(Credit: Ilona Sochorova) The Wiener Staatsoper has announced multiple cast changes for its upcoming performances. Per an official statement on the opera houses’ website, tenor Carlos Osuna will perform the role of Narraboth and Robert Bartneck will take on the role of the Third Jew in Richard Strauss’ “Salome” on Oct. 6, 2020. Osuna and Bartneck will join a cast {…}
Buckle up because we’re not just going off the beaten track, we’re going musical off-roading extreme style with “Salomé: Woman of Valor,” poet and performer Adeena Karasick’s wildly creative seven-year endeavor with Grammy Award-winning composer and horn player Frank London. The work premiered at Vancouver, Canada’s Chutzpah Festival in 2018. Now, two years later, a studio recording drops on October 13. {…}
(Credit: Boris Streubel) The famed German mezzo-soprano Doris Soffel will appear in the role of Klytämnestra in Richard Strauss’ opera “Elektra” at the Wiener Staatsoper on September 8, 2020. Doris Soffel is one of the leading Wagnerian and Straussian singers, having taken on such roles as Kundry in “Parsifal,” Ortrud in “Lohengrin,” and Fricka and Erda in the composer’s iconic {…}
(Credits: Cross/Staatstheater Cottbus official website / Hupfeld/Staatstheater Cottbus official website) The Staatstheater Cottbus has announced its incoming 2020-21 season, featuring several new operatic productions and orchestral works. Here is the look. Premieres – Musiktheater Cottbus The Musiktheater Cottbus will present several new productions. The cast has been announced for the first production of the season, with other casts set to {…}
(Credit: holtenau.at) Austrian baritone Rudolf Holtenau has died in Vienna on August 30, at the age of 88. Holtenau, who born in Salzburg, sang a lots of role throughout his career, with an emphasis on Wagner operas. Holtenau began his vocal studies in Linz, and then moved to Vienna where he finished his professional education. He debuted in Klagenfurt, and {…}
(Credit: Emelie Kroon) When COVID-19 struck a few months back, one of the final “live” performances to take the stage was a rendition of Wagner’s “Die Walküre” in Sweden. Among the performers in that production was dramatic soprano Elisabet Strid, who took on the role of Sieglinde. Strid, who has performed in such opera houses as the Teatro Real, Lyric {…}
(Credit: Louis Melancon / Metropolitan Opera) A version of this piece was published in a 1998 edition of SF Weekly. Being a Super (Supernumerary), a fancy word for “Extra” at the San Francisco Opera had been a habit of mine many years ago. Nightly rehearsals from June through August, and performances September through November, only encouraged me to juggle my {…}
Opera San José has announced plans to create the Fred Heiman Digital Media Studio, a state-of-the-art performance space housed within Opera San José headquarters in Northern California. The project demonstrates OSJ’s commitment to presenting the first half of its 2020 – 21 season while safeguarding audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by Opera San José trustee Peggy Heiman in honor {…}
The Verbier Festival has announced that it is teaming up with medici.tv and Radio Télévision Suisse to present the Virtual Verbier Festival between July 16-August 12. The festival will feature several online performances as well as the broadcasting of part events. The medici.tv program includes several major instrumentalists such as Evgeny Kissin, Martha Argerich, Joshua Bell, András Schiff, Gautier and {…}
Anna Netrebko has dropped out of a new production of R. Strauss’ “Salome.” According to an article by the Associated Press, the soprano withdrew from the opera scheduled for 2021-22 citing the role was not right for her. The production was first announced in 2017 as part of three co-productions with the Bolshoi Theatre and is set to be directed {…}
On its west facade Rouen Cathedral features a bas-relief of Salome dancing on her hands for the Tetrarch and his guests. In a luring form of “danse macabre,” she thus seals the fate of the Baptist whose execution is shown in the following scene. Flaubert is said to have derived inspiration for his recounting of the Biblical story in the {…}