The Metropolitan Opera will revive Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” this Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019. The famed worked has appeared at the Met 494 times to date with the first performance coming in 1894. This season’s revival will feature 15 total performances divided up between two conductors. Antonello Manacorda, in his company debut, will get the first slew of shows {…}
(Credit: Teatro Regio di Torino/Royal Opera/Bilbao Opera This weekend is filled with new productions, season openings, role debuts and some of operas greatest masterpieces. Lolita – Prague State Opera, Czech Republic Rodion Shchedrin’s new opera gets another performance at the Estates Theatre with Pelageya Kurennaya in the title role, as well as Petr Sokolov, Alexander Kravets, Daria Rositskaya, Michaela Zajmi, {…}
(Credit: Dario Acosta) The Metropolitan Opera House, the Royal Opera House Muscat, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Vienna State Opera, the Opernhaus Zürich, the Opéra National de Paris, the San Francisco Opera, and the Teatro Real de Madrid. These are just a few of the many theaters where 36-year-old Romanian soprano Anita Hartig has performed over the last three {…}
(Photo credit: Khalid AlBusaidi / ROHM) This review is for performances on Sept. 11 and 14, 2019. Writing a review after an initial performance of any run is a challenging proposition. You are essentially recording your views on a first impression without really getting a chance to see the full picture. There are many reasons why this is the case, {…}
The Royal Opera Muscat has announced its 2019-20 Season. Bizet’s “Carmen” opens the Royal Opera Muscat season with José Cura in the role of Don José, Elena Maximova in the title role, Anita Hartig as Micaëla and George Petean in the role of Escamillo. The Teatro Colón Buenos Aires travels with conductor Antonello Allemandi. Performance Dates: Sept. 11-14, 2019 Celso Albelo {…}
San Francisco Opera’s 2019 Summer Season opens with Bizet’s “Carmen” with an all-star cast. The production by Francesca Zambello is set to star American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges in her first professional performances of the title role and American tenor Matthew Polenzani in his role debut as Don José. They are joined by Romanian soprano Anita Hartig, who makes her San {…}
On April 20, 2019, audiences gathered at the Metropolitan Opera for one of the last few performances of this season’s run of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata.” The nearly-full auditorium was abuzz and for a number of reasons. This new production by Michael Mayer opened in December to mixed reception, resuming its run in the beginning of April. Despite the gorgeous {…}
The Zurich Opera has announced its 2019-20 season which will feature a whopping 11 opera premieres and 17 opera revivals. Premieres “The Makropulos Case” will be the first offering of the season with Evelyn Herlitzius starring as Emilia Marty. Other cast members will include Sam Furness, Kevin Conners, Deniz Uzun, Scott Hendricks, and Spencer Lang, among others. Dmitri Tcherniakov will direct while {…}
The Gran Teatre del Liceu has announced its 2019-20 season with numerous new productions, revivals, rarely performed works and concerts by some of the biggest stars in the world. Franc Aleu makes his operatic debut directing a new production of Puccini’s “Turandot” with Irene Theorin in the title role alongside Jorge de Leon and Ermonela Jaho as Liù. Lise Linstrom {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its Live in HD Summer Encores series. The Met will rebroadcast four popular operas including Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” starring Roberto Alagna and Kristine Opolais from 2016, followed by Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” starring Anna Netrebko, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Dolora Zajick, and Yonghoon Lee from 2015. The series will then feature Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” with Renée Fleming, Hvorostovsky, {…}
The Vienna State Opera has announced the 2018-19 season, which is incidentally the company’s 150-anniversary year. The season will include six new productions, including a world premiere production. Here is a breakdown of what’s to come. New Productions (In Order of Opening) Berlioz’s “Les Troyens” will be the first new production, starting on Oct. 14, 2018. David McVicar directs while {…}