Having grown up with opera in the traditional format, meaning either you go and sit quietly while the opera is performed and only then do you show your adoration or you perform in the opera following a very strict set of procedures which you’re lucky if you get to extend as a soloist. My gut reaction to opera innovation is {…}
(Credit: Simon Pauly) The Dresden Philharmonic has named Sir Donald Runnicles its new Chief Conductor. The orchestra said that Runnicles will take up the post in the 2025-26 season and will lead the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra as Chief Conductor Designate from the coming 2024-25 season. The city council of Dresden still has to approve this. In a statement, Runnicles said, “When {…}
Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. For the final edition of the year, we look at the last releases that 2023 has to offer including a unique album dedicated to Strauss and Wagner and Menotti’s famed Christmas opera. Enjoy these releases and Happy New Year! We can’t wait for {…}
Soprano Francesca Federico and baritone Lucas Bouk are set to give a recital in NYC on Dec. 22. The duo offers and evening of intimate art song featuring works such as Debussy’s “Les Cinq Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire,” Brahms’ “Zigeunerlieder,” Vaughn William’s “Songs of Travel” and songs by Rebecca Clarke, Amy Beech, and Tosti. They are accompanied by pianists Dan {…}
The New England Conservatory (NEC) has announced its Winter/Spring 2024 season. This article only includes classical vocal performances. Opera students join the New England Conservatory Philharmonia to present a concert version of Puccini’s “La Bohème.” Performance Dates: February 5 & 7, 2024 NEC’s Black Student Union presents “BSU’s Coretta Scott King Tribute Concert” in honor of trailblazing activist and soprano {…}
The Teatro Regio di Parma is set to open its 2024 season with Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia.” The company will present the opera from Jan. 12 to Jan. 20, 2024, in a co-production with Fondazione Rossini Opera Festival by Pier Luigi Pizzi. Diego Ceretta conducts the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini and the Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma. The cast {…}
(Photo Brno: Marek Olbryzmek) Britten’s “Peter Grimes” is a director’s dream. Who is Grimes? It is certain he is a loner; an outsider and a social misfit open to fits of temper. Yet there is also a sensitive side to his nature that comes out intermittently throughout the opera, notably in his aria “Now the Great Bear and the Pleiades” {…}
Alexander Prior has announced that he is leaving his post at Theater Erfurt. In a statement, the company said, “Alexander Prior has been working at the Theater Erfurt since the 2022-23 season. As chief conductor, he took on the responsibility and at the same time the challenge of maintaining and continuing the excellence of the orchestra. Today Alexander Prior signed {…}
Kristine Opolais’s concert in Kaunas is set to be presented on Arte on Jan. 7, 2024. The soprano took to social media and said, “My dear friends, on January 7th, you can watch a live tv broadcast of my concert with tenor Liparit Avetisyan and maestro Constantine Orbelian with the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra at the gorgeous Kaunas Basilica on {…}
Peter Gelb has admitted to removing Anita Rachvelishvili from Met Productions following a performance of “Aida” in December 2022. In a recent interview with the New York Times regarding the mezzo-soprano’s vocal struggles following her pregnancy the Met General Manager said, “It was obvious that she was not the same singer — at least temporarily not the same singer — {…}
The superintendent of the Teatro Regio di Parma and Vicepresdient of Federvivo Luciano Messi has been confirmed as President of ATIT (Associazione Teatri Italiani di Tradizione). The voting took place on Dec. 18 in Rome which saw leaders of many Italian theaters. During the meeting, Monica Loss was also elected as Vice president of teh association. Umberto Angelini, Paolo Cantù, {…}