Nadine Sierra, Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Asmik Grigorian & Marina Rebeka Lead London Symphony Orchestra’s 2024-25 Season

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 {…}

Mar 12, 2024

Royal Opera House Leads Opera Olivier Award Nominations

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” {…}

Jan 16, 2024

Royal Opera House 2023-24 Review: Elektra

(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 {…}

Jan 2, 2024

Antonio Pappano, Carolyn Sampson & Judith Weier Highlight New Year Honours 2024

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 {…}

Nov 9, 2023

Aigul Akhmetshina, Michael Spyres, Lisette Oropesa, & Bayerische Staatsoper Win Big at Opera Awards

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 {…}

Oct 17, 2023

Lise Davidsen & Antonio Pappano Win Musical America Awards

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 {…}

Jul 4, 2023

Q & A: Mezzo-Soprano Aigul Akhmetshina on Discovering Her Own Voice

(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 {…}

May 30, 2023

Royal Opera House 2022-23 Review: Wozzeck

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 {…}

Mar 24, 2023

CD Review: Sondra Radvanovsky & Jonas Kaufmann’s ‘Turandot’

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 {…}

Mar 16, 2023

Royal Opera House 2022-23 Review: Turandot

Photo: Marc Brenner/ROH Somnific fiction is the stuff of bedtime stories starring beasts and feasts of the absurd: displays of madness only children could endure pre-slumber. Lumbering imaginations with beguilement, it refrains from the revilement of base villains, wrapping them instead in tangible entrancement. This enhancement of surrealness makes the fairytale the tender tooth’s apéritif: a nightly dose of magical {…}

Nov 29, 2022

Ian Bostridge, Antonio Pappano, Margaux De Valensart, Maxime Melnik Headline La Monnaie / De Munt’s Year-End Concerts

La Monnaie / De Munt has announced a series of concerts to end 2022. For the purposes of this article, we will focus solely on the vocal performances. First up will be a showcase featuring Sir Antonio Pappano and Ian Bostridge as they present “Winterreise” in an arrangement with the La Monnaie Chamber Orchestra by Hans Zender dating from 1993. {…}