Best of 2025: Most Read Articles on OperaWire This Year

https://operawire.com/best-of-2025-most-read-articles-on-operawire-this-year/

As we wrap up 2025, here is a look back at some of the most-read articles of the year. We will focus mainly on longer-form pieces like reviews and interviews for this article. Top 10 Most-Read Reviews of 2025 Metropolitan Opera Review of New “Aida” Production Royal Ballet & Opera Review of “Tosca” with Anna Netrebko Metropolitan Opera Review “La {…}

News

Elsa Benoit to Star in Dutch National Opera’s First ‘Semele’

https://operawire.com/elsa-benoit-to-star-in-dutch-national-operas-first-semele/

(Credit: © Hugo Thomassen) The Dutch National Opera is set to present Händel’s “Semele” for the very first time. The company will present a new production by Claus Guth, a production of the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera. Emmanuelle Haïm will conduct her ensemble Le Concert d’Astrée and will star Elsa Benoit in the title role, {…}

News

Marina Rebeka, Asmik Grigorian & Nicholas Brownlee Lead International Opera Award Winners

https://operawire.com/marina-rebeka-asmik-grigorian-nicholas-brownlee-lead-international-opera-award-winners/

The International Opera Awards have announced their 2025 winners. The big prize of the evening, Opera Company of the Year, went to Theater an der Wien. The singers who took top prizes included Marina Rebeka, who won the coveted Reader’s Choice Award, while Adèle Charvet and Hugh Cutting received the Rising Star Award. Meanwhile, Nicholas Brownlee won the Male Singer {…}

News

Sondra Radvanovsky, Freddie De Tommaso, Anastasia Bartoli, Elīna Garanča & Huw Montague Rendall Lead International Opera Awards Nominees

https://operawire.com/sondra-radvanovsky-freddie-de-tommaso-anastasia-bartoli-elina-garanca-huw-montague-rendall-lead-international-opera-awards-nominees/

The International Opera Awards have announced its 2025 nominees. The nominees for Opera Company of the Year are Deutsche Oper Berlin, GöteborgsOperan, Houston Grand Opera, MusikTheater an der Wien, Opernhaus Zürich, and Teatro alla Scala. Meanwhile, in the Female Singer category, Anastasia Bartoli, Elsa Dreisig, Véronique Gens, Asmik Grigorian, Sondra Radvanovsky, and Adela Zaharia are the nominees. In the Male Singer {…}

DVD and CD Releases, News

Jonas Kaufmann, Mikheil Sheshaberidze, Jessica Pratt, Adèle Charvet & Sarah Moulton Faux Lead New CD/DVD Releases

https://operawire.com/jonas-kaufmann-mikheil-sheshaberidze-jessica-pratt-adele-charvet-sarah-moulton-faux-lead-new-cd-dvd-releases/

Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week, Jonas Kaufmann has a new album that focuses on lieder, while Jessica Pratt shows off her Bel canto skills in one of Donizetti’s masterpieces. Audiences get to discover some rare pieces and hear some world premiere recordings. Gaetano Donizetti: Roberto Devereux {…}

Editorials, Reviews

‘Don Giovanni’ Is One of the Greatest Works Ever Written. Why Is It So Hard for Directors to Get Right?

https://operawire.com/don-giovanni-is-one-of-the-greatest-works-ever-written-why-is-it-so-hard-for-directors-to-get-right/

(Photo: © Monika Rittershaus) “Don Giovanni” is an opera of seductions and escapes, moral wreckage and divine retribution, a shimmering mosaic of comedy, tragedy, farce, and existential dread. Yet “the mother of all operas” is also a uniquely treacherous work—at once alluring and intractable, irresistibly open yet elusive. Music’s sublimity rarely fails to connect with audiences, even in a less-than-stellar {…}

Interviews

Q & A: Serge Dorny, the Bayerische Staatsoper’s Intendant, on the 150th Munich Opera Festival

https://operawire.com/q-a-serge-dorny-the-bayerische-staatsopers-intendant-on-the-150th-munich-opera-festival/

Before Bayreuth welcomed its first pilgrims or Verona set its spectacles under the stars, Munich had already begun its tradition of celebrating opera each summer. Founded in 1875 under the patronage of King Ludwig II, the Münchner Opernfestspiele is the world’s oldest continuously running opera festival. The festival’s 150th edition, which runs through July 31 offers an ambitious mix of {…}

News

Luca Salsi, Nino Machaidze, Dmitry Korchak, Ermonela Jaho, Nadine Sierra, Vittorio Grigolo & Carlo Vistoli Lead Teatro dell’Opera di Roma’s 2025-26 Season

https://operawire.com/luca-salsi-nino-machaidze-dmitry-korchak-ermonela-jaho-nadine-sierra-vittorio-grigolo-carlo-vistoli-lead-teatro-dellopera-di-romas-2025-26-season/

The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma has announced its 2025-26 Season. Opera The season opens with Wagner’s “Lohengrin” with Michele Mariotti conducting a production by Damiano Michieletto. The cast includes Dmitry Korchak, Clive Bayley, Tómas Tómasson, Ekaterina Gubanova, Andrei Bondarenko, and Jennifer Holloway. Performance Dates: Nov. 27-Dec. 7, 2025, 2025 Davide Livermore’s production of Puccini’s “La bohème” returns with Carolina López {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Festival Aix-en-Provence 2025 Review: Don Giovanni

https://operawire.com/festival-aix-en-provence-2025-review-don-giovanni/

The new Robert Icke staging of “Don Giovanni” might upset more than a few spirits. The scenic proposal is certainly disruptive, and its insistence on intervening digitally in the opera’s soundscape is the most acute symptom of “directivitis” (the terrible disease that has afflicted opera directors for the last seven decades). However, I really had a great time watching “Don {…}

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Best of 2025: Most Read Articles on OperaWire This Year

Elsa Benoit to Star in Dutch National Opera’s First ‘Semele’

Marina Rebeka, Asmik Grigorian & Nicholas Brownlee Lead International Opera Award Winners

Sondra Radvanovsky, Freddie De Tommaso, Anastasia Bartoli, Elīna Garanča & Huw Montague Rendall Lead International Opera Awards Nominees

Jonas Kaufmann, Mikheil Sheshaberidze, Jessica Pratt, Adèle Charvet & Sarah Moulton Faux Lead New CD/DVD Releases

‘Don Giovanni’ Is One of the Greatest Works Ever Written. Why Is It So Hard for Directors to Get Right?

Q & A: Serge Dorny, the Bayerische Staatsoper’s Intendant, on the 150th Munich Opera Festival

Luca Salsi, Nino Machaidze, Dmitry Korchak, Ermonela Jaho, Nadine Sierra, Vittorio Grigolo & Carlo Vistoli Lead Teatro dell’Opera di Roma’s 2025-26 Season

Festival Aix-en-Provence 2025 Review: Don Giovanni