(Credit: Michele Crosera) This week, the Teatro La Fenice opens a new production of Donizetti’s masterpiece “Anna Bolena” featuring a cast of Bel Canto specialists. Leading the cast is Russian soprano Lidia Fridman. Over the years, the rising star soprano has made a name for herself in the Bel Canto repertoire since her breakout at the Donizetti opera Festival singing {…}
Opera exists throughout the world, from more traditional forms that depart from Westernized forms such as Peking opera, to more blended forms like the Zarzuela. Outside the European framework, opera has taken on an incredibly diverse range of complexions, from the Savoy opera to the Farsa. And while many more categories exist, it cannot be denied that European-styled opera is {…}
The Norwegian Opera is set to present “The Cunning Little Vixen,” a work that is rarely performed by a major company. This season the company will showcase a cast of rising stars including Victoria Randem. Randem is part of the Young Artist Program at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, and has performed with the Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne festival, Semper Oper {…}
(Credit: Karen Almond / Met Opera) This week, the Metropolitan Opera is set to present Jake Heggie’s “Moby Dick” for the first time in the company’s history. It is being headlined by Brandon Jovanovich, who is taking on the role of Captain Ahab. Jovanovich is no stranger to the work as he covered the role of Ahab during its world {…}
This week the Wiener Staatsoper is set to Present a new production of “Norma” with an all-star cast featuring some of the best Bel Canto singers in the industry. Among them is Federica Lombardi, who will take on the iconic and challenging title role. Over the past years, Lombardi has been a rising star who has performed in many of {…}
(Credit: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera) It’s that time of the year. I am of course referring to the period when opera fans around the world start checking their calendars as they prepare for what they will be checking out in the upcoming season. Always an event unto itself is the Metropolitan Opera’s new season announcement, always full of interesting storylines, surprises, {…}
(Credit: © WILLIAM STRUHS/Spoleto Festival USA) Barber’s “Vanessa” is a work rarely heard. That is why when the occasion to hear the work comes, audiences run to see it. It doesn’t hurt if it has a great cast. This week the National Symphony Orchestra is bringing the work to audiences with a stellar cast that includes Nicole Heaston in the {…}
Opera exists throughout the world, from more traditional forms that depart from Westernized forms such as Peking opera, to more blended forms like the Zarzuela. Outside the European framework, opera has taken on an incredibly diverse range of complexions, from the Savoy opera to the Farsa. And while many more categories exist, it cannot be denied that European-styled opera is a global {…}
What happens when a rather questionable story where good intentions end up futile in the face of capricious behavior is re-conceptualized? “The Opera!” by directors Paolo Gep Cucco and Davide Livermore. It is a strange sort of film where the two central characters are played by opera singers (Orpheus, Valentino Buzza and Eurydice, Mariam Battistelli) who seem woefully under-prepared to {…}
