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 {…}
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. {…}
(Credit: Tristram Kenton/Royal Opera House) Double-crossing, licentiousness, and the sad demise of a once popular showman: that was all going on down the road in Westminster while the Royal Opera House revived Damiano Michieletto’s double bill of “Cavalleria rusticana” and “Pagliacci.” Sightings of former prime minister Theresa May and former Johnson ally Michael Gove – himself ignominiously sacked by Johson {…}
(© 2022 ROH. Photograph by Clive Barda) Camille Saint–Saëns’ “Samson et Dalila” received its first new production – indeed first performance – at the Royal Opera House in nearly 20 years, replacing Elijah Moshinsky’s, which had a vintage of 1981 (before this reviewer was even born). It’s a tricky work to get right – traditionalist stagings feel uncomfortably Orientalist, sometimes {…}
The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has announced it 2022-23 season featuring world class soloists. Here is a look at the vocal performances of the season. The season opens with Strauss’ “Elektra” with Ausrine Stundyte, Elisabeth Strid, Petra Lang, Neal Cooper, and Kostas Smoriginas. Antonio Pappano conducts. Performance Dates: Oct. 18-22, 2022 Antonio Pappano conducts Clay Hilley in a program {…}
(Photo: Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini) Warner Classics produced a new recording of Puccini’s “Turandot” with a dream cast consisting of some of today’s best singers, all under the baton of Antonio Pappano. After one week of recording sessions, a concert version was offered on March 12 at the Sala Santa Cecilia, in the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. The {…}
(Credit: Karen Almond / Metropolitan Opera) One hundred and nineteen artists and conductors are signing a petition to end the war and end the boycott against boycotting Russian artists. The petition, which is signed by such prominent artists as Antonio Pappano, Mark Elder, Simon Rattle, Franz Welser-Möst, Cornelius Meister, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Barrie Kosky, Matthew Rose, Fabio Luisi, Barbara Hannigan, and {…}
(Credit: Richard Termine) The Metropolitan Opera opened its revival of Wagner’s masterpiece “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021 to a half-full hall. I don’t usually bring up audience attendance because it is beside the point in terms of artistic merit and the integrity of performances. But given that we live in a “post-pandemic” world, there is no {…}
(Credit: (c) ROH 2021. Ellie Kurttz) Antonio Pappano has been at the Royal Opera House for nearly two decades, yet has never conducted “Rigoletto,” a capstone of the repertory. This would be his first performance of the work – and the opening shot of the 2021-22 season at the Royal Opera. Another first for Oliver Mears, artistic director of the {…}
(Credit: Musacchio & Ianniello) Sir Antonio Pappano has been named Music Director Emeritus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Pappano will take up the position in October 2023 when his contract as Music Director expires. Pappano has been Music Director with Santa Cecilia for 17 years and has conducted the orchestra in numerous concerts throughout the world. Under Pappano, {…}
The Royal Opera House has confirmed that Sir Antonio Pappano will continue as Music Director of The Royal Opera until the end of the 2023-24 ROH Season. The announcement comes as Pappano will join the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) as Chief Conductor Designate during the orchestra’s 2023-24 Season, assuming full responsibility as Chief Conductor in September 2024. In a statement, {…}