“This could be my last opera,” predicted Philippe Boesmans in February of last year, just two months before his death at 85. “I’ve done tragedies…so I decided that I have to finish with total lightness, total insouciance.” Virtually unknown in the U.S., the Belgian composer garnered European success with exquisite settings of serious drama: Schnitzler’s “Reigen“ (1993), Shakespeare’s “Winter’s Tale” {…}
(Photo: Monika Rittershaus) To mark the 700th anniversary of Dante Aligheri’s death in September 1321, the Aix-en-Provence festival staged the world premier of French composer Pascal Dusapin’s opera “Il Viaggio, Dante,” based upon the poet’s iconic narrative poem “The Divine Comedy.” To say that this is an ambitious undertaking is an understatement, especially as the work has been compressed into {…}
The Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie has announced its 2022-23 season. Opera Ainārs Rubiķis conducts Verdi’s “Aida” in a production by Annabel Arden. The opera stars Sunyoung Seo, Ketevan Kemoklidze, Amadi Lagha, Leon Kim, and Jacques Greg-Belobo. Performance Dates: Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2022 Noëlle Gény leads “Bach et le sacré.” Performance Date: Oct. 16, 2022 Noëlle Gény conducts “Musiques sacrées” Performance Date: Dec. 11, 2022 {…}
The Festival D’Aix-En-Provence has announced its 2022 slate featuring a varied repertoire and international stars. The festival will begin on July 4 and is set to run through July 23, 2022. Here is a look at the upcoming season: Mahler’s “Resurrection” will be conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen in a production by Romeo Castellucci. Golda Schultz and Marianne Crebassa star. Performance {…}
(Credit: © Julia Lamoureux) Opéra Comique in Paris has announced its 2022 season, featuring seven operas. Here is the full slate. Ambroise Thomas’ “Hamlet” opens the season with Sabine Devieilhe as Ophélie and Stéphane Degout in the title role. The cast also includes Laurent Alvaro, Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo, Pierre Derhet, Jérôme Varnier, Yu Shao, Geoffroy Buffière, and Nicolas Legoux. Louis Langrée {…}
Opéra National de Bordeaux has announced its rich 2021-22 season. For the purpose of this article we will focus only on vocal performances. Here is the full slate. Opera A semi-staged version of Meyerbeer‘s “Robert Le Diable” opens the season. The opera stars Erin Morley, Nicolas Courjal, Amina Edris, Nicolas Darmanin, Joel Allison, Paco Garcia, and John Osborn in the {…}
Radio France has announced its 2021-22 season. For the purpose of this article we will focus only on the vocal works. Here is a look. Operas Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les sortilèges” spotlights Jodie Devos, Clara Guillon, Adèle Charvet, Marie Lenormand, Élodie Méchain, Antoine Normand, Régis Mengus, and Paul Gay. Mikko Franck conducts. Performance date: Oct. 1, 2021, Philharmonie de Paris {…}
(Credits: Bernard Martinez / Cory Weaver / Kirsten Nijhof / In Art Management official website) Opéra de Lyon has announced its 2021-22 season. Here is the full slate. Operas A concert version of Massenet‘s “Manon” will showcase Saimir Pirgu as Le Chevalier des Grieux, Artur Ruciński as Lescaut, and Patricia Petibon in the title role. The cast will be rounded {…}
(Photo Credits: In Art Management / © Jiyang Chen / Gillian Riesen / © Raphael Brand / LA Opera official website / © Jean-Baptiste Millot) La Monnaie De Munt has announced its new 2021-22 season, consisting of 12 operas and seven recitals. Here is the full slate. Operas Kris Defoort and Peter van Kraaij’s opera “The time of our singing” {…}
The Opéra de Lyon has unveiled its 2020-21 season. It all kicks off with Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Le Coq d’Or” in a production directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Aziz Shokhakimov. Andrei Popov, Sabine Devieilhe, Dmitry Ulyanov, and Mischa Schelomianski star. Performance Dates: Oct. 10-22, 2020 Next up is Massenet’s “Werther” starring Simon Keenlyside, Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Jean-Sébastien Bou, and Marc Barrard. {…}
The Theater an der Wien has announced its 2018-19 season, featuring numerous operas by Weber, Handel, and Tchaikovsky. The season will include a number of productions, concert performances, recitals and chamber operas. Productions Marlis Petersen, David Hansen, Mirella Hagen, Katarina Bradić, Rainer Trost, Florian Köfler, and Tölzer Sängerknabe star in a production of Handel’s “Alcina.” Stefan Gottfried conducts Tatjana Gürbaca’s production. Performance {…}