(Credit: Mark Brenner) Barely a fortnight after His Majesty the King, opera luminaries, star singers, guests and audience all gathered to bid a fond and emotional farewell to Antonio Pappano as the Royal Opera House’s musical director; the maestro was back on the very same podium, guiding his musical charges through Giordano’s “Andrea Chénier.” Based loosely on the real-life French {…}
On May 16, the Royal Opera House is set to celebrate Sir Antonio Pappano’s 22 years as Music Director with a gala performance. The gala will feature many leading singers including Diana Damrau, Ermonela Jaho, Lisette Oropesa, Sondra Radvanovsky, Nadine Sierra, Aigul Akhmetshina, Xabier Anduaga, Freddie De Tommaso, Jonas Kaufmann, Carlos Álvarez, Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Huw Montague Rendall, Gerald Finley, Bryn Terfel, {…}
The London Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2024-25 season. Here are the vocal performances. Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. Performance Dates: Oct. 20 & 23, 2024 André J Thomas conducts the Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir and LSO Community Voices in music by Brandon Boyd, Nolan Williams, Margaret Bonds, Brandon Waddles, André J Thomas, Moses Hogan, Rosephanye Powell, Joe Pace, Carol Cymbala, Kurt Carr, Raymond Wise, and Frances Fonza Smith. Performance {…}
The Olivier Awards have announced their 2024 nominations. Here are the opera category nominees: TAIT Award for Best New Opera Production “Blue” by the English National Opera at the London Coliseum “Innocence” by the Royal Opera at the Royal Opera House “Picture A Day Like This” by the Royal Opera at the Royal Opera House – Linbury Theatre “The Rhinegold” {…}
(Photo credit: © ROH 2024/Tristram Kenton) Had a family bust-up over the holidays? Don’t worry – it could be worse. Richard Strauss’ “Elektra,” with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal from his 1903 play of the same, took a dysfunctional family of the opera stage to new extremes, boiling up Sophocles’ tale of matricide in the Freudian pressure cooker of {…}
Several major opera figures received distinctions as part of the King’s New Year Honours 2024. Among the honored musicians included Judith Weier who received a damehood and Stuart Murphy who received a CBE. Laurence Cummings, Alex Reedijk, Carolyn Sampson, and Emma Wilson all received OBEs. Meanwhile, Sir Antonio Pappano, Music Director of The Royal Opera became Commander of the Royal {…}
The winners of the 2023 Opera Awards were announced on Thursday at the Polish National Opera. The Bayerische Staatsoper was awarded the top prize of Opera Company of the Year while the Conductor of the Year went to Antonio Pappano. The winner of Best Female Singer of the Year was Aigul Akhmetshina and Best Male Singer of the Year went {…}
Musical America has announced the honorees for its 2024 awards. Among the winners this year are Lise Davidsen who was named Artist of the Year and Antonio Pappano who was awarded Conductor of the Year. Meanwhile, Kevin Puts was awarded the Composer of the Year and The Crossing was awarded the Ensemble of the Year. Anthony McGill was awarded the {…}
(Photo Credit: andre uspensky) Russian Mezzo-Soprano Aigul Akhmetshina is being hailed as one of the most exciting opera singers in a generation. Called “The New Netrebko” by renowned critic David Mellor, she sings with a rare, coloratura mezzo voice. A luminary of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, she debuted at just 21-years-old at the Royal Opera House in the {…}
Photo: Tristram Kenton Expectations were high for Deborah Warner’s new production of Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck” at the Royal Opera House. Warner’s acclaimed treatment of “Peter Grimes” saw her in similar territory—indeed, the debt owed to Berg’s score by Britten is considerable—in a pair of twentieth-century operas about alienated outsiders, disturbed by the very society that despises them. Both pieces are {…}
There is no shortage of good and, sometimes, exceptional recordings of Puccini’s “Turandot,” with aficionados generally swaying between Molinari-Pradelli’s studio release (with Franco Corelli and Birgit Nilsson) and Mehta’s landmark take from 1972. Add to this Franco Ghione and, in excerpts, Barbirolli’s visceral “Turandots” from the pre-war period, and nearly all aspects of Puccini’s swan song – from the ritualistic {…}