Diana Damrau’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” will be released on DVD. The 2016 Royal Opera House production by Katie Mitchell, which was met with mixed reception, is scheduled for release in October according to Amazon. The opera also stars Charles Castronovo as Edgardo, Ludovic Tezier as Enrico and Kwangchul Youn as Raimondo. Daniel Oren conducts this production. When the production first opened critics noted, {…}
Anna Netrebko will be sing two different productions of “Aida” at the Metropolitan Opera in two different seasons. Per Parterre, “A spokesman for Anna Netrebko informs parterre box that the diva is scheduled to sing Aïda at the Met during the 2018-2019 season in the existing production by Sonja Frisell. She will reprise the role in 2020-2021 in a new production of {…}
Nadine Sierra has withdrawn from the Royal Opera House’s new production of “La bohème.” As a result, Simona Mihai and Joyce El-Khoury will replace her. First Romanian-born British soprano Simona Mihai will sing in performances scheduled between Sept. 11 and Oct. 3 excluding the Sept. 23 performance. Then Lebanese-Canadian soprano El-Khoury will take over Sept. 23 and Oct. 6, 7, and 10. As originally scheduled Mihai will sing the role of Mimì {…}
Leonard Bernstein celebrates his 99th birthday on this day August 25, and his influence in the world of music is just as strong today as it was throughout his incredible life. One of the great conductors of all time, he was also a gifted composer that created a number of memorable works of art, including his famed “Candide.” And while {…}
The Opéra de Montréal will open its 38th season with Puccini’s “Tosca.” The first performance takes place on Sept. 16, with subsequent shows on the 19th, 21st, and 23rd, all at 7:30 p.m. All showcases will appear at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at the Place des Arts. The opera will be presented in a co-production with the Cincinnati Opera under the {…}
Ruth Ann Swenson was an American darling during the 80s and 90s and the early 2000s. Her coloratura soprano was renown for its bright color, flexibility, and gleaming high notes. And she was also known for numerous roles from the standard repertoire and other rarer gems she explored throughout her career. To celebrate her birth on August 25, 1959, Operawire takes {…}
It’s that time of the year when companies begin to rehearse for opening night and as a result, rather than put the focus on individual singers, this week we will see what companies are sharing about their preparations. Opera Philadelphia Opera Philadephia’s festival opens in two weeks and rehearsals have clearly begun. This week the company posted a picture of {…}
The summer opera season is starting to wind down and, as you might expect, that means there aren’t a whole lot of offerings for those wanting opera on their weekend. The big fish still in the ocean is Sante Fe Opera’s “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs,” which gets its final performance of its first-ever run on Friday night. Santa Fe Opera {…}
This weekend the Salzburg Festival, the Arena di Verona, and the Edinburgh Festival see their respective seasons come to an end. But before they end, there are still must see performances. Argentina At the Teatro Colón, Kurt Weill’s “Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny” gets its second and third performances with Iris Vermillion and Alejandra Malvino alternating the role of Leokadja. Austria The {…}
Pierre Vernes, the founder of the Paris Opera Competition has passed away. Verne created the competition back in 2010, which has turned into a biannual showcase with over hundreds of submissions and a final gala event that decides the winner. At the start of the competition’s history, concerts were used every other year in place of a formal competition. Vernes, {…}
This autumn, British Broadcasting Corporation will focus much of its TV, radio, and online programming on celebrating opera. With the opening of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new exhibition in partnership with the Royal Opera House, titled “Opera: Passion, Power & Politics,” on September 30th, the timing couldn’t be better. According to Jonty Claypole, Director of BBC Arts: “For over {…}