(Photo credit: Sony Music) The Royal Opera House has announced a cast change for the June 28, 2023 performance of “Werther.” The company revealed that tenor Jonas Kaufmann has withdrawn from the production due to illness. In his stead, audiences will hear Juan Diego Flórez in the title role. The Peruvian tenor returns to the Massenet opera after performances at {…}
The origin of this opera, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s famous novel, “The Sorrows of Young Werther,” is based on a true story. The first half is based on Goethe himself, and the second half is based on his friend’s life. It was among the most popular books of the latter half of the 18th Century, almost 100 years before Massenet {…}
(Photo: Pat Redmond) The 1950s saw the rollout of electricity across rural Ireland, a process that significantly changed not just the countryside but also the lives of its people. Electrical appliances such as kettles, cookers, hairdryers and lighting meant that life in many ways became more comfortable and freed up time for leisure activities. Moreover, it impacted traditional roles and {…}
Irish mezzo-soprano Niamh O’Sullivan is due to return to her home city of Cork in early May, where she will be performing Charlotte in Irish National Opera’s nationwide tour of Massenet’s “Werther.” Over the past few years, the young singer has witnessed her profile rise quickly on the European opera circuit, notching up regular performances in Munich and Zurich as {…}
The Opéra National de Paris is set to present a series of concerts featuring artists from the Académie au Palais Garnier. First up will be an aria and ensembles concert. That showcase will feature music by Rossini, Thomas, Poulenc, Britten, Gounod, Massenet, and Donizetti from such operas as “Guillaume Tell,” “Semiramide,” “Il Barbiere di Siviglia,” “Hamlet,” “Dialogues des Carmélites,” “Gloriana,” {…}
Guildhall School of Music has announced its autumn 2022 lineup, during which the School will showcase music and drama starting in September and running through December 2022. For this article, only classical vocal/operatic performances are listed. Royal Opera House and Guildhall School Composer-in-Residence Oliver Leith and librettist Matt Copson adapted the 2005 Gus Van Sant film about the last days {…}
(Photo: Karen Almond / Met Opera) The Metropolitan Opera’s production of “Cinderella” is set to make its premiere on Great Performances at the Met on May 8, 2022. Audiences in the New York metro area will get to see the opera on Sunday, May 15, 2022 on THIRTEEN. The opera stars Isabel Leonard in the title role alongside Emily D’Angelo {…}
On February 20, the curtain of the Salle Garnier at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo rose to inaugurate Jean-Louis Grinda’s new staging of Massenet’s “Werther,” co-produced by the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, where it received its initial performances in 2017. Just as any Wagnerian pilgrimage naturally leads to the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, every fervent admirer of Massenet {…}
Baritone Lucas Meachem is set to make his Teatro alla Scala debut in a production of Massenet’s “Thaïs.” Meachem will take over for Ludovic Tézier, who recently recovered from COVID-19, and was unable to participate in the production. “I’ll be singing Athanaël in Thaïs, one of the most challenging (and rewarding) roles in the baritone repertoire,” the baritone noted via {…}
“Page to Opera Stage” looks at stories – real-life or fiction, old and new – that have inspired operas, and the ways these narratives have been edited and dramatized to fit a new medium. This month, we return to Goethe, this time with Jules Massenet’s poignant adaptation of his name-making novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” The following contains discussion {…}
(Credit: Mikel Ponce / Miguel Lorenzo) OperaVision has announced its streams for the month of December. Clément Hervieu-Léger’s production of Philippe Hersant and Jean Echenoz’s “Les Éclairs” from Opéra Comique kicks off the streaming slate. The opera features Jean-Christophe Lanièce, Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur, François Rougier, Elsa Benoit, André Heyboer, Jérôme Boutillier, Alban Dufourt, and Mathieu Dubroca. Ariane Matiakh conducts. Streaming dates: {…}