024-25 season. Opera Verdi’s “Falstaff” opens the season with a cast that includes Ambrogio Maestri, Olivia Boen, Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur, Andrei Kymach, Gregory Bonfatti, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Iván Ayón-Rivas, and Federica Guida. Michael Schønwandt conducts the production by Dominique Pitoiset. Performance Dates: Sept. 10-30, 2024 Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” will star Eleonora Buratto, Elena Stikhina, Aude {…}

Mar 19, 2024

Elīna Garanča, Sonya Yoncheva, Nino Machaidze & Lidia Fridman Lead New CD/DVD Releases

Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week, audiences will get to hear the latest from four of the world’s great divas in very different works. There are two rare bel canto works worth checking out as well. Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben/Gustav Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal {…}

Mar 16, 2024

Jonas Kaufmann, Elīna Garanča, Nicholas Brownlee, Lisette Oropesa, Pretty Yende & Christopher Maltman Lead Bayerische Staatsoper’s 2024-25 Season

The Bayerische Staatsoper has announced its 2024-25 season. Premieres Tobias Krazter directs a new production of Wagner’s “Das Rheingold” with Nicholas Brownlee, Milan Siljanov, Sean Panikkar, Markus Brück, Matthias Klink, Matthew Rose, Timo Riihonen, Ekaterina Gubanova, Mirjam Mesak, and Wiebke Lehmkuhl. Vladimir Jurowski conducts. Performance Dates: Oct. 27, 2024-July 31, 2025 Damiano Michieletto directs Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment” with {…}

Mar 12, 2024

Elīna Garanča Becomes Honorary Member of the Wiener Konzerthaus

The Wiener Konzerthaus has named Elīna Garanča an honorary member of the institution. The famed concert hall announced the news via a social media post in which it showcased the mezzo’s name being engraved into the list of honorary members. Garanča joins a list of artists that includes Martha Argerich, Teodor Currentzis, Wynton Marsalis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and Martin {…}

Mar 7, 2024

Lisette Oropesa, Elīna Garanča, Christian Van Horn Headline Met Orchestra’s First-Ever Asia Tour

(Credit: Steven Harris ) The Metropolitan Opera has announced its first-ever Met Orchestra Asia tour, which will take place between June 19-30, 2024 in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. One program features music from “Der Fliegende Holländer,” “Pelléas et Mélisande,” and the entirety of “Bluebeard’s Castle,” starring Elīna Garanča and Christian Van Horn. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts. Performance Date: June 19 (Seoul), June {…}

Mar 1, 2024

Jonas Kaufmann, Elīna Garanča, Nicola Alaimo & Michael Spyres Lead New CD/DVD Releases

Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get to hear a new recording of Wagner’s final work with a famed cast and a full recording of Donzietti’s rarely performed work. L’esule di Roma Opera Rara releases its 27th complete Donizetti revival with the Britten Sinfonia conducted by {…}

Feb 21, 2024

Sonya Yoncheva, Piotr Beczała, Angel Blue, Lise Davidsen & Freddie De Tommaso Lead Metropolitan Opera’s 2024-25 Season

The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2024-25 season. New Productions Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Verdi’s “Aida” in a new production by Michael Mayer. Angel Blue, Judit Kutasi, Piotr Beczała, Quinn Kelsey, Dmitry Belosselskiy, and Morris Robbinson. Alexander Soddy conducts the second cast with Christina Nilsson, Elīna Garanča, Brian Jagde, Eri Owens, Michael Chioldi, Amartüvshin Enkhbatyn, Alexander Vinogradov, and Krzysztof Bączyk. John {…}

Feb 15, 2024

Opera Meets Film: A Conversation About ‘An OverKnight Success: The Crazy Life of an Opera Singer’

Having recently become a Knight and awarded the prestigious, “Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,” baritenor Michael Spyres has quickly arisen as one of modern opera’s central luminaries, sensuously consonant with others like the ineffable Sondra Radvanovsky, the Puccini grande dame Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Susan Graham, Mikhail Kruglov, Allan Clayton, Elīna Garanča, and Javier Camarena to name only a {…}

Elina Garanca