The past week was flooded with major news on the international stage. Here is a look back at some of the big headlines, in case you missed them. Major Premieres This week saw a plethora of premieres. The Berlin Staatsoper showcased “Manon Lescaut” which was showcased on online; the same happened for the Bayerische Staatsoper which showcased “Lady Macbeth of {…}
Maurisz Kwiecien and Peter Mattei will replace Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the Metropolitan Opera’s revival production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” On Thursday the Russian baritone announced his withdrawal from all opera performances for the foreseeable future. He stated, “It is with great sadness that I must withdraw from opera performances for the foreseeable future. I have been experiencing balance issues associated {…}
Monica Bellucci and Ana Maria Martinez have created a role together in the newly released third season of Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle.” Martinez recorded an aria for the show written by composer Nico Muhly based on a Long Island tragedy and that recording is now the dub for Bellucci’s performance. The Italian actress was cast in the series to play {…}
The Grammy Nominations have been announced with many of today’s biggest stars shortlisted. In the Best Opera Recording category Pentatone Music led the field with two nominations as the record label was shortlisted for James Conlon’s recording of John Corigliano’s “The Ghosts Of Versailles.” The recording stars Joshua Guerrero, Christopher Maltman, Lucas Meachem, Patricia Racette, Lucy Schaufer and Guanqun Yu. The Los {…}
Mozart was a huge hit throughout his short career and his great success has continued in 2016 in the form of 1.25 million international CD sales of Deutsche Grammophon’s “Mozart 225: The Complete Edition” in a whopping five weeks since its release. The boxset, made up of 200-CD’s and encompassing every single work ever created by the composer, was released {…}
With the holiday season upon us, it is no surprise that the major music publishers have saved some of their most hotly anticipated titles for the last weeks of the year. This week features releases from such superstars as Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, and the late Joan Sutherland. Here is a look at the releases you can expect between December {…}
On Wednesday, Dec. 7, the legendary Teatro all Scala opens its 2016-17 season with Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.” The opera stars rising star Maria Jose Siri, Bryan Hymel and Carlos Alvarez and is led by music director Riccardo Chailly. The opening continues La Scala’s tradition of inaugurating the season on Dec. 7 and continues Chailly’s Puccini cycle, which he began back {…}
When Puccini set out to write his “Manon Lescaut,” the composer drew attention to his “feeling it like an Italian, with a desperate passion.” Though the comment came in the context of his comparing it with Massenet’s own interpretation of the work, that idea of desperation has certainly played into numerous readings of the work. A look at the catalogue {…}
Over the last few years, we have become increasingly impassioned by this wondrous art form called opera. Despite being seen by many as a dying art form, we firmly believe that opera is in fact, not necessarily taking a U-Turn back to a golden age, but making a sharp left turn in a new direction. A direction that like many {…}