Welcome back as we explore the latest CD and DVD releases from around the opera world. This week audiences get to hear a Verdi album from a leading soprano as well as a “Carmen” from one of the great interpreters of today. There is also a re-release by one of the foremost popera tenors of our time. Bizet: Carmen Aigul {…}
(Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic) Technically classified as an opera buffo, or a comic opera, both Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte formally assigned it on the printed score as a dramma giocoso, which translates literally to “drama with jokes” or “joking drama.” Without giving away the entire plot, “Don Giovanni” tells the dramatic tale of an unrepentant, narcissistic nobleman whose {…}
The Teatro real de Madrid has announced the operas that will broadcast live in cinemas. In partnership with Cine Yelmo, the company will present four productions in 27 theaters. The season will open with Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut,” conducted by Nicola Luisotti and directed by Carlos Wagner. The cast is headlined by Sondra Radvanovsky, Michael Fabiano, Lucas Meachem, Pietro Spagnoli, and {…}
(Photo: Matthias Baus) There are operas that survive on the strength of their plot, and then there are those that survive because the music transforms the improbable into the inevitable. “Samson et Dalila” belongs decidedly to the latter camp. Saint-Saëns fashioned a score of extraordinary sensuality around a drama whose biblical certainties had long ceased to compel. Production Details Argentine {…}
(Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic) I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t again mention this year that opera should always be more about the music and the singing than the staging. Alas, I find myself having to break that promise after sitting through the revival of Richard Jones’s 2022 production of “Samson et Dalila” at the Royal Ballet and Opera. {…}
The Polish National Opera has announced its 2026-27 season. New Productions Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts the world premiere of Maxim Kolomiiets’ “The Mothers of Kherson” in a production by Barbara Wysocka. The cast includes Izabela Matuła, Hanna Sosnowska-Bill, Weronika Wojtkowska, Elissa Pfaender, Małgorzata Walewska, Jadwiga Postrożna, Andrei Bondarenko, Katarzyna Wietrzny, Tomasz Rak, Ólafur Sigurdarson, Tadeusz Szlenkier, and Adrian Domarecki. Performance Dates: Oct. 16-27, 2026 Paweł Mykietyn’s {…}
The Tiroler Festspiele Erl has announced its 2026-27 season. Winter 2026 Julius Zeman conducts Bach’s “Weihnachtsoratorium” with Alina Wunderlin, Anita Monserrat, Manuel Günther, and Michael Nagl. Performance Date: Dec. 6, 2026 Asher Fisch conducts Verdi’s “Nabucco” with Gabriele Viviani, Anastasia Bartoli, Simon Lim, Emilia Rukavina, and Giorgio Berrugi. Performance Date: Dec. 13, 2026 Asher Fisch conducts “Ein Bauer namens Verdi.” Performance {…}
The Hungarian State Opera has announced a cast change for its recital on March 22, 2026. The company said that mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina will perform the concert alone instead of with Long Long, who was originally scheduled to sing with her. As a result, the program was changed and the mezzo will sing alongside Jonathan Papp in a program of {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2026-27 season. The company opens the season with a new production of Verdi’s “Macbeth,” starring Lise Davidsen, Quinn Kelsey, Freddie De Tommaso, and Ryan Speedo Green. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a production by Louisa Proske. Performance Dates: Sept. 22-Oct. 20, 2026 The Metropolitan Opera will present the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s “Lincoln in the {…}
(Credit: Beata Nykiel) Aigul Akhmetshina has canceled upcoming February and March performances due to health issues. The mezzo-soprano took to social media and said, “Due to health reasons, I unfortunately have to step back from my upcoming performances of ‘L’Italiana in Algeri’ at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and to postpone the concert in Paris with my dear friends Kristina Mkhitaryan and {…}
Carnegie Hall has announced its 2026-27 season featuring a star studded lineup. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Jonas Kaufmann opens the season with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko in an all-Italian program that includes works by Verdi, Respighi, Cilea, Giordano, and Leoncavallo. Performance Date: Oct. 8, 2026 The Sphinx Virtuosi is joined by J’Nai Bridges for {…}