This week the Rossini Opera Festival is set to open with one of the composer’s most beloved comedies, “Le Comte Ory.” In recent years the opera has had a renaissance being performed around the world and championed by some of the leading opera singers. The festival has lined up an all-star cast including Juan Diego Florez, who is one of {…}
Despite Arnold Schoenberg’s (1874-1951) widespread popularity as one of the most important ‘fathers of serialism’ and the person almost solely responsible for ushering in the age of dodecaphony (12-tone technique), his four operas are largely unknown. Despite this, it was Schoenberg’s fourth opera, “Moses und Aron,” which would transform opera forever. No longer constricted by the indulgent attitudes of Italian {…}
This week Festival Della Valle D’Itria is set to present its final opera of the season. It will world premiere “Opera Italiana” by Nicola Campogrande, a composer who is regarded as “one of the most interesting Italian composers of the young generation.” The new opera was written between 2008 and 2010 and was commissioned by Comitato Italia 150. The opera {…}
This week the Cincinnati Opera will make history with the world of “Castor and Patience.” The opera tells the story of a long overdue family reunion which finds two African American cousins at odds over the fate of a historic parcel of land they have inherited in the American South. The work continues probe historical and continuing obstacles to Black land ownership {…}
(Credit: Marty Sohl / Met Opera) This week the Santa Fe Opera is set to open a new production of “Falstaff” by Sir. David McVicar. The work will star many well-established names in the industry as well as several rising stars who have begun making names for themselves over the past few years. One of those rising stars is American {…}
(Credit: ©Rocco Casaluci) This week the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence opened its 2022 edition featuring an array of repertoire and exciting productions. The festival will bring some of the most recognizable names in the operatic world as well as some of the best conductors and directors. On July 7, the company will open its new production of “Moïse et Pharaon” with Michele {…}
On June 14, the San Francisco Opera will revive its production “Dream of the Red Chamber” with an acclaimed cast including rising Korean star Konu Kim. The tenor first came on to the scene when he won first place at the Operalia Competition in 2016 and later broke out in 2019 when he performed at the Donizetti Opera Festival in {…}
In January 1989, the Polish film director Andrzej Żuławski released his film “Boris Godunov,” a film that cost seven million dollars to create. It featured a live production of the monster opera conducted by the eminent Soviet cellist and conductor, Mstislav Rostropovich. The film would re-conceptualize the opera in a mise en abyme (self-reflection) style, layering the operatic performance inside {…}
Over the past years, Benjamin Appl has become one of the great recitalists and lieder singers of his generation. He has performed many of the major song cycles in the repertoire and has made Schubert, in particular, a signature. OperaWire has raved about the baritone stating, that he is a “consummate artist” and one of the “foremost interpreters of German {…}
