Ohio’s Queen City Opera is set to present “The Magic Flute” in an adaptation that pays homage to the world of video games. The famed Mozart opera has been set to a new English libretto by Josh Shaw and E. Scott Levin that has a duration of two hours and 30 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. The production, which premiered {…}
The Israeli Opera has named Tali Barash Gottlieb as the new Executive Director of Israeli Opera. She will succeed Zach Granit, who will stay with the company as Artistic Director. Gottlieb was previously the Executive Director of the Israel Philharmonic Foundation where she created a strong and influential global network of support for the IPO. In a statement via Linkedin, {…}
The CLIP vocal competition in Portofino has announced its 2024 winners. Countertenor Elmar Hauser was named first prize while the second prize went to baritone Matteo Mancini. The third prize was given to both bass Davide Piva and baritone Matteo Torcaso. Other prize winners included Isabela Diaz, who won the Female Voice Award and Aitana Sanz Perez took home the {…}
If it were not for Franz Schubert, the incommensurably prolific Carl Loewe would be the undisputed champion of 19th century art songs. Older, by just two months, Loewe epitomizes Biedermeier aesthetics with their charming naivety and quasi-lackadaisical trust in God. They materialize in apolitical narratives, and the cultivation of the private sphere – from tales of old to homely {…}
This season Michael Hersch’s new opera in collaboration with poet/memoirist Shane McCrae “And We, each” will make its world premiere. The work will be produced by the Baltimore-based organization Mind on Fire, “and we, each” will take the stage at Baltimore Theater Project on Sept. 28 & 29, 2024. There will also be performances at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, {…}
The Fondazione Paolo Grassi and the 50° Festival della Valle d’Itria di Martina Franca have announced that Fabio Luisi will be awarded the 2024 Premio del Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti.” The award will be given to the conductor following the August 2 performance of Bellini’s “Norma.” The award will be given to Luisi “for the appreciated artistic merits of a luminous {…}
The Israel Philharmonic has announced its extension of Principal Conductor Lahav Shani’s contract. Shani began his work with the orchestra in 2020 and the new contract will extend until 2029. Shani is also the Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra where he began in 2018. He was appointed the Chief Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic in 2023 and will {…}
The Tiroler Festspiele Erl will end the 2024 summer season with a “Ring of the Nibelung” that is almost 100 percent full and has revenues of over one million euros. The Ring attracted 12,000 guests to the Passion Play House. With this success, artistic director Bernd Loebe bids farewell to the Tyrolean Festival after five seasons, and for the first {…}
(Photo credit: Tuesday night at Lincoln Center offered some true gems, an enticing evening even for seasoned New Yorkers. All the more delightful, as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City, tickets for the show were “choose-what-you-pay”, making it accessible to a wider, more relaxed summer crowd in the Wu Tsai Theater of David Geffen Hall. It’s a welcome {…}
(Photo credit: SF/Marco Borrelli) Thomas Dunford and Lea Desandre are pop. Young, synergetic, and talented, they exude a pop quality even when they are not singing the Beatles. It is a fresh thing that makes them desirable and somehow accessible. But how many people can play the lute like Thomas and sing like Lea? In their Salzburg recital, their pop-ness {…}
Anna Netrebko and her manager Miguel Esteban have stated that she would return to the Metropolitan Opera only after the departure of current General Manager Peter Gelb. In an email to the New York Times, Esteban said, “Anna Netrebko will be happy to consider an invitation to return to the Metropolitan Opera — after the departure of its current general {…}
