(Photo: courtesy of Vannina Santoni) Jules Massenet completed more than 30 operas over the course of his career, scoring numerous successes. Within a few years of his death, however, his reputation had faded. Today, apart from “Werther,” “Manon” and to a lesser extent “Thaïs,” most opera-goers would struggle to name more than one or two other titles. Opera companies reinforce {…}
On Feb. 3, 2024, Anna Netrebko will make her return to the United States in a recital at the Palm Beach Opera. The highly anticipated concert will showcase the soprano in a variety of repertoire that she has performed to great acclaim. At her side will be Angel Rodriguez, an acclaimed Cuban-Mexican pianist and composer based in Mexico. He has performed {…}
(Photo credit: Tony Hitchcock) Despite winning a Pulitzer Prize and receiving great acclaim following its Metropolitan Opera premiere in 1958, Barber and Menotti’s “Vanessa” is not regularly programmed as a full work. Arias such as “Must the winter come so soon?” and “Do not utter a word” are frequently heard in recitals, but this does not do justice to this {…}
(Photo: Alciro Theodoro Da Silva) At the end of February, start of March this year, the Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe is presenting a Händel festival, which includes productions of “Rinaldo,” and “Siroe, Re di Persia,” among many other events. During a recent performance of “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria” in Ravenna, OperaWire met up with Spanish tenor Jorge Navarro Colorado, {…}
(Photo: Dario Acosta) In March, American soprano Jacquelyn Stucker will be performing in Philip Venables’ “We are the Lucky Ones” at Amsterdam’s Opera Forward Festival. OperaWire will be interviewing her about the production during the festival, but as a taster, she kindly agreed to answer a few questions about herself. OperaWire: How old were you when you saw your first {…}
(Photo: Michele Monasta) Italian Soprano Chiara Isotton is a graduate of the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, and is a member of the La Scala Academy, Milan. She won several important national and international competitions, including being among the winners of the “European Community” Competition for Young Opera Singers by the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto in 2013 where she {…}
OperaWire met up with English soprano Charlotte Bowden between performances of Monteverdi’s “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria” and a double Purcell bill of “Hail! Bright St. Cecilia” and “Dido and Aeneas” at the Ravenna festival, in which she was essaying the roles of Melanto, a solo soprano and Belinda, respectively. Although she only recently graduated from the Royal College {…}
When Jane Marsh made her Italian and European début at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy singing the demanding part of Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Otello,” she was just past her teens. She had been recommended to Thomas Schippers by the Metropolitan Opera as he was looking for a soprano to sing the role for the opening of {…}
(Photo: Dahyun Baek) SeokJong Baek’s rise to prominence in the opera world can only be described as meteoric, if not almost difficult to believe. Almost 15 years singing as a baritone, a chance encounter with fellow South Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee suggested to him that he might make a better tenor than a baritone. Despite joining the San Francisco Young {…}
(Credit: Victor Santiago) This past week, Francesco Meli made his role debut as “Otello” in Verdi’s masterpiece. It marked his 18th Verdi role and a return to the Venice house where has sung many of those Verdi works. But in the run-up to the premiere of the opera, Meli’s comments in an interview with Il Giornale became the center of {…}
(Credit: Yan-Bleney) Born in Montreal, Étienne Dupuis has established himself as one of the most distinguished baritones of his generation. Amongst his wide-ranging repertoire, he is especially in demand for Verdi roles. In the 2023-24 season, Étienne made a series of role debuts: as Don Carlo di Vargas in “La forza del destino” at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, {…}
