The 29th Heidelberger Frühling Musikfestival has released the details of its 2025 season, titled “Liberated Time.” For the purposes of this article only vocal performances are included. Soprano Eleanor Lyons, mezzo-soprano Sophie Harmsen, tenor Benjamin Hulett, and bass Johannes Kammler with the Collegium Vocale Gent present works by Eisler and Beethoven. They are accompanied by the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées under {…}
( Photo: © SF/Monika Rittershaus) All sinful things come wrapped in fascinating aesthetics. You know the feeling: something that is extremely beautiful and appealing, but disquieting—too pleasurable to be ethically good. That is Salzburg Festival’s “Don Giovanni”: a spectacular dramatic installation, a grandiose musical project, a lustful conception; yet sinfully wrong. First things first. This is a revival of Romeo {…}
The Tiroler Festspiele Erl has announced its 2024-25 season. Fall Nikola Hillebrand performs alongside Simply Quartet and Musicbanda Franui. Performance Date: Oct. 4, 2024 Winter J. S. Bach’s “Das Weihnachtsoratorium” will be conducted by Vinzenz Praxmarer and will star Anna El-Kashem, Stefanie Irányi, Martin Mitterrutzner, and Wilhelm Schwinghammer. Performance Date: Dec. 8, 2024 Asher Fisch conducts a new production of Puccini’s “La {…}
The Dutch National Opera is set to present a new production of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” as part of the Holland Festival. The new production will be directed by Ukrainian director Andriy Zholdak, whose visual imagery, replete with symbols, is reminiscent of great film directors such as Andrei Tarkovsky and Ingmar Bergman. The production is made in Co-production with the Grand Théâtre {…}
The Dutch National Opera has announced its 2024-25 season. Opera René Barbera, Roman Burdenko, Aigul Khismatullina, Alexander Köpeczi, and Maya Gour Star in a revival of Verdi’s “Rigoletto.” Yi-Chen Lin conducts. Performance Dates: Sept. 2-29, 2024 Britten’s “Peter Grimes” will get a new production by Barbora Horáková. Lorenzo Viotti conducts a cast that includes Issachah Savage, Johanni van Oostrum, and {…}
Opernhaus Zürich has announced its 2024-25 season. Premieres Samuel Penderbayne’s “Wir pfeifen auf den Gurkenkönig” will be conducted by Thomas Barthel and Ann-Katrin Stöcker. Claudia Blersch directs the production which will star Liliana Nikiteanu, Sylwia Salamonska, Irène Friedli, Philipp Mayer, Stanislav Vorobyov, Valeriy Murga, Gary Martin, Martin Zysset, Carl Hieger, Christian Sturm, Indyana Schneider, Céline Akçağ, Sylwia Salamonska, and Rebeca {…}
The Opernhaus Zürich presents a new production of a French Baroque masterpiece: “Platée,” a ballet-bouffon composed by Jean-Philippe Rameau in 1745. The premiere took place in Versailles as part of the festivities for the wedding of Louis XV with María Teresa Rafaela of Spain. The libretto, by Adrien-Joseph Le Valois d’Orville, draws inspiration from Greek mythology. It narrates the tale {…}
The Schubertíada has announced its 2023 season which will be held in Vilabertran at the Castelló d´Empúries and Vilajuïga in Catalonia. Ferran Albrich leads a Schubert and Toldrà recital with Albert Guinovart and Oriol Prat. Performance Dates: August 11 & 12, 2023 Josep Ramon Olivé and Victoria Guerrero perform Schubert’s “Winterreise.” Performance Date: August 13, 2023 Erika Baikoff and Kunal Lahiry {…}
The Opernhaus Zürich has announced its 2023-24 season featuring more than 20 productions, concerts, and reictals. Ermonela Jaho stars in Puccini’s “La Rondine” with Sandra Hamaoui, Benjamin Bernheim, Juan Francisco Gatell, and Vladimir Stoyanov. Marco Armiliato conducts the production by Christof Loy. Performance Dates: Sept. 17-Oct. 28, 2023 Nahuel Di Pierro, Olga Peretyatko, Renato Girolami, Alasdair Kent, Pietro Spagnoli, and {…}
(Credit: Vincent Pontet) Despite struggling with COVID’s incredibly contagious Omicron variant and subsequent cancelations as a result, the Opéra National de Paris still managed to stage Mozart’s masterpiece, “Don Giovanni.” It was a performance par excellence, where all the primary soloists were, remarkably, able to perform — due to high infection rates it is becoming increasingly common for covers to {…}
(Credit: © Franz Neumayr) The Opéra de Paris has announced a cast change for its first performance of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” The company noted that Anna El-Khashem has canceled the performance on Feb. 1 after testing positive for COVID-19. As a result, Christina Gansch will sing the role of Zerlina. Gansch has performed at the Royal Opera House, Salzburg Festival, San {…}