Anna Netrebko will sing the title role in Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur” at the 2018 Baden-Baden Festival. The opera is slated to be performed in a production from the Mariinsky Theatre St. Petersburg by Isabelle Partiot-Pieri with Netrebko’s husband Yusif Eyvazov and Ekaterina Semenchuck alongside Valery Gergiev. Performances will be held in July of 2018. Netrebko is slated to make her {…}
It has been a rough few weeks for the opera world. Last week the Fresno Grand Opera filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. This week has already seen the gutting of the National Endowment for the Arts and now, Seattle Opera has made some major budget cuts brought about by questionable fiscal management. According to the Seattle Times, the company is {…}
When considered in the context of his entire oeuvre, Verdi’s “Attila” is far from a masterpiece. When propped up against his best work, this early work simply doesn’t hold up. In fact, prominent Verdi scholars, such as Julian Budden, have criticized the opera and called it “the heaviest and noisiest of the Risorgimento operas, blunt in style, daubed in thick garish {…}
LoftOpera has made a statement over the past few years, establishing itself as the best of independent opera on the East Coast. The company makes its big return this weekend with a performance of Rossini’s “Otello.” The company, which managed a huge success in the winter with Verdi’s “Macbeth,” reopened its doors on Thursday, its second performance coming on Saturday {…}
New York’s Winter Storm seemed to be the prevailing theme on most opera singer’s social media feeds. Find out what they were up to this week in coping with the tough weather. Tenor David Portillo took time out his hectic rehearsal period to see Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette” with his fiance and a friend. He is currently the role of {…}
American tenor Bryan Hymel will be performing at the Opera Awards this year. The Opera Awards’ official Twitter account made the announcement earlier on Thursday, including a video of the tenor performing at the Rosenblatt Recital. The Opera Awards is an annual awards ceremony celebrating the best of international opera. The ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 7 at {…}
Verdi and Wagner fans are in for a treat this weekend as many of the leading companies will present some of the composers’ greatest works. Additionally audiences are in for an amazing journey with Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros. Argentina At the Teatro Colon the production of Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur” continues with Sabrina Cirera in the title role and Guadalupe Barrientos {…}
Pink Floyd is coming to the opera. Well not necessarily, but “Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera” will be heading to the Cincinnati Opera in July 2018. The opera will be part of the company’s 98th season, its first after a $135 million restoration of the Cincinnati Music Hall. The opera, which made its world premiere in Montreal a {…}
Massenet’s “Thaïs” is a beautiful feat of musical drama. The opera, which premiered on March 16, 1894, is rich in its character development and Massenet’s own development as a dramatist. While the work is filled with glorious musical writing, there is no doubt that the single most iconic moment of the work is the dramatic midpoint – Thaïs’ meditation. Played {…}
On the surface, Christa Ludwig and Teresa Berganza have nothing in common, aside from the fact that they were born on the same day, March 16, and were two of the greatest mezzo-sopranos in history. But their repertoire was wildly different. Ludwig was best known for her native German repertoire while the Spaniard, Berganza, was famous for her work in {…}
This Sunday, audiences will get a look at the next set of Met Council Audition winners. The competition is perhaps the most prestigious in the entire country and one of the most important in the world. The first competition took place in 1954, each decade bringing us major talents that have gone on to incredible careers. Here are some of {…}