On Nov. 21, the board of directors of the Bilabo Opea director approved the financial statements for the 2024-2025 season with 99 percent of the vote. President Juan Carlos Matellanes said the 73rd Season concluded with revenues of €7.9 million and expenses of €8.3 million, highlighting that “efforts aimed at reducing the deficit have resulted in a slight improvement over {…}
(Credit: Foto © Silvia Maidagan) The ABAO Bilbao Opera is set to open its new season with Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino.” The work will be presented on Oct. 20 through Nov 3 at the Euskalduna Bilbao. The work will star Carmen Solis as Leonora, Angelo Villari as Don Alvaro, Juan Jesús Rodríguez as Don Carlos, and Manuel Fuentes as {…}
The Bilbao Opera has announced has selected Esteban Urzelai Eizagirre as the company’s next Chorus Director. He will begin his new post during the 2025-26 season, replacing Boris Dujin, who has been with the company since 1994 and who led over 100 operas and concerts. Beginning in 2020, Eizagirre was the subdirector of the Coro Nacional de España and was {…}
The ABAO Bilbao Ópera has announced its 2025-26 season. The season opens with Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” starring Carmen Solís, Angelo Villari, Ketevan Kemoklidze, and Juan Jesús Rodríguez. Lorenzo Passerini conducts the production by Ignacio García. Performance Dates: Oct. 25-Nov. 3, 2025 Maria Agresta, Jorge de León, Silvia Tro Santafé, and Carlos Álvarez star in Cilea’s “Adriana Lecouvreur” with Marco Armiliato {…}
The Bilbao Opera has announced an orchestra change for its production of “Otello.” According to Platea Magazine, the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra will accompany the ensemble of soloists in the production, which opens on May 17. The orchestra will replace the originally scheduled Sinfónica de Bilbao. According to the magazine, the reason for the change is due to the upcoming strikes {…}
On March 29, baritone Amartuvshin Enkhbat will give a recital. The baritone, who made history in Bilbao singing an encore in “Rigoletto,” will perform at the Euskalduna Bilbao. The program will include music by Giuseppe Verdi as well as Bellini, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini, and Giordano. At the piano, maestro Stefano Salvatori will make his ABAO Bilbao Opera debut. Throughout the past {…}
ABAO TXIKI is set to present Ópera de Cámara de Navarra’s production of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” The cast is made up of Julen Jiménez, Itxaso Moriones, Noemí Irisarri, Txori García, María Lacunza, Carlos Crooke, Txema Lacunza, and María Gutiérrez. They are joined by the Navarra Chamber Opera Choir and the Navarra Symphony Orchestra conducted by Javier Echarri. Ion Barbarin {…}
Back in 2022, the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo featured a production of Donizetti’s “La Favorite” using a new critical French edition and with no cuts (including the whole ballet). For that occasion Ricardo Frizza was the conductor. Now, a few years later, ABAO Bilbao is bringing back that same Bergamo production, in coproduction with Opéra National de Bordeaux, as well {…}
The Bilbao Opera is set to Present Donizetti’s “La Favorite.” The work will be presented from Feb. 15 to 24, 2025 at the Euskalduna Bilbao and will star Silvia Tro Santafé in the role of Leonore, alongside Ismael Jordi as Fernand, Vladimir Stoyanov as Alphonse XI, and Simón Orfila as Balthazar. The cast is rounded out by tenor Mikeldi Atxalandabaso {…}
ABAO Bilbao Opera has announced the approval of its budget for the 2024-25 season and the results of the 2023-24 season. Per an official press release, the General Assembly of the ABAO Bilbao Opera approved, with 99 percent of the votes, the results presented regarding the 2023-24 season. Per the information presented, the company had approximately 7.7 million euros of {…}
Performances of “Pedro eta Otsoa” opened the ABAO TXIKI 2025 season. The imaginative “Pedro eta Otsoa” is a 50-minute work aiming to bring music closer to families with children four and up. The work is set to music by Sergei Prokofiev and to the magical story of a brave young boy at odds with a wolf. The Murtra Ensemble orchestra {…}