(Photo Credit: @Guergana Damianova – OnP) When Claus Guth’s spatial version of “La Bohème” opened in 2017, the Opéra Bastille shook with all the insults it received. Puccini’s opera is often understood as an artefact, and productions will flirt with disaster if they do not depict a snow-globe Paris, crystallized in everyone’s mind. Guth did not abandon a visually beautiful {…}
The Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2023-24 season, which will feature a world premiere. Jamie Barton, Janai Brugger, J‘Nai Bridges, Caitlin Lynch, Nicholas Newton, Michael Mayes, and Joshua Blue star in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s “Intelligence.” Kwamé Ryan conducts the production by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Performance Dates: Oct. 20-Nov. 3, 2024 Reginald Smith, Jr. sings the title role of Vedi’s “Falstaff” with Nicole Heaston, Blake {…}
On Mar. 12, 2023, the Metropolitan Opera revived and gave the Robert Carsen-directed “Falstaff” its season premiere, marking the company’s 193rd performance that crackled with energy and verve. There was electricity in the crowd, as well. At times, an opening night can feel like a final dress rehearsal. This was not one of those times. The show was tight and {…}
The Staatsoper Hamburg has announced its 2023-24 season. Opera Kent Nagano conducts Frank Castorf’s production of Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov.” The opera will star Alexander Tsymbalyuk, Kady Evanyshyn, Olivia Boen, Renate Spingler, Matthias Klink, Alexey Bogdanchikov, Vitalij Kowaljow, Oleksiy Palchykov, and Ryan Speedo Green. Performance Dates: Sept. 16-Oct. 7, 2023 Catherine Foster and Ewa Płonka sing the title role of Puccini’s {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its Live in HD series for the 2023-24 season. First up is “Dead Man Walking.” Yannick Nézet-Seguin conducts a cast starring Latonia Moore, Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, and Ryan McKinny. Screening Date: Oct. 21, 2023 Next up is “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.” Leah Hawkins, Raehann Bryce-Davis, Victor Ryan Roberston, Will Liverman, and {…}
Verdi’s final opera, “Falstaff,” is set to return for six performances between March 12 and April 1. The production will star baritone Michael Volle in his first Verdi role at the Met and Ailyn Pérez in her acclaimed portrayal of Alice Ford. When she first sang the role at the Met, OperaWire said, “as Alice Ford, Ailyn Pérez put on {…}
The Centennial Season of San Francisco Opera is set to culminate on June 16, 2023 in a special concert and dinner honoring the Company’s 100-year history. The concert will be led by Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim, former Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles, and former Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Summers and will be available as a livestream {…}
PBS has announced that it will begin broadcasting the 17th season of its “Great Performances at the Met” series this March. In total, audiences will be able to check out 10 new opera performances with the first being “The Hours.” The opera stars Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, and Kelli O’Hara with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting. Christine Baranski hosts. Broadcast Date: March {…}
(Credit: Marty Sohl / Metropolitan Opera) John Dexter’s production of “Dialogues des Carmélites” remains one of the treasures of the Met stage. Especially during a time when directors are bringing rather bland new productions to timeless classics, here’s a staging that is both traditional in its concept and imagery, but simultaneously modern in its economy of execution. Black and white {…}
The Metropolitan Opera is set to revive John Dexter’s classic production of Poulenc’s “Dialogues des Carmélites” for five performances. The production, which is set to run between Jan. 15 and 28, 203, will star soprano Ailyn Pérez in her role debut as Blanche de la Force. She will be joined by French soprano Sabine Devieilhe who makes her highly anticipated {…}
(Credit: Dario Acosta) Ailyn Pérez is set to star in the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere of “Florencia en el Amazonas” during the 2023-24 season. In the January Playbill for the Metropolitan Opera, the company confirmed the news with Pérez stating in an exclusive interview that, “being born in Chicago to immigrant parents from Mexico, it may be the most profound and {…}