Louise Alder, Gerald Finley, Carolina López Moreno, Erin Morley, Golda Schultz & Aigul Akhmetshina Lead BBC Proms’ 2025 Season

https://operawire.com/louise-alder-gerald-finley-carolina-lopez-moreno-erin-morley-golda-schultz-aigul-akhmetshina-lead-bbc-proms-2025-season/

The BBC Proms has announced its 2025 season. Here is a list of the vocal performances. Sakari Oramo conducts the First Night of the Proms with soloists Lisa Batiashvili, Caspar Singh, and Gerald Finley. The program includes music by Arthur Bliss, Felix Mendelssohn, Jean Sibelius, Errollyn Wallen, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Performance Date: July 18, 2025 Tenor Allan Clayton gives {…}

News

Stéphane Degout, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Véronique Gens & Danielle de Niese Lead London Philharmonic’s 2025-26 Season

https://operawire.com/stephane-degout-masabane-cecilia-rangwanasha-veronique-gens-danielle-de-niese-lead-london-philharmonics-2025-26-season/

The London Philharmonic has announced its 2025-26 season. Edward Gardner conducts Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with Jennifer France. The program also includes Hans Abrahamsen’s “Let me tell you.” Performance Date: Oct. 3, 2025 Karina Canellakis conducts Stravinsky and L. Boulanger with soloists Véronique Gens, Andrew Staples, and Jean-Sébastien Bou. Performance Date: Oct. 22, 2025 Mark Elder teams up with Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha {…}

Interviews, Stage Spotlight

Q & A: Aigul Akhmetshina on Her Roles & the Experiences It Takes to Grow as a Musician

https://operawire.com/q-a-aigul-akhmetshina-on-her-roles-the-experiences-it-takes-to-grow-as-a-musician/

(Photo: Beata Nykiel) Russian mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina is universally hailed as one of the most exciting opera singers in a generation. Called “The New Netrebko” by renowned critic David Mellor, she is the “Carmen du Jour” and is in demand by opera houses around the world. She sings with a rare, coloratura mezzo voice. A luminary of the Jette Parker {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Royal Ballet & Opera 2024-25 Review: Carmen

https://operawire.com/royal-ballet-opera-2024-25-review-carmen/

(Credit: Mark Brenner) For the second time in only a few months, I find myself reviewing a production I have seen before where I was initially very critical of what I perceived to be a weak production, creatively, but inexplicably having a change of heart the second time around. So as not to face accusations of hypocrisy or worse, senility; {…}

DVD and CD Reviews, Reviews

CD Review: Opera Rara’s ‘Simon Boccanegra’

https://operawire.com/cd-review-opera-raras-simon-boccanegra/

“Simon Boccanegra” – in its standard 1881 revision – is an undisputed, though infrequently performed, masterpiece. But what of its very first iteration from 1857? Its premiere, at Venice’s La Fenice, famously turned into a fiasco. Julian Budden, for example, admitted to the hostility with which the libretto was received, while Verdi himself, in a letter to Giraldoni, wryly picked {…}

News, Season Announcement

Anna Netrebko, Freddie De Tommaso, Marina Rebeka, Bryn Terfel, Aigul Akhmetshina, Lisette Oropesa, Juan Diego Flórez & Pretty Yende Lead Royal Ballet & Opera’s 2025-26 Season

https://operawire.com/anna-netrebko-freddie-de-tommaso-marina-rebeka-bryn-terfel-aigul-akhmetshina-lisette-oropesa-juan-diego-florez-pretty-yende-lead-royal-ballet-operas-2025-26-season/

The Royal Ballet and Opera has announced its 2025-26 season. The season opens with Puccini’s “Tosca” in a new production by Oliver Mears. Anna Netrebko and Aleksandra Kurzak share the title role. Freddie De Tommaso and Gerald Finley also star. Performance Dates: Sept. 11-Oct. 7, 2025 Speranza Scappucci conducts Verdi’s “I vespri siciliani” in a revival of Stefan Herheim’s production. Marina {…}

News

86th Quincena Musical de San Sebastián to Feature Xabier Anduaga, Federica Lombardi, Miren Urbieta-Vega, Christian Gerhaher

https://operawire.com/86th-quincena-musical-de-san-sebastian-to-feature-xabier-anduaga-federica-lombardi-miren-urbieta-vega-christian-gerhaher/

The 86th Quincena Musical de San Sebastián has unveiled its upcoming season. Here is a breakdown of upcoming vocal performances. “Rossini’s Stabat Mater” will feature the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, conducted by Mark Elder, will be joined by the Orfeón Donostiarra, conducted by José Antonio Sáinz Alfaro. Soloists include soprano Federica Lombardi, tenor Xabier Anduaga, and bass Will Thomas. {…}

DVD and CD Releases, News

Sally Matthews, Iván Ayón-Rivas, Serena Sáenz & Véronique Gens Lead New CD/DVD Releases

https://operawire.com/sally-matthews-ivan-ayon-rivas-serena-saenz-veronique-gens-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, audiences will get a chance to hear a debut album, a rarely performed bel canto work, an original version of a famed Verdi work, and a DVD recording of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece. Birds Spanish soprano Serena Sáenz makes her album debut with {…}