(Photo: Camilla Greenwell/Royal Opera House) Trailing draggily behind Puccini’s rue and jubilance, this season’s Royal Opera House revival of the tearful “La bohème” appears afraid of the work’s earnestness. Decked out in semi-mockeries of 1830s Paris, Richard Jones’ 2017 production favors episodes of bawdiness at the expense of the Bohemian; endangering its players’ vocal liberties. Perhaps as the result of {…}
(Credit: Sacharov) The Washington National Opera is set to present a new production of Mozart’s “Così fan tutte.” The opera, which will run from March 12 to 26, 2022 at the Eisenhower Theater, will mark the first fully-staged production for the company since March 2020. The Mozart masterwork will star legendary Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto as Don Alfonso in his {…}
The Regio Opera Festival has been announced its 2021 season in Torino, Italy. For the purposes of this article, we will only focus on operatic works. Mariangela Sicilia, Bogdan Volkov, Marco Filippo Romano, and Giorgio Caoduro star in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore“ with Matteo Beltrami conducting and Fabio Sparvoli directing. Performance Date: June 15-20, 2021 Claudio Fenoglio leads the young chorus on {…}
The Gran Teatre del Liceu has announced its 2021-22 season featuring new productions, concerts, and a special 175th-anniversary gala. Here is a look at the new season. Opera The first opera of the season is set to be Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” starring Iréne Theorin and Johanni van Oostrum sharing the title role. They will be accompanied by Samantha Hankey, {…}
The Bayerische Staatsoper showcased “La Boheme” as part of its Montagsstücke series. Asher Fisch led the Bayerischen Staatsöper Orchestra and a starry cast that included tenor Jonas Kaufmann as Rodolfo and soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen as Mimì. The outcome was a performance that came to life on screen and renewed the spirit of opera lovers during a time of lockdown and {…}
The “Teatro Digitale” dell’Opera di Roma has announced programming for the first week of June. The week starts with Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” in a 2016 production by Emma Dante. The production is conducted by Alejo Pérez and stars Juan Francisco Gatell, Serena Malfi, Vito Priante, Alessandro Corbelli, and Ugo Guagliardo. Streaming Dates: June 2-5, 2020 It will be followed by {…}
The Philadelphia Orchestra has announced its 2020-21 season featuring a number of important soloists. For this article we will focus on vocal performances. Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis is set to be conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin with a cast that includes Jennifer Rowley, Karen Cargill, Rodrick Dixon, and Eric Owens. Joe Miller directs Refik Anadol’s Visually striking designs. Performance Dates: Oct. 9-14, {…}
(Credit: Washington National Opera) The Washington National Opera has announced its 2020–2021 season offering up some ambitious repertoire. The season with WNO’s new production of Beethoven’s “Fidelio.” Robert Spano makes his WNO debut conducting a cast that includes Elza van den Heever, Brandon Jovanovich, Brian Mulligan, Ryan Speedo Green, Joshua Blue, and Eric Owens. Performance Dates: Oct. 24–Nov. 9, 202o {…}
Franco Zeffirelli’s production of Puccini’s “La Bohème” is back at the Metropolitan Opera. It’s big, grand and a crowdpleaser thats gets reaction from the audience, particularly at the opening of Acts two and three. It’s well-known for its detailed, classic take on the opera and is the most staged production in the Met’s repertory. Since its premiere in 1981 the {…}
(Credit Robert Workman) First performed at Glyndebourne in 1954 and revived now twice, both in 2016 and 2019, Rossini’s “Il barbiere di Siviglia” has consistently proven to be just the right dose of comic relief within a well-rounded opera season. With the production featuring Director Annabel Arden’s 2016 dreams coming to life again in 2019, at the hands of revival {…}
(Photo Credit: Askonas Holt Management) After making a strong first impression with his debut in a new production of Prokofiev’s “Betrothal in a Monastery” at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin and looking forward to his Met Opera debut in October for the 2019-20 season in the role of Schaunard in Puccini’s “La Bohème,” Andrey Zhilikhovsky returns to Glyndebourne for the {…}