(Credits: Sony Classical / Chris Gloag / Todd Rosenberg / Elena Cherkashyna) Italian television channel Rai5 has announced broadcasts for the week of Feb. 7 – Feb. 13, 2021. The opera broadcasts will be dedicated to composer Gioachino Rossini. The stream on Feb. 7 will be dedicated to the late soprano Mirella Freni. Operas The broadcast of Cilea’s opera “Adriana {…}
(Credit: Teatro dell’Opera di Roma) The “Teatro Digitale” dell’Opera di Roma has announced operas streaming from June 9-21, 2020. The first stream will be the ballet “Marco Spada” with Rudolf Nureyev in the title role. The performance also stars Ghislaine Thesmar, Lucia Colognato, Michaël Denard, and Alfredo Rainò. The ballet features music by Daniel François Esprit Auber and is conducted {…}
Born on Dec. 30, 1952, soprano June Anderson was the first non-Italian opera star to take home the famed Bellini d’Oro prize. Born in Boston and raised in Wallingford, Connecticut, she began vocal studies at age 11 and wound up becoming a finalist of the Met Opera auditions at the age of 17. A Yale graduate in French, she went {…}
Rossini’s “Semiramide” is arguably one of the finest operas that the composer created. Being his final Italian work, Rossini had attained a depth of craft that represented the culmination of years and years of steady work. Unfortunately, “Semiramide” is also monstrously difficult to mount and when it opens at the Metropolitan Opera on Feb. 19, 2018, the performance count for {…}
June Anderson, born on December 30, 1952, authored one of the unique opera careers of the 20th century. The lyric soprano seemed destined for the path often taken, but wound up moving in diverse directions with regards to repertoire. This very aspect was revealed in her becoming the first non-Italian to ever win the prestigious Bellini d’Oro Prize. She sang {…}
Twenty-eight years ago, on Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came crashing down in a moment that will always go down in history for its political significance. The moment also had major musical significance as it showcased Leonard Berstein leading a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Bernstein controversially had the word “Freheit (freedom)” replace “Freude (joy)” in the text of {…}
December 26 marks the premiere of three major operas of the Bel canto repertoire. Donizetti’s “Anna Bolena” premiered the day after Christmas in 1830 while his “Lucrezia Borgia” premiered in 1833 of that same date. Meanwhile, Bellini’s “Norma” premiered on the 26th of December in 1831. All three works share similarities in that they are some of the most difficult works {…}
