The 45th edition of the Premio della critica musicale “Franco Abbiati” also know as the Premio Abbiati has been announced. This year, the jury was composed of the Associazione Nazionale dei Critici Musicali featuring Andrea Estero, Alessandro Cammarano, Carlo Fiore, Gianluigi Mattietti, Carla Moreni, Roberta Pedrotti, and Alessandro Rigolli. Also in the jury were seven elected critics from the ANCM. {…}
(Photo: Ashley Taylor) Richard Strauss’s one-act opera “Elektra” (1909), with a searing libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, stands as a monumental achievement in 20th-century music drama. A radical adaptation of Sophocles’ tragedy, it plunges the listener into the tormented psyche of Elektra, obsessed with avenging her father Agamemnon’s murder by her mother, Klytämnestra, with the help of her lover Aegisth. {…}
(Photo: © Vito Lorusso / Teatro alla Scala) During the Classical period, audiences entertained themselves with theatrical farces, literary comedies and other artistic forms that, besides amusing, also served as social critique. “Così fan tutte,” premiered in Vienna in 1790, is a direct heir to that tradition. Mozart’s work explores seduction, fidelity and the illusion of love. Its characters take {…}
(Photo Credit: Brescia e Amisano ©) This “Siegfried”… a popular musical in myth? Given the audience’s warmly animated reactions, as one witnessed upon attending various performances of its run, it would appear so. The lively, evocative melodic themes in this, the third of four operas of “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” are sustained by all the symbolic ingredients of a fairy {…}
(Credit: Gerard Collet) The Staatsoper Berlin has announced a conductor change for its production of “Elektra.” The company said that Alexander Soddy will conduct performances on Jan. 26 and 29, 2025 replacing Simone Young, who was originally set to conduct the entire run. She continues scheduled for the last three performances on Feb. 7, 10, and 14, 2025. Soddy has {…}
(Photo credit: Clive Barda) It’s curtain down, the opera has just ended and the cast are – dressed in 18th century attire – each taking their turns to bow to the applause, to the sound of “Così’s” ouverture. Confused? Well, that was just the start to an evening that was as whacky as it was amusing, if not also a {…}
Photo credit: ROH Salome © Tristram Kenton David McVicar’s production of Richard Strauss’ “Salome”, designed by Es Devlin, was first seen in 2008, and is receiving its fourth revival at Covent Garden with Bárbara Lluch at the helm. It opened the night following the death of Queen Elizabeth II – “Don Giovanni” the night before was cancelled in the circumstances {…}