The Rossini Opera Festival has announced its 2019 festival. During a press conference for its 2018 festival, it was revealed that there will be two new productions and a revival. The first new production of the festival will be “Semiramide” with Graham Vick directing the production and Michele Mariotti conducting. The second new production will be “L’equivoco stravagante.” Moshe Leiser and Patrice {…}
Few conductors have had such enduring and impactful careers as Italian maestro Riccardo Muti. Born on July 28, 1941, the conductor studied composition and conducting at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan and would eventually work his way to principal conductor and music director of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Since then Muti has been everywhere. He was the music director {…}
Nestled in the low lying hills of southern Puglia, in the area more commonly referred to as the ‘heel of Italy,’ is the small town of Martina Franca, which every year plays host to a major opera festival, the Festival della Valle D’Itria, which specializes in presenting works from the Italian bel canto tradition. I am here for five days, {…}
Fort Worth Opera will present Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” during the 2018-2019 season as well as elementary student performances of “Three Pigs Remix,” presented through the company’s acclaimed Children’s Opera Theatre program. The company announced the addition noting that the opera will be a fully staged, 60-minute, pop-up production of the enchanting fairy tale opera and will be presented at The Marq {…}
Isreali conductor Omer Meier Wellber has been named the new musical director of the Teatro Massimo di Palermo. The conductor will take the position on Jan. 1, 2020. The company also announced that its current musical director Gabriele Ferro will be named Honorary director for life and will continue as Music director until 2019. Wellber is currently working at the {…}
Olga Peretyatko has announced she will add two new Rossini roles to her repertoire. The soprano, who was trained in Pesaro, told Forum Opera that she will add the role of Matilde in “Guillaume Tell” and a role in “Moïse in Egitto” in two years. In the interview, she spoke about how she refused to sing Rosina in ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia” {…}
Daniele Gatti has been accused of sexual misconduct by two sopranos. In an expose by the Washington Post, sopranos Alicia Berneche and Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet accused the renowned conductor. In a statement, Berneche noted that when she was 24 on her first day at the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center in 1996, Gatti offered her a coaching session and as {…}
Last summer, amidst Caramoor’s summer festival, I got a chance to informally talk to Jeff Haydon, the CEO of the music and arts center that happens to be in my home town of Katonah. I was told that Caramoor’s long-time successful operatic series “Bel Canto at Caramoor,” headed by Will Crutchfield, would be leaving. Crutchfield, after decades at Caramoor, was {…}
On Saturday, July 28, medici.tv will broadcast the sold-out premiere of Romeo Castellucci’s new production of Richard Strauss’s “Salome” from the Salzburg Festival. The production is set to star Asmik Grigorian in the title role with Franz Welser-Möst conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Alongside Grigorian, the production will star John Daszak as Herod, Anna Maria Chiuri as Herodias, and Gábor {…}
The Aix-en-Provence Festival has announced its 2019 festival. The season will be the first under the leadership of Pierre Audi and is set to take place from July 3 to 22, 2018. The season will be made up of five works, all of which will appear in the program of the Aix-en-Provence Festival for the first time. The Productions Mozart’s “Requiem” will {…}
Now in its third season, “The Crypt Sessions,” continues to bring world-class talent to Harlem’s Church of the Intercession for a night of music produced by Unison Media. July 24’s concert saw leading operatic tenor Lawrence Brownlee, joined by pianists Myra Huang and Damien Sneed, letting loose with a variety of songs from Classical, Jazz, Gospel, and more. Brownlee began {…}