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Business, News

Randi Stene Named Director of Oslo National Opera

https://operawire.com/randi-stene-named-director-of-orlo-national-opera/

The Oslo National Opera in Norway has named Randi Stene the General Director. The former contralto will begin her new position on August 1, 2020. Born in Trondheim, Stene has performed at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Metropolitan in New York, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, Bastille Opera in Paris, Komische Opera in Berlin, Oper Frankfurt and La {…}

Reviews, Special Features, Stage Reviews

Winning in Norway – The Experience of Taking in the Final of the 2023 Queen Sonja Singing Competition

https://operawire.com/winning-in-norway-the-experience-of-taking-in-the-final-of-the-2023-queen-sonja-singing-competition/

Finals for singing competitions are an interesting experience to cover. On one hand, everyone on stage is a winner. In the case of the 2023 edition of the Queen Sonja Singing Competition, the six singers who took the stage on August 26 were picked from an overall pool of 521 contestants from around the world; not mention that the competition {…}

News

Queen Sonja Singing Competition Announces 2023 Winners

https://operawire.com/queen-sonja-competition-announces-2023-winners/

The Queen Sonja Singing Competition has announced the 2023 winners. Contralto Jasmin White was named first prize winner, while baritone Aksel Daveyan took home second prize. The third prize went to countertenor Nils Wanderer. White sang excerpts from “Semele” and “Das Rheingold,” while Daveyan sang from “Iolanta” and “Faust.” Finally, Wanderer performed from “Written on Skin” and “Tolomeo.” The three {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Royal Danish Opera 2018-2019 Review: Il Trovatore

https://operawire.com/royal-danish-opera-2018-2019-review-il-trovatore/

“Il Trovatore” fits awkwardly in Verdi’s extraordinarily fruitful “middle period.”  Wedged between the musical and dramatic innovations of “Rigoletto” and “La Traviata,” it seems to be a conservative throwback to an Italian idiom established by Rossini and his early successors.   It is a “numbers” opera with a melodramatic plot (based on Antonio Garcia Gutiérrez’s “El trovador”) that beggars belief. {…}

News

Top 5 Operas to See This Weekend – International (5/4-6): Rossini, Thomas Ades & Boito On Display

https://operawire.com/top-5-operas-to-see-this-weekend-international-5-4-6-rossini-thomas-ades-boito-on-display/

This weekend is filled with a number of rarities and modern masterpieces all around the world. We look at what we think audiences can discover for the first time and rising stars performing these roles. La Donna del Lago, Opera Royal de Wallonie, Liege, Belgium  Salome Jicia takes on the title role in Rossini’s rarely performed drama with Marianna Pizzolato {…}

News

Weekend Preview (3/3-3/5) – International: Aleksandrs Antonenko Returns To ‘Otello’ While Karita Mattila Returns To ‘Jenufa’

https://operawire.com/weekend-preview-33-35-international-aleksandrs-antonenko-returns-to-otello-while-karita-mattila-returns-to-jenufa/

Are you excited for the weekend? Well, we are as you will get to hear some of the most exciting stars singing in the world’s leading opera houses. Check it out right here! Austria At the Vienna State Opera, audiences will get the chance to see Puccini’s “Turandot” with a star-studded cast including Elena Pankratova, Heinz Zednik, Ryan Speedo Green, {…}

News

Weekend Preview – International (2/24-2/26): Ailyn Perez, Francesco Meli and Leo Nucci Preview Verdi’s “La Traviata” Among Weekend Highlights

https://operawire.com/weekend-preview-international-224-226-ailyn-perez-francesco-meli-and-leo-nucci-preview-verdis-la-traviata-among-weekend-highlights/

What are you seeing this weekend? Is it Verdi, Wagner, Mozart or more experimental composers like Jake Heggie and Kurt Weill? These are only some of the many composer’s the major theaters of the world will be showing this weekend. Austria The Wiener Staatsoper kicks off the weekend with two performances of “Die Zauberflöte” for kids, which is followed by {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Royal Opera House 2023-24 Review: Elektra

https://operawire.com/royal-opera-house-2023-24-review-elektra/

(Photo credit: © ROH 2024/Tristram Kenton) Had a family bust-up over the holidays? Don’t worry – it could be worse. Richard Strauss’ “Elektra,” with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal from his 1903 play of the same, took a dysfunctional family of the opera stage to new extremes, boiling up Sophocles’ tale of matricide in the Freudian pressure cooker of {…}

DVD and CD Reviews, Reviews

CD Review: Sondra Radvanovsky & Jonas Kaufmann’s ‘Turandot’

https://operawire.com/cd-review-sondra-radvanovsky-jonas-kaufmanns-turandot/

There is no shortage of good and, sometimes, exceptional recordings of Puccini’s “Turandot,” with aficionados generally swaying between Molinari-Pradelli’s studio release (with Franco Corelli and Birgit Nilsson) and Mehta’s landmark take from 1972. Add to this Franco Ghione and, in excerpts, Barbirolli’s visceral “Turandots” from the pre-war period, and nearly all aspects of Puccini’s swan song – from the ritualistic {…}