Salzburg Festival is about luxury. The audience is filled with celebrities, the casts are filled with stars, and the (relatively) higher priced tickets, all show its luxury. Yet, what defines its luxury, for me, is its long rehearsal period. When Anna Netrebko said in an interview how she wanted more rehearsals and Riccardo Muti said “preparing an opera the way {…}
Sharon Sweet and Krassimira Stoyanova. Two sopranos born on August 16 with rather different careers. The former was a well-known American dramatic soprano who took on a wide range of Italian and German repertoire, most prominently singing operas by Wagner and Verdi. The latter, a Bulgarian with a far lighter voice, has slowly dug into that very same dramatic repertoire, {…}
The Washington National Opera (WNO) has announced that American soprano Leah Crocetto will sing the title role of “Aida” in performances on September 10, 15, and 17 replacing American soprano Amber Wagner, who has withdrawn from the production for personal reasons. WNO Artistic Director and Aida director Francesca Zambello said, “We are incredibly fortunate that an artist of the caliber {…}
Opera continues to break records with this weekend’s ratings of Verdi’s “Aida.” According to ORF, the TV screening of “Aida” from the Salzburg Festival took a 17 percent market share this weekend. The reports noted that there were an estimated 473,000 viewers. The production starred reigning diva Anna Netrebko, Francesco Meli, Ekaterina Semenchuk and Luca Salsi. Riccardo Muti conducted the Vienna Philharmonic {…}
Washington National Opera’s new production of “Aida” will not be a traditional approach. But that isn’t to say that it will be a completely radical approach. According to a press release WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, who will direct the new version of Verdi’s late masterpiece, is inspired by the street artist RETNA, whose work uses calligraphy, hieroglyphics, and striking {…}
The Salzburg Festival is donating 50,000 Euros to facilitate musical education for Syrian refugee children in Jordan over the next two years. The festival announced that the money being donated to MECI (Middle East Children’s Institute) was the net profit from ticket sales for the dress rehearsal of Verdi’s “Aida” performed on August 3, 2017. The performance starred Anna Netrebko, Francesco Meli, {…}
Francesco Meli will replace Roberto Alagna as Radames at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival. The concert performance of Verdi’s “Aida,” which is slated for Sept. 1, 2017, comes on the heels of his role debut as Radamès in Salzburg where he is slated to perform it alongside Anna Netrebko under the musical direction of Riccardo Muti. At Gstaad, Meli will join Gianandrea {…}
Ever since 2002, Anna Netrebko has been a mainstay at the Salzburg Festival, headlining some of the most acclaimed productions of the showcase. In fact, her productions have often drawn some of the biggest audiences due to her magnetic star power and brilliant stage presence. This week looks to be no different as the diva headlines another new production, Verdi’s {…}
There are a ton of Verdi tenors out there capable of dominating his major roles. But few are like Francesco Meli. The Italian tenor has made the works of the great Busetto genius his bread and better, performing such major works as “La Traviata,” “Il Trovatore,” “Rigoletto,” “Nabucco,” “Macbeth,” “Ernani,” “Don Carlo,” “Luisa Miller,” “Un Ballo in Maschera” and even some {…}
For Luca Salsi, there is no composer better than Verdi. No one. Salsi, the Italian baritone, who is slated to sing the role of Amonasro at the Salzburg Festival starting in early August, has repeatedly professed that no composer in the history of Italian opera was able to fuse music and text with the same level of conviction and depth. {…}
When we look back at the history of operatic tenors, Mario del Monaco, born on July 27, 1915, will always stand out for his massive sound and larger-than-life vocal personality. He had a massive sound that he wielded like a weapon full of intensity and emotional prowess. Looking at his repertoire, he wasn’t the most diverse of singers, his number {…}