Joyce DiDonato, Lea Desandre, Michael Spyres, Véronique Gens, Emőke Baráth & Dario Solari Headline Opéra de Dijon’s 2025-26 Season

The Opéra de Dijon has announced its 2025-26 season. Here are the vocal performances. The Orchestre National de France performs alongside Cristian Măcelaru and Joyce DiDonato. The program includes music by Alma and Gustav Mahler and Strauss. Performance Date: Oct. 9, 2025 Lea Desandre stars as Händel’s “Theodora” with Hugh Cutting, Véronique Gens, Laurence Kilsby, and Alex Rosen. Thomas Dunford {…}

May 13, 2025

Anna Netrebko, Sabine Devieilhe, Marina Rebeka, Peter Mattei, Anna Prohaska & Jakub Józef Orliński Lead Philharmonie Luxembourg’s 2025-26 Season

The Philharmonie Luxembourg has announced its 2025-26 season. Here are the vocal performances. The Orchestra and Coro del Teatro alla Scala will be conducted by Riccardo Chailly in music by Verdi and Rossini. Performance Date: Sept. 9, 2025 Sir John Eliot Gardiner will conduct the Luxembourg Philharmonic in Mendelssohn’s “Musik zu Ein Sommernachtstraum” and “Die erste Walpurgisnacht.” Sam Cobb, Rebecca Hardwick, {…}

Mar 22, 2025

Toronto Symphony Orchestra Announces European Tour

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has announced a European tour. The tour will happen between Jan. 27 and Feb. 9, 2026, and will see the orchestra in Spain, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Austria. Here is a look at the vocal programs. Concert Programs Spain Gustavo Gimeno and Anna Prohaska perform music by Kelly-Marie Murphy, Rufus Wainwright, Haydn, and Mahler. Performance {…}

Mar 22, 2025

Gustavo Gimeno, Emőke Baráth & Anna Prohaska Lead BCN Classics’ 2025-26 Season

BCN Classics has announced its 2025-26 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances on offer. Emőke Baráth and Carlo Vistoli lead Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” with the Le Concert d’Astrée and Emmanuelle Haïm. The evening will be held at the Palau de la Musica Catalana. Performance Date: Dec. 1, 2025 Gustavo Gimeno conducts the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s {…}

Feb 5, 2025

Meryl Streep, Melody Moore, Magdalena Kožená & Tara Erraught Lead CD/DVD Releases

Welcome back for this week’s look at the latest CD and DVD releases in the opera world. This week audiences will get a good helping of baroque favorites and rarities, star-studded albums, world premieres and some fantastic modern works by recognized composers. Rufus Wainwright’s Dream Requiem The new album showcases Wainwright’s “Dream Requiem,” an epic work for orchestra, chorus, soprano, {…}

Nov 14, 2024

CD Review: George Benjamin & Martin Crimp’s ‘Picture a day like this’

Every six years or so, we’re gifted with an operatic gem from composer George Benjamin and playwright Martin Crimp. Their fourth and latest collaboration, “Picture a day like this,” is a revelation. This live recording, released by Nimbus Records, features the composer conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the work’s 2023 Aix-en-Provence Festival premiere. While Benajmin and Crimp’s colleagues on {…}

Jul 13, 2024

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2024 Review: Songs and Fragments

(Photo credit: Monika Rittershaus) Who’s afraid of a double bill? Part two. If Gluck’s Iphigénies required stamina from Aix operagoers, the double bill of Peter Maxwell Davies’s “Eight Songs for a Mad King” and György Kurtág’s “Kafka-Fragments” beseech us to be attentive. It was just an hour and a half of music, and the performances were vivid. But the musical {…}

Jun 24, 2024

Anna Prohaska & Konstantin Krimmel Lead 2024 Opus Klassik Awards Winners

The Opus Klassik Awards have announced its 2024 winners. The Female Singer of the Year went to Anna Prohaska for “Maria Mater Meretrix,” while the Male Singer of the Year went to Konstantin Krimmel for Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin.” The Conductor of the Year award went to Klaus Mäkelä for Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring & The Firebird,” while the {…}

Jun 18, 2024

Anna Prohaska, Leonor Bonilla & Justina Gringytė Lead Rai Orchestra’s 2024-25 Season

Torino’s Rai Orchestra has announced its 2024-25 season. Here are the vocal performances. Giuseppe Mengoli conducts a program of Mahler and Beethoven with pianists Bruce Liu and Leonor Bonilla. Performance Dates: Nov. 21 & 22, 2024 John Axelrod conducts the Women’s Chorus of the Teatro Regio di Torino in a program of music by Berio and Holst. Performance Dates: Jan. {…}

May 14, 2024

Thomas Hampson, Maria Teresa Leva, Juan Francisco Gatell & Slávka Zámečníková Lead Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano’s 2024-25 Season

The Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano has announced its 2024-25 season. Here are the vocal performances. Michele Gamba conducts Verdi’s Requiem with Maria Teresa Leva, Deniz Uzun, Giovanni Sala, and Adolfo Corrado. Performance Dates: Oct. 31-Nov. 3, 2024 Huandel’s “Messiah” will star Anna Prohaska, Chiara Tirotta, Ilker Arcayürek, and Liviu Holender. Christoph Koncz conducts. Performance Dates: Dec. 13 & 15, 2024 {…}

May 5, 2024

L’Auditori Announces 2024-25 Season

Barcelona’s L’Auditori has announced its 2024-25 season. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Ludovic Morlot conducts soloists Nuria Rial and pianist Lucas Debargue in a program of music by Frederic Mompou, George Gershwin, and Maurice Ravel. Performance Dates: Oct. 4-6, 2024 Rufus Wainwright’s “Dream Requiem” will be conducted by Ludovic Morlot and will star soprano Anna Prohaska. Performance Dates: {…}